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• Sitka to host five farmers markets in 2011; first market is Saturday, July 16

The Sitka Local Foods Network will host its fourth summer of Sitka Farmers Markets with five markets that start on July 16 and take place on alternate Saturdays through Sept. 10. The Sitka Farmers Markets 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 Saturday, July 16, 30, Aug. 13, 27 and Sept. 10, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall (235 Katlian St.). The markets feature local seafood (fresh, frozen, and cooked, ready to eat), locally grown and harvested fruits and vegetables, baked bread, locally picked berries, jams and jellies, cooking demonstrations, live entertainment, locally brewed and roasted coffee, music, local arts and crafts, and a variety of other items gathered or made in Sitka. We emphasize local products and lots of fun. We are the first farmers market in Southeast Alaska to accept WIC coupons. You also can vote for the Sitka Farmers Market in the America’s Favorite Farmers Markets contest by following the links at https://sitkalocalfoodsnetwork.org/2011/07/06/%E2%80%A2-don%E2%80%99t-forget-to-vote-for-the-sitka-farmers-market-in-this-year%E2%80%99s-america%E2%80%99s-favorite-farmers-markets-contest/.

“The Sitka Farmers Market is like a carnival every other Saturday,” Sitka Local Foods Network Board President Kerry MacLane said. “It’s a fun community space to enjoy with your family or to meet your friends for fresh coffee and baked goods. There is live music, cooking demonstrations, art, and, of course, fresh veggies, fruit and seafood.”

The Sitka Farmers Market started as a community project that came out of a health priority planning meeting at the 2008 Sitka Health Summit. This event is sponsored by the Sitka Local Foods Network, Alaska Native Brotherhood Camp No. 1, Alaska Native Sisterhood Camp No. 4, Baranof Island Housing Authority, Sitka Conservation Society, the Alaska Farmers Market Association and the SEARHC Health Promotion and Diabetes Prevention programs.

“This is our fourth year for the Sitka Farmers Market and thanks to our great vendors we look forward to another successful season,” said Linda Wilson, Sitka Local Foods Network VP and Sitka Farmers Market Coordinator. “Outdoor vendors will enjoy a new paved parking lot with landscaping, thanks to BIHA. A tent will be set up for outdoor dining where you can listen to live music and enjoy some great food. New this year is a vendor selling Sitka Sea Salt. Look forward to fresh snap and snow peas for snacking, rhubarb goodies and many other edibles.”

Vendor fees are $2.50 per foot for table space, or $2.00 per foot for vendors with their own outside tents. The fees help us cover the costs of renting ANB Hall and its kitchen, hiring musicians and other expenses. To learn more about being a vendor or to sign up for a table, contact Sitka Farmers Market Coordinator Linda Wilson at 747-3096 (evenings and weekends) or by e-mail lawilson87@hotmail.com. Vendor rules, registration forms and other information for potential vendors can be found at https://sitkalocalfoodsnetwork.org/2011/06/01/%E2%80%A2-vendors-need-to-start-registering-for-booth-space-at-this-years-sitka-farmers-markets/.

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• Don’t forget to vote for the Sitka Farmers Market in this year’s America’s Favorite Farmers Markets contest

The fourth season for the Sitka Farmers Market doesn’t open until July 16, but you can vote for us now in the third annual America’s Favorite Farmers Markets contest. The contest is sponsored by the American Farmland Trust, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving America’s agricultural resources.

To vote, click here and then search for the Sitka Farmers Market by using the zip code or state directories. You also can vote by clicking the contest logo at the top of this site’s right column or the contest logo at the bottom of this post. Voting opened on June 1, and the deadline to vote is midnight EST on Wednesday, Aug. 31 (8 p.m. Alaska time on Tuesday, Aug. 30). The online voting form asks what you like best about the market, so be prepared to type something in the box. The top boutique, small, medium and large markets win a large quantity of “No Farms, No Food” totebags to distribute at a market in September, in addition to other prizes to help organizers run a better market. Click here for more information about the contest, and click here for a FAQ page with more details.

By the way, the summer’s first Sitka Farmers Market is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 16, at Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall (235 Katlian St.). Other markets are scheduled for alternate Saturdays — July 30, Aug. 13, Aug. 27 and Sept. 10. There also will be a small Sitka Farmers Market produce booth at the Running of the Boots fundraiser for the Sitka Local Foods Network on Sept. 24 at the Crescent Harbor covered shelter. We’re looking forward to seeing you at the markets.

Our markets feature a variety of vendors with locally grown produce, locally caught fish, baked bread, prepared foods and arts and crafts. We usually have musicians on stage and a table with children’s activities. After construction last summer kept us from being outside, this summer we will be able to host many of our usual booths outdoors in the ANB Hall/Baranof Island Housing Authority parking lot. To learn more about reserving booths for the Sitka Farmers Market, contact Linda Wilson at 747-3096 (evenings and weekends) or by e-mail at lawilson87@hotmail.com. Vendor rules and other information can be found at this link.

If you have extra produce from your garden, the Sitka Local Foods Network table (outside ANB Hall by the Sitka Farmers Market sign) gladly accepts donations and will buy some produce to sell at its booth. The Sitka Local Foods Network sells produce grown at the St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm communal garden and a few other local gardens at its Sitka Farmers Market booth. All money raised by the Sitka Local Foods Network booth goes into various projects sponsored by the network — a 501(c)(3) non-profit group — including the Sitka Farmers Market, community gardens, the proposed Sitka Community Greenhouse and Education Center and other projects.

Local Food and Local Farms

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• New group working to start a Sitka Food Co-Op

A new group will meet from 3-5 p.m. on Sunday, July 10, at Balanced Practice yoga/massage studio (208-B Lake St.) to discuss the creation of a Sitka Food Co-Op.

“We are just getting ready to have our first meeting to gather up those interested in being part of a start-up committee, so our goals and ideas will change as we are more clear on what is wanted by the community,” said Ann Betty, who is coordinating the project. “But as of right now, we want to provide a place where locals can sell their goods and a place where we can buy bulk goods for a great price. In the future, we would like to be a full-scale retail co-op, and that will come after much time and research. Right now, we are very new and just getting our ideas together.”

Ann said people are welcome to join the steering committee, and she started an e-mail list and blog site to update people on the project. She asked that people interested in the project can e-mail her at sitkafoodcoop@gmail.com or like the Sitka Food Co-Op page on Facebook.

“Please look over the information below to see how you can be most helpful in this great endeavor,” Ann said. “This initial meeting will go a long way in organizing our efforts to be a valuable community asset. Please respond by email if you will be attending this meeting, or if you can’t and would still like to be a committee member.”

FYI: The Co-op Start-up Steering Committee

The steering committee is responsible for moving the co-op through its early stages, until more formal structures can be established. Depending on time and resources, the committee may do the following tasks itself or assign these tasks to outside professionals:

  • Research and gather information
  • Conduct a preliminary feasibility study
  • Survey potential members
  • Establish a membership structure
  • Recruit members
  • Explore options for financing
  • Pursue initial inquiries with financing agencies
  • Report on progress to members
  • Hold membership meetings as needed
  • Prepare a business plan
  • Coordinate publicity and public relations concerning the co-op

Subcommittees might include:

  • A planning committee to conduct a feasibility study; research locations and eventually handle real estate negotiations; research equipment sources, local regulations, and suppliers; and coordinate preparation of a business plan
  • A finance committee to develop financial projections, research funding options, and coordinate a campaign for member loans
  • A membership committee to research membership structures, prepare information about the co-op and the paperwork needed for membership administration, coordinate recruitment of new members, organize membership communications (newsletters, websites, letters) and meetings, survey members, and plan outreach to the community

Keep in mind that certain committee tasks require a level of confidentiality, responsibility, and follow-up. Depending on what you need people to do, be clear about roles and ensuring accountability.

For more information about food co-ops, please visit the sites http://www.cgin.coop/ or http://www.foodcoopinitiative.coop/resources/toolbox. The Food Co-Op Initiative also produced a short video about starting a food co-operative in your community.

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• Vendors need to start registering for booth space at this year’s Sitka Farmers Markets

The 2011 Sitka Farmers Markets won’t start until July 16, but vendors need to start registering now to ensure they have booth space when the markets take place this summer. This year’s Sitka Farmers Markets take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on five alternate Saturdays — July 16 and 30, Aug. 13 and 27, and Sept. 10 — at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall, 235 Katlian St.

We really, really, need more locally grown produce vendors, home bakers, fish mongers, prepared food vendors and volunteers this year. If you know of someone who can help, please let us know.

If you have extra locally grown produce but don’t have the time to staff a booth, you can donate it or sell it to the Sitka Local Foods Network for resale at the network’s Sitka Farmers Market booth. Proceeds from the produce sold at the network’s booth goes toward Sitka Local Foods Network projects.

This year we had to raise the vendor fee to $2.50 a foot for table space or $2.00 per foot for vendors with their own outside tents to cover costs of renting the ANB Hall and kitchen, hiring musicians and other expenses. Now that construction is finishing on the Baranof Island Housing Authority office next door to ANB Hall, we expect to be able to have some booths outdoors in the parking lot again like we did two years ago. There is an option to get your vendor space free if you help out with set-up and clean-up. Space is limited so the earlier you register for booth space, the more likely we will be able to find a spot for you.

The registration form and market rules are linked below as PDF files. If you have any questions, please contact Linda Wilson at 747-3096 (nights and weekends only) or by e-mail at lawilson87@hotmail.com.

• 2011 Sitka Farmers Market schedule flier (feel free to print out and post around town)

• 2011 Sitka Farmers Market vendor rules

• 2011 Sitka Farmers Market vendor registration form

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• Work parties scheduled for St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm

St. Peter's Fellowship Farm sign

St. Peter's Fellowship Farm sign

The Sitka Local Foods Network will host a work party from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 23, to help prepare the St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm communal garden for planting in May.

St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm provides vegetables, herbs and fruit for the Sitka Farmers Markets, which start on July 16. It is located behind St. Peter’s By The Sea Episcopal Church on Lincoln Street.

During the April 23 work party, volunteers will relocate the compost bins, build new raised garden beds and add amendments to the soil. Tools will be provided. The “farm” welcomes any donations of dirt, sand and seaweed. Volunteers also can meet Laura Schmidt, who is the lead gardener for St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm this year and will coordinate most of the work parties and May planting parties. Laura said the work and planting parties will be kid-friendly and there will be several activities to keep the kids busy.

The tentative schedule for planting parties in May is to meet from 1-4 p.m. on Saturdays, May 7, 14, 21 and 28, to plant a variety of crops. People who picked up seed starter kits at Let’s Grow Sitka in March should check the date they are scheduled to bring their started seeds in for planting. If you can’t bring them in on that date, please contact Laura (623-7003) or Lisa Sadleir-Hart (747-5985) to make arrangements for someone else to bring them in on the scheduled date.

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• Sitka groups band together to host the movie ‘Vanishing of the Bees’

The Sitka Film Society, Sitka Global Warming Group/Sustainable Sitka and the Sitka Local Foods Network are teaming up to present the movie “Vanishing of the Bees” at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 21, at the Coliseum Theatre.

This is a special Earth Week presentation (Earth Week is April 17-23, and Earth Day is Friday, April 22). Tickets are $8 and available from Old Harbor Books.

The movie, narrated by Ellen Page, describes a recent phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder, where entire hives of bees die off, leaving hives full of honey other bees won’t touch (normally when a hive dies off, other bees will raid the hive and take the honey). The loss of the bees is of critical concern for farmers and gardeners because honey bees are one of the major ways crops are pollinated. Without these bees pollinating the crops, we lose our ability to grow much of our food.

Here is the synopsis posted on the movie’s website:

Honeybees have been mysteriously disappearing across the planet, literally vanishing from their hives.

Known as Colony Collapse Disorder, this phenomenon has brought beekeepers to crisis in an industry responsible for producing apples, broccoli, watermelon, onions, cherries and a hundred other fruits and vegetables. Commercial honeybee operations pollinate crops that make up one out of every three bites of food on our tables.

Vanishing of the Bees follows commercial beekeepers David Hackenberg and Dave Mendes as they strive to keep their bees healthy and fulfill pollination contracts across the U.S. The film explores the struggles they face as the two friends plead their case on Capital Hill and travel across the Pacific Ocean in the quest to protect their honeybees.

Filming across the US, in Europe, Australia and Asia, this documentary examines the alarming disappearance of honeybees and the greater meaning it holds about the relationship between mankind and mother earth. As scientists puzzle over the cause, organic beekeepers indicate alternative reasons for this tragic loss.

Conflicting options abound and after years of research, a definitive answer has not been found to this harrowing mystery.

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• Sitka Local Foods Network extends deadline for mini-grants for growing produce for the Sitka Farmers Market

The Sitka Local Foods Network is offering three $100 mini-grants to Sitka gardeners willing to grow extra produce (vegetables, berries, fruit, herbs) the network can sell at its Sitka Farmers Markets this summer.

The deadline for applications has been extended to Monday, April 4. Applications will be reviewed and mini-grants will be awarded during the Sitka Local Foods Network board meeting at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 7, at the Sitka Unitarian Universalist Fellowship building (408 Marine St.).

In order to apply for a mini-grant, please write a letter describing your gardening experience, produce varieties you grow, and information and ideas about your growing space and about how you would use the funds to expand. These mini-grants are for vegetables, berries, fruit, herbs and other produce that can be sold by the Sitka Local Foods Network to help raise funds for its programs. We will need a commitment that all mini-grant winners provide fresh produce for the Sitka Local Foods Network to sell at at least three of the five scheduled Sitka Farmers Markets this summer (July 16, 30, Aug. 13, 27, Sept. 10).

To learn more about the mini-grants, contact Kerry MacLane at 752-0654. You can mail your letter of application to Sitka Local Foods Network, 408-D Marine St., Sitka, AK, 99835, or you can email it to Lisa Sadleir-Hart at 3akharts@acsalaska.net. Please make sure all application letters are received by Monday, April 4.

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• Let’s Grow Sitka garden education event is Sunday, March 20

Mark your calendars, because the 2011 “Let’s Grow Sitka” gardening education event opens at noon and runs until 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 20, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall on Katlian Street. Celebrate the first day of spring and get ready to garden.

This annual event brings together local garden supply stores, local gardeners, landscapers and anybody who is interested in learning how to grow food and/or flowers. This year’s theme is “Adding edibles to your landscape — focus on fruit trees and berry bushes.”

Master Gardener Ed Buyarski of Ed’s Edible Landscaping in Juneau will be on hand to provide expertise during the show. Buyarski will give a special presentation on “Growing Fruit in Southeast Alaska” at 11 a.m. on March 20 at ANB Hall (just before the show opens).

Buyarski also will lead some free hands-on tree pruning workshops on Saturday, March 19, with the first tree pruning workshop at 10:30 a.m. at the trees outside Patty Bickar’s house, 310 Cascade (at the top of the hill). The tree pruning workshops will continue Saturday afternoon at the trees outside the home of Tory O’Connell, 608 Etolin Way (off Baranof Street downtown). Buyarski will provide instruction on how to properly prune the trees and bushes to encourage fruit production and maintain healthy growth. Pruning needs to be done before the trees bud, so NOW is the time to get it done. The tree pruning workshops are hosted by the Sitka Fruit Tree Initiative.

The Sitka Local Foods Network encourages people to share their knowledge by hosting a booth or posting an educational display about a specific garden topic. We especially want people with experience growing fruit trees to share their knowledge about growing apple, cherry or crabapple trees in Sitka; growing strawberries; growing rhubarb; growing unusual berry varieties that do well in our climate such as aronia, sea buckthorn, honeysuckle (fruiting), gooseberry, currant and elderberry; and how to legally transplant and cultivate wild berry bushes to your property.

In addition, you can learn about home greenhouses, how to prepare your soil, how to raise chickens and what to do with all those slugs. Buy seeds and plant starts. Swap ideas and tips. Come learn, share, and get ready to grow your garden. Learn about plans for the Sitka Farmers Markets this summer. Let’s Grow Sitka is organized by the Sitka Local Foods Network and is part of the Arti Gras Sitka Music and Arts Festival, which takes place March 6-20.

There still are a few FREE tables available for vendors, education and demonstrations. For more information about Let’s Grow Sitka or to reserve table space, contact Linda Wilson at lawilson87@hotmail.com or call her at 747-3096 (in the evenings or on weekends only). She also has information about the tree pruning workshops.

Master gardeners are encouraged to sign up to share their personal experience on how to create a successful garden in Sitka. Also, anyone with a garden-related product or service to sell is invited to participate. Some of the expected booths are from:

  • True Value Garden Center (type Sitka or 99835 into the store locator search bar) — garden supplies
  • White’s, Inc/Harry Race Pharmacy — garden books, magazines, accessories
  • Garden Ventures — lots of lovely primroses for sale along with garden supplies
  • Lori Adams — Down-To-Earth U-Pick garden promotion
  • Andrew Thoms — raising chickens and chicks for sale (Andrew suggests anybody wanting to buy chicks contact him as soon as possible so he can start incubating the eggs. He can be reached at 747-3747 or andrew@sitkawild.org.)
  • Eve Grutter — jams for sale, garden and raising chickens expertise to share
  • Sitka Local Foods Network — garden information and volunteer sign up
  • Sitka Farmers Market — tomato plant starts for sale, Farmers Market information
  • St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm — seed starter kits
  • Sitka Fruit Tree Initiative — information on growing your own fruit trees and berry bushes in Sitka
  • Sitka Fruit Tree Initiative — community fruit tree mapping project
  • Sitka Seed Savers — information on how to save your own garden seed, and a sign up to participate in an educational workshop on how to save vegetable seed and start a seed savers group in Sitka
  • Display and information handouts on growing rhubarb and its nutritional benefits
  • UAF Cooperative Extension Service — lots of free garden handouts
  • Ed Buyarski of Ed’s Edible Landscaping in Juneau — edible landscaping

• Let’s Grow Sitka event flier for March 20, 2011, at ANB Hall (please print and post around town)

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• UAF Cooperative Extension Service’s Bob Gorman to teach series of free classes on gardening in Sitka

Bob Gorman of the Sitka office of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service shows some germinating seed starts during a free garden workshop on March 11, 2009.

Bob Gorman of the Sitka office of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service shows some germinating seed starts during a free garden workshop on March 11, 2009.

Bob Gorman of the Sitka office of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service will lead several free gardening classes starting this week and running through April.

Gorman will lead two classes this week — Wednesday night (March 2) on fruit trees and berry bushes and Thursday night (March 3) on basic food gardening. He also will lead four more classes about fruit trees and berry bushes on March 16, April 6, April 8 and April 27 (this last date may be rescheduled). All classes take place in Room 106 at the University of Alaska Southeast-Sitka Campus.

The “Tree Fruits and Berry Bushes for Sitka” class at 6:30-8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 2, will cover recommended fruit trees and berries for Sitka, site selection and site preparation considerations. Basic tree fruit and berry bush cultivation will be discussed. An update on spruce needle aphid detection and control will be included.

The “Basic Food Gardening” class at 6:30-8:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 3, covers making soil from locally available products, container gardening, establishing and tilling a garden plot, variety and seed selection, starting transplants indoors, direct seeding, frost-free dates, extending the growing season and garden pest prevention. UAF Cooperative Extension Service publications will be available.

The topics for the final four classes are:

  • Wednesday, March 16 (6:30-8:30 p.m.) — Growing Berry Bushes in Sitka
  • Wednesday, April 6 (6:30-8:30 p.m.) — Managing Garden Soils
  • Friday, April 8 (6-8 p.m.) — Prune It Now
  • Wednesday, April 27 (6:30-8:30 p.m.) — Planting Trees, Shrubs and Transplants (class may be rescheduled).

Bob Gorman is the Sitka District Extension Agent for the UAF Cooperative Extension Service and teaches the Alaska Master Gardener certification course to garden volunteers in Sitka (the course features 40 hours of horticulture classes and 40 hours of volunteer work in local garden projects). Before moving to Alaska in 1991, Gorman worked three years in berry crop research and four years in commercial fruit tree production.

To learn more about these classes, call the UAF Cooperative Extension Service office in Sitka at 747-9440 or 747-9413, or just show up since the classes are free.

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• Sitka Local Foods Network to host annual meeting and local foods potluck on Saturday, Jan. 29

The Sitka Local Foods Network will host its annual meeting and local foods potluck from 5-7 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 29, at the Sitka Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Building, 408 Marine St.

This event is free and open to all Sitka residents. The annual meeting portion of the program will feature an update on all of our current projects, including the two new local-foods-related projects that came out of the 2010 Sitka Health Summit (planting 200 fruit trees around town and getting more local fish in school lunches). We are gearing up for the annual Let’s Grow Sitka gardening education event on Sunday, March 20; the community garden season with work parties starting in April or May; and for the upcoming Sitka Farmers Market season starting in July. New volunteers always are appreciated.

We encourage everyone to bring a favorite dish that features local foods, such as venison steaks, grilled salmon, seafood chowder, freshly baked bread and salmonberry preserves, seaweed, herring eggs and vegetables from the garden. For more information, contact Linda Wilson at 747-3096 (evenings and weekends) or lawilson87@hotmail.com.