Alaska has developed a reputation for growing amazing peonies and being one of the only places in the world where peonies bloom in late June, July and August, during peak wedding season. There is a booming floriculture industry in Alaska and many large peony farms ship their flowers all over the world to top floral designers. At Mountain Field Farm, we planted our first hopeful peony fields in the fall of 2018, when we had only just begun our journey of trying to save our family farm. Those first fields of peonies were finally mature enough to harvest in 2022.

Over the past few years we have begun experimenting with growing other flowers, including dahlias, sunflowers, ranunculus, anemones and dozens of cut flower varieties. We found that peonies were not the only flowers that love Alaska’s soil and summer sun. Anemones and ranunculus for instance, bloom profusely on strong, tall sturdy stems, well past when they have stopped blooming in other grower’s locations. We now experiment with growing different varieties of cut flowers every summer. If our experiments are a success, we start more of those varieties for the next season. Most of these flowers we sell to our local floral designers, who are used to having to ship flowers to Alaska from far flung locales. Our flowers are fresher, beautiful and have a much longer vase life, as well as being sustainable and local.

The vegetables we grow to sell at Farmersdottir are also grown organically. We have over 30 beehives and our bees feast on organic flowers and fields of wild fireweed and go on to create outstanding honey, which we also sell at Farmersdottir. In the process, we provide a healthy habitat for all pollinators.

At the farm we also compost, have a robust recycling system, practice repurpose and reuse in decorating, building and construction. We are trying to cut down on our use of plastic, but it can be difficult because the weeds also love our soil and midnight sun! We’re always working to improve and learn from our mistakes.