Producing crops in our maritime climate has its advantages, including long daylight hours during the growing season and mild “shoulder” seasons that allow for additional growing time when compared to other places in Alaska. It also has its challenges, of which farmers and gardeners here are acutely aware — too much rainfall and cool temperatures can persist throughout the growing season, impacting crop quality and quantity, and limiting the types of crops that typically can be produced.
Controlling the growing environment by covering the growing area can help improve growing conditions. Row covers or low tunnels can be used to cover individual beds and are both easy to install and maintain, or high tunnels can be used to cover larger areas but are more complex to install and require more active management of both the structure itself and the growing space they cover.
The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) can help farmers and gardeners with identifying opportunities for conservation on their growing operations. NRCS works with individual growers to develop a conservation plan based on their objectives and resource concerns. Staff tailor plans to the site-specific conditions of the land where crops are grown, and develop alternatives for addressing resource concerns. Implementing the recommendations is voluntary.
Once a conservation plan has been completed, eligible lands and landowners may also qualify for financial assistance through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). The program includes funding for a variety of practices that can help improve crop quality and soil health, including low tunnels, high tunnels, nutrient management, crop rotation, cover cropping, and irrigation practices. EQIP contracts reimburse the producers based on current payment rates once the practices are installed to NRCS standards. EQIP applications are accepted continuously, though the first deadline for the current fiscal year’s funding is April 18, 2024.
Additional information about working with NRCS and about the high tunnel initiative can be found at the links below:
For more information, contact the Southeast Alaska NRCS Field Office located in Juneau at 907-586-7220, (Kathleen.Dilley@usda.gov or Samia.Savell@usda.gov). Click this link for more Alaska office contacts. Click here for the Alaska NRCS page link.
The Sitka Local Foods Network just sent out the February 2024 edition of its monthly newsletter. Feel free to click this link to get a copy.
This month’s newsletter includes short stories about the entry deadline for the seventh annual Sika Food Business Innovation Contest, the opening of the 2024 Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend application period where you can donate to nonprofits through the Pick.Click.Give. program, an update about how you can support the Sitka Local Foods Network by buying a t-shirt or hoodie from our online store, information about our 2024 sponsorship programs, and an invitation to join our 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).
Do you think you have a great idea for a food business or product from Sitka? Do you grow food, fish for food, or cook food in Sitka? The Sitka Local Foods Network is hosting the seventh annual Sitka Food Business Innovation Contest in an effort to spark local food entrepreneurs so we can make more local food available to residents and visitors. The contest entry deadline is Friday, March 15.
This contest will provide two $1,500 kicker prizes to help entrepreneurs launch or expand their food businesses. The contest is open to food businesses and individuals making and selling food products in Sitka, Alaska. All food business ideas must be geared toward getting more locally grown, harvested and/or produced food into the Sitka marketplace through sales in grocery stores, the Sitka Food Co-Op, the Sitka Farmers Market, restaurants, or individual marketing (such as a community supported agriculture/CSA or community supported fisheries/CSF program).
“The Sitka Local Foods Network’s mission is to get more locally harvested and produced food into the diets of Southeast Alaskans,” said Charles Bingham, Sitka Local Foods Network board president. “For the past decade we’ve offered entrepreneurs a chance to sell their produce, bread and fish at the Sitka Farmers Market, grown produce to sell at the market through St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm, and provided a garden education program to residents. We think this contest is the next step toward getting more local food into the Sitka marketplace. Our prizes are available to Sitka residents who are sustainably growing, foraging, fishing, or manufacturing food for people in Sitka.”
Last year, our winners were Mike Miller of Field To Fire and Andrea Fraga of Middle Island Gardens. Field To Fire was a new-to-Sitka business that sold pre-packaged meals and sauces at the Sitka Farmers Market, with the occasional cooked-on-site food items, using the model of its company origins to farmers markets in the St. Louis area. Middle Island Gardens is an established Sitka farm that regularly participates in the Sitka Farmers Market.
in 2022, we awarded our two $1,500 prizes to Gretchen Stelzenmuller of Enoki Eatery and to Edith Johnson and Lexi Fish-Hackett for a fish broth project. Enoki Eatery sold musubi, a Japanese-Hawaiian dish of rice and Spam rolled up in seaweed, but with Alaska fish or mushrooms replacing the Spam. Edith and Lexi spent the summer testing recipes and developing their fish broth product.
In 2021, we awarded our $1,500 prize for established business to Jo Michalski of Muddy Mermaid Mudd Pies, which she sells at her Jo’s Downtown Dawgs hotdog/burger cart and to local restaurants. Our $1,500 prize for start-up business went to Nalani James of Eggstravagent, which are eggs from chickens she raised in town and sold to local customers (sometimes at the Sitka Farmers Market).
In 2020, we awarded our $1,500 prize for established business to Andrew Jylkka of Southeast Dough Co., who is baking sourdough bread, as well as making sauerkraut and kimchi. Our $1,500 prize for start-up business went to Levi Adams of Forage & Farm, where he is harvesting and growing mushrooms. Our prizes were determined before the Covid-19 shutdowns, but both business owners found ways to develop and build their businesses during the pandemic.
In 2019, we gave $1,500 prizes to Brittany Dumag of the Castaway food cart in the start-up business category and to Tamara Kyle of Sitka Sauers in the established business category. We also gave a special $250 award to 12-year-old Abigail Ward who entered her Sitka Seasonings business. Brittany made Cuban pork sandwiches (using pork from North Pole) and other food to sell at various places in Sitka, including the Sitka Farmers Market. Tamara planned to ramp up her fermented foods business, but she ended up having some health issues that prevented her from completing her project and she ended up refunding most of her prize money. Abby made spice blends for seafood and other meats, which she sold at the first two Sitka Farmers Markets of 2019 and at other venues.
In our inaugural contest in 2018, we gave a $1,500 prize to Hope Merritt of Gimbal Botanicals in the established business category. We had no entrants in the start-up business category, so no prize was awarded in 2018. Hope used her prize money to hire two interns to help her harvest seaweed and kelp and to help produce her products.
Participants in this contest are eligible and encouraged to enter other food business innovation contests, such as the Path To Prosperity or Symphony of Seafood contests. All participants retain the proprietary rights to their products and ideas. This contest is open to new and existing food businesses in Sitka, but this year we eliminated the separate categories and everybody is competing for the same awards. Student businesses (such as those fostered by Junior Achievement or similar programs) are welcome.
There is a small $25 entry fee for this contest. All participants (business and individual) must complete and submit our contest entry form by 5 p.m. on Friday, March 15, 2024 (by snail mail so it arrives before the March 15 deadline to Sitka Local Foods Network, Food Business Innovation Contest Entries, 408-D Marine Street, Sitka, Alaska, 99835, or by email with the Subject Line of “Food Business Innovation Contest Entries” to sitkalocalfoodsnetwork@gmail.com). Submitting a business plan (up to 20 pages) is recommended, but not required.
Our entry form will have room for you to describe your food business idea in a few paragraphs, but submitting a business plan will give you more room to outline your plans for funding and marketing the idea and will help your overall score. Judging will be based on how your food business idea provides new local food options in Sitka, how novel is your food business idea, how feasible is your food business (can it make a profit and be sustainable), and how professional is your presentation. At some time in late March or early April, the Sitka Local Foods Network may host a pitch presentation, where judges will interview the contest entrants and try samples of the food products. Our judging panel will score your presentation and entry form based on how your idea has a measurable impact on providing local food in Sitka (25%), has the potential for commercialization (25%), provides new employment in Sitka (25%) and fills a need in the Sitka marketplace (25%). We will give bonus points to those businesses that plan to participate in the 2023 Sitka Farmers Market.
In 2022 we made a few changes to the rules. First, since we ended up moving a couple of entries between categories the past two years we decided to eliminate the categories and now everybody is competing for the same two awards. Second, each entry now MUST include a sample, itemized budget showing how the business owner plans to use the prize money. Third, each prize winner will sign a winner’s agreement contract before receiving the prize money that lists a series of benchmarks toward getting the product/service to market that need to be met by a certain date or else all or part of the prize money will need to be refunded to the Sitka Local Foods Network.
The Sitka Local Foods Network reserves the right to reduce or not make an award if the judges determine the applications don’t meet the minimum standards. Purchasing items such as masks and hand sanitizer to prevent the spread of Covid-19 are acceptable uses of prize money. Marijuana edibles are not eligible for the contest.
The Sitka Local Foods Network just sent out the January 2024 edition of its monthly newsletter. Feel free to click this link to get a copy.
This month’s newsletter includes short stories about the opening of the 2024 Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend application period where you can donate to nonprofits through the Pick.Click.Give. program, an update about how you can support the Sitka Local Foods Network by buying a t-shirt or hoodie from our online store, information about our 2024 sponsorship programs, and an invitation to join our 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).
Thank you, Sitka, for taking, sharing, and supporting the Sitka Food Security Survey! Our survey ran from September to the end of October, and we gathered more than 400 responses. This survey is part of a larger effort to better understand food security in Sitka and capture the ways in which we can make it easier for all Sitkans to have access to affordable, nutritious, and culturally relevant food. We are so grateful for the outpouring of support and for each person who took time out of their day to complete the survey.
This work is a result of a partnership between the Sitka Local Foods Network and Transition Sitka, both local nonprofits with a vested interest in food security in Sitka. We are grateful to the dedicated members of those organizations who donated their time to help spread the word about the survey, especially Charles Bingham, Leah Mason, Barbara Bingham, and Toby Campbell. This work would not be possible without the dedicated support and guidance of our steering committee which include community partners at the Sitka Tribe of Alaska Social Services Department, The Sitka Public Library, Sitkans Against Family Violence, Blessings in a Backpack, Sitka Conservation Society, and UAF Cooperative Extension Services.
A special thanks to the organizations and events in town that shared and hosted the survey including the Sitka Sound Science Center, the Sitka Public Library, Indigenous People’s Day, Coffee with Elders, Southeast Alaska Independent Living, UAS Sitka Campus, AC Lakeside, Sitka Homeless Coalition, Sitka Sentinel, and Raven Radio.
Gunalchéesh, thank you for your support in this work! We plan to share results from the survey in early spring. If you would like to be added to our listserv to receive updates, including summary survey results, please email sitkafoodassessment@gmail.com.
In gratitude and service, The Sitka Community Food Assessment Team
The Sitka Local Foods Network in recent years created a sponsorship program to help promote our mission, and Sitka businesses and individuals are welcome to join for 2024. The goal of the sponsorship program is to make the projects we undertake (Sitka Farmers Market, St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm, gardening education, food business development, etc.) more sustainable.
“Sitka has a precarious position when it comes to food security, and the Sitka Local Foods Network is trying to improve our community food security through our mission to increase the amount of locally harvested and produced foods in the diets of Southeast Alaskans,” Sitka Local Foods Network president Charles Bingham said. “Sponsors of the Sitka Local Foods Network are working with an organization and a farmers market that places a high value on local food and businesses, fun, premium quality goods and experiences.”
In recent years, the Sitka Local Foods Network has hosted 7-8 Sitka Farmers Markets during the summer (from July to September). Due to COVID-19, we had to greatly scale back our 2020 Sitka Farmers Markets, focusing just on produce sales and using an online sales portal, but we did double our number of market weeks. In 2021, we hosted an outdoor-only market that brought back some of our vendors. In 2022, we returned to our usual venue of the Alaska Native Brotherhood Founders Hall after a two-year absence, and we almost had a normal market (with masking to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and no half-tables to spread out vendors). We had a similar experience in our 2023 markets. We haven’t set our 2024 market dates yet, but we anticipate we will announce them in the spring.
In addition, we grow most of the local produce sold at the markets at St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm communal garden and a couple of other locations in town. In March 2020 we built a new high tunnel at St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm, and we were able to add another new high tunnel before the 2021 growing season. These high tunnels allowed us to extend our growing season and helped reduce the impact of our last couple of cold, wet summers. We usually offer a variety of garden education classes in the spring. And one way we ensured fresh, local produce is available to lower-income Sitkans is through our matching program for WIC and SNAP beneficiaries (the first $20 spent on produce at the market), courtesy of recent grants from the Sitka White Elephant Shop and the Sitka Legacy Foundation.
In 2018 we launched the Sitka Food Business Innovation Contest to inspire food entrepreneurs in Sitka, and have continued the program with the expectation of hosting it again in 2024 (our 2023 winners were Andrea Fraga of Middle Island Gardens and Michael and Julie Miller of Field to Fire). In 2023-24, the Sitka Local Foods Network is partnering with Transition Sitka on two projects — one to update the 2014 Sitka Community Food Assessment Indicators Report and the other to build a new community garden at the top of Jarvis Street. In addition, we support other local food projects in Sitka, such as the Fish to Schools lunch program and the Sitka Kitch community rental commercial kitchen.
There are four levels of sponsorship available, and each has its own set of perks.
Grower ($2,500-plus) — We’ll hang your banner at ANB Hall during the Sitka Farmers Markets, include your logo and company name prominently in our merchandise and advertisements, and thank you on our social media and web pages. If appropriate for the Sitka Farmers Market, you may set up a free promotional booth.
Harvester ($1,000-$2,499) — We’ll hang your banner at ANB Hall during the Sitka Farmers Markets and include your logo and company name in our merchandise and advertisements.
Planter ($250-$999) — Your banner will hang at ANB Hall during the Sitka Farmers Markets.
Friend ($50-$249) — You are listed on our online sponsor page.
We have limited space for banners at the Sitka Farmers Markets, so please contact us before June 1 to guarantee your spot. To learn more about the sponsorship program, click the link below for details and a registration form. For more information, contact Charles Bingham at (907) 623-7660 or by email at sitkalocalfoodsnetwork@gmail.com.
2023 Sitka Farmers Market Manager Anastasia Stefanowicz with fresh produce at the Sitka Local Foods Network farm stand
The Sitka Local Foods Network just completed its 16th season of hosting the Sitka Farmers Market. We hope Sitka residents enjoyed the market, and we plan to be back next summer for a 17th season.
Over the last couple of years, we had to make some adjustments as we dealt with this Covid-19 pandemic thing, which meant relocating our market for two years and in one of those years reformatting it to an online-purchase system. The last two years we’ve been able to return to our usual venue, the Alaska Native Brotherhood Founders Hall, even though we still had to require masks when we had markets during high-Covid risk weeks.
But we got through it and hope to have a better season next year.
The Sitka Local Foods Network couldn’t host the market without the support of a wide range of sponsors. We have a tiered sponsorship program with four levels — Grower ($2,500-plus), Harvester ($1,000-$2,499), Planter ($250-$999) and Friend ($50-$249). These are local businesses and individuals, and even a few not from Sitka, who are supporting our programs.
Our Grower Level sponsors in 2022 and/or 2023 included the Alaska Cancer Partnership (a program of the Alaska Division of Public Health), The Alaska Community Foundation, and Alaska Food Policy Council.
Our Harvester Level sponsors were the Sitka Salmon Shares/Sitka Seafood Market 1% For The Wild Fund, The Sitka Legacy Foundation, SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC), Sitka White Elephant Shop (White E), the GCI Gives Fund, ALPS/Tongass Federal Credit Union, the Alaska Farmers Markets Association, Northrim Bank, David and Margaret Steward, and Joel and Alice Hanson.
Our Planter Level sponsors were Harry Race Pharmacy/White’s Inc., Sea Mart, Market Center, Fish and Family Seafoods, the Sitka Employees of First National Bank Alaska, Sitka True Value/Ace Hardware, Linda Schmidt, Amanda Anjum, Colin McIntosh of Outpost Agriculture, and Charles Bingham.
Our Friend Level sponsors included Beth Short-Rhoads, Patricia Atkinson, Guillermo Espinoza, Ehsan Espinoza, Robb Garni, Jud Kirkness, Catherine Allgood-Mellema, Joe Leghorn, Pat Hanson, Beth Kindig, Lisa Sadleir-Hart, Jaime Zelhuber, Christina Kowalczewski, Traci Gale, Math Trafton, Zoe Trafton, Leah Mason, Moira McBride, Steve Paustian and Mary Beth Nelson, Aubrey Nelson, Kent Barkhau, Deborah Brincefield, and Robin Sherman.
We thank you for your support. We also appreciate everybody who came to one of our markets this summer to support the local businesses selling local food or arts and crafts.
This brings us to our offseason, where we plan and raise funds for 2024. The Sitka Local Foods Network is a 501c3 nonprofit whose mission is to increase the amount of locally produced and harvested food in the diets of Southeast Alaskans. In addition to the Sitka Farmers Market, we grow food at St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm, sponsor the Sitka Food Business Innovation Contest, and connect residents to education opportunities for growing, cooking, and preserving local food.
Struggling to buy the foods you prefer to eat? Have food stored in case of an emergency? Able to access the local, wild foods you love? Take the Sitka Food Security Survey and help local organizations better understand the food challenges facing Sitkans and the community.
This project will update the Sitka Community Food Assessment Indicators Report, which was released in April 2014 as part of a 2012 Sitka Health Summit community wellness project. That data now is at least a decade old, so an update is needed for better community planning and food security.
The survey takes less than 10 minutes and the link can be found below and hard copies will be available at the Sitka Farmers Market and the Sitka Public Library. A link to the survey can be found at https://forms.gle/LGWTYRT6XsdgLCgaA, or you can scan the QR code on the flier above. Please submit your surveys before Saturday, Oct. 21 (NOTE: The deadline for submitting surveys has been extended to Tuesday, Oct. 31.).
The Sitka Local Foods Network just sent out the July 2023 edition of its monthly newsletter. Feel free to click this link to get a copy.
This month’s newsletter includes short stories about the opening of the 2023 Sitka Farmers Market season, an upcoming town hall about building new community gardens, an update about how you can support the Sitka Local Foods Network by buying a t-shirt or hoodie from our online store, information about our 2023 sponsorship programs, and an invitation to join our 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).
The Sitka Farmers Market will kick off its 16th summer this Saturday, July 1, when it returns to its roots at Alaska Native Brotherhood Founders Hall, its home for 13 of the 15 summers of markets. The first market of the season is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, July 1, with six other markets scheduled for the same time on alternate Saturdays, July 15, July 29, Aug. 12, Aug. 26, Sept. 9, and Sept. 23, at ANB Founders Hall (235 Katlian Street).
“Since the COVID-19 pandemic limited our markets in recent years, forcing us to move and change our format, we’re happy to be getting back to some normalcy this year,” Sitka Local Foods Network board president Charles Bingham said. “Our seven markets this year will still have some COVID safety measures, such as encouraging everybody to use face masks if our risk level goes to Moderate or High. But we will have our usual variety of fresh local produce, fish, homemade baked goods, cottage foods, cooked food, arts and crafts, and more. We hope to see you at ANB Founders Hall this summer.”
The Sitka Farmers Market is a community event hosted by the Sitka Local Foods Network, whose mission is to increase the amount of locally produced and harvested food in the diets of Southeast Alaskans. Our focus is on local — fresh produce, fish, baked goods, prepared foods, cottage foods, arts and crafts — and all products must be made in Alaska (preferably in Sitka or Southeast Alaska, cooked foods may use non-local foods so long as the food is cooked on site). Since our mission is geared toward food security and our space is limited this year, if we have too many vendors try to register our food booths will have a higher priority over arts and crafts. We will try to accommodate as many vendors as possible, but some may need to be outdoors.
The Sitka Farmers Market gots its start from the second Sitka Health Summit, held in April 2008, when Sitka residents chose two food-related community wellness projects to work on for the next year — to create a local foods market and to start a community greenhouse. Later in April, St. Peter’s By The Sea Episcopal Church made its backyard available for growing produce, which became St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm communal garden, and by August the first of three Sitka Farmers Markets was held. Those projects led to the creation of the Sitka Local Foods Network. Since then the Sitka Farmers Market has grown, and is known as one of the top markets in the state.
After having to relocate for two years due to COVID-19, we returned to ANB Founders Hall last summer. We will have indoor and outdoor spaces, inside ANB Founders Hall and outside in the Baranof Island Housing Authority parking lot next to ANB Founders Hall.
Since COVID-19 is still around, we will require masks inside the ANB Founders Hall when Sitka is at the Moderate/Medium or High risk levels, and make them optional when our risk levels are lower. While most people now are vaccinated against the coronavirus, there still are people who are high risk medically, or aren’t vaccinated, and there are periodic hot spots when the illness flares up. We don’t want the market to be a place that spreads the coronavirus. Even with our outside booths, we encourage vendors and customers to wear masks, to use hand sanitizer, and to avoid bunching up while giving others six feet of space.
In 2020, we launched our online vendor registration website, http://sitkafarmersmarket.eventsmart.com, and we will continue to use that this year. Vendors need to register by the Thursday before each market to be guaranteed a spot. Tables/booths are $40 each, with a special of $240 (instead of $280) for someone registering for all seven markets before the first one takes place. We also have a youth vendor program, where youth ages 14 or younger can reserve a table for $20 for the full season. Since we are at Low on the COVID-19 risk level right now, we are offering half-tables this year at $25 each.
Please read the market vendor rules and responsibilities and Covid-19 protocol documents linked below. All vendors using this site to register for the market will be held to these rules. Unless you specify you want to be outside, we will try to find room for you indoors. We are not selling half-tables this year because we need social-distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Vendors can pay using PayPal or credit/debit card. When you get to the Payment options, click PayPal (not Invoice) and it should give you the option of using a PayPal account or four different types of cards (Visa, MasterCard, AmEx, Discover). If you prefer to pay by cash or check, contact Charles Bingham at 907-623-7660. We will provide a refund for cancellations, but to get the refund you are required to let us know before Wednesday of the week of your registered market that you can’t make it. This is $5 less than the $40 or $25 table fees, since we are billed for transaction fees and other expenses. There is no refund if you don’t let us know until after Wednesday.
Anastasia Stefanowicz is the new Sitka Farmers Market manager this summer. Laura Schmidt is our lead gardener at St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm, where the Sitka Local Foods Network grows most of the produce it sells at the market. Charles Bingham is the assistant market manager and the president of the Sitka Local Foods Network.
“I really love farmers markets because they show how connected to the land we still are and how much we still need it,” Stefanowicz said. “Our medicine comes from the earth; vegetables, greens, fruits. We get joy out of how we connect, the things we get to see grow and produce, and feel empowered when we can sustain ourselves from the things we nurture.”
“I chose to apply to work as the Sitka Farmers Market manager this year because I wanted to learn more about Alaska and how things thrive here,” she added. “I wanted another way to connect with the people and the community. I’ve grown up gardening, landscaping, and working on farms all over the U.S. Doing this is giving me a chance to keep learning — about climate differences, growing regions, sustainability, and connection. I’m looking forward to learning a lot of new things this year.”
In addition to vendors, we also are looking for volunteers to help us set up the markets, take down the markets, and sell produce at the Sitka Local Foods Network farm stand during the market. You can get more information about how to volunteer by emailing sitkafarmersmarket@gmail.com or contacting Stefanowicz at 505-316-0099.
Sitka Local Foods Network 
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