OUR STORY
Farming For the Future Generation
Laura and Dwane Ballou farmed in Indiana to provide fresh organic produce and meat for their family. They moved to Alaska in 2011 and to Wrangell in 2017. In 2020, they purchased land with the dream to turn it into a sustainable farm with an eye towards the next generation in their family, the grandkids. Farming in an area with poor soil that had to be trucked in, cold rainy weather, slug and deer pressure and limited resources is a huge challenge. Shipping costs, a short growing season, and working full time jobs add to the adventure.
LABOR OF LOVE
ABOUT OCEANVIEW GARDENS
Oceanview Gardens is a small family farm located in Wrangell, Alaska, where growing food and flowers often means working with the land you have — and sometimes building it yourself.
Our four-acre property didn’t begin as farmland. Years ago it served as a storage site for sawdust and was later capped with rock and clay, leaving us with virtually no soil to grow in. When the local hospital was built, we were able to bring in truckloads of excavated soil and begin the long process of creating productive ground.
Over the years that soil has been sifted to remove rocks and stumps and enriched with compost we produce right here on the farm using wood waste, leaves, crab shells, fish remains, and plant material. Season by season we have slowly built the soil that now grows our vegetables, flowers, and herbs. Even today, soil remains our most limited resource, which means every bed we create and every crop we plant is carefully planned and managed.
In December of 2025, an early winter snowstorm collapsed our three 32' × 100' high tunnels. While this was a significant setback, it has not changed our plans to rebuild and continue expanding what we grow. For the 2026 season this means our vegetable production will be smaller and the season shorter than usual.
Thankfully, our greenhouse came through the storm intact, so our hanging baskets and bedding plants are already in full swing and we look forward to another colorful spring.
Farming in Southeast Alaska requires resilience, creativity, and patience—but we wouldn’t have it any other way.
NO HERBICIDES • NO PESTICIDES • NATURALLY GROWN FLOWERS & VEGETABLES
SUSTAINABLE FARMING
We are working on achieving a sustainable soil microbiology and reducing soil loss. We use cover crops, drip irrigation, and weed barriers to reduce losing our precious soil as it sits on top of the rock/clay bed and is prone to wash from our frequent and heavy rains. Our goal is to achieve no-till agriculture with a healthy soil microbiome using organic fertilizers.