Click here to read the current Sitka Local Foods Network e-newsletter courtesy of Linda Wilson. Don’t forget, you can sign up for the e-newsletter by typing your e-mail address in the “Join Our Mailing List” box on bottom of the left side of the page.
farmers market
• New feature added — Sitka Local Foods Marketplace (for in-season local food in Sitka)
There have been some requests for a Sitka Local Foods Marketplace, where local gardeners and fishermen can post notes when they have in-season local food available in Sitka. So we’ve added a Sitka Local Foods Marketplace page (please click this link), and the marketplace page can be found at the top of our main Sitka Local Foods Network gateway page.
The Sitka Local Foods Marketplace will give local gardeners and fishermen a place to let people know when local food is available, and this will be an all-year marketplace for local food. The way this will work is people with local food for sale will use the comments to post the news about their extra heads of lettuce or fresh king salmon available for sale. Sellers will be responsible for all licensing required before they can sell fish or cooked goods. Please no selling of subsistence or sport-caught fish due to Alaska Department of Fish & Game licensing regulations.
When posting your comment about local food you have available for sale, please use this format:
• Your name (first and last names, please)
• Your contact information (phone number and/or e-mail address)
• What type of food is available (for example, fresh-caught winter king salmon with most fish in the 12-16 pound range)
• Your price (both single item and any quantity discounts)
• Expected time items will be available (one week, two weeks, all summer, etc.)
• Any other comments about your local food
Please be aware that all comments are moderated on this site (thank the spammers), so it may take a day or two to be posted. If you posted a marketplace comment that didn’t show up on the page within a day or two, please send me an e-mail at charles(at)sitkalocalfoodsnetwork.org — replace (at) with the @ symbol. Also, if you have your own Web site for your local food products, send me the link and I will add it to the Sitka Commercial Food Producers category (toward the bottom of the long list of links on the right side of the Web page).
• ‘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
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
• Sitka Local Foods Network contracting for 2010 St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm lead gardener
Darby Osborne, Doug Osborne, Kerry MacLane and Maybelle Filler pick radishes at St. Peter's Fellowship Farm before the first Sitka Farmers Market in 2008
The Sitka Local Foods Network is contracting for a lead gardener to help manage our activities at the St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm community garden this summer. St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm (SPFF) is growing, and we’re adding new garden beds so we can grow more crops. The vegetables grown at SPFF are sold at the Sitka Farmers Market to help support the efforts of the Sitka Local Foods Network, with some crops also going to local church and charity groups. Here is the lead gardener contract description.
St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm 2010 Lead Gardener Contract Description
Work Experience: 2-3 years of varied vegetable gardening experience, preferably with at least one year in Southeast Alaska. This includes planning, cultivating, harvesting, composting and preparing vegetables for sale or preservation, as well as putting the garden to rest for the season.
Contract Requirements:
- Develop a garden plan that includes succession planting in conjunction with the SPFF tri-coordinators (board members Lisa Sadleir-Hart, Doug Osborne and Maybelle Filler)
- Conduct soil testing and amend the soil to improve soil quality using available resources (i.e., seaweed, bone meal, etc) in conjunction with the SPFF tri-coordinators and volunteer work parties
- Cultivate plant starts using seeds provided by the SLFN and make recommendations for SPFF seed start kits to be distributed at the Let’s Grow Sitka event on March 14, 2010
- Use organic gardening practices
- Host 3 initial planting parties (from 2-4:30 p.m. on three Saturdays, May 15, May 22 and May 29) i.e., coordinate with the SPFF tri-coordinators to plan and direct work
- Direct 75 percent of the garden work parties, i.e., these are tentatively scheduled for Wednesdays 4:30-6 p.m. and Saturdays 2-3:30 p.m. (on non-Sitka Farmers Market Saturdays) during the months of June, July and August, plus the first half of September, but can be negotiated.
- Plan and oversee the harvest of the garden for the first five 2010 Sitka Farmers Markets (harvest usually takes place early on market-day mornings, July 17, July 31, August 14, August 28 and September 4)
- Develop a method for quantifying the amount of vegetables harvested from SPFF and implement it
- Maintain the composting and watering systems
- Direct any questions or concerns to the SPFF tri-coordinators
Compensation: A total of $1,500 paid in three installments (May 15, July 15 and September 15) plus 5 percent of the SPFF harvest – this compensation schedule is open for negotiation.
If interested in the SPFF lead gardener contract, e-mail a resume that includes two local references that can speak to your gardening ability and a letter of interest by February 20th to 3akharts@acsalaska.net. Direct questions to Lisa Sadleir-Hart at 747-5985 or Doug Osborne at 747-3752.
• 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.
• 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?
• Save the dates for 2010 Sitka Local Foods Network events
It’s time to mark a few Sitka Local Foods Network dates on the 2010 calendar.
The first date to mark is Sunday, March 14, when the second annual “Let’s Grow Sitka” event takes place from noon to 3 p.m. at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall. This event is associated with Sitka’s Artigras music and arts festival. Let’s Grow Sitka has a lot of information for gardeners as they prepare for spring plantings, and it’s a good place for new gardeners to learn what they need to start growing their own food. Booths on any garden-related topic are welcome, and space needs to be reserved as soon as possible (for information, call Linda Wilson at 747-3096, nights and weekends). This also is an event where people can talk about their local garden experiences, provide demonstrations and help get the community excited about the upcoming growing season.
Also, we have five of our six Sitka Farmers Market dates set for 2010. The Sitka Farmers Market takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the following Saturdays at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall:
- July 17
- July 31
- Aug. 14
- Aug. 28
- Sept. 11
The last Sitka Farmers Market date will be discussed at the January board meeting (at noon on Monday, Jan. 4, at the See House behind the St. Peter’s By The Sea Episcopal Church). Under consideration are markets on July 3 or Sept. 25 (with the Running of the Boots). We need a sixth market to qualify to accept WIC coupons like we did last year. Vendors wanting to host booths at the Sitka Farmers Market should contact Linda Wilson for more information (2009 booth rules are posted in the Pages section under “Sitka Local Foods Network meeting minutes, other notes” and 2010 booth rules will be posted when they are available).
Also, be watching for details about two potential education events this spring when we hope to have guest speakers in town (one about Earth Day on April 22 and the other sometime around Memorial Day in May). Hopefully we’ll have event details soon.
• Aliens from Running of the Boots fundraiser show up in Daily Sitka Sentinel and Juneau Empire
Screenshot of the Daily Sitka Sentinel site on Monday with the aliens photo from the 2009 Running of the Boots
Screenshot from Tuesday's Juneau Empire featuring the aliens photo from the Running of the Boots
The green-headed aliens were the hit of the Running of the Boots on Saturday, earning spots on the front page of the Daily Sitka Sentinel on Monday and in Tuesday’s issue of the Juneau Empire. The Running of the Boots is a fundraiser for the Sitka Local Foods Network, and we greatly appreciate race founder Sheila Finkenbinder and the Greater Sitka Chamber of Commerce donating the proceeds from the event to our organization. A photo gallery from the race is posted just below this one, or click here to go directly to the gallery.
In other recent local foods news, Sitka filmmaker Ellen Frankenstein and her movie, “Eating Alaska,” are featured in Wednesday’s Anchorage Daily News. Ellen will be in Anchorage to show her film on Sunday night at the inaugural Alaska Local Food Film Festival, which runs Oct. 2-8 at Anchorage’s Beartooth Theatrepub and Grill.
Click here to read a “Local Flavor” column by chef Ginny Mahar about chanterelles from Sunday’s Juneau Empire, which local mushroom enthusiasts can find throughout Southeast Alaska about this time of the year. Ginny, who works for Rainbow Foods in Juneau, writes the Food-G blog where she has posted several recipes that use chanterelles. Chanterelles are popular this week, because Carla Peterson also writes about them in Capital City Weekly.
Click here to read a letter to the editor in Tuesday’s Juneau Empire about how to eat healthy foods on a budget. The letter, written by staff members from the Juneau office of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service, was in response to a Fairbanks Daily News-Miner story (that appeared later in the Juneau Empire) about Alaska lawmakers trying to live on food stamps for a week.
Click here to read a Seattle Times article about how Northwest cooks are falling in love with the sablefish (aka, black cod), a fish frequently caught in Sitka waters and available at the Sitka Farmers Market. The article includes a recipe.
Click here to read a blog post on The Atlantic Food Channel called “Local Food Comes To Alaska,” by New York University nutrition, food studies and public health professor Marion Nestle (author of “Food Politics,” “Safe Food,” “What To Eat,” and “Pet Food Politics,” as well as the “Food Matters” column for the San Francisco Chronicle).
If you haven’t visited the “Eat Local Northwest” blog, it’s worth a look. This blog is maintained by two friends — Stephen lives in the Mat-Su Valley and works in Anchorage, while Audrey is from the Seattle area. In the most recent post (as of Tuesday night), Stephen writes about his happy discovery that some of the prices at the South Anchorage Farmers Market actually were comparable or lower than what he was finding at several of local grocery stores. There is a link to this blog in our blog roll on the right side of the page.
Click here to read a story from KTUU-TV (Anchorage NBC affiliate) about Meyer’s Farm in Bethel, a project started by Tim Meyers that now involves a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program where local residents pay a fee and get weekly boxes of fresh, local produce. You can click a video link in the upper right corner, too. Meyer’s Farm was featured in the April 2009 issue of Alaska Magazine (link opens a PDF file of the article). There also is a Flickr photo gallery that shows nearly 100 photos of Meyer’s Farm.
Finally, the new farmers market near the White House isn’t about Alaska food, but it does promote and encourage people to eat local food. Click here for a story about the new farmers market on National Public Radio and click here for an article from the Washington Post. Click here for an article from USA Today about the growth of farmers markets across the nation.
• Capital City Weekly features Sitka Farmers Market Table of the Day, Running of the Boots fundraiser for Sitka Local Foods Network
Screenshot of Capital City Weekly page about Mike Wise winning the Table of the Day Award at the final Sitka Farmers Market of the summer
Click here to see this week’s Capital City Weekly coverage of Mike Wise of Raven’s Peek Roasters and Sailor’s Choice Coffee winning the Table of the Day Award for the final Sitka Farmers Market of the summer on Sept. 12.
Click here to read a notice in this week’s Capital City Weekly about the Running of the Boots on Saturday, Sept. 26.
For those of you who will be in Juneau and not in Sitka on Saturday for the Running of the Boots, click here to read about the Autumn Garden Party and Wine Tasting event on Saturday at the Jensen-Olson Arboretum up in Juneau.
In a local foods story from the Northwest Arctic, Kotzebue author/photographer Seth Kantner (author of “Ordinary Wolves” and “Shooping for Porcupine”) writes an essay for the Alaska Dispatch Web site about hunting caribou to provide meat for his family.
Finally, we have two stories about the role salmon played in the development of two Southeast Alaska communities — Ketchikan and Pelican. Ketchikan’s Dave Kiffer writes one of his regular history columns for the Stories in the News Web site about how Ketchikan became “the canned salmon capital of the world.” In the Capital City Weekly, Norm Carson writes a story about how a cold storage plant helped Pelican “settled closest to the fish.”
• Juneau Empire on Sunday runs Sitka Farmers Market photo and Running of the Boots article
Juneau Empire screenshot of Mike Wise winning the final Table of the Day Award for the 2009 season of Sitka Farmers Markets.
Click here to see the Juneau Empire’s coverage on Sunday of Mike Wise of Raven’s Peek Roasters and Sailor’s Choice Coffee winning the Table of the Day Award for the final Sitka Farmers Market of the summer on Sept. 12.
Click here to read a Juneau Empire notice in Sunday’s paper about the Running of the Boots on Saturday, Sept. 26.
Sitka Local Foods Network 
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