community greenhouse

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• Sitka gardeners to meet Tuesday, March 16, at UAS-Sitka Campus

There will be an informal get together for interested Sitka gardeners from 7-8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 16, in Room 106 at the University of Alaska Southeast-Sitka Campus on Japonski Island.

The get together is for gardeners of all types, interests, and skills to informally exchange ideas, information, seed catalogs and growing tips. Share and learn from other gardeners with no dues or commitments other than good fellowship. The March topic is getting growing.

Sitka gardeners plan to get together the third Tuesday of the month at the UAS-Sitka Campus. This month’s meeting is sponsored by UAS-Sitka Campus and the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service. For more information, call Cheryl Stromme at 747-9473 or Bob Gorman at 747-9413.

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• ‘Let’s Grow Sitka!’ garden show takes place Sunday, March 14

All gardeners and would-be gardeners are encouraged to attend the second annual “Let’s Grow Sitka!” educational and social event for Sitka gardeners. Let’s Grow Sitka! takes place from noon until 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 14, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall on Katlian Street.

Learn about home greenhouses, how to prepare your soil, 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 10-day Arti Gras Sitka Music and Arts Festival, which takes place March 5-14.

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 the University of Alaska Cooperative Extension Service, St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm, Garden Ventures, Solexx Greenhouses, Harry Race, Down To Earth U-Pick Garden, Sitka Global Warming Group (garden-matching program) and many others.

There still are a few FREE tables available for vendors, education and demonstrations. For more information or to reserve table space, contact Linda Wilson in the evenings at 747-3096.

Doug Osborne answers questions at the Sitka Farmers Market table during the 2009 Let's Grow Sitka garden show

Doug Osborne answers questions at the Sitka Farmers Market table during the 2009 Let's Grow Sitka garden show

Sitka residents wander the booths during the 2009 Let's Grow Sitka garden show

Sitka residents wander the booths during the 2009 Let's Grow Sitka garden show

Mike and Robin run the White's Inc./Harry Race table during the 2009 Let's Grow Sitka garden show

Mike and Robin run the White's Inc./Harry Race table during the 2009 Let's Grow Sitka garden show

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• Sitka office of UAF Cooperative Extension Service to host Master Gardener class

Master gardener Bob Gorman shows off seed starts in wet paper towels during a March garden workshop

The Sitka office of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service will host a 40-hour Master Gardener class from 6-9 p.m. every Wednesday night from March 3 through May 12 in Sitka.

The class also will involve two 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday sessions, on March 20 and May. All classes take place at the University of Alaska Southeast Sitka Campus. Local field trips and growing projects are part of the class.

The non-credit course costs $50 for materials and a student agreement to provide 40 hours of gardening-related service to the community within 12 months of completing the course. UAF Cooperative Extension Service Resource Development Agent Bob Gorman will be the course’s instructor. Guest presenters will assist during the classes.

The class includes topics such as plant propagation, soil management, pest identification and control, extending the growing season, vegetable and fruit gardening, greenhouse and indoor gardening, and ornamental gardening.

The purpose of the program is to train volunteers to assist the UAF Cooperative Extension Service by providing the public with gardening-related information. Volunteer service includes help with the Sitka native plants and demonstration garden, youth and in-school gardening, community gardening events, helping with plant pest identification, and assisting with the Sitka Local Foods Network.

Class size is limited and students are encouraged to register early. Those people interested in the class are encouraged to leave their names, contact information and a phone message on the Sitka office of the UAF Cooperative Extension Service at 747-9440. Registration packets are available at the UAS Sitka Campus front desk. The course is offered by the UAF Cooperative Extension Service and the UAS Sitka Campus.

For more information about master gardeners, here are links to the Alaska Master Gardeners and the Southeast Alaska Master Gardeners pages.

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• New Sitka Local Foods Network events calendar added to site

We now have an events calendar. This link goes to a calendar for Sitka Local Foods Network and other related events in the Sitka area. You will be able to find the link under “Pages” in the right column.

This calendar will feature events such as Sitka Local Foods Network board meetings, Sitka Farmers Markets, Let’s Grow Sitka, work parties for St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm and other events sponsored by the Sitka Local Foods Network. It also will feature community events related our mission, such as UAF Cooperative Extension Service classes, Sitka Gardeners Club meetings, traditional foods classes, etc.

If you have any events you feel should be included on this calendar, please e-mail the details to charles(at)sitkalocalfoodsnetwork.org — replace the (at) with a @ symbol. Please be aware this is a work in progress, so it may take a few days to get most of our events transferred to the calendar.

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• Special board meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 12, for the Sitka Local Foods Network

There was too much business to get through during the regular board meeting of the Sitka Local Foods Network on Monday, Jan. 4, so a special board meeting will be held from 5-7 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 12, at the Sitka Economic Development Association (SEDA) conference room upstairs in the Troutte Center building on Lincoln Street. Here is the suggested agenda.

Sitka Local Foods Network
January 12, 2010, Board Meeting Agenda
5-7 p.m.  SEDA Meeting Room

* Approve Minutes of Last Meeting
* Review Mission Statement and Goals
* President’s Report: Turning Point; from volunteers to staff
* Standing reports
___o 501(c)(3) and financial update (Kerry)
___o Education/Let’s Grow Sitka update (Linda W.)
___o Sitka Farmers Market update/Educational Programs (Linda & Kerry)
___o St. Peter’s Fellowship farm update (Doug & Lisa)
___o Sitka Community Greenhouse update (workgroup – see minutes)
* Old Business
___o t-shirt update (Natalie & Peggy)
___o Ed Hume fundraiser (Maybelle – Lisa will bring her report; need approval of board to go ahead)
___o Earth day/Shane Smith
* New Business
___o Turning Point (Kerry);
___o Motion to support a CSA by inviting Hope and Florence to sign people up at the ‘Let’s Grow Sitka’ event.
___o  Island Institute Humanities project focused on sustainability
___o Other?

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• Food security in Alaska a big issue in recent local foods news stories

Last week, the Anchorage Daily News’ Alaska Newsreader blog reported on a story from the Huffington Post’s The Daily Beast blog that ranked Alaska second in failing to properly feed its people. The story used data from a new USDA survey on household food security in 2008, where Alaska was ranked in the middle of the pack, but it re-ranked the states based on the household food security rankings combined with statewide income and access to programs (including bureaucratic issues) that feed the hungry. By the way, Colorado had the dubious No. 1 ranking. The Juneau Empire ran an editorial from the Washington Post about the USDA survey that compared food insecurity vs. hunger.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Science blog reported on a food security meeting in Fairbanks earlier this month hosted by the Sustainable Community Action Network for Fairbanks (SCANFairbanks, site hasn’t been updated in more than a year). The UAF SNRAS blog article mentioned food security projects from around the state, including work being done by the Sitka Local Foods Network. The Fairbanks Community Cooperative Market blog also had an article about the meeting.

The food security issue has been around for awhile. Earlier this year, the Alaska Food Coalition reported on Alaska’s Hungriest Communities. More than a year ago, back when Sarah Palin still was governor, Kim Sollien of the Alaska Trust Food Network (and Chickaloon Tribe) wrote an open letter to then-Gov. Palin detailing Alaska’s food security problems. While the letter is more than a year old, many of the issues still exist. Last year, the Christian Science Monitor ran an article about Alaska’s food challenges and how new farmers are coming online.

In other local foods news this week, the Tundra Drums reported that a teacher from the Kuskokwim River village of Quinhagak is receiving a $10,000 grant from former talk show host Jenny Jones’ foundation to build a community greenhouse.

Laine Welch’s Alaska Fisheries column this week discussed how more halibut this year was consumed in homes instead of restaurants.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported on a problem moose hunters in the Interior have been having with Tanana Valley Meats being overloaded so it’s taking too long to process the meat, processed meat returns have been light and some meat has been rancid.

Finally, the Alaska Dispatch reported on a KTVA-TV story about Permafrost Alaska Vodka, which is made by Glacier Creek Distillery and uses potatoes grown in the Mat-Su valleys, earning a top ranking from the Beverage Tasting Institute of Chicago.

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• Sitka film featured in Palmer’s “Local Harvest, Local Food” film festival, a Sitka café featured for using local food and other local foods news

Food Film Fest Poster-2

Join the Palmer Arts Council for its inaugural “Local Harvest, Local Food” film fest from Thursday, Nov. 19, through Sunday, Nov. 22, at the Strangebird Consulting Office in downtown Palmer. “Good Food” screens at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 19; “Fresh” shows at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 20; “Eating Alaska” by Sitka filmmaker Ellen Frankenstein screens at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 21; and “Ingredients” shows at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 22. After the Sunday showing there will be a discussion about women in agriculture with Cynthia Vignetti. Suggested donations are $10-15 for all films except for Sunday, which is free.

A Sitka restaurant, the Larkspur Café, was featured in Capital City Weekly last week. The article talks about the origins of the restaurant, which is located in the same building as KCAW-Raven Radio. It also discusses the restaurant’s use of local foods, including owners Amelia Budd and Amy Kane purchasing produce from the Sitka Farmers Market during the summer.

In other local foods news from around the state, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently announced an expansion to the state’s subsistence halibut fishery to include more rural residents (this includes the Sitka area). The new rules, which take effect on Dec. 4, redefine who qualifies as a rural resident. The previous rules defined rural residents as people living in a rural community or people belonging to a Native tribe with customary and traditional uses of halibut, and the news rules try to catch subsistence halibut users who fell outside the previous definition. Click this link for more information about subsistence halibut regulations and applications.

The Daily Sitka Sentinel has been running a brief announcement from the Sitka Tribe of Alaska’s Kayaaní Commission, which is selling 2010 calendars, CDRoms and field guides about traditional uses of native plants. Here is the information:

Kayaaní Native Plant Publications Available: 2010 Kayaaní Harvest Calendars featuring native plants and their traditional and cultural uses ($16, $2 postage per address); Interactive Ethnobotanical CDRoms with native species, their Tlingít, scientific and common names, and interviews with Elders on the traditional and medicinal uses of plants ($15, $1 postage per address); Ethnobotanical Field Guides ($16, $1 postage per address). We will mail to the addresses of your choice. Order by Dec. 18 for guaranteed delivery before Christmas. Call or e-mail with your order: 907-747-7178, pbass@sitkatribe.org, STA Kayaaní Commission, 456 Katlian. All proceeds will assist the nonprofit Kayaaní Commission in protecting, perpetuating and preserving knowledge of native plants.

The Chilkat Valley News weekly newspaper from Haines featured an article about sixth-graders at Haines School learning how to compost their leftover food (including leftover meat) so it can be used for gardening. The school is working with the Takshanuk Watershed Council to teach the students about composting. The students call their compost project “Marvin” because it’s a living organism.

The Alaska Dispatch recently ran a feature called “Growing Season” that discusses some of the farms in the Matanuska-Susitna valleys that grow local food. The feature includes video clips of harvest time at a couple of the farms featured.

The Mat-Su Frontiersman had a feature called “Chicken U,” which is about raising chickens in Alaska and getting them to produce eggs during the winter months.

The Anchorage Daily News also mentioned Chicken University, which will be one of several presentations at the Alaska Farm Bureau annual meeting on Friday, Nov. 13, at the Millennium Hotel in Anchorage. Other presentations are on growing apples in Alaska and preserving your harvest.

The Anchorage Daily News also had an article about how to get local produce in Anchorage during the winter, either through the Glacier Valley CSA produce boxes from Palmer or the indoor farmers market at the Northway Mall.

Anchorage Daily News garden columnist Jeff Lowenfels wrote a column about how hydroponic gardening is easier and cheaper than ever. The column includes lots of links for people who want to try this method of growing food without soil (by the way, there is a hydroponic garden at McMurdo Station in Antarctica that keeps the scientists there stocked in fresh produce in a land of ice).

Fran Durner’s “Talk Dirt To Me” blog on the Anchorage Daily News site includes a post about how snow can act as mulch for the garden.

The Ester Republic, a monthly publication for the community near Fairbanks, runs periodic articles about sustainability and local food security issues. Some of the articles are linked in the archives, and the editors are working to get more of the past articles on these topics online so more people can enjoy them.

KayaaniCommissionCalendarFront´

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• Sitka Local Foods Network hosts garden work party on Oct. 17

The Sitka Local Foods Network will host a “putting the garden to rest” work party from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17, at St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm.

The Oct. 17 work party involves a last bit of weeding, pulling out the annual plants for compost, putting mulch and protective coverings over the perennials, and getting all the tools inventoried and stored away for the winter. This will help make the garden easier to get ready for spring planting. Most of the vegetables grown at the St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm are sold at the Sitka Farmers Markets during the summer.

For more information about the work party, contact Lisa Sadleir-Hart at 747-5985 or Maybelle Filler at 738-1982.

To learn more about the Sitka Local Foods Network and how it supports community gardens and greenhouses, organizes the Sitka Farmers Market, supports traditional foods and provides education and encouragement to local gardeners, browse through this site.

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• Running of the Boots raises funds for Sitka Local Foods Network

Runners hit the trail during the 14th Annual Running of the Boots race on Sept. 27, 2008, in Sitka.

Runners hit the trail during the 14th Annual Running of the Boots race on Sept. 27, 2008, in Sitka.

It’s time to dig your XtraTufs out of the closet and get them painted up. The 15th annual Running of the Boots takes place at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 26, at the Crescent Harbor shelter.

The Running of the Boots is part of the second annual Season’s End Celebration, an event sponsored by the Greater Sitka Chamber of Commerce and the Alaska Cruise Association that includes a free lunch for Sitka residents. The chamber’s board donates money raised by the Running of the Boots to the Sitka Local Foods Network, the non-profit group that hosts the Sitka Farmers Market and advocates for community gardens, a community greenhouse, sustainable uses of traditional subsistence foods and education for Sitka gardeners.

So what is the Running of the Boots? It’s Southeast Alaska’s answer to Spain’s “Running of the Bulls.” But unlike the Pamplona spectacle, humans do the running in Sitka and they wear zany costumes and XtraTufs — Southeast Alaska’s distinctive rubber boots (aka, Sitka Sneakers). The entry fee for the Running of the Boots is $5 per person and $20 per family, and people can register for the race starting at 10 a.m. There is a lip synch contest after the race, which costs $10 to enter.

The Running of the Boots is a short race for fun and not for speed, even though one of the many prize categories is for the fastest boots. Categories include best dressed boots, zaniest costume, best couple, best kids group and many others. The course includes a loop around St. Michael’s Cathedral before returning to Crescent Harbor for families with children, or a run from Crescent Harbor to the corner of Katlian and Lincoln streets and back for Sitka’s hardier souls.

“This event will be one of the highlights of our Season’s End Celebration, after which Sitkans can partake of the Alaska Cruise Association’s free lunch,” said Sheila Finkenbinder, executive director of the Greater Sitka Chamber of Commerce. Finkenbinder started the ‘run’ 15 years ago, inspired by an idea from KCAW-Raven Radio general manager Ken Fate.

“This is a really fun way to advance the Sitka Farmers Market and our other Sitka Local Foods Network projects,” Sitka Local Foods Network President Kerry MacLane said. “And just like at the market, there will be live music by the Sitka Blues Band.”

To learn more about the Running of the Boots, contact Kerry MacLane at 752-0654 or by e-mail at maclanekerry@yahoo.com. More information about the race can be found online at http://www.runningoftheboots.org/ and photos from the 2008 Running of the Boots can be found online at
http://sitkalocalfoodsnetwork.shutterfly.com/80?startIndex=100 (scroll down to find Running of the Boots photos).

Dressing up in costume is half the fun of the annual Running of the Boots race

Dressing up in costume is half the fun of the annual Running of the Boots race

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• Alaska Center for the Environment launches local food campaign

AlaskaCenterForTheEnvironmentLogo

The Alaska Center for the Environment is launching a new campaign to teach Alaskans about the importance of local food. This campaign is just getting going, and there’s a lot of work needed to flesh out all of the elements. But it’s good to see someone looking a local food security issues on a statewide level.

Click here to read the main information page about the campaign, which includes facts such as Alaskans spent $2.6 billion on food each year and in 2007 only 0.13 percent of that money went to agricultural products grown in Alaska. Click here to read the campaign’s Frequently Asked Questions page. Click here to read about a proposed “Alaska Food, Farms and Jobs Act” that is based on legislation out of Illinois that ACE hopes to find an Alaska legislator willing to introduce.

Finally, click here to read about the Alaska Local Food Film Festival that takes place Oct. 2-8 at the Bear Tooth Theatrepub and Grill in Anchorage. Each day during the festival the Bear Tooth will show a local food-related movie at 5:30 p.m. The films include “Food, Inc.,” “The Garden,” “Eating Alaska,” “Fresh” and “The End of the Line.” Sitka filmmaker Ellen Frankenstein will lead a discussion after her film, “Eating Alaska,” is shown on Sunday, Oct. 4.

AlaskaLocalFoodFilmFestivalPoster