September 14, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• Spaghetti dinner and auction fundraiser Friday (Sept. 18) for ANB Hall repairs

Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall, where the Sitka Farmers Markets take place

A spaghetti dinner and auction fundraiser to raise money to make needed repairs to Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall Camp No. 1 takes place from 5-8 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 18, at ANB Hall (235 Katlian St.).

Funds raised at the spaghetti dinner and auction will be used to make repairs as ANB gets ready for its 100th anniversary in 2012. ANB Hall is on the list of National Register of Historic Places, so the building has a cultural significance for Sitka in addition to being the venue used by the Sitka Local Foods Network to host our Sitka Farmers Markets each summer. The Sitka Local Foods Network encourages Sitka residents to support our partner.

The fundraiser will feature a spaghetti dinner, followed by a Chinese auction (so bring your dollar bills). There also will be a silent auction where people can win prizes from around the world. Jude Pate will be the auctioneer.

The dinner costs $8 for adults and $5 for children. For more information, contact Carolyn McKee at 747-3310.

September 14, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• ADF&G hunter education safety courses offered in Sitka

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is offering an Online Basic Hunter Education Field Day and a Basic Hunter Education class this month in Sitka.

The Online Basic Hunter Education Field Day will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 19. This field day course is only for students who already have successfully completed the electronic portion of the Online Basic Hunter Education class. Upon passing the online exam, students will receive a field day qualifier certificate, which grants admission to the field day. Students must have their field day qualifier number before registering for the field day. Register online at http://www.hunt.alaska.gov (click the “Hunter Education/Shooting” link at the bottom-right corner of the grid listing services). Detailed information about each course can be found on the Hunter Education/Shooting link.

The three-day Basic Hunter Education class will run from 6-8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 24-25, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 26. To register, students must purchase a $10 study packet available at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game office in Sitka. The packet workbook must be completed prior to the start of class.

Classes will be held at the Sitka Sportsman’s Association building located at 5211 Halibut Point Road. For additional information, please contact the Sitka office for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game at 747-5449.

September 9, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• Fifth and final Sitka Farmers Market of the summer takes place this Saturday, Sept. 12, at ANB Hall

The fifth and final Sitka Farmers Market of the 2009 season takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Saturday, Sept. 12, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall (235 Katlian St.). Hope to see you there.

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. The market features musicians inside, a jam tent outside, local cooks with ready-to-eat dishes and a fun activity for children. The Sitka Farmers Market is the only farmers market in Southeast Alaska authorized to accept WIC (Women, Infants, Children nutrition program) vouchers, which can be used by WIC-eligible families to purchase produce.

The non-profit Sitka Local Foods Network accepts donations of garden vegetables for its corner stand. Proceeds from the Sitka Local Foods Network booth go to future markets and to local food projects. Volunteers willing to help set up and take down the booths on Saturday before and after the market are greatly appreciated. We also appreciate volunteers who can help harvest produce from the St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm community garden (behind St. Peter’s By The Sea Episcopal Church) early on Saturday so it can be sold at the market.

Vendor booths are available for this Saturday’s market at $5 a table. Vendors are encouraged to be set up by 9:30 a.m., and all vendors selling processed food need to complete the state’s online food safety course before bringing the food (and completion certificate) to market, http://alaska.state.gegov.com/foodworker/.

For more information about this week’s market or to sign up as a volunteer, contact Linda Wilson at 747-3096 (nights) or lawilson87@hotmail.com.

Karen Christner sells plants and local food items on Aug. 29, 2009

Kelsey Jacobsen sells her art prints on Aug. 29, 2009

September 9, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• Alaska Center for the Environment launches local food campaign

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.

September 9, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• Capital City Weekly features Sitka Farmers Market’s Table of the Day Award and other news about local foods

Screenshot of Capital City Weekly feature on Sitka Farmers Market Table of the Day Award winners

Click here to see a photo in this week’s Capital City Weekly highlighting Evening Star Grutter and Fabian Grutter of Eve’s Farm, who won the Table of the Day Award during the fourth Sitka Farmers Market of the summer on Aug. 29. Don’t forget the fifth and final Sitka Farmers Market of the summer takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Saturday, Sept. 12, at Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall (235 Katlian St.). We look forward to seeing you there.

There also have been several other local foods stories in the news in Alaska in recent days.

Click here to read a Capital City Weekly article about the Autumn Festival on Saturday, Sept. 19, in Juneau. The Autumn Festival features some local food booths, in addition to the usual arts and crafts and the beer garden (part of the Autumn Pour homebrew competition) that make up the bulk of the show at the Juneau Arts and Culture Center.

Click here to listen to a newscast from KHNS-FM public radio in Haines that features a story about local efforts in Haines and Skagway to promote local foods during the Alaska Grown Eat Local Challenge on Aug. 23-29 (link opens an online MP3 audio file, story starts about halfway through the newscast). The story mentions that the last Haines Farmers Market of the season takes place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 12 (click here for info).

Click here for an Anchorage Daily News article on what crops to expect at this weekend’s farmers markets in the Anchorage and Mat-Su valleys.

Click here to read an article from The Redoubt Reporter (an online news site from the Kenai Peninsula) about the annual honey extraction event hosted by the Eat Me Raw Honey Company in Kasilof (a community near Kenai and Soldotna). During this event, they clean honey out of the hives and processing it.

Click here to read an article from The Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman about Wasilla dentist Steve Hubacek and his two record-breaking cabbages at the Alaska State Fair in Palmer.

September 8, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• Local food news from Juneau: Virus infects Tlingít potato crop; Glory Hole to get community garden

(Photo courtesy of Klas Stolpe/Juneau Empire) Bill Ehlers, assistant gardener at the Jensen-Olson Arboretum in Juneau, holds a Tlingít potato next to some borage plant flowers.

Click here to read an article in Tuesday’s Juneau Empire about a virus that has infected the crop of Tlingít potatoes at Juneau’s Jensen-Olson Arboretum. According to the article, the potatoes still are safe to eat, despite the virus. But the virus means they won’t be used as seed potatoes for other community gardens in Southeast Alaska, as previously planned. Officials from the University of Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service office in Juneau are doing what they can to remove the virus so they can guarantee clean seed, but it might take a few years.

Click here to read an article from Monday’s Juneau Empire about plans to build a community garden at the Glory Hole homeless shelter and soup kitchen in downtown Juneau. The community garden is expected to provide fresh vegetables and fruit for the soup kitchen, as well as giving Glory Hole patrons a project they can work on at the shelter. Plans are to put garden beds on the roof and terraced garden beds on the hill behind the Glory Hole’s back door.

September 5, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• Another record cabbage at the Alaska State Fair

Screenshot of the Anchorage Daily News article on Steve Hubacek's giant cabbage

Click here to read about a record-breaking 127-pound cabbage, called “The Beast,” Wasilla’s Steve Hubacek weighed in on Friday at the Alaska State Fair in Palmer. Click here to read the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner’s version of the story, which includes some other big veggie records set at the fair.

This record-breaking cabbage, which qualifies for both the state record and a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records, was weighed in just two days after Hubacek broke a 20-year-old record with a 125.9-pound cabbage. I hope he enjoys cole slaw and sauerkraut. Click here to see a list of Guinness Book of World Record-setting veggies at the Alaska State Fair since 1993 (opens PDF file).

Screenshot of the giant cabbage story in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

August 31, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• Evening Star Grutter wins Table of the Day Award from fourth Sitka Farmers Market

Fabian Grutter, left, and Evening Star Grutter, right, of Eve's Farm receive the Table of the Day Award from Linda Wilson during the fourth Sitka Farmers Market of the season on Aug. 29.

Evening Star Grutter and Fabian Grutter of Eve’s Farm won the “Table of the Day Award” for the fourth Sitka Farmers Market of the season on Aug. 29.

The Sitka Local Foods Network selected the table — which featured a variety of fresh produce and homemade jams and jellies — to receive the $25 cash prize, an Alaska Farmers Market Association tote bag and a certificate of appreciation. A similar prize package is awarded to a deserving vendor at each of the five Sitka Farmers Markets this summer.

The fifth and final market of the season takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 12, at Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall. Keep your eye on this site for more information.

Also, a new photo gallery from the fourth Sitka Farmers Market on Aug. 29 has been posted on Shutterfly (an online photo-sharing site). Click this link to check out the photos.

Evening Star Grutter and a rack of her homemade jams and jellies

Lexi Fish cooks up a crepe

August 27, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• Alaska Grown’s Eat Local Challenge is this week

Flier for the Alaska Grown "Eat Local Challenge"

The Alaska Public Radio Network had a story on the Alaska News Nightly show Thursday night about the “Eat Local Challenge,” which takes place Aug. 23-29. Click here to listen to the story, which discusses what’s available around the state and how residents can encourage their local stores and restaurants to carry more Alaska Grown produce. For more information on the Eat Local Challenge, click here to see our post introducing the event last week.

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 27, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• To extend the lives of berries, give them a hot bath

Picking blueberries in Sitka

It happens to all berry fans. You pick a bunch of berries, or buy some in the store, and within a day or two you have mold growing on them. Yuck.

Earlier this week, the New York Times ran an article (free registration required to open link) about how to solve this problem. Give the berries a warm to hot bath of about 125 to 140 degrees (depending on the thickness of the berries skin). This process is called “thermotherapy,” and it seems to do the trick.