Pauline Plumb and Penny Saddler carry vegetables grown by fellow gardeners during the 29th Annual Juneau Community Garden Harvest Fair on Saturday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Pauline Plumb and Penny Saddler carry vegetables grown by fellow gardeners during the 29th Annual Juneau Community Garden Harvest Fair on Saturday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Soil smarts produce a bountiful crop

Growers and buyers share the dirt at 29th Annual Juneau Community Garden Harvest Fair.

It was a healthy harvest for Doreen Prieto after she’d already brought in her crops, winning six blue ribbons for her herbs Saturday during the 29th Annual Juneau Community Garden Harvest Fair with a well-plotted strategy.

“I went for herbs because herbs do really well and I wanted to find a way to win,” she said, adding she also saw few herbs being judged at last year’s harvest fair.

Doreen Prieto and Bobbi Mitchell examine an “octopus on the hook” root vegetable that was the youth grand prize winner at the 29th Annual Juneau Community Garden Harvest Fair on Saturday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Doreen Prieto and Bobbi Mitchell examine an “octopus on the hook” root vegetable that was the youth grand prize winner at the 29th Annual Juneau Community Garden Harvest Fair on Saturday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Prieto was standing near her herbs admiring another winning entry — an “octopus on the hook” root vegetable with tentacle-like stems splayed out beneath it that was the youth grand prize winner — under a shelter at the Juneau Community Garden where dozens of other winning vegetables, fruits and flowers were on long tables for hundreds of attendees to admire — and occasionally be startled at.

“I’ve never seen purple cauliflower and peas before,” said Allena Valentine, who said her gardening experience is limited to admiring what her mother grows in her yard, taking a picture of a cauliflower that might raise concerned eyebrows without assurances that is indeed its intended color.

The event that started late Saturday morning featured a farmers’ market with fresh produce, pickled and canned edibles, and a concession area serving soups and other items made with garden ingredients. There was also music, marshmallow roasts around a campfire and prize giveaways — although experienced folks who came for the freshest food knew to arrive right at the 11 a.m. start.

“Because this is the only harvest day of the year you try not to miss it,” said Penny Saddler, who along with fellow gardener Pauline Plumb were hauling bags filled with items such as carrots, leeks, chives and garlic while waiting for their own produce to reach peak form.

Caroline Hamp, Teddy White, 1, and Billie White, 2, eat a lunch of soup, salad and baked goods made largely with locally grown items during the 29th Annual Juneau Community Garden Harvest Fair on Saturday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Caroline Hamp, Teddy White, 1, and Billie White, 2, eat a lunch of soup, salad and baked goods made largely with locally grown items during the 29th Annual Juneau Community Garden Harvest Fair on Saturday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Residents with plots at the community garden said it’s generally been a good year, if not completely consistent, for their crops. Michelle Workman, whose granddaughter Alivia, 4, was roasting marshmallows, said her garden this year consists of garlic, lettuce, rhubarb, lots of flowers, plus carrots that are growing a bit slowly this year.

On the other hand, “the zucchini are doing great,” she said. “We can’t give those away fast enough.”

Workman said she bought some items from fellow gardeners such as rhubarb jam and apple turnovers, but some hoped-for favorites disappeared quickly.

“We were here at 11, but they were out,” she said.

Anita Watts serves soup at the concessions table during the 29th Annual Juneau Community Garden Harvest Fair on Saturday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Anita Watts serves soup at the concessions table during the 29th Annual Juneau Community Garden Harvest Fair on Saturday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Among the edibles going quickly were two types of soup, muffins and scones, a barley/black bean salad, and drinks being sold to a line of attendees near the entrance of the community garden. Cynthia Krehbiel, the harvest fair’s event coordinator, said a crew of four made the soups the day before trying to maximize the items from their harvest.

“It’s an amazing amount of food,” she said. “We’ve got to figure out a way to serve it.”

A potato-leek-garlic soup that had a higher ratio of locally grown ingredients seemed to be selling faster than a sausage and white bean counterpart.

“I was just thinking the potato-leek soup is the best I’ve ever had,” said Caroline Hamp, sitting on the grass near the concession shelter with her daughter, Billie White, 2, and son, Teddy White, 1, who were passing a rhubarb muffin between them.

“We just thought it was a very good way to spend a Saturday, especially without the rain,” Hamp said.

Bruce Weeks tries a drink of water flavored with produce during the 29th Annual Juneau Community Garden Harvest Fair on Saturday. Charmaine (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Bruce Weeks tries a drink of water flavored with produce during the 29th Annual Juneau Community Garden Harvest Fair on Saturday. Charmaine (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

The four-acre community garden founded in 1990 is prominent among local greenthumbs with 168 plots and 29 small beds for climbing plants, vacancies for which are hard to come by. Other community gardens have sprouted up in town, including one during the past year in Thane where Bruce and Charmaine Weeks have a plot. But they still showed up and came away with a bountiful collection of fresh, baked and preserved foods.

“We love the harvest fair,” she said. “Our carrots aren’t ready. We don’t have any garlic and the harvest fair has the best garlic.”

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.

Winning entries are displayed on a table during the 29th Annual Juneau Community Garden Harvest Fair on Saturday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Winning entries are displayed on a table during the 29th Annual Juneau Community Garden Harvest Fair on Saturday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

More in News

The Norwegian Bliss arrives in Juneau on Monday, April 14, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire file photo)
Ships in port for the week of May 12

This information comes from the Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska’s 2024 schedule.… Continue reading

Legislators and staff huddle to discuss adjustments to a final compromise spending plan during a budget conference committee meeting on Sunday at the Alaska State Capitol. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
$1,000 PFD approved by legislative conference committee as part of final compromise state budget

Lower-than-expected oil prices results in lowest inflation-adjusted dividend since payouts began in 1982.

Juneau Assembly members hear a report from Eaglecrest Ski Area leaders during a Finance Committee meeting on Wednesday, May 14, 2025, at City Hall. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)
Juneau Assembly taking on pretty much the entire town with 59-item agenda Monday night

Items include mutitude of projects, faster release of police bodycams, stopping Mendenhall Glacier from being sold.

The Alaska House of Representatives is seen in action on Monday, May 5, 2025. (James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
Republican opposition kills bill intended to fix Alaska’s absentee voting problems

Senate Bill 64 passed the Senate this week, but the House doesn’t have enough time to address it, legislators said.

Fu Bao Hartle (center), a Juneau Special Olympics athlete, crosses a bridge with family and supporters during the annual Alaska Law Enforcement Torch Run on Saturday, May 17, 2025. (Ellie Ruel / Juneau Empire)
Community spirit shines at Juneau’s Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics

Energy was high at race to fundraise to send Juneau’s athletes to Anchorage Summer Games.

The Alaska State Capitol is seen behind a curtain of blooming branches on Saturday, May 17, 2025. (James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
Most state services will see no new funding in final Alaska state budget draft

Flat funding, combined with inflation, will mean service cuts in many places across the state.

Steve Whitney (left) is sworn in as a Juneau Board of Education member by Superior Court Judge Amy Mead in the library at Thunder Mountain Middle School on Saturday, May 17, 2025, after five candidates were interviewed by the other board members to fill the seat vacated when Will Muldoon resigned last month. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Steve Whitney returns to Juneau school board six years after departure to temporarily fill vacant seat

Fisheries manager and parent selected from among five candidates to serve until October’s election.

A used gondola purchased from an Austrian ski resort is seen as the key to Eaglecrest Ski Area’s year-round operations and a secure financial future. (Eaglecrest Ski Area photo)
Board chair: Eaglecrest’s gondola pushing limits of 2028 completion deadline under Goldbelt agreement

Company can nix $10M deal if work not finished on project ski area calls vital to its financial future.

Two spawning pink salmon head upstream in shallow water in Cove Creek in Whittier on Aug. 5, 2024. While last year’s pink salmon runs and harvests were weak, big increases are expected this year. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Alaska officials forecast improvements for the state’s commercial salmon harvest

Total catch is projected to be twice the size of last year’s weak harvest.

Most Read