Eli Wray remembers the first time he ate a locally grown tomato, fresh off the vine.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt changed my world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up here, and I had no idea what fresh produce tasted like until I started growing it,\u201d he explained. \u201cI didn\u2019t realize that tomatoes weren\u2019t just sacs of skin and water, fleshy and disgusting.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Eli and his wife, Kylie, stood behind a booth at the Second Saturday Market at the Airport Shopping Center, greeting customers and showing off fresh produce. Dozens of shiny, red homegrown vine-ripened tomatoes filled a basket. Garlic was piled high in a vegetable stand, and red potatoes spilled out of a cornucopia.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you get some potatoes?\u201d Kylie, 26, asked a little girl who crawled under the booth to grab a loose potato, as her mother paid for a bunch of vegetables. \u201cAnd you\u2019re going to carry them yourself? Alright.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s this?\u201d another customer asked, holding up a mason jar of zucchini pickles.<\/p>\n
\u201cActually, it\u2019s my grandma\u2019s recipe,” Eli, 28, answered. \u201cThey\u2019re German sweet, so a lot more tart than a traditional sweet pickle.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Wrays are young entrepreneurs who are breaking into the farming industry in Juneau, a field has a lot of opportunities for commercial growth but also lots of challenges posed by climate. They began growing and selling food under the name of Panhandle Produce about four years ago, and it\u2019s beginning to pick up momentum.<\/p>\n
\u201cI double my production every single year,\u201d Eli said.<\/p>\n
Eli developed a \u201cpassion for plants,\u201d as he put it, from working as a landscaper and gardener for Glacier Gardens, where he still works full-time and where Kylie used to work as well. The owners of Glacier Gardens, Steve and Cindy Bowhay, encouraged Eli to grow tomatoes a few years ago, allowing him to use space in one of their buildings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re an extra set of parents in certain sense,\u201d Kylie said of the Bowhays. \u201cThey\u2019ve really supported our endeavors in us trying to branch out on our own.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the husband-and-wife dynamic, Eli is the one who is more likely \u201cto have his hands in the dirt,\u201d and Kylie handles the marketing, networking and other business matters. They both have big dreams for farming and growing organic, local produce year-round for Juneau.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy vision is a multi-aspect farm,\u201d Eli said. Half of the business would be growing hydroponically year-round (i.e. growing plants without soil indoors), and the other half would be growing seasonal organics in a greenhouse, both outdoors and old-frame.<\/p>\n
\u201cTraditional farming in Southeast Alaska will not feed our community,\u201d he said. \u201cThe only way to feed our community is hydroponic growing or greenhouse growing, and climate controlled growing.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s doing both right now on a small scale. In the summertime, he uses the Glacier Gardens Landscape Nursery greenhouse to hydroponically grow tomatoes, peppers, basil and lettuce. He grows more produce \u2014 cucumbers, cabbages, potatoes, kale, brocolli and cauliflower \u2014 in a cold-frame greenhouse on a separate property, also owned by the Bowhays.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe list is extensive,\u201d he said of his crops, \u201cand I can\u2019t even remember everything I grew this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
They sell their food at Glacier Gardens every Friday evening in the summertime.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a small following,\u201d he said. \u201cI sell out of produce every Friday I sell there.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s also growing hydroponically in his own garage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a little one-car garage, it\u2019s just full of tomatoes right now,\u201d Kylie said.<\/p>\n
They plan of selling their produce all winter at the Second Saturday markets and other events that pop up. One day, though, Eli said he\u2019ll have his own greenhouses, all in one location.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like it\u2019s a pipe dream at a certain point,\u201d he said, mentioning the capital required. \u201cBut I plan on starting out with lettuce and microgreens, and selling almost exclusively to grocery stores, as well as still doing seasonal sales.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another part of the Wrays\u2019 business right now is helping other growers around Southeast Alaska sell their produce.<\/p>\n
\u201cI buy their product at wholesale and sell it at retail, so if they don\u2019t have a venue to sell it, I can sell it for them,\u201d Eli said. \u201cLike the garlic, that came from one of my friends growing on Shelter Island. These big potatoes came from another guy I know in Gustavus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ultimately, the Wrays say, they want to create a business similar to Full Circle Farms \u2014 an organic farm in Washington that works with other organic and family farms and producers, and ships organic, local produce to West Coast states. Except instead of serving the West Coast, they would work with local growers to feed Juneau fresh produce that doesn\u2019t have to be barged in from out of town.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, they are continuing to make connections with other gardeners who are established in Juneau, navigating a new business, and of course, growing fresh food.<\/p>\n
\u201cTomatoes have flavor to them, and cucumbers are really good,\u201d he said. \u201cI wish that everybody that\u2019s in my peer group that grew up here with me would understand how much of a life improvement having good produce is.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Contact Deputy Editor Emily Russo Miller at 523-2263 or emily.miller@juneauempire.com.<\/p>\n
Read more news:<\/strong><\/p>\n Juneau man with multiple myeloma to climb Mount Kilimajaro to raise cancer awareness<\/a><\/p>\n It’s Electric! Panel presents ‘The Case for Electric Vehicles’ in city forum<\/a><\/p>\n