Farm Spotlight: Alaska Perfect Peony Makes an Impact on Students

Alaska Perfect Peony Makes An Impact on Students

2021. On their own time, the kids took the leftover peonies and made 150 bouquets to take to town to help cheer up from COVID-19. This picture was featured in Floral Daily.

Meet the Farm

Meet Certified American Grown member, Alaska Perfect Peony! Owner, Rita Jo Shoultz and her family arrived in Alaska in 1966, and two years later, they bought their first 14 acres of land in Fritz Creek, Alaska. In 1996, they opened a retail garden center that specialized in over 500 varieties of Alaska-grown flowers and greens.

Ten years later, Alaska Perfect Peony started growing peonies for the cut flower market, and later sold their garden center to focus on that. Now, the farm has grown to 27 acres!  

Alaska Perfect Peony has been a Certified American Grown member for 7 years now, and Rita Jo serves as the chairwoman for our board of directors, helping to unify promotional, marketing and advocacy efforts on behalf of the organization. Together, we’re working to support and ensure the survival and thriving future of American Cut Flower and Foliage farmers.

Learn more about Alaska Perfect Peony’s founding story here.

Making An Impact On Students

Alaska Perfect Peony Student Employees Enjoying Lunch

Not only is Alaska Perfect Peony making an impact in the American Grown Flower and Foliage industry, they are making an impact in the lives of local Fritz Creek students! Twelve years ago, a few neighborhood kids rode their bikes by the farm and asked about job opportunities. Rita Jo said, “Why not?!” In that moment, an opportunity started to blossom into the amazing program they have going strong today.

When Alaska Perfect Peony’s youth hiring program started, the farm was not as big as it is currently, so Rita Jo was available to work right alongside them to show them the ropes. Now as the program has grown over the years, they have employees trained to help the “new kids on the block” when they first get hired on.

The program runs during Alaska’s peony season in the summer and it can last anywhere from 3-6 weeks. Students are eligible to apply after the 8th grade when they’re going into freshman year. Since the program usually serves as their first job, Rita Jo works closely with their parents to ensure everyone is comfortable and allows them to stop by and observe the program in action! Each year, they try to keep the program to seven or eight students—sometimes even up to 10—so it’s small enough that they get hands-on experience and can work closely with Rita Jo and her team. It’s also very important to their team that the program is accessible to those with disabilities. 

Students in the program help out with a multitude of things around the farm, including:

• Helping unload “the flying nun” that brings in a bunch of flowers they’ve cut from the field 
• Loading cut flowers into fast recovery coolers that help get the field heat out
• Taking leaves off the flowers and cutting them for length
• Measuring the buds
• Organizing flowers into appropriate coolers for shipping
• Going out into the field to take off the side buds on peonies 
• Weeding in the fields
• Helping with shipping, inventory and packing 

Students also have the flexibility to pick and choose what they like doing, and the team does their best to accommodate them.

Genevieve (right) started with Alaska Perfect Peony 11 years ago.

When asked how they continue to get students involved, Rita Jo explained that the program has grown and prospered all by word-of-mouth in their local community! Students come back year after year, they tell their friends and parents even get their siblings involved once they reach the age. One of their very first hires in the program—12 years ago—still works for them today as their office manager (which she does on top of her full-time job in a dentist office!).

Through Alaska Perfect Peony’s youth hiring program, they aim to teach kids structure, the responsibility of having their first job and what it means to be a hard worker. Rita Jo talked about how she has seen camaraderie organically form each year with students in the program that have led to lifelong friendships.

“It’s been more rewarding for me than it is for the kids,” said Rita Jo. “I love seeing the kids grow and come back year after year.”

Follow along on Alaska Perfect Peony’s Instagram (you may see some surprise appearances from students in this year’s program!).

Some of our other member farms have incorporated unique employment programs into their operations as well. Scenic Place Peonies, another Certified American Grown Alaskan flower farm, takes pride in the fact that they are a teaching farm. They regularly host college-aged interns and traveling “WWOOFers” (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms). In exchange for food and board, WWOOFers work on organic farms all over the world. This program is an effort to link visitors with organic farmers, promote educational exchange, and build a global community conscious of ecological farming practices. 

Peony season has almost arrived in Alaska! 

A perfect pink peony blooming in the field.

While the rest of the U.S. usually celebrates peony season in the spring/early summer, Alaska’s peony season arrives *fashionably* late! Alaska peonies bloom when fresh cut peonies are not available anywhere else in the world due to the state’s cold soils and cooler weather. This year, Certified American Grown member, Alaska Perfect Peony, will have its season from July through August.

Owner, Rita Jo Shoultz shares some tips about buying and caring for your peonies this season:

1. Get your peony orders in early! 
2. Cleanliness is KEY. Ensure your vase and water is clean.
3. When your peonies first arrive, don’t forget to trim the stems. Cut them diagonally at least one inch from the bottom (this helps them absorb water better).
4. Next, add warm water to your [clean] vase and add the floral preservative that comes with your Alaska Perfect Peonies. 
5. Change out the water every one or two days (using cold water) to keep them fresh longer.

Find even more tips and tricks for how to best care for your peonies this season here, and sign up for our email newsletter to get more flowers and foliage tips and tricks straight to your inbox each month!