September 15, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• Mike Wise of Raven’s Peek Roasters/Sailor’s Choice Coffee wins Table of the Day Award from fifth Sitka Farmers Market

Mike Wise, center, of Raven's Peek Roasters and Sailor's Choice Coffee receives the Table of the Day Award from Kerry MacLane, left, and Linda Wilson, right, during the fifth and final Sitka Farmers Market of the 2009 summer on Sept. 12.

Mike Wise of Raven’s Peek Roasters and Sailor’s Choice Coffee won the “Table of the Day Award” for the fifth and final Sitka Farmers Market of the 2009 summer on Sept. 12. Mike and his wife, Dr. Marilyn Coruzzi, have had a table at all five markets in 2009 and all three markets in 2008.

The Sitka Local Foods Network selected the table — which featured a variety of locally ground coffee and locally roasted nuts — to receive the $25 cash prize, an Alaska Farmers Market Association tote bag and a certificate of appreciation. A similar prize package was awarded to a deserving vendor at each of the five Sitka Farmers Markets this summer.

This was the last Sitka Farmers Market of the 2009 summer, but the Sitka Local Foods Network will be around all year with other events. The next Sitka Local Foods Network event is the 15th annual Running of the Boots at 11 a.m. (register at 10 a.m.) on Saturday, Sept., 26, at the Crescent Harbor shelter. Proceeds from the Running of the Boots support Sitka Local Foods Network projects. Click this link for more information.

Also, a new photo gallery from the fifth Sitka Farmers Market on Sept. 12 has been posted on Shutterfly (an online photo-sharing site). Click this link to check out the photos.

Black cod on the grill from the Alaska Longline Fisherman's Association

Keith Greba and his art

Lisa Bykonen and her knitted hats

Natalie Sattler, left, holds parsnips, while Lisa Sadleir-Hart, center, and Doug Osborne, right, hold turnips for sale at the Sitka Local Foods Network booth

September 15, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• Final Sitka Farmers Market of the summer makes front page of Tuesday’s Daily Sitka Sentinel

Screenshot of Tuesday's Daily Sitka Sentinel photo from the final 2009 Sitka Farmers Market

The final Sitka Farmers Market of the 2009 summer (held Sept. 12 at ANB Hall) was featured in a front-page photo in the Daily Sitka Sentinel on Tuesday, Sept. 15.

The photo shows Kiki Norman as she sells hand-made jewelry to Annie Satterley during the final Sitka Farmers Market of the season at ANB Hall Saturday. While fresh produce was in short supply, tables of original artwork and jewelry were not. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)

Daily Sitka Sentinel photo of Kiki Norman, left, selling jewelry to Annie Satterly during the final Sitka Farmers Market of the 2009 summer on Sept. 12 at ANB Hall

September 15, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• This week’s e-newsletter (Sept. 14)

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.

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

• 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 6, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• Juneau Empire features Table of the Day Award winners from fourth Sitka Farmers Market

Screenshot of Sunday's Juneau Empire feature on the Sitka Farmers Market table of the day award

Click here to see where the Juneau Empire on Sunday, Sept. 6, featured Table of the day Award winners Evening Star Grutter and Fabian Grutter of Eve’s Farm from the fourth Sitka Farmers Market of the summer on Aug. 29. By the way, this photo also appeared in the Friday, Sept. 4, edition of the Daily Sitka Sentinel (but there’s no online link).

Don’t forget that our final Sitka Farmers Market of the summer takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 12, at Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall (235 Katlian St.). We look forward to seeing you at the market.

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

September 3, 2009 by Charles Bingham

• Alaskans love their giant vegetables and other stories in the news

This is the time of year when Alaska has two state fairs in progress — in Palmer and in Fairbanks — and it’s also the time of year when people bring out the record-setting vegetables they’ve grown. This year is no exception, and there are several stories in the news about huge veggies grown in Alaska.

Click here to read an Anchorage Daily News story about the record-setting 125.9-pound cabbage grown by Steve Hubacek of Wasilla. This cabbage not only broke the Alaska state record, but also qualified for entry in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Click here to see an Anchorage Daily News video of the great pumpkin weigh-off between Dale Marshall of Anchorage and current state record-holder J.D. Megchelsen of Nikiski. Marshall’s winning pumpkin weighed 594 pounds.

Click here to read an article from the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner about monster vegetables entered in the Alaska Feed Co. vegetable contest at the Tanana Valley State Fair in Fairbanks.

Click here to read Anchorage Daily News photographer Fran Durner’s “Talk Dirt To Me” blog entry about colorful Alaska State Fair flowers.

Click here to read an article about invasive weeds by Anchorage Daily News garden columnist Jeff Lowenfels.

Click here to see a Capital City Weekly photo package from the second annual Juneau Farmers Market and Local Food Festival held last Saturday. Click here to see a larger photo gallery posted on the Capital City Weekly online site.

Click here to read a letter to the editor in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner about Alaska’s bountiful harvest of berries this summer.

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.