The Sitka Local Foods Network education committee has chosen its two families for its new garden mentoring program, and will begin hosting classes for first-time gardeners at the homes of our selected families.

To protect the privacy of the selected families, they will be referred to as Family A and Family B and the locations of their gardens will be given when first-time gardeners call to RSVP for the classes. These free classes are open to all first-time gardeners in Sitka. Family A lives near the end of Halibut Point Road, and Family B lives midway down HPR. The classes will be similar at each location, so people wanting to participate only need to sign up for one class. New classes will be added as the spring/summer progress, so keep watching for more.

Our confirmed classes so far:

• Garden preparation class (choosing a location, building planters, soil and soil requirements, etc.), note a free planter box will be given to one participant in each garden-prep class.

1. Family A, 5 p.m. on Wednesday, April 23
2. Family B, 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 27

• Planting class (easy-to-grow plants, how, where and when to plant, planting)

1. Family A, 5 p.m. on Friday, May 2
2. Family B, 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 4

For more information, contact Michelle Putz at 747-2708 or michelleputzfood@yahoo.com.

The Sitka Local Foods Network education committee wants to help families in Sitka learn how easy it can be to grow some of their own food. We are looking for two families of novice gardeners who want to learn about and try vegetable gardening in their own backyard through our new Family Garden Mentor project.

Through a series of six or seven workshops that will be held at the families’ homes, Sitka Local Foods Network volunteers will help the families:

• Choose a location for a vegetable bed (learning about sun, drainage, etc.),
• Build a raised bed, and acquire soil and soil amendments,
• Learn about soil and prepare the soil for planting
• Plant 2-4 easy-to-grow plants – specifically potatoes, lettuce, kale, and maybe a perennial edible like rhubarb or fruit bushes
• Learn to take care of their plants over the summer — teaching how to care for and pick the vegetables (without killing the plant),
• Harvest potatoes, and
• Cook a meal using the vegetables they have grown

The Sitka Local Foods Network will provide all materials — soil, lumber, seeds, etc. — free to the participating families. Families will be expected to provide the labor and enthusiasm for gardening.

Interested families must meet four requirements: 1) they must be first-time vegetable gardeners (this project is meant to help people who are just starting to garden), 2) they must want to try vegetable gardening and be committed to participating throughout the summer, 3) they must own their own property, and 4) they must agree to let others come and attend classes at their property. Other criteria will also be used to help select the final two families. Families that are not selected will be placed on a waiting list in the hope of future continuation and expansion of this project.

Workshops will start in April with selecting the site and run through September’s late harvest. Classes will focus on some of the easiest-to-grow vegetables (and fruit) in Sitka — potatoes, lettuce, kale, and rhubarb.

Families interested in participating should contact Michelle Putz at 747-2708 and provide a name, address, and contact phone number.