Home Gardening: Growing Your Own Food Successfully

Heidi Rader has established herself as a prominent figure in Alaska's agricultural education landscape, serving as a Professor of Extension at the University of Alaska Fairbanks where she directs the Alaska Tribes Extension Program. Her teaching portfolio includes the comprehensive "Growing a Productive, Sustainable Garden in Alaska" course, a 3-credit university class covering everything from botany and soil science to season extension and pest management, offered through UAF's Natural Resources and Environment Department. She has an impressive 15-year tenure teaching the Alaska Master Gardener Online Course and currently offers a free self-paced course "Grow Your Own Food" through AlaskaX. Her educational reach extends beyond traditional classrooms, as she conducts hands-on and virtual gardening workshops across Alaska's villages, particularly in Interior Alaska, through the Tribes Extension Program. Since 2007, she has delivered workshops in nearly 30 rural Alaskan communities, teaching diverse topics including jam making, salmon canning, seed starting, season extension, and grant application processes. Her innovative approach to agricultural education includes developing the Grow & Tell mobile app for citizen scientists to conduct agricultural variety trials, maintaining the "It Grows in Alaska" blog, and creating an extensive series of Alaska Gardening Videos available on YouTube. Her dedication to agricultural education earned her the 2016 Invent Alaska Award from UAF, and she continues to contribute to Alaska's food sovereignty through various educational initiatives and programs.