University of Alaska Fairbanks

Frozen Fireweed Farm finds life up north

Thu, 23 May 2013 15:01:14 -0800

Photos courtesy of Frozen Fireweed Farm
German Angora rabbits produce beautiful fiber.

Nancy Tarnai
907-474-5042
5/21/13

After earning a degree in space physics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz., Amber O’Dell-Andersen had a shocking revelation. Her heart was much drawn to soil than the atmosphere.

“It hit me that farming was what I wanted to do,” O’Dell-Andersen said. “And now I am working my way there.”

At Frozen Fireweed Farm in the Steele Creek area off Chena Hot Springs Road, O’Dell-Andersen and her husband Nathan are getting a start in agriculture. Having grown up on a farm in Colorado, O’Dell Anderson is no stranger to producing food, but learning to do it in Fairbanks has its challenges. Prior to moving here, the Arizona climate offered different problems. “I wanted out of the desert,” she said. “I was done with heat and sand. When Nathan got a job offer in Fairbanks it was a 30-second decision to come here and we love it.”

She keeps layer hens all year long and raises broilers and turkeys in the summer and grows barley and all manner of vegetables.

She also has German Angora rabbits that need to be sheared every three months. Frozen Fireweed is one of the few farms in Alaska that raise this type of rabbit, which is a large, gentle breed. “The fiber is very soft and warm,” O’Dell-Andersen said. “I like the fact that you shear them. Other rabbits you have to pluck and comb every day. These produce a lot more fiber.”

The rabbits are kind of delicate so O’Dell-Andersen doesn’t mind pampering them, even keeping them in her basement when it’s cold.

While in college in Arizona, O’Dell-Andersen kept a garden and when she moved to Fairbanks five years ago she knew she wanted enough land to start a farm. Her day job is with Doyon Drilling as a document control specialist and Nathan is a database administrator with Utility Services of Alaska. The farm is Amber’s but Nathan is in charge of watering and building things. “It’s probably not what he thought when he proposed,” she said. “There is no way I could do this if he wasn’t on board.

“The farm speaks to me,” she said. “I like being outside when it’s warm and smelling the dirt. I like eating what we grow and knowing where things came from. I have this idea that it’s important to help other people get food that hasn’t come 18,000 miles.”

O’Dell-Andersen will be at the Downtown Market this summer (Mondays from 4 to 8 p.m., June to September, in Golden Heart Park) to sell fiber, veggies, chocolates, honey, lip balm, soaps, jams and jellies. The eggs sell without any effort. “I don’t even have to try,” she said.

She enjoys making jams and jellies so much that she is going to put in more crabapple and other fruit trees and more berries. She has honey berries and saskatoons now. “I’m impressed how well the berries do,” O’Dell-Andersen said. “It was less than ideal conditions when we put them in but I kept watering them.”

Photos courtesy of Frozen Fireweed Farm
Nathan O’Dell-Andersen holds a radish grown at Frozen Fireweed Farm.

Her planting style is a bit unusual, as she uses box-type planters and covers them with hoop houses that she moves around for crop rotation. She has learned by doing, and by asking. “I talk to people,” she said. “We have great resources, like Calypso Farm, the Sustainable Ag conference and Steve Seefeldt” (UAF Cooperative Extension Service agent).

Her goal is to move to a location where she can put more land in production. “I hope to make this a viable enterprise and provide food for my family and our community,” she said. “Alaska needs a little more food security.”

As for challenges, O’Dell-Andersen said, “I have the same problems all farmers have, being time and money. I split my time between the farm and my regular job. I can’t afford to be a farmer full time so I work late at night planting seed starts.”

The secret to her success has been hard work and the midnight sun. “We’ve done well because I’ve had good support and a husband who doesn’t mind being up late at night planting seeds with me.”

When not working or farming, O’Dell-Andersen enjoys spinning, crocheting, weaving, sewing and cooking.

CONTACT: frozenfireweedfarm@gmail.com

This column is provided as a service by the UAF School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences and the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. Nancy Tarnai is the school and station’s public information officer. She can be reached at ntarnai@alaska.edu.

it-sfullofstars: climateadaptation: After reading Adam Welz’s...

Thu, 23 May 2013 11:42:37 -0800

it-sfullofstars:

climateadaptation:

After reading Adam Welz’s take down, “Bloodthirsty “factual” TV shows demonize wildlife,” of the Discovery Planet’s animal killing TV show, Yukon Men, I did a little bit of research. The City of Tanana, where the show is filmed, is absolutely not the secluded, dangerous place as the Discovery Channel advertizes. The town has never been “attacked” by bears, wolves, wolverines, lynx, etc., as the show will have you believe. Still, each type of these animals is gunned down for your viewing pleasure.

The City of Tanana (above) is small, no doubt. But it is not a remote outback full of danger.

Above, a TV show character uses an AR-15 semi-automatic (rather than a hunting rifle) to kill a wolf.

Local Alaskans posting in various wilderness and hunting forums are calling Discovery’s ‘Yukon Men’ a joke, full of lies and exploitation. They even make fun of the choices of guns that the characters in the show use (no local hunter, they say, uses an AR-15 to shoot animals in Alaska).

One man wrote that, unlike actual remote villages, the City of Tanana has a burger joint, functioning utilities, and cell phone, internet, and satellite services, making it far from “remote” and hardly dangerous.

I dug around and found other interesting facts that belie the Discovery Channel’s claim that the town is a dangerous remote outback. Tanana has schools, an agricultural extension of the University of Fairbanks, annual foot and dog-sled races, and even family and emergency services provided by the Tanana Chiefs Council (this is in addition to services provided by the State of Alaska).

Indeed, Tanana even has its own airport, with over 3,000 flights per year (see #516). The airport has a webcam, radio towers, and weather stations. This is not remote. Nor are provisions hard to obtain - twice daily a plane lands with food, fuel, mail, visitors, and materials.

Learning from and enjoying the wilderness is one of the greatest privileges we Americans enjoy. Creating a false myth that nature is scary is not what we need, especially now with so many people unhealthy from increasingly sedentary lifestyles. In my opinion, Discovery needs to set the record straight. They need to refocus on educating viewers of the deep importance of our dwindling natural resources. They need to do this rather than exploiting animals and creating fear all for a quick buck.

Discovery Channel, and others like it, make me sick.

Photo

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:01:57 -0800

: What's up with "irony"?

Tue, 21 May 2013 16:26:57 -0800

: What's up with "irony"?:

theyuniversity:

“Irony” is one of the most misunderstood terms in English.

Basically, “irony” is the contrast between expectation and outcome.

Unfortunately, numerous people think that “irony” is the same thing as “funny,” “coincidence,” or “bad timing.” This misunderstanding is due, in part, to the…

Fish tank.

Sat, 18 May 2013 06:32:58 -0800

Fish tank.

Musicians in concert on campus.

Sat, 18 May 2013 05:43:56 -0800

Musicians in concert on campus.

Some rubgy.

Sat, 18 May 2013 04:54:56 -0800

Some rubgy.

Fencer

Sat, 18 May 2013 04:05:52 -0800

Fencer

From the Instagram of official student photographer J.R....

Sat, 18 May 2013 03:16:46 -0800

From the Instagram of official student photographer J.R. Ancheta.

Posted to Facebook by Alaska Village Electric Corporation. From...

Sat, 18 May 2013 02:27:49 -0800

Posted to Facebook by Alaska Village Electric Corporation.

From the village of Ekwok:

“Went goose hunting the other day. I took my two sons with me. Zech in the photo was the man of the bunch. He carried his 410 all day. He watched his dad and brother Josh shoot continually at high fliers, all day long. Zech never whined once. I would ask Zech how ya doing. At 8 years old he said its better then sitting in the house. Zech can barely shoulder the 410. He tucks it under his arm aims the best that he can. He misses but I give him nothing but praise, nice shot Zech and we high five. He says he missed but I tell him everyone misses. We bagged 15 geese that day. On the way down river we would jump ducks. I had Zech in the front of the boat with his 410. I knelt by him telling him to get ready some ducks are going to jump, and they did, Zech shot he missed, but boy was it fun to kneel by your 8 yr. old son and talk him through it. Was worth a day off.”

Commencement 2013

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:38:22 -0800

Commencement 2013

Cold, harsh and beautiful (by Alessio Gusmeroli)

Sat, 18 May 2013 00:49:28 -0800

Cold, harsh and beautiful (by Alessio Gusmeroli)

polarbearsinternational: Siku and Smilla getting to know each...

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:50:49 -0800

copyright Hilmer & Koch Naturephotography

copyright Hilmer & Koch Naturephotography

copyright Hilmer & Koch Naturephotography

polarbearsinternational:

Siku and Smilla getting to know each other at the Scandinavian WIldlife Park.

Snowing in Fairbanks. Here’s some Miike Snow.

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:50:00 -0800

Snowing in Fairbanks. Here’s some Miike Snow.

Unicyle in the winter on campus.

Fri, 17 May 2013 07:52:56 -0800

Unicyle in the winter on campus.

Rocket launch at the UAF managed Poker Flat research range.

Fri, 17 May 2013 06:45:32 -0800

Rocket launch at the UAF managed Poker Flat research range.

Ballin’. Volleyball style.

Fri, 17 May 2013 05:38:00 -0800

Ballin’. Volleyball style.

Throwing boiling water off the Greuning Building at forty below...

Fri, 17 May 2013 04:30:32 -0800

Throwing boiling water off the Greuning Building at forty below zero.

Legislative recognition for student radio station KSUA winning...

Fri, 17 May 2013 03:22:58 -0800

Legislative recognition for student radio station KSUA winning the mtvU Woodie Award for favorite college station.

Four hours of commencement ceremony in about 1 minute.

Fri, 17 May 2013 02:15:57 -0800

Four hours of commencement ceremony in about 1 minute.