Fox Hollow Peonies , a certify American Grown farm , has its radical in near total cataclysm .
In 2008 , a woods blast threatened to destroy the habitation of Milt and Wanda Haken in Nenana , Alaska , a town of about 400 multitude in the interior of the state , 54 miles from Fairbanks .
Although the flack burned chiliad of acres , the Hakens , along with neighbors and fireman , were able-bodied to save their menage . But they were left with a completely charred landscape painting .
The Hakens slowly cleared the burn dimension , and used the woods to heat their base . But what they were allow with , Wanda says , was “ a large , open field in need of a mission . ”
What once was acreage fire by flame , is now fertile grunge for 5,000 peony plants grown by Fox Hollow Peonies . Photos provided by Fox Hollow Peonies .
The Hakens attain that missionary work in a circuitous mode . Wanda , a schooltime counselor , assist a class at the University of Alaska , Fairbanks , on tie in students to the food they eat by bring agriculture into the classroom . During the class , the head of DoS ’s USDA division was a guest verbalizer who gave an overview of state ’s industry .
“ She tell , ‘ If I had any land right now , I ’d be put in peony , ’ ” Wanda said . “ She say , ‘ paeony are going to be Alaska ’s next gold rushing . ’ ”
The class later go on a tour of North Pole Peonies , one of only three peony growers in the nation ’s inside at the time . It was there that Wanda find out about Alaska ’s recess in the spherical paeony business : The flowers bloomed in July and August , a meter when no one else in the man had peonies for sale .
“ I run home that day and told my hubby , ‘ I recognize what we ’re putting in that force field we cleared . ’
“ Of course , he ’s mister macho man – he ’s a retired constabulary officer , a Teamster – and he says , ‘ We ’re putting in flowers – you ’ve got to be kidding me . ’ ”
The next weekend the university put on a seminar for multitude interested in growing peonies that was led by Patricia Holloway , the plantsman who discovered that peonies could farm in Alaska . Wanda was n’t able-bodied to attend , so she beam Milt .
“ He came home and say , ‘ Yep , that ’s what we ’re kick the bucket to do , ’ ” she pronounce . “ So , we ordered our first root that fall . ”
That was in 2010 . Since then the Hakens have step by step expanded their operation , and they now have 5,000 peony plants and 21 varieties .
Growing peony was n’t a ended stretch for the duet . Both come from generations of farmers in the Midwest and they spent time on relatives ’ farms growing up . Wanda has always had a garden and a glasshouse and had dabbled in selling some produce topically , such as Lycopersicon esculentum .
Still , getting Fox Hollow Peonies off the earth took some trial run and erroneous belief . Their first set of plants had a hard sentence let out through the heavy dirt . Before imbed their next group of root , they reached out to other growers who showed them how to amend the ground to make a good growing surround .
“ We had real good winner with them coming up the second yr , ” she enounce .
For the business side , the Hakens teamed up with other growers in the area to organize a conscientious objector - op – Arctic Alaska Peonies . The Hakens were a founding member of the cobalt - op that now numbers 20 farms . They share marketing exertion , chillers for their flush and negociate for the best lot on transportation and supply .
Wanda is a fellow member of the co - op ’s selling committee and form it a degree to spread the word about Alaska peonies wherever she go .
“ Whenever I travel , I drop a day or two doing nothing but marketing , ” she said . “ I pack materials and go visit all the florist , all the garden centre and wholesalers wherever I am . There are still a lot of people out there who have n’t get word that Alaska has peony in July , August and September . ”
Wanda and her married man Milt have found an unexpected calling as peony growers .
Wanda has spent her career in education but in Fox Hollow Peonies she may have found her true calling . She recalls taking a career interest resume as elderly in gamey shoal and it came back show that she should search the floral industriousness . So focussed was she on becoming a instructor that she imagine that approximation was “ ridiculous ” and “ crazy . ”
see back now , she say the survey probably blame up on her affinity for gardening , her creative streak and the desire to work outside .
“ I just enjoy working with plants , ” she say . “ I ’ve started get redolence for the farmer ’s market here and I reckon that ’s my pet part of the whole affair . ”
For more information : American Grown Flowers916.441.1701[email protected]www.americangrownflowers.org
