September 20, 2015 by Charles Bingham

• Final classes set for 2015 Sitka Local Foods Network garden mentor program

Tammy O’Neill shows off her garden from the Sitka Local Foods Network’s garden mentoring program. After growing in just one garden bed last year, she added new garden beds this year for her second year of the program.

Tammy O’Neill with her first carrot.

The 2015 gardening season is coming to a close, and the Sitka Local Foods Network garden mentor program is scheduling its final classes of the season to teach novice gardeners how to harvest their produce and winterize their gardens so they are ready for next spring.

So far classes have been set for four of our six garden mentor program students, with the other two TBA. Our four first-year students (A.J. Bastian, Rebecca Kubacki, Breezy and Josephine Dasalla) have been growing lettuce, kale, potatoes and rhubarb, four crops that grow well here in Sitka without a lot of fuss. Our two second-year students (Tammy O’Neill and Anna Bradley) have grown carrots, chard, green onions and peas, four crops that can grow well in Sitka but need a bit more loving care.

In addition to having experienced gardeners mentor them, all six students agreed to allow the classes taught at their garden plots be open to the public. The classes scheduled so far are:

A.J. Bastian, 207 Brady St. — noon, Wednesday, Sept. 23.
Rebecca Kubacki, 1202 Halibut Point Rd. — noon, Tuesday, Sept. 29.
Anna Bradley, 4764 Halibut Point Road, 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 29.
Tammy O’Neill, 2309 Merganser Drive, 1 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 8.

Rebecca Kubacki and her family with their garden.

Our two second-year students had never gardened for food before they started the program. They said they learned a lot and recommend the program to other new gardeners.

“I have so much more confidence and appreciate all the hands-on (help) I received,” O’Neill said, adding that her garden helped her save a lot of money on vegetables. “I don’t think I would have done it without the help and encouragement I had. I now have a network of people I can call to help with any questions or concerns I may have. I love eating local, fresh organic produce.”

After having a successful growing season last year, our returning students and a couple of the new ones had some soil problems this year. The gardens grew well in May and June, but in mid-July the plants seemed to stop growing even though the plants were well-formed. After some soil tests, it was discovered that some of the purchased compost was lower in nutrients than listed and the soil was more alkaline than normal (most soil in Sitka tends to be acidic).

A.J. Bastian and her family with their newly planted garden.

“I learned that mostly the grade of the soil is important,” Bradley said. “We did a lot of work gathering the soil and beach herring, only to have maybe not enough fertilizer. The only thing we did different this year is not put in store bought soil. I look forward to gathering my potatoes and plan to read up more on gardening. Hopefully next year we will be more successful.”

Michelle Putz has been contracted to coordinate the program and design lesson plans, after the Sitka Local Foods Network received a community development grant from First Bank. We also have about a half-dozen experienced Sitka gardeners who serve as mentors for the program. Also, we have started to recruit for 2-3 participants to join next year’s first-year program.

For more information about the garden mentor program, please contact Michelle Putz at 747-2708.

Garden mentor Linda Wilson with Anna Bradley and Anna’s daughter in 2014.

September 18, 2015 by Charles Bingham

• Sitka Local Foods Network receives 2015 Community Impact Grant

The Sitka Local Foods Network has been awarded a 2015 Community Impact Grant from the United Way of Southeast Alaska in the amount of $1,765 to assist with the network’s garden education program.

These funds will be used to create a downtown teaching garden (hopefully at Baranof Elementary School), creating a centralized garden that can be used to teach a variety of garden education classes throughout the year. The United Way of Southeast Alaska awarded Community Impact Grants to 11 Southeast nonprofit organizations in the areas of health, education, and income.

“The Sitka Local Foods Network appreciates the support of the United Way of Southeast Alaska,” said Michelle Putz, a Sitka Local Foods Network board member and member of the network’s education committee. “We look forward to developing a centrally located instructional food garden and a community education program that acts as a center of learning. This garden space will give us a new opportunity to teach local beginner gardeners of different ages how to produce their own food using the garden as an outdoor classroom. Next year we will be able to invite the community and gardeners of Sitka to an open, public location for bi-weekly classes for children and adults throughout the gardening year, focusing on different topics.”

“We always have more demand and requests for funding than we are able to give but in this competitive grant process the Sitka Local Foods Network ranked high in meeting targeted needs in the community,” said Rustan Burton, Chair of United Way of Southeast Alaska. “We are happy to partner with the Sitka Local Foods Network to meet this/these community need(s).”

United Way of Southeast Alaska is an independently governed, non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening lives, helping people, and improving community conditions in Southeast Alaska. United Way of Southeast Alaska and its partner agencies work to create real, lasting change by addressing the underlying causes of problems within our communities. Additionally, United Way of Southeast supports community programs and initiatives that help those in need and also prevent problems from happening in the first place.

The Sitka Local Foods Network’s mission is to increase the amount of locally produced and harvested food in the diets in Southeast Alaskans. To accomplish this, the Sitka Local Foods Network hosts the annual Sitka Farmers Market in the summer, operates the St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm communal garden (which grows produce to sell at the Sitka Farmers Market), and offers a variety of garden and food preservation classes throughout the year (including an innovative garden mentoring project for beginning gardeners).

To learn more about the Sitka Local Foods Network, go to http://www.sitkalocalfoodsnetwork.org/. You also can like our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SitkaLocalFoodsNetwork, and you can follow us on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/SitkaLocalFoods (@SitkaLocalFoods). For more information about the United Way of Southeast Alaska, go to http://www.unitedwayseak.org/

September 14, 2015 by Charles Bingham

• Baranof Elementary students pick veggies they grew at the Russian Bishop’s House garden

CABBAGE PATCH KIDS — Baranof Elementary School first-grader Alice Ann Ricketts, 6, carries a cabbage out of the Russian Bishop’s House garden Friday, Sept. 11, 2015. First-graders were harvesting the vegetables they planted last spring when they were kindergartners during the annual event. Teachers and students were planning on making a soup with their harvested vegetables. (Daily Sitka Sentinel Photo by James Poulson, this photo appeared on Page 1 of the Monday, Sept. 14, 2015, edition)

September 14, 2015 by Charles Bingham

• Scenes from the sixth and final Sitka Farmers Market of the 2015 summer

Sitka Farmers Market Assistant Manager Francis Wegman-Lawless, left, and Sitka Farmers Market Manager Debe Brincefield, right, present the Table Of The Day Award to Kerry MacLane, second from left, and his Sitka’s Blackcod Collars helpers Autumn Mayo, center, and Ilona Mayo, second from right, at the sixth and final Sitka Farmers Market of the 2015 summer on Saturday, Sept. 12, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Founders Hall in Sitka. MacLane is a regular participant at the Sitka Farmers Market with his grilled blackcod collars/tips served over rice with beach asparagus, kale, and other greens for a garnish. This was the eighth year of Sitka Farmers Markets, hosted by the Sitka Local Foods Network. While the Sitka Farmers Markets are over for 2015, the Sitka Local Foods Network will host a produce booth at the Running of the Boots on Saturday, Sept. 26, near St. Michael’s Russian Orthodox Church. The Running of the Boots is a costumed fun run fundraiser for the Sitka Local Foods Network, where people run a short race in their XtraTufs (aka Sitka Sneakers). Registration opens at 10 a.m., with costume judging about 10:30 a.m. and the race start at 11 a.m. For more information about the Sitka Farmers Markets, Running of the Boots, and Sitka Local Foods Network, go to http://www.sitkalocalfoodsnetwork.org/, check out our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SitkaLocalFoodsNetwork, or follow us on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/SitkaLocalFoods. (PHOTO COURTESY OF SITKA LOCAL FOODS NETWORK)

For our final Sitka Farmers Market of the 2015 season we had our usual fall Sitka weather — if you don’t like it right now wait 15 minutes and it will change.

We had torrential downpours early in the morning as we were setting up the market, but the rains stopped in time for the market to open and the sun even came out for a bit. We had more rainfall about halfway through the market, but it cleared up and was partly sunny for the end of the market and we even had a brief but large rainbow overhead.

While Saturday’s Sitka Farmers Market was the last one of the summer, there will be another chance to get some local veggies. The Sitka Local Foods Network will host a produce stand at its annual Running of the Boots costume run fundraiser on Saturday, Sept. 26, near St. Michael’s Russian Orthodox Cathedral. Running of the Boots registration and the produce booth open at 10 a.m., with costume judging about 10:30 a.m. and the fun run at 11 a.m. Dress up your XtraTufs and come on down for the fun.

A slideshow from the sixth Sitka Farmers Market of 2015 is posted below.

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September 12, 2015 by Charles Bingham

• New Silver Bay Seafoods cannery gives bonus to Sitka Sound Science Center

Workers pack sockeye salmon on the final day of seasonal canning operations Tuesday (Sept. 8, 2015) at Silver Bay Seafoods. (Daily Sitka Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)

(Note: The following article ran on Pages 1 and 10 of the Friday, Sept. 11, 2015, edition of the Daily Sitka Sentinel. It is reprinted here with permission.)

Sitka Sound Science Center Director Lisa Busch, left, and the center’s board of directors receive a $75,000 check from Silver Bay Seafoods CEO Rich Riggs and plant manager Wayne Unger recently at SBS’s new canning facility. From left are Busch, Linda Waller, Steve Clayton, Unger, Riggs, and Trish White. (Daily Sitka Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)

By TOM HESSE
Daily Sitka Sentinel Staff Writer

In a story that’s going to have a lot of digits, the number 12 might be the most important.

All canned goods have a coded number on the bottom that gives the location of where the food came from, when it was canned and who packaged it.

If the code on the bottom of canned salmon starts with a number 12, it means it was canned in Sitka. It also means the Sitka Sound Science Center received a one-cent donation for the production of that can of salmon.

And — if you’re Silver Bay Seafoods CEO Rich Riggs — it’s also a call-out to the fans of your favorite football team.

“So if you’re a (Seattle) Seahawks fan, that’s good news,” Riggs said.

Silver Bay has just wrapped up the inaugural year of its canning operation. The $7 million capital investment was the latest expansion of the Sitka-based company, founded in 2007 at the old Alaska Pulp Corp. mill site where it processed salmon for the fresh and frozen fish market.

Before Silver Bay Seafoods started canning fish there hadn’t been a cannery in Sitka for more than 50 years.

Earlier this week Riggs gave a tour of the canning line to the Sitka Sound Science Center board of directors. It was to celebrate a partnership between the two in which Silver Bay donated one cent for every can that rolled off the line.

Sitka Sound Science Center Director Lisa Busch said it’s one of the best examples there is of an industry supporting research in its own field of business.

“We are linked with the fishing industry and we really wanted to find some stable support, basically from the fishing industry,” Busch said. “We want to be partnered with fishermen and the fishing industry.”

Riggs said the rationale for that connection is obvious at any fish hatchery in the state. And then there’s the fact that the Sitka Sound Science Center is heir to the fishery science program pioneered by Sheldon Jackson College, which closed in 2007.

“You look and a lot of managers in the state have had some educational component at SJ. We firmly believe that sustainable fisheries are critical to Alaska’s communities and Alaska fishermen,” Riggs said.

Canning operations started in the second week of July, with three lines for three different sized cans. The largest cans run through the system at a rate of around 250 per minute, and the other sizes at around 215 cans per minute.

To the Sitka Sound Science Center, 60 minutes of canning results in a donation about equal to the hourly rate of some attorneys.

“I’m really excited that they’re so into this idea,” Busch said. “I feel like it’s really going to allow us to move forward to have somewhat stable funding from the fishing industry.”

Because of business interests, Silver Bay Seafoods won’t disclose how many cans it produced this year, but the first payment to the Sitka Sound Science Center was for $75,000.

The new canning line expands the total Silver Bay Seafoods warehouse footprint to more than 80,000 square feet, Riggs said.

The expansion was headed up by Mike Duckworth, who has 34 years of experience building and maintaining canning lines. One of the first things he had to do was acquire all the pieces, because most of the key elements for canning salmon date back to before his career even started.

“The filling machine has actually not been replicated the same,” Duckworth said. “There have been companies that’s tried to replicate them, but they found out it’s not feasible. They literally put millions of dollars into it and just couldn’t make money off of them.”

The technology dates back to the 1930s and ’40s, and Duckworth said the last major production of filling machines ended in the ’60s.

“Our equipment was probably cast in the late ’40s to the ’50s,” Duckworth said, adding that rebuilding those filling machines is a key piece of canning salmon in Alaska.

“It’s something everybody does. If you’re going to be in the industry then once every 7-10 years you completely rebuild these things,” Duckworth said. “We spent the last year (rebuilding). We had a crew of seasoned, Alaska canning machinists that were working with me in rebuilding and setting up the equipment and getting it ready for installation.”

The old equipment is then blended with new systems to create the modern canning system.

“That plant, it’s just a good blend of the old technology and the new,” Duckworth said.

A special slime line handles the salmon destined for canning, processing them in the usual manner. The fish are fed into one of the three canning lines where more than a dozen employees help monitor the process.

As salmon move along the line, they are packaged in cans that drop down a track from a room in the second story of the warehouse. A machine fills the can while employees check for bones and quality. Between the machine that affixes the lid and the track that kicks out defective cans is a printer that marks each can with a code, all of which start with the number 12.

Once sealed, the cans are loaded onto carts and taken to a separate station to cook before being stacked, wrapped and loaded into trucks to send them as far away as Australia.

Despite a low salmon year, Riggs said the canning operation was close to its projected target this season and there’s room to grow next year.

Tuesday (Sept. 8) was the last day of canning for the year, and it was frozen Bristol Bay sockeye that went through the process. The majority of the fish processed this year, however, cam from Southeast Alaska.

“The concept is the salmon season is over in Southeast, but then we can continue to operate the plant with the sockeye season in Bristol Bay going on,” Riggs said. “So we wanted to increase our capacity to process local fish as well as pick up some of those other Alaska fisheries, and the canning line allows us to do that.”

And if things continue to run as they did this year, the canning line also will allow for continued research into fisheries at the Sitka Sound Science Center.

“It funds all science center things,” Busch said. “So it goes toward research and education programs here in town and also toward our hatchery.”

Funding for independent science centers in Alaska can be tough to come by, and Busch said it can often be from unrelated industries, such as oil. Silver Bay Seafoods has worked with the Sitka Sound Science Center in the past, for example in the center’s cost-recovery fishery, and this new program is a logical continuation of their partnership, Busch said.

“We’re doing stuff that the fishermen are interested in,” Busch said. “To me this is so great that a big company, and a local company at that, are this invested in what we’re doing.”

Or, as Silver Bay Seafoods and the Sitka Sound Science Center are putting it, salmon makes cents.

August 30, 2015 by Charles Bingham

• Check out the September 2015 edition of the Sitka Local Foods Network newsletter

The Sitka Local Foods Network just sent out the September 2015 edition of its newly launched monthly newsletter. Feel free to click this link to get a copy.

This edition of the newsletter has brief stories about the Sitka Sound Suppers fundraiser, the Sitka Local Foods Network recruiting new families for the garden mentor program, an update on the Sitka Farmers Markets, and information about saving seeds. Each story has links to our website for more information.

You can sign up for future editions of our newsletter by clicking on the registration form 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.

August 26, 2015 by Charles Bingham

• Experience the best of Sitka’s local food scene with our updated Sitka Sound Suppers fundraiser

Eating local in Sitka can be an amazing experience. We have wide variety of high-quality seafood, including five types of salmon, halibut, blackcod, dozens of varieties of rockfish, ling cod, Alaska king crab, Dungeness crab, scallops, spot prawns, yum. There also is Sitka black-tailed deer and other wild game. And there’s nothing like the taste of fresh produce from the garden, and our berries are exquisite.

Now you can experience the best of Sitka’s local food scene with Sitka Sound Suppers: A Chef-To-Table Experience, a fundraiser for the Sitka Local Foods Network. (NOTE: Please see the update below.)

Three Sitka chefs — Kathy Jones (Westmark/Dock Shack), Edith Johnson (Fly-In Fish Inn), and Jackie Barmoy (former owner of Loaves and Fishes in Seattle) — have volunteered their talents to prepare a totally local meal that will be brought to your Sitka home for you to enjoy.

Donate at the $500 level and you receive a local Sitka dinner for two people.
Donate at the $1,000 level and you receive a local Sitka dinner for four people.
Donate at the $2,000 level and you receive a local Sitka dinner for eight people.

We are planning on preparing just one special dinner at each donation level, so get in on the promotion early. (UPDATE: We have decided to allow multiple dinners for each donation level instead of a single dinner. We didn’t know how many people would respond, so didn’t want to overtask our chefs, who are donating their time and talents to this promotion. So, even though we already have a donor at the $500 level, we can accommodate a second and/or third donor at that level.)

The Sitka Sound Suppers fundraiser launched on July 16 and ends after our final Sitka Farmers Market of the summer on Sept. 12. The winners of our meals will be connected to our chefs, so they can agree on a menu and date for the meal during the Fall 2015 harvest season (late September to November). All meals will be prepared and served in Sitka, Alaska. You can learn more about the Sitka Sound Suppers fundraiser by watching this video.

The funds raised by this promotion will help the Sitka Local Foods Network continue its work promoting local foods in Sitka and Southeast Alaska through the Sitka Farmers Market, St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm communal garden, and our education programs. As the organization has grown and matured, we’ve reached a point where we need to hire a part-time staff person to handle some of the daily duties of our organization. Your donations will go into a fund to help us eventually be able to hire that staff person.

Your support for the Sitka Local Foods Network is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

By the way, if you want to contribute to the Sitka Local Foods Network but not receive one of the Sitka Sound Suppers, you can go to our main fundraising page on Razoo.com (a fundraising/crowdfunding site for nonprofit organizations) and donate in any amount over $10 there. Your online donation is secure and tax-deductible (we have federal 501(c)(3) nonprofit status). Thanks again.

• Sitka Sound Suppers information flier (opens as PDF file)

August 19, 2015 by Charles Bingham

• UAF Cooperative Extension Service, Alaska Sea Grant team up to offer online course on the specialty food business

Are you interested in starting a specialty food business? The University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service and the UAF Alaska Sea Grant program are teaming up to offer a five-class online course about how to start a specialty foods course in October.

The class is only available online and it will be from 5:30-8 p.m. on Oct. 5, 7, 12, 14, and 19. You must attend all five classes during the times they are offered. The course costs $50 and is limited to the first 25 who register from around the state. More details about the class and its technology requirements can be found here. The instructors will be Quentin Fong of the Alaska Sea Grant program and Kate Idzorek of the UAF Cooperative Extension Service.

This course is intended for individuals interested in starting and operating a specialty food business to sell foods under the DEC Cottage Foods Exemption, a temporary DEC permit, DEC-permitted food production businesses to sell wholesale in Alaska or DEC-permitted Mobile Food Units (food trucks). This course is NOT intended for individuals starting or operating a restaurant or starting an interstate or international wholesale food business. It is for people who want to make specialty food products, such as jams and jellies, handmade chocolates, salsa, pickled fish, or operate a food truck. Many specialty food products are perfect for selling at the Sitka Farmers Market.

To register online, go to http://bit.ly/ces-workshops. For more information, contact Kate Idzorek of the UAF Cooperative Extension Service at 1-907-474-5391 (Fairbanks number).

August 16, 2015 by Charles Bingham

• Scenes from the fourth Sitka Farmers Market of the 2015 summer

Sitka Farmers Market Assistant Manager Francis Wegman-Lawless, left, and Sitka Local Foods Network Board Member Brandie Cheatham, right, present the Table Of The Day Award to Phyllis Moore at the fourth Sitka Farmers Market of the 2015 summer on Saturday, Aug. 15, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Founders Hall in Sitka. Moore sells jams and jellies, baked goods, and a variety of knitted items from hats and potholders to Afghan blankets. She received a gift bag with fresh greens and fresh rhubarb. This is the eighth year of Sitka Farmers Markets, hosted by the Sitka Local Foods Network. The next market is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 29, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Founders Hall, 235 Katlian St. Don’t forget the Sitka Slug Races take place at 12:30 p.m. at the Aug. 29 Sitka Farmers Market. For more information about the Sitka Farmers Markets and Sitka Local Foods Network, go to http://www.sitkalocalfoodsnetwork.org/, check out our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SitkaLocalFoodsNetwork, or follow us on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/SitkaLocalFoods. (PHOTO COURTESY OF SITKA LOCAL FOODS NETWORK)

Sunny weather was the highlight of the fourth Sitka Farmers Market of the season, held Saturday, Aug. 15, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Founders Hall.

We had a few new vendors, and a few who hadn’t been around so far this year. But we also were missing a few of our regulars due to travel schedules and a funeral. Still, there was a lot of fresh produce for sale as the gardens are starting to hit peak production.

Don’t forget that our next Sitka Farmers Market will feature the inaugural Sitka Slug Races, so catch your slugs and train them for the races. The next market is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 29, at the ANB Founders Hall.

A reminder, due to health codes we can’t allow any pets in the ANB Founders Hall or the parking lot other than service dogs. We also don’t allow tobacco (smoking or chewing) at the Sitka Farmers Market because this is a health event (our event started out as a Sitka Health Summit project).

Finally, if you’ve ever wanted to be a vendor you can learn more by clicking this link or sending an email to sitkafarmersmarket@gmail.com. We always need new vendors, especially those selling produce from their home gardens, commercially caught fish or locally baked bread.

A slideshow from the fourth Sitka Farmers Market is posted below.

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August 16, 2015 by Charles Bingham

• Path to Prosperity economic development contest semifinalists include two Sitka-based agriculture projects

Two Sitka residents with agriculture projects have been named among the 12 semifinalists in the annual Path to Prosperity economic development contest for Southeast Alaska.

This is the third year of the contest, and Bobbi Daniels’ The Sawmill Farm project has been a semifinalist each year. New to the program is the Sitka Seedling Farms project by Sitka Local Foods Network Vice-President Matthew Jackson (who goes by Jackson). A total of 28 projects promoting economic development in Southeast Alaska were entered this year, and more details about the 12 semifinalist projects can be found here.

The year-long Path to Prosperity program provides budding entrepreneurs with the technical assistance they need to develop business plans and follow them through to successful businesses. The program is sponsored by Haa Aaní Community Development Fund, Inc. and The Nature Conservancy, with the goal to develop community resiliency by supporting Southeast Alaska entrepreneurs with creating a business plan.

Applications were solicited in March, with an informational webinar in April and application due date of May 31. The entries were whittled down to 12 semifinalists in July. The semifinalists will attend a three-day business boot camp in September, then they have until Dec. 1 to submit a business plan.

A panel of five judges from the business community will select two winning business plans in February, which each receive $40,000 seed funding for consulting and technical assistance to develop their businesses. The remaining 10 semifinalists will then compete through social media for the People’s Choice Award, which will give an additional $40,000 to one semifinalist.

Here is the list of the 2015 Path to Prosperity semifinalists: