August 22, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• Alaska Grown hosts the “Eat Local Challenge 2009” on Aug. 23-29

Flier for the Alaska Grown "Eat Local Challenge"

The Alaska Grown program will launch its “Eat Local Challenge 2009” this week, Sunday through Saturday, Aug. 23-29 (click here to read more).

During the next week, Alaska residents are encouraged to:

• Try eating at least one home-cooked meal this week, made of mostly local ingredients.
• Try to incorporate at least one never-before-used local ingredient into a meal.
• Try “brown-bagging” at least one meal this week made primarily of local ingredients.
• Try talking to at least one local food retailer and one food producer about local food options.
• Try to choose local food products whenever possible.

By the way, a good time to buy local food this week is the fourth Sitka Farmers Market of the summer, which takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 29, at Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall (235 Katlian St.). We’ll see you there.

August 22, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• Local foods in the news this week

Many of Alaska’s newspapers had articles about local foods this week. Here is a sampling of some of the offerings.

Click here to read an article called “Beware of wild things in the blueberry patch” from the Capital City Weekly, about slugs, bugs and bears.

Click here to read an update on the Second Annual Juneau Farmers Market and Local Foods Festival from the Capital City Weekly. This event is from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 29, at the Juneau Arts and Culture Center.

Click here to read an item in Capital City Weekly about a tree planting and pruning workshop here in Sitka on Monday, Aug. 24, at Harrigan Centennial Hall.

Click here to read an article and photo package from Fran Durner’s “Talk Dirt To Me” gardening blog in the Anchorage Daily News about Dan Bilyeu of Nikiski, who grows and sells gourmet oyster mushrooms.

Click here to read a “Berries of the Kenai Peninsula” feature from the 2009 Peninsula Clarion Recreation and Tourist Guide.

It’s not from an Alaska publication, but the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service has a story (click here to read it) about new research into phytochemicals and other healthy plant compounds in potatoes.

August 20, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• Sitka Native Education program to host Jam and Jam on Aug. 28

The Sitka Native Education Program will host a Jam and Jam at 5 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 28, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall with the Gajaa Heen Dancers and others.

The group will prepare salmonberry and rhubarb/strawberry jam in the Alaska Native Sisterhood kitchen at ANB Hall starting at 5 p.m. Following the class, all attending are invited to a campfire jam session on the Mt. Edgecumbe High School campus.

Materials will be provided for the jam-making class, which is targeted toward youth. Participants wanting to take home jam may bring their own jars, lids and berries to the class.

The Learn and Serve workshop is free. Participating youth are reminded that the final product will be for local elders. For more information, call the Sitka Native Education Program (SNEP) at 747-8561.

August 14, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• Third Sitka Farmers Market takes place on Saturday (Aug. 15)

The third Sitka Farmers Market of the season takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 15, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall (235 Katlian St.) and in the adjoining parking lot owned by the Baranof Island Housing Authority.

“The Sitka Farmers Market offers unique varieties of fresh, nutritious food at the peak of flavor, creates a vibrant community gathering place, and provides the opportunity for learning about healthy life choices and local products,” says Linda Wilson, Sitka Farmers Market Co-Coordinator.

The Sitka Farmers Market features about 20-30 vendors each market who sell locally grown produce, locally harvested fish and locally made arts and crafts. Local musicians perform on the stage inside the ANB Hall and in the jam tent outside, local cooks make ready-to-eat dishes and there are activities for the children. The Sitka Farmers Market is the only farmers market in Southeast Alaska authorized to accept WIC vouchers, which can be used by WIC-eligible families to purchase produce.

Booths are available for Saturday’s market for $5 a table. For more information about this week’s market, contact Linda Wilson at 747-3096 (nights) or lawilson87@hotmail.com, or contact Kerry MacLane at maclanekerry@yahoo.com.

By the way, don’t forget to vote for the Sitka Farmers Market in the “Love Your Farmers Market” contest sponsored by Care2.com and LocalHarvest.org. The market with the most votes wins $5,000. To vote, just click on the contest logo below and follow the link.

August 12, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• Capital City Weekly covers Sitka Farmers Market

Capital City Weekly screenshot showing the Table of the Day Award winners from the second Sitka Farmers Market of the summer (Aug. 1)

This week’s edition of Capital City Weekly (a free Southeast Alaska regional weekly newspaper that comes out on Wednesdays) had some good coverage of the Sitka Farmers Market.

Click here to see a photo honoring Table of the Day Award winners Pete Karras and Mimi Goodwin from the second Sitka Farmers Market on Aug. 1. This photo ran in the Health section of the paper.

Click here to see a package of four photos taken by Capital City Weekly reporter Libby Sterling when she was in Sitka for the first Sitka Farmers Market on July 18. This package ran in the Outdoors section of the paper.

By the way, the third Sitka Farmers Market of the summer takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 15, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall, 235 Katlian St. Some booth space is available, so call Linda Wilson at 747-3096 (nights and weekends) for more information.

The Sitka Local Foods Network (the 501(c)(3) non-profit group that sponsors the Sitka Farmers Market) welcomes any volunteers who want to help set up the market before it opens and take it down once the market is over. Also, the Sitka Local Foods Network accepts donations of extra locally grown produce and berries people may have to sell at the network’s booth at the Sitka Farmers Market. The money raised at the network’s booth helps fund Sitka Local Foods Network projects (the market, community gardens, seed money for the community greenhouse project, educational speakers, etc.). Just drop your extra produce off at the network’s booth, usually outside right next to the building on Katlian St., at the start of the market.

And finally, there was one last story of interest in this week’s Capital City Weekly. Click here to read an article and photo package about the variety of plants being grown at the Jensen-Olson Arboretum in Juneau.

A screenshot from the Capital City Weekly photo package about Sitka's local foods from the first Sitka Farmers Market of the summer (July 18)

August 9, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• Special e-newsletter for Sitka Farmers Market

Click here to read a special e-newsletter from Linda Wilson about the Sitka Farmers Market and issues related to our second market on Aug. 1.

In addition to the issues listed in the special e-newsletter, please remember that no pets are allowed inside the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall during the markets because food preparation and sales are taking place in the building. Please leave all pets at home (or in your car).

Also, we gladly take any donations of extra produce grown in family gardens to be sold at the Sitka Local Foods Network booth. The proceeds from these sales help support our projects, such as rent for the markets, supplies for St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm and seed money for our proposed Sitka Community Greenhouse and Education Center. We’re always looking for new vendors, especially those people with big gardens who want to sell some of their extra veggies, people who pick berries and people who sell baked bread.

By the way, our next Sitka Farmers Market is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 15, at ANB Hall on Katlian Street.

August 9, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• Down To Earth u-pick garden gives Sitkans a new option for fresh produce

Many people enjoy going to the Sitka Farmers Market to get fresh, locally grown produce, but for some of them two weeks between markets is too long to wait for fresh veggies.

Sitka resident Lori Adams opened the Down To Earth u-pick garden in July, so now folks don’t have to wait as long to get fresh, locally grown produce, especially if they don’t have their own gardens. Down To Earth u-pick garden is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday on two-thirds of an acre at 2103 Sawmill Creek Rd. (across from the Mormon church). A small sign in front of her business lets people know what’s available for picking.

“People can show up for a tour and pick what is available,” Adams said when she opened in mid-July. “Right now we have strawberries, zucchini, kale, Egyptian walking onions and miscellaneous herbs. Coming soon will be carrots, peas, celery, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes and Kohlrabi.”

Adams grew up on a family farm in Albany, Ore., but it wasn’t until she moved to Sitka that she realized how much she loved gardening. She brought some of her produce to two of last year’s three Sitka Farmers Market events, but realized there was some produce that wouldn’t last the two weeks between markets this year and a u-pick garden was a way she could make it available to other residents. She worked with the Sitka Planning Commission and then the Sitka Assembly to get the zoning code changed to allow home horticulture in residential zones.

Adams said she will grow many Sitka staple crops that she knows do well in this climate, but she also will try a few experimental varieties. She’s hoping her business will inspire other Sitka residents to grow their own gardens.

“You have to embrace the plants that like to live here, instead of knocking yourself out trying to grow things that don’t like to grow here,” Adams told the Daily Sitka Sentinel when she opened. “Take it easy on yourselves. … I’m hoping people will get enthused and do it themselves — the more of us the better. More of us could do more than we realize. If you just know how and keep trying, people will be surprised with what they can grow.”

Some of the garden beds at Down To Earth u-pick garden in July

A woman checks out some broccoli she picked in July at Down To Earth u-pick garden in Sitka

Down To Earth u-pick garden is a good place for families to pick fruits and veggies together

August 5, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• Only two more days to vote for the Sitka Farmers Market in the America’s Favorite Farmers Markets contest

Just a reminder there are only two days left to vote for the Sitka Farmers Market in the America’s Favorite Farmers Markets contest, an event sponsored by the American Farmland Trust. Click here to read our original post about the contest last week.

To vote in the contest, click here or click on the logo above and you will be taken to a site where you can search for the Sitka Farmers Market by using the zip code or state search functions next to the Google map. When you vote, you can write some notes about why you like the Sitka Farmers Market. The deadline to vote is midnight EST on Saturday, Aug. 8 (8 p.m. Alaska time on Friday, Aug. 7). We are competing in the small market category.

By the way, the third Sitka Farmers Market of the season takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 15, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall, 235 Katlian St. We look forward to seeing you there. A photo gallery from the Aug. 1 market was posted on this site two days ago, so click here to check it out.

August 5, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• Reminder to submit nominations for Sitka’s best gardens

Cindy Westergaard, left, and Kerry MacLane pick lettuce from the St. Peter's Fellowship Farm community garden in August 2008

Last week we posted an item (click here to read it) seeking nominations for an informal survey about Sitka’s best gardens. We’ve had a few nominations come in, but it doesn’t hurt to remind everybody that the deadline to submit nominations is Wednesday, Aug. 12.

Check the original post linked above to see all the categories. You can nominate your own garden, or you can submit a neighbor’s garden (please double-check with them first). Hopefully we’ll be able to set up an informal garden tour, so other Sitka residents are inspired to grow their own gardens next year.

There are two ways to submit nominations. You can click the “Leave a Comment” link below and post it to this site (please keep them family rated and realize that all comments go to a moderator before they show up on the site). The other option is to e-mail the information to charles@sitkalocalfoodsnetwork.org. When you submit your nomination, please write a note about why you enjoy this garden and include the address since we might want to go take pictures and feature the garden on our site.

August 3, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• Pete Karras, Mimi Goodwin win second Table of the Day Award

Pete Karras, left, of Pete's Sourdough Bread, and Mimi Goodwin, right, of Just Arts, receive the Table of the Day Award from Maybelle Filler for the second Sitka Farmers Market of the season

Pete Karras of Pete’s Sourdough Bread and Mimi Goodwin of Just Arts won the “Table of the Day Award” for the second Sitka Farmers Market of the season on Aug. 1.

The Sitka Local Foods Network selected the shared table — which featured Pete’s freshly baked sourdough bread and Mimi’s beaded artwork — to receive the $25 cash prize, an Alaska Farmers Market Association tote bag, a bouquet of flowers and a certificate of appreciation. An identical prize package will be awarded to a deserving vendor at each of the four remaining Sitka Farmers Markets.

The third market of the season takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 15, at Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall. Keep your eye on this site for more information.

Also, a new photo gallery from the second Sitka Farmers Market has been posted on Shutterfly (an online photo-sharing site). Click this link to check out the photos.