food security

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Sitka wins top market in Alaska honors for third straight year in American Farmland Trust Farmers Market Celebration

The Sitka Farmers Market was the top market in Alaska and ninth in the Pacific region during the American Farmland Trust‘s Farmers Market Celebration voting that ended earlier this week. This was the 11th year of the contest.

This is the third straight year the Sitka Farmers Market has been the top market in Alaska, and fifth time in six years. The contest uses online voting, but each email address is only allowed to vote once so people can’t stuff the ballot box. Voting opened in June and ended earlier this week.

“We have a small market compared to others around the country, but I’m happy the people who visit our market think enough of it to recommend it in this contest,” said Charles Bingham, board president of the Sitka Local Foods Network which sponsors the Sitka Farmers Market. “We thank everybody who came to one of our markets this summer and supported more local food in Sitka and Southeast Alaska.”

The Sitka Farmers Market also was listed on the Guide To Exceptional Markets from the Certified Naturally Grown program this summer.

This year the People’s Choice Award (the only national award this year) went to the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market of Troy, N.Y. Finishing second in the People’s Choice competition was the Coventry Farmers Market (Conn.), followed by the West Windsor Community Farmers Market (N.J.) in third place, the Charlottesville City Market (Va.) in fourth, and the Williamsburg Farmers Market (Va.) in fifth place.

The top market in the Pacific region was the Kaka’ako Farmers Market of Honolulu, Hawai’i. In second place was the Kailua Town Farmers Market of Kailua, Hawai’i, followed by the Moscow Farmers Market (Idaho) in third, the Olympia Farmers Market (Wash.) in fourth, and the Albany Farmers Market (Ore.).

Sitka was the top Alaska market in ninth place. The other Alaska markets to make the top 50 in the Pacific region were the Homer Farmers Market in 18th place and the Soldotna Saturday Farmers Market in 45th place.

The other regional winners were the Flint (Mich.) Farmers Market in the Midwest, the Troy (N.Y.) Waterfront Farmers Market in the Northeast, the Charlottesville (Va.) City Market in the Southeast, and the City of Dripping Springs (Texas) Farmers Market in the Southwest.

The last Sitka Farmers Market of the summer was on Saturday, Sept. 21, but the Sitka Local Foods Network will have a SLFN farm stand with fresh produce from St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm at the 25th annual Running of the Boots costumed fun run fundraiser on Saturday, Sept. 28, at Totem Square park. Registration opens at 10:30 a.m., the costume contest is about 11, and the race starts at 11:30 a.m. The entry fee is $10 for individuals, $30 for families. This event benefits the Sitka Local Foods Network and Youth Advocates of Sitka.

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Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association hosts annual Alaska Day smoked seafood competition

Do you have a favorite smoked seafood recipe? Bring a small sample of your smoked seafood to the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA) Open House and Smoked Seafood Contest.
Please drop off your smoked seafood contest entry at 9:30 a.m. on Alaska Day (Friday, Oct. 18) and be entered to win one of three prizes. All are welcome from 10 a.m. to noon at the new ALFA office at 304 Baranof Street (the old Island Institute building near Market Center). Start your Alaska Day Celebration with music, door prizes, black cod tips and other treats.
Contact Willow Moore with any questions at 747-3400.
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Scenes from the seventh and final Sitka Farmers Market of the 2019 summer

PHOTO COURTESY OF SITKA LOCAL FOODS NETWORK
TABLE OF THE DAY: Sitka Farmers Market volunteer Hannah Green, right, presents the Table of the Day award to Brittany Dumag, left, and Kathy Dumag, center, of Castaway during the seventh and final Sitka Farmers Market of the 2019 summer season, held Sept. 21, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Founders Hall. Brittany and Kathy sold Cubano pork sandwiches with salad and banana chips and pozole pork and hominy soup. They received a certificate, a Sitka Farmers Market tote bag, a Redoubt Rhubarb sweatshirt, a Redoubt Rhubarb t-shirt, some carrots, beets and apples from St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm, a jar of Evie’s Brinery fermented food, a bag of Chugach Chocolates birched hot chocolate, and some Barnacle Foods kelp salsa. The Sitka Farmers Market recently was listed on the Exceptional Markets list by the Certified Naturally Grown program. This was the last Sitka Farmers Market of the summer, but there will be a Sitka Local Foods Network farm stand at the Running of the Boots event on Sept. 28 at Totem Square park. For more information, go to http://www.sitkalocalfoodsnetwork.org, or like our Sitka Local Foods Network page on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/SitkaLocalFoodsNetwork, and our Sitka Farmers Market page on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/SitkaFarmersMarket.

Even though it was raining, there was a big crowd for the seventh and final Sitka Farmers Market of the season on Saturday, Sept. 21, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Founders Hall.

Even though this is the latest in the summer we’ve hosted a Sitka Farmers Market we still had lots of produce, and this time we had some extra produce left at the end of the market that was donated to the Salvation Army soup kitchen. Our vendors had a wide range of other products for sale, too. We had vendors selling Indian tacos and frybread; home-baked bread; jarred smoked seafood; homemade caramels; garlic, lettuce, carrots and other produce; packaged seaweed; arts and crafts; and more. And this year we introduced a couple of new Alaska Grown product lines at the Sitka Local Foods Network’s farm stand.

Mark Saturday, Sept. 28, on your calendar for the 25th annual Running of the Boots fundraiser (and farm stand) at Totem Square Park. This is a costumed fun run fundraiser for the Sitka Local Foods Network and Youth Advocates of Sitka. Registration opens at 10:30 a.m., with costume judging about 11 a.m. and the race at 11:30 a.m. The entry fee is $10 for individuals, $30 for families. In addition, we will have the last Sitka Local Foods Network farm stand of the summer, and the Smoothie Truck should be there. There will be door prizes and live music. This event is part of the Greater Chamber of Commerce’s End-Of-Season Celebration, with hamburgers and hot dogs for a small donation and closed-off streets downtown.

A slideshow of scenes from the seventh and final Sitka Farmers Market of 2019 is posted below.

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Scenes from the Sitka Kitch’s class, ‘Bees, Pollinators, and Honey, Oh, My!’

Students at the free Sitka Kitch class, “Bees, Pollinators, and Honey, Oh, My!” on Friday, Sept. 20, learned about the importance of bees in pollinating local plants.

The class was taught by former Sitka resident Christi (Wuerker) Henthorn, who now lives in North Carolina and runs 20 or so bee hives as a side business. Christi also taught the students some basics about beekeeping and some of the challenges faced by bees from chemicals and urban growth. After the class the students had a chance to taste a wide variety of honey types from when the bees are near certain types of plants.

Adrienne Wilber, a Sitka resident who started beekeeping this year, attended the class, and Christi showed some of her bees in a jar and a honeycomb from one of Adrienne’s bee boxes.

Some scenes from the class are in a slideshow below. Also, click here for a link to her PowerPoint presentation (as a PDF document) is below.

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Scenes from the Sitka Kitch’s ‘Cooking With Wild Mushrooms’ class on Sept. 13

Students learned how to identify, clean, and cook a variety of wild and cultivated mushrooms during the Sitka Kitch’s “Cooking With Wild Mushrooms” class on Friday, Sept. 13, at the new Sitka Kitch location in the Sitka Lutheran Church. This class was a fundraiser for the Sitka Kitch community rental commercial kitchen.

This class was taught by Beak Restaurant owner/chef Renée Jakaitis Trafton and University of Alaska Southeast Sitka Campus assistant professor Kitty LaBounty, who teaches an annual mushroom identification class at the university in September. After a quick primer on how to identify and clean mushrooms from Kitty, Renée taught students a variety of recipes so they can use their foraged finds.

The next class at the Sitka Kitch is a special free class, “Bees, Pollinators, and Honey, Oh, My!,” from 7-9 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 20, at the Sitka Kitch, which is located inside the Sitka Lutheran Church. This class will be taught by former Sitka resident Christi (Wuerker) Henthorn, who now lives in North Carolina where she keeps bees. Brinnen Carter of the Sitka National Historical Park will assist Christi.

The registration deadline for the bees and pollinators class is 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 18, so register now since space is limited. Even though this class is free, we are asking for people to pre-register so we know how many people are coming.

Most Sitka Kitch classes now cost $40 per person, which is part of our new all-inclusive fee system (you no longer have to pay a class fee to register, then a separate food/supply fee). You can register and pre-pay using credit/debit cards or PayPal on our EventSmart page, http://sitkakitch.eventsmart.com (click on class title). For those wanting to pre-pay with cash or check, please call Chandler O’Connell or Clarice Johnson at Sitka Conservation Society (747-7509) to arrange a payment.

For more information about this class and future classes, contact Jasmine Shaw at 747-9440. We do offer one potential scholarship spot per class for people with limited incomes, so long as we have enough students registered to make the class happen. Contact Chandler at SCS for more details about the scholarship. These classes are fundraisers for the Sitka Kitch.

Students should enter the Sitka Lutheran Church through the back entrance (through the alley off Harbor Drive by the old Bev’s Flowers and Gifts location). The door on the right should be open for students to enter. Please do not park in the church’s back parking lot. Please use the public parking lots off Harbor Drive.

The Sitka Kitch also has a new class cancelation policy. If you register for a class, then find out you can’t attend, please email us at sitkakitch@sitkawild.org and we may be able to help fill your slot through our waiting list. If you cancel from the class at least five days in advance (eg, by Wednesday for a Monday class), you are eligible for a partial refund of your class fee, minus $5 for processing (in this case, $35). If you need to cancel with less than five days advance notice, there is no refund.

A photo slideshow of scenes from the Cooking With Wild Mushrooms class is posted below.

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Sitka Kitch to host free class, ‘Bees, Pollinators, and Honey, Oh, My!’, on Sept. 20

Learn the basics of bees, pollinators and honey in this special, free Sitka Kitch class, which takes place from 7-9 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 20, at the Sitka Kitch community rental commercial kitchen.

Christi Henthorn

This class will be led by former Sitka resident Christi (Wuerker) Henthorn, with assistance from Brinnen Carter of Sitka National Historical Park. The class features a short PowerPoint, a Q&A, and some honey tasting. “I will NOT be focusing on discussing becoming a beekeeper, but will answer questions,” Christi said.

Christi lived in Sitka from 2008-2014, when she worked at SEARHC, and now resides in North Carolina, surrounded by BEES!  Although just a side gig, she currently manages 20-plus hives and is very active with the Granville County Beekeepers Association.  Christi is currently working on her Master Beekeeper Certificate through the North Carolina State Beekeepers Association and enjoys talking about bees and pollinators to pretty much anyone who will listen.

Even though this is a free class, we ask people to pre-register so we have an idea how many people plan to attend.

For those who haven’t been to the Sitka Kitch since we moved last year, we now are located in the Sitka Lutheran Church kitchen. Please enter through the back entrance, through the alley off Harbor Drive that runs next to the former location of Bev’s Flowers & Gifts. Please use public street parking and don’t use the small parking lot immediately behind the church.

For more details, contact Chandler O’Connell at 747-7509 or Jasmine Shaw at 747-9440.

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Sitka Farmers Market ranks seventh in PNW, first in Alaska, in early standings from the 11th annual American Farmland Trust Farmers Market Celebration

The American Farmland Trust (AFT) released some early standings on Tuesday, Sept. 10, from the 11th annual AFT Farmers Market Celebration, and the Sitka Farmers Market ranks seventh in the Pacific Northwest and first in Alaska.

The Farmers Market Celebration is a contest where supporters cast their votes online for their favorite markets, and the contest runs through Friday, Sept. 20. The Sitka Farmers Market — a project of the Sitka Local Foods Network — was the top market from Alaska in 2018 and 2017, and took second in 2016. During the final 10 days of the contest, we encourage you to go online and recommend the Sitka Farmers Market. The Sitka Farmers Market also is on the Guide To Exceptional Markets from the Certified Naturally Grown program.

This is the first year the contest has compiled regional standings (before there were only national and state rankings). The Moscow (Idaho) Farmers Market is the top market right now in the Pacific Northwest, followed by the Kaka’ako Farmers Market from Honolulu, Hawaii, and the Olympia Farmers Market from Olympia, Wash.

Besides Sitka in seventh place in the PNW, other Alaska markets in the rankings include the Homer Farmers Market (13th) and the Soldotna Saturday Farmers Market (39th).

The last Sitka Farmers Market of the 2019 summer is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Founders Hall (235 Katlian Street). The Sitka Local Foods Network will host a small farm stand during the 25th annual Running of the Boots costumed fun run fundraiser on Saturday, Sept. 28, at Totem Square Park.

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Scenes from the sixth Sitka Farmers Market of the 2019 summer

PHOTO COURTESY OF SITKA LOCAL FOODS NETWORK
TABLE OF THE DAY: Sitka Farmers Market manager Nina Vizcarrondo, right, presents the Table of the Day award to Nalani James, second from right, her son, Lennox, left, and daughter, Ilima, during the sixth Sitka Farmers Market of the 2019 summer season, held Sept. 7, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Founders Hall. Nalani sold a variety of baked goods, including chocolate chip cookies, lemon bars, muffins with local berries and carrot cake. She received a certificate, a Sitka Farmers Market tote bag, a Sitka Local Foods Network apron, a Redoubt Rhubarb t-shirt, some salad mix, beets and chard from St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm, some taster straws of Bridge Creek Birch Syrup, a Chugach Chocolate candy bar, a jar of Evie’s Brinery fermented food, and some Barnacle Foods kelp salsa. The Sitka Farmers Market recently was listed on the Exceptional Markets list by the Certified Naturally Grown program. The last Sitka Farmers Market is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21, at ANB Founders Hall (235 Katlian St.), plus there will be a Sitka Local Foods Network farm stand at the Running of the Boots event on Sept. 28 at Totem Square park. For more information, go to http://www.sitkalocalfoodsnetwork.org, or like our Sitka Local Foods Network page on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/SitkaLocalFoodsNetwork, and our Sitka Farmers Market page on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/SitkaFarmersMarket.

It was a slow weekend when we held our sixth Sitka Farmers Market of the season on Saturday, Sept. 7, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Founders Hall. We didn’t have as many booths, but there still was steady business at the market.

Now that we’re deeper into the season, we had more produce available than in our earlier markets, and this time we had some extra produce left at the end of the market that was donated to the Salvation Army soup kitchen. Even though is was a smaller market, our vendors had a wide range of other products for sale. We had vendors selling Indian tacos and frybread; home-baked bread; fresh, frozen or jarred seafood; homemade caramels; garlic, lettuce, carrots and other produce; arts and crafts; and more. And this year we introduced a couple of new Alaska Grown product lines at the Sitka Local Foods Network’s farm stand.

The last Sitka Farmers Market takes place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21, at the ANB Founders Hall. Also, mark Saturday, Sept. 28, on your calendar for the 25th annual Running of the Boots fundraiser (and farm stand) at Totem Square Park. We still have room for new vendors at our last farmers market.

To learn how to be a vendor at the market or how to be a volunteer, contact market manager Nina Vizcarrondo at (907) 738-9301 or assistant manager Charles Bingham (907) 623-7660, or email us at sitkafarmersmarket@gmail.com. We also have a kids vendor program at the market for young entrepreneurs age 12 or younger. Don’t forget to like our Sitka Farmers Market page on Facebook.

A slideshow of scenes from the sixth Sitka Farmers Market of 2019 is posted below.

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Scenes from the fifth Sitka Farmers Market of the 2019 summer

PHOTO COURTESY OF SITKA LOCAL FOODS NETWORK
TABLE OF THE DAY: Sitka Farmers Market manager Nina Vizcarrondo, third from left, presents Nancy Furlow, left, Rachel Henderson, second from left, and Grace Larsen, right, of the Alaska Native Sisterhood Camp No. 4 with the Table of the Day award during the fifth Sitka Farmers Market of the 2019 summer season, held Aug. 31, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Founders Hall. ANS Camp No. 4 sold Grace’s frybread and Indian tacos. They received a certificate, a Sitka Farmers Market tote bag, two Sitka Local Foods Network t-shirts, some salad mix from St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm, some taster straws of Bridge Creek Birch Syrup, a Chugach Chocolate candy bar, a jar of Evie’s Brinery fermented food, and some Barnacle Foods kelp salsa. The Sitka Farmers Market recently was listed on the Exceptional Markets list by the Certified Naturally Grown program. The next Sitka Farmers Market is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 7, at ANB Founders Hall (235 Katlian St.). The last market this summer is Sept. 21, plus there will be a Sitka Local Foods Network farm stand at the Running of the Boots event on Sept. 28. For more information, go to http://www.sitkalocalfoodsnetwork.org, or like our Sitka Local Foods Network page on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/SitkaLocalFoodsNetwork, and our Sitka Farmers Market page on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/SitkaFarmersMarket.

It was a busy weekend when we held our fifth Sitka Farmers Market of the season on Saturday, Aug. 31, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Founders Hall. In addition to our farmers market, the Sitka Mermaid Festival and Sitka Seafood Festival had a marketplace at the same time, and the Mudball softball tournament was in full swing.

Now that we’re deeper into the season, we had more produce available than in our earlier markets. But we still ran out of most of our produce fairly early. Still, our vendors had a wide range of other products for sale. We had vendors selling Indian tacos and frybread; home-baked bread; fresh, frozen or jarred seafood; homemade caramels; garlic, lettuce, carrots and other produce; arts and crafts; and more. We also had a food truck outside (Ashmo’s). And this year we introduced a couple of new Alaska Grown product lines at the Sitka Local Foods Network’s farm stand.

The next Sitka Farmers Market takes place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 7, at the ANB Founders Hall. The last market of the season is scheduled for Sept. 21. Also, mark Saturday, Sept. 28, on your calendar for the annual Running of the Boots fundraiser (and farm stand). We still have room for new vendors at our last two farmers markets.

To learn how to be a vendor at the market or how to be a volunteer, contact market manager Nina Vizcarrondo at (907) 738-9301 or assistant manager Charles Bingham (907) 623-7660, or email us at sitkafarmersmarket@gmail.com. We also have a kids vendor program at the market for young entrepreneurs age 12 or younger. Don’t forget to like our Sitka Farmers Market page on Facebook.

A slideshow of scenes from the fifth Sitka Farmers Market of 2019 is posted below.

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Check out the September 2019 edition of the Sitka Local Foods Network newsletter

The Sitka Local Foods Network just sent out the September 2019 edition of its monthly newsletter. Feel free to click this link to get a copy.

This month’s newsletter includes short stories about the 25th annual Running of the Boots costumed fun run fundraiser, info about the last three Sitka Farmers Markets, info about the new Sitka Farmers Market tote bags, a reminder that Aug. 31 is the last day you can update your Pick.Click.Give. donations on your 2019 Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend application, and an invitation to join the Sitka Local Foods Network’s board of directors. Each story has links to our website for more information.

You can sign up for future editions of our newsletter by clicking on the newsletter image in the right column of our website and filling in the information. If you received a copy but didn’t want one, there is a link at the bottom of the newsletter so you can unsubscribe. Our intention is to get the word out about upcoming events and not to spam people. We will protect your privacy by not sharing our email list with others. Don’t forget to like us on Facebook, like our Sitka Farmers Market page on Facebook and follow us on Twitter (@SitkaLocalFoods).