Click here to read this week’s Sitka Local Foods Newsletter courtesy of Linda Wilson. Don’t forget, you can sign up for the e-newsletter by typing your e-mail address in the box on the left side of the page.
garden
• Juneau Empire features Sitka Farmers Market Table of the Day Award winners
Screenshot from Sunday's Juneau Empire with the Table of the Day Award for Hope Merritt and Judy Johnstone at the third Sitka Farmers Market of the summer (Aug. 15).
Click here to see the photo in Sunday’s Juneau Empire of Sitka Farmers Market (Aug. 15) Table of the Day Award winners Hope Merritt and Judy Johnstone of Gimbal Botanicals and Sprucecot Gardens. Presenting the award is Ellen Frankenstein.
Join us for the fourth Sitka Farmers Market of the summer from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 29, at Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall, 235 Katlian St.
• Alaska Grown hosts the “Eat Local Challenge 2009” on Aug. 23-29
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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Alaska Division of Forestry hosts tree planting, pruning class Aug. 24
Sitka residents are invited to learn how to select the right tree for the right place — and how to plant, maintain and prune it — at an all-day class on Monday, Aug. 24, at Harrigan Centennial Hall.
The class is taught by urban forester and arborist Jim Flott. He has 25 years of experience in urban forestry and the nursery and landscape industry to offer to participants. He teaches tree workshops nationwide.
Chief among the topics the class will cover is how trees function as complex systems and how to use this information when selecting, siting, planting, pruning and maintaining landscape trees. A classroom presentation will be followed by a demonstration in the field and hands-on experience in pruning and planting.
The class is sponsored by the Alaska Division of Forestry Community Forestry Program and the Alaska Community Forest Council, with financial support from the U.S. Forest Service.
For more information, go to the Alaska Division of Forestry Web site at http://www.forestry.alaska.gov/community/, or the Kettleson Memorial Library, or contact Lisa Moore in Sitka at 747-5534 or moorelisa@aol.com. The registration fee is $35.
• Hope Merritt, Judy Johnstone win Table of the Day Award from third Sitka Farmers Market
Hope Merritt, left, and Judy Johnstone, right, of Gimbal Botanicals and Sprucecot Gardens receive the Table of the Day Award from Ellen Frankenstein during the third Sitka Farmers Market of the season on Aug. 15.
Hope Merritt and Judy Johnstone of Gimbal Botanicals and Sprucecot Gardens won the “Table of the Day Award” for the third Sitka Farmers Market of the season on Aug. 15.
The Sitka Local Foods Network selected the shared table — which featured a variety of fresh produce, herbal teas and ornamental plants — to receive the $25 cash prize, an Alaska Farmers Market Association tote bag, a DVD of “Eating Alaska” and a certificate of appreciation. A similar prize package will be awarded to a deserving vendor at each of the four remaining Sitka Farmers Markets.
The fourth market of the season takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 29, at Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall. Keep your eye on this site for more information.
Also, a new photo gallery from the third Sitka Farmers Market on Aug. 15 has been posted on Shutterfly (an online photo-sharing site). Click this link to check out the photos.
Maybelle Filler, left, Ellen Frankenstein, center, and Lisa Sadleir-Hart at the Sitka Local Foods Network booth.
Sammee of Sammee's Creations shows off some of her beaded jewelry
• Sitka Farmers Market debriefing and work party on Wednesday
The Sitka Local Foods Network will host a Sitka Farmers Market debriefing and St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm work party on from 4:30-6 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 19, at the communal garden located behind St. Peter’s By The Sea Episcopal Church, 611 Lincoln St.
Ideas on how to improve the Sitka Farmers Markets will be discussed, and we’ll do some weeding and slug hunting. The person that catches the most slugs gets a rare, tasty, healthy prize. Volunteers are discouraged from bringing slugs from their own yards in an attempt to increase their odds of winning. This event is open to the public.
For more information, contact Linda Wilson at 747-3096 (nights and weekends).
• This week’s e-newsletter (Aug. 16)
Click here to read this week’s Sitka Local Foods Newsletter courtesy of Linda Wilson. Don’t forget, you can sign up for the e-newsletter by typing your e-mail address in the box on the left side of the page.
• 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.
Sitka Local Foods Network 
You must be logged in to post a comment.