It’s only been a month since Theresa Brown, through Yarducopia, started the Free Farm Stand that is held in Fairview on Tuesdays and in Spenard on Wednesdays. Over that time, they have received 7,000 pounds of donated produce from farmers and local gardeners alike. With that they have been able to feed over 600 families.
Theresa proclaims, “Our goal is not just to capture abundance and excess and give it to those who need it, but to inspire people to fall in love with vegetables.”
But to almost all involved, this stand is more than just the free food.
Lindsey Hajduk with NeighborWorks Alaska shares, “It’s really heartwarming, but it’s also really powerful. Seeing people come together and treat each other with a lot of respect and dignity and care.”
This stand has a lot of support, with backing from Anchor Gardens, Alaska Community Action on Toxics, and Neighborworks Alaska. But more importantly than all of that is the support of local gardeners and farmers. Such as VanderWeele Farm, which donated 1,250 potatoes to the stand on Monday. Theresa also wanted to highlight Rempel Family Farm, Glacier Valley Farm, and Bergey Family Farm for their contributions as well.
One community member told Your Alaska Link that this stand is a sign of where the community of Fairview is headed, that it is a sign of a brighter future, for not only the neighborhood, but for the families who live there as well.
A future now full of plentiful, tasty, locally grown vegetables.
Vice President of the Fairview Community Council, Allen Kemplen, exclaims, “It’s free and people come by and pick up some fresh veggies and they say, ‘Oh! I like this, this is good!’”
While this is the last week for these free farm stands in Fairview and Spenard this year, rest assured, they will be back next year with a new bushel of crops.
