Down To Earth

Gardening in the Last Frontier

About Me

Lori: Sitka, Alaska; I grew up on a farm and always thought that gardening was a chore. When I was in my 30's and we bought our first house I discovered that I loved to garden and it has been a passion ever since. When the Sitka Local Food Network started the Farmer's Market I started to get really excited about producing more vegetables to sell and then I got the idea of starting a u-pick. Sitka is a small town nestled in a small strip of land along the beach at the base of huge mountains so there is no agricultural property here. In fact most lots are about 7000 square feet, so the zoning laws did not allow me to start a commercial enterprise on my residential property. Fortunately the city thought it would be a good thing for the community, so after 6 months of rewriting the zoning law it became possible for anyone in Sitka (except for a few exclusive areas) to start a u-pick garden providing they get a Special Use Permit. The garden opened in June, 2009. It is probably the smallest u-pick garden in the world!