July 16, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• Eight fun facts about Saturday’s first Sitka Farmers Market

1. The first of five scheduled Sitka Farmers Markets this summer takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 18, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall on Katlian Street.

2. More than 20 local vendors will be selling fresh veggies, fish, art and more.

3. The Gajaa Heen Dancers will be selling fry bread as a fundraising project for the group. Other ready-to-eat food includes black cod, crepes and fresh oysters.

4. Live music will be provided by the Sitka Blues Band inside the hall. Also, an open jam session will take place under a tent outside — all musicians are welcome.

5. Registered participants in the state’s Women, Infants and Children (WIC) supplemental nutrition program can exchange $5 vouchers for fresh produce from one of several approved stands. The Sitka Farmers Market is the first market in Southeast Alaska authorized to process WIC vouchers.

6. The children’s craft activity this market focuses on healthy eating and is called “eating by the colors.” Please bring the kids!

7. Creating the Sitka Farmers Market was selected by Sitka residents as a top community health priority at the 2008 Sitka Health Summit.

8. This event is sponsored by the Sitka Local Foods Network, Alaska Native Brotherhood/Alaska Native Sisterhood, Baranof Island Housing Authority, Sitka Conservation Society, the Alaska Farmers Market Association and the SEARHC Health Promotion and Diabetes Prevention programs.

Musicians play in the jam session tent

Grilling black cod collars from the Alaska Longline Fisherman's Association

July 16, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• ANSWER Camp prepares for 2009 students

ANSWER Camp teachers Adriana Rodriguez, left, Alberta Demantle, Jordan Baumgartner, Collauna Marley and Chohla Moll prepare sockeye salmon for the smoker Wednesday night so it will be ready when the students arrive in Sitka on Friday.

Seventh and eighth grade students from all over Alaska will be arriving in Sitka this week for the 12th annual Alaska Native Student Wisdom Enrichment Retreat, commonly known as ANSWER Camp, a 12-day residential program for Alaska Native students sponsored by the Southeast Regional Resource Center (SERRC) out of Juneau.

Students at the ANSWER Camp stay at Mt. Edgecumbe High School in Sitka for two weeks of intensive science, math and cultural experiences as they explore traditional methods of food preservation. ANSWER Camp takes place from July 17-30, and it is free to the 75-80 students lucky enough to be selected from several rural Alaska communities to participate in the program. A U.S. Department of Education grant pays for the students’ transportation to and from Sitka, their housing and food.

ANSWER Camp makes math and science instruction more meaningful for the students by linking traditional Alaska Native values to western scientific principles. The program prepares middle school students from rural Alaska to enter high school, and it helps make science and math come alive for the students as they learn how even traditional cultural activities such as preserving subsistence foods are affected by science and math.

While the students prepare salmon, they will do tests to see how different brine mixtures affect the taste (chemistry). They also will learn how to preserve berries, seaweed and medicinal plants. The students will learn biology by studying critters, and they will gather different plants to study botany. ANSWER Camp has helped steer many students toward science and health careers later in life.

This is one of several camps in the Sitka area that teach people about traditional foods from Southeast Alaska. The Sitka Native Education Program (SNEP) hosts several events during the summer, as so do Sitka residents John and Roby Littlefield at their Dog Point Fish Camp. The Alaska Native Sisterhood camp in Sitka also hosts traditional foods camps at Dog Point Fish Camp.

Click here for more information about the Alaska Native Student Wisdom Enrichment Retreat, commonly called the ANSWER Camp, sponsored by the Southeast Regional Resource Center (SERRC).

Chohla Moll grabs some sockeye salmon out of the brine mixture so she can hang it in the smoker.

Sockeye salmon hangs from the racks in the smoker.

July 14, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• First Sitka Farmers Market is this Saturday

SitkaFarmersMarketSign

The first of five Sitka Farmers Markets this summer will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Saturday, July 18, at the ANB Hall. The Sitka Blues Band will provide music inside the hall and other local musicians are welcome to join an open jam session outside the hall. The children’s activity focuses on healthy eating and is called “eating by the colors.”

Over 20 local vendors will be on hand to sell, barter or trade fresh vegetables, herbs, teas, flowers, berries, plants, salmon, art and more. Ready-to-eat food includes grilled black cod, crepes, fry bread and more. Additionally, there will be information on home gardening and building your own greenhouse. The Sitka Farmers Market is the first farmers market in Southeast Alaska authorized to accept WIC vouchers.

For more information, contact Linda Wilson at 747-3096.

Checking out the first 2008 Sitka Farmers Market

July 13, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• This week’s e-newsletter

Preparing produce for sale

Here is a link to this week’s Sitka Local Foods Network e-newsletter from Linda Wilson. There are notes about the first Sitka Farmers Market of the season on Saturday, and about an open house held Sunday afternoon at Florence Welsh’s Forget-Me-Not Gardens.

Click here for this week’s e-newsletter (July 12 edition)

July 10, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• Food booths need permits for Sitka Farmers Markets

SitkaFarmersMarketSign

Those vendors who plan to prepare and serve food at this year’s Sitka Farmers Markets must obtain a temporary food service permit from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s Food Safety and Sanitation program office at 901-C Halibut Point Road in Sitka.

By regulation, if the application is submitted after Monday, July 13, the fees are doubled. Applications are available in an envelope attached to the door at the ADEC office. Call Greg Johnstone at 747-8614 if you have any questions or need to get a permit.

Due to the danger of botulism, and other health considerations, only a certified commercial processor can sell canned foods. NO home canned goods are allowed, except for jams and jellies. All vendors selling prepared foods at the market MUST have a food handling permit.

The ANB Hall kitchen is a certified commercial kitchen and will be available for vendor use. The kitchen will be open at 7:30 a.m. the morning of each market. If you know that you will need it, please reserve the oven by calling Linda Wilson at 747-3096 or sending an e-mail to lawilson87@hotmail.com. Please be aware there will be a number of people using the kitchen at the same time, so you will need to be prepared to share space.

Click here for a detailed guide to safe food handling.

WaitingForCrepes

July 10, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• Movie ‘Eating Alaska’ to be shown July 16

The publicity poster for the movie Eating Alaska

The movie, “Eating Alaska,” will be shown at 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 16, at the Kettleson Memorial Library in Sitka. The movie is free. “Eating Alaska” is a documentary movie by Sitka filmmaker Ellen Frankenstein about how Alaskans make their food choices. In addition to the movie, other Sitka residents will be on hand to discuss the harvesting and drying of seaweed, local medicinal plants, wild edibles and cultivating wild plants.

Click here to go to the “Eating Alaska” movie Web site.

July 6, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• Sitka to host five farmers markets in 2009

SitkaFarmersMarketSign

Sitka to host five farmers markets in 2009

The Sitka Local Foods Network will host a series of five Sitka Farmers Markets this summer on alternate Saturdays starting July 18. These markets will give Sitka residents a chance to buy and sell locally produced food and crafts.

The Sitka Farmers Markets take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on July 18, Aug. 1, 15, 29 and Sept. 12, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall and the adjacent Baranof Island Housing Authority-owned parking lot (between the waterfront and Katlian Street). The markets feature local seafood (fresh, frozen and cooked and ready to eat), locally grown and harvested fruits and vegetables, live entertainment, locally brewed and roasted coffee, kids’ activities, music, local arts and crafts, and a variety of other items gathered or made in Sitka. We emphasize local products and lots of fun.

“In 1970 there were only 340 farmers markets in America, and by 2006 there were more than 4,385. I think this dramatic growth is attributed to the many layers of social and economic benefits these markets offer,” said Doug Osborne, a health educator at the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC). “Last year, several participants said Sitka’s markets were among the highlights of their summer.”

Sitka Farmers Market Co-Coordinator Kerry MacLane has participated as a vendor at many public markets over the last 20 years. He said, “Farmers markets are a great place to spend a Saturday morning with your neighbors, enjoying healthy and tasty local produce, hot coffee and fresh-cut flowers. The Sitka Farmers Markets also are great for people who want to sell and eat locally caught fish.”

The Sitka Farmers Market started as a community project from the 2008 Sitka Health Summit. This event is sponsored by the Sitka Local Foods Network, Alaska Native Brotherhood/Alaska Native Sisterhood, Baranof Island Housing Authority, Sitka Conservation Society, the Alaska Farmers Market Association and the SEARHC Health Promotion and Diabetes Prevention programs.

Vendor fees are just $5 per market, with both indoor and outdoor table options available. We are the first farmers market in Southeast to accept WIC coupons. To learn more or to sign up for a table, contact Sitka Farmers Market Co-Coordinator Linda Wilson at 747-3096 evenings or e-mail lawilson87@hotmail.com.

July 6, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• SEARHC, Cooperative Extension host free garden workshops

BobGormanSeedStarts

(Photo — Master gardener Bob Gorman shows off germinating seed starts during a free garden workshop in March. He will lead another workshop on July 8.)

SEARHC, Cooperative Extension host free garden workshops

Do you want to grow some of your own food this summer, so you can have more fresh food choices and eat healthier dinners? Then the third in a continuing series of garden workshops is for you.

The SEARHC Diabetes and Health Promotion programs have teamed up with master gardener Bob Gorman of the Sitka office of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service to offer a series of four free garden workshops during the summer of 2009. The remaining workshops take place from 1:30 to 3 p.m. on Wednesday, July 8, and Wednesday, Sept. 9.

These classes will be hosted at the SEARHC Community Health Services Building third-floor conference room in Sitka, but other communities will join by video or audioconference from the SEARHC Juneau Administration Building Conference Room, the SEARHC Jessie Norma Jim Health Center in Angoon, the Haines Borough Library, the SEARHC Kake Health Center and the SEARHC Alicia Roberts Medical Center in Klawock.

“Even though summer hasn’t fully arrived, people still have a lot they can do in this year’s growing season,” said Maybelle Filler, SEARHC Diabetes Grant Coordinator. “Southeast Alaska is unique in its growing conditions, and it’s great that the SEARHC Diabetes and Health Promotion programs can partner with the Sitka office of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service to provide information on growing things in our area.”

The first two workshops in the four-workshop series were March 11 and May 6. The topics for the two remaining workshops are:
* July 8 — Gathering and pest management.
* Sept. 9 — Late-winter plantings, trees and shrubs; house plants and indoor gardening; and winterizing your garden.

For more information about this series of free workshops, contact SEARHC Diabetes Grant Coordinator Maybelle Filler at 966-8739 or maybelle.filler@searhc.org. People who aren’t able to attend at one of the listed video or audeoconferencing sites, should contact Maybelle for other options. Maybelle also has extra copies of the handouts for those who miss any of the garden workshops.