“When I played, I played farm,” Laker recalled. “I didn’t factor in scooping up poop. I just wanted to live in the woods with animals.”
Laker earned a degree in psychology at the University of Wisconsin Madison before heading to Alaska in 1993. Her intention was to visit friends for two weeks but now she can’t imagine living anywhere else. At first she worked as a laborer and electrician and later did odd jobs.
She and her husband Brad Morris were vegetarians for years, and when they began to consider consuming meat again, Laker wanted to be involved in the process. Committed to the idea of knowing exactly where her meat comes from, Laker was determined to experience the life of the animals and be connected to what she was going to eat.
“It was either raise our meat or learn to hunt,” she said.
Once she started raising chickens, people began to ask about buying them. So she raised more chickens, till she is at her maximum of 400.
Even with that she still has a waiting list. This year in March when Laker sent an email announcement to customers that she’d had to raise prices due to increased costs of feed and supplies she feared her business would suffer. Within 30 minutes all orders were filled. “I could raise thousands to keep up with the demand but I want to keep it small.”
One caveat is that anyone who purchases birds from Laker helps out at butchering time. “Everybody seems to enjoy it,” Laker said. Having a plucking machine to remove feathers makes the job easier.
She even shows others how to raise their own chickens. “One friend told me I am converting hunters to farmers,” she said. Besides chickens, she also raises pigs, goats and turkeys and keeps a family garden.
Her Goldstream Valley location is 40 acres of black spruce and tundra so she must purchase feed for all the animals. Because she wanted the birds to have more freedom she got rid of pens and created a range system with moveable electric net fencing, allowing six square feet of space per bird. “I like watching chickens be chickens, flapping their wings, running around and bathing in the dirt,” she said. “We call it chicken TV at our house.”
Laker loves working outdoors, knowing how her food is grown and being around cool animals all the time. One drawback is that it’s hard to get away from the responsibilities of the farm. “And I’m always worried,” she said.
She combats her fears by relentlessly seeking the latest information about raising chickens. “I love hearing what other people are doing,” she said.
Her favorite method is to grow them slowly. A bird designed to mature at seven or eight weeks will live nine weeks at Quackmire, which Laker believes is healthier. Her preferred breed is the Cornish Cross. “They’re not pretty but I chose the bird that provides the most amount of meat and it’s docile.”
A crucial element when raising animals is water, and Laker has figured out a way to make getting good water to her critters less labor intensive by setting up an automatic, low pressure, gravity fed watering system. “It’s the single best improvement on my farm,” she said.
“I keep trying new things,” Laker said. “I keep doing it and getting better at it. I have to prove to myself that I can raise hundreds of birds, some pigs and goats and still take the kids camping, fishing and for play dates. I have to see how much I can fit in.” Other things she manages to find time for are dog mushing, biking, skiing and snowmachining.
Her goals are to simply keep doing what she is doing, as long as it is economically feasible and her children don’t start to hate farming.
“This is my childhood dream but it may not be theirs,” Laker said.
This column is provided as a service by the UAF School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences and the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. Nancy Tarnai is the school and station’s public information officer. She can be reached at ntarnai@alaska.edu.
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