Sarah Lewis

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Learn the basics of starting a home-based food business on June 21

Learn what the basics of starting and running a cottage foods business as Sarah Lewis teaches students How to Start a Cottage Foods Business (also known as a home-based food business) from 4-5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 21, at the Sitka Public Library.

This class is designed to help vendors prepare for the upcoming Sitka Farmers Markets hosted by the Sitka Local Foods Network.

Sarah Lewis — the home, health and family development agent for the Juneau office of the UAF Cooperative Extension Service — will teach this class live in Sitka. Students will learn about state laws regarding home-based food businesses, and get ideas for businesses you might take to the Sitka Farmers Market or local trade shows. The first hour will be spent discussing rules and regulations, and the second part of the class will be for questions and answers.

The Sitka Local Foods Network is offering students of this class half off their Sitka Farmers Market vendor fee for the first market of the season where they host a table (as a rebate). Representatives from the Sitka Local Foods Network/Sitka Farmers Market and (hopefully) the Sitka food safety office of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation are planning to attend so they can answer any questions potential cottage foods business owners may have.

For more information about the class, contact Charles Bingham of the Sitka Local Foods Network at 907-623-7660 or Jasmine Shaw at the UAF Cooperative Extension Service Sitka District Office at 907-747-9440.

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UAF Cooperative Extension Service to offer Extension Workshops in Sitka with Sarah Lewis

Sarah Lewis of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service Juneau District Office will be in Sitka later this month to offer Extension Workshops.

The Extension Workshops include a five-hour class on Canning New Year Soups, and three lunchtime Cooking For Brain Health classes — Get Pickles, Spice It Up, and Go Nuts.

The Canning New Year Soups class is from 3-8 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 22, in the downstairs kitchen of the Sitka Lutheran Church (the location of the Sitka Kitch). Please enter from the alley behind the church, and park on the street and not in back of the church. This class for all skill levels costs $25.

The three lunchtime classes take place from noon to 1 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Jan. 23-25, in the Gus Adams Meeting Room at Sitka Public Library. They cost $10 each, or you can take all three classes for $20.

The registration deadline for these classes is Saturday, Jan. 21. To register, go to http://bit.ly/SitkaJan2023 (scroll down) or click on the highlighted class titles above. For more information, contact Jasmine Shaw at jdshaw2@alaska.edu or 907-747-9440.

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UAF Cooperative Extension Service to teach online Preserving Alaska’s Bounty class series

UAF Cooperative Extension Service agent Sarah Lewis will teach the Preserving Alaska’s Bounty online class series from Jan. 7 to Feb. 4, 2023. The five-week series will give participants the skills necessary to safely preserve foods for their own household. Anyone who wishes to become a food preservation educator within their community may also complete a final exam.

Students will learn about and practice pickling and fermenting vegetables; boiling water-bath canning of fruits, berries, and pickles; pressure canning of meat, fish, and vegetables; as well as dehydration of fruits and vegetables; making jerky; and smoking fish. Other topics will include emergency preparedness, how to start a cottage foods business (aka, a home-based foods business), and information about wild harvested plants.

The course will be offered on the Canvas platform. Live instruction will be offered in a 3-hour Zoom session each Saturday at 1 p.m., with assignments to be completed in the student’s kitchen on their own schedule, as well as assigned readings and other activities. The final session will be on Feb. 4.

Participants must be 16 or older (unless joining a household adult). The registration deadline is Dec. 31. Registration and more class details are available at http://bit.ly/PreservingAlaska2022, or by contacting Sarah at sarah.lewis@alaska.edu. Even though Sarah is based in Juneau, this is an online class so you can take it from anywhere in the state.

A course fee of $150 per household or Zoom connection includes one class textbook, which will be mailed to students. A 50-percent reduction (scholarship) is available if requested. Accommodation requests related to a disability should be made 10 business days in advance of the Jan. 7 start, to sarah.lewis@alaska.edu.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer, educational institution and provider and prohibits illegal discrimination against any individual: http://www.alaska.edu/nondiscrimination.

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UAF Cooperative Extension Service to offer online Welcoming Winter food preservation class series

The University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service will offer the Welcoming Winter: Virtual Home Care and Food Preservation Workshops class series this fall.

Workshops will be taught by UAF Cooperative Extension Agent Sarah Lewis, from her home kitchen in Juneau, and Program Assistant Gina Dionne from her home kitchen in Anchorage. You can join them from your home kitchen anywhere in Alaska (or the world).

Sarah and Gina will offer resources, publications, and information for each class, but the real fun will happen on Zoom. You can watch or cook along in real time, or watch and cook along with the class recording at your own pace. Classes will be held from 5:30-7 p.m. on Tuesdays via Zoom.

Prepare for Winter in September
Sept. 20: Create a Food Secure Pantry
Sept. 27: Winterizing Your Home and Garden
Make Sausage and Pickles in October
Oct. 11: Making Sauerkraut and Relish
Oct. 18: Making Wild Game Sausage
Focus on Holiday Food in November
Nov. 15: Canning Fruits and Berries: A Taste of Summer for the Holidays
Nov 29: Canning Holiday Leftovers

Each class requires separate registration and participants may register for one or all of the classes. Classes cost $12 each. The deadline for registering is at 5 p.m. on the day before each class. Accommodation requests related to a disability should be made five business days in advance to Sarah Lewis at 907-523-3280 x1 or sarah.lewis@alaska.edu.

Language access services, such as interpretation or translation of vital information, will be provided free of charge to limited English proficient individuals upon request. UAF is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer, educational institution and provider and prohibits illegal discrimination against
any individual: www.alaska.edu/nondiscrimination.

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Sitka Kitch to host online class on starting a cottage foods business

Learn what the basics of starting and running a cottage foods business as Sarah Lewis teaches students how to Start a Cottage Foods Business from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 15, via Zoom.

This class is a fundraiser for the Sitka Kitch community rental commercial kitchen, and also is designed to help vendors prepare for the upcoming Sitka Farmers Markets hosted by the Sitka Local Foods Network.

Sarah Lewis — the home, health and family development agent for the Juneau office of the UAF Cooperative Extension Service — will teach this class by videoconference from Juneau. Students will learn about state laws regarding home food businesses, and get ideas for businesses you might take to the Sitka Farmers Market or local trade shows. The first hour will be spent discussing rules and regulations, and the second part of the class will be for questions and answers.

The class fee is $10, and the funds go to the Sitka Kitch. Class space is limited, so register early. The registration deadline for this class is 11 p.m. on Monday, June 13. The Sitka Local Foods Network is offering students of this class half off their Sitka Farmers Market vendor fee for the first market of the season where they host a table. Representatives from the Sitka Local Foods Network/Sitka Farmers Market and (hopefully) the Sitka food safety office of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation are planning to attend so they can answer any questions potential cottage foods business owners may have.

Register online at https://sitkakitch.eventsmart.com/ (click on class title) and pre-pay using credit/debit cards or PayPal. To pre-pay by cash or check, contact Kylee Jones of the Sitka Conservation Society at 907-747-7509 or info@sitkawild.org to arrange payment. For more information about the class, contact Jasmine Shaw at the UAF Cooperative Extension Service Sitka District Office at 907-747-9440.

The Sitka Kitch is supported in partnership by Sitka Conservation Society with UAF Cooperative Extension Service. These classes are fundraisers for the Sitka Kitch community rental commercial kitchen.

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Learn to preserve safe and healthy foods for home use with Sarah Lewis

In Alaska, we preserve a variety of wild harvested meats, vegetables, fruits, and berries to ensure food security and nutrition. Alaskans also preserve their garden harvests for the winter months. 

University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service agent Sarah Lewis will demonstrate how to preserve this bounty by canning, dehydrating, pickling, fermenting, and smoking.

There are important, simple, food safety considerations when preserving food at home. The preservation methods you will learn about (and practice in your own kitchen throughout this course) include water-bath canning, pressure canning, pickling and fermenting vegetables, dehydration, smoking fish, culturing sourdough and yogurt, and making sausage.

Lewis will teach the course online via Zoom, and participants can practice these techniques in their own kitchens. They’ll complete independent online assignments and view videos via the Canvas online course platform, which will open Jan. 10. Zoom classes will be held from 1-4 p.m. on Saturdays, Jan. 15 through Feb. 12. 

The course will use “So Easy to Preserve,” sixth edition, from the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service. The book is included in the cost of the course and will be mailed to each student. 

Students must have a home kitchen, a computer with a camera, and either a computer microphone or phone service for audio. The cost is $114 per household; fee waivers are available.

Register at bit.ly/PreservingAlaska2022. The registration deadline is Jan. 7. 

For more information, contact Sarah Lewis at sarah.lewis@alaska.edu or 907-523-3280, ext. 1. 

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UAF Cooperative Extension Service to host online food preservation workshops

Winter Is Coming, which means it’s time for another series of classes from the Extension Kitchen.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service is offering a series of nine Food Preservation Workshops during the months of October and November by Zoom. The classes will be taught from the home of Home, Health, and Family Development Extension Agent Sarah Lewis from the Juneau District Office of the UAF Cooperative Extension Service, and the classes are available to anybody with an online connection (but they are targeted toward people in Alaska). Even though she’s based in Juneau, Sarah is on the Sitka Kitch advisory team.

The classes are from 5:30-7 p.m. on Tuesdays, starting Oct. 5. They cost $10 each, and at the end of each class one participating student will win a $20 gift certificate to a local store that sells canning equipment, plus one student will win a free entry into another class in the series. Students can register for the individual classes in the series at this link, http://bit.ly/extensionworkshops.

The class dates and topics are:

  • Oct. 5 — Create a food secure pantry
  • Oct. 12 — Canning fruits and berries
  • Oct. 19 — Preserving herbs
  • Oct. 26 — Dehydrating vegetables
  • Nov. 2 — Cooking mixes and sourdough starter
  • Nov. 9 — Making and canning pickles
  • Nov. 16 — Canning meat and vegetables
  • Nov. 23 — Making jerky
  • Nov. 30 (bonus class) — Pressure canning spaghetti sauce

For more information, contact Sarah at sarah.lewis@alaska.edu or 1-907-523-3280, Ext. 1. You also can contact the UAF Cooperative Extension Service in Fairbanks toll-free at 1-877-520-5211.

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Sitka Kitch and UAF Cooperative Extension Service to host all-day Salmonganza classes July 17 at Halibut Point Recreation Area

The Sitka Kitch community rental commercial kitchen, in partnership with the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service, will host Salmonganza from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, July 17, at the main shelter at Halibut Point Recreation Area.

(Click image to enlarge)

This will be a day focused on salmon, with classes on preparing salmon, pressure canning salmon, smoking salmon, making salmon sausage and jerky, and even preparing condiments for the salmon using salmonberries. In addition, there will be free pressure canner gauge testing from noon until 1 p.m.

The classes will be taught by Sarah Lewis from the Juneau District Office of the UAF Cooperative Extension Service. As part of her Maritime Extension Program, Sarah is traveling via the JunieBell to communities around Southeast Alaska to teach family and community resilience workshops.

This class is for all experience levels, ages 16 and older. No pets, please. Students should bring: a cooking knife, apron, dish towel, six wide-mouth half-pint canning jars with new lids, and your pressure canner’s dial gauge (with or without lid), if you would like it tested.

The class costs $40, which is part of our all-inclusive fee system (you no longer have to pay a class fee to register, then a separate food/supply fee). The Sitka Kitch will supply all of the food supplies for this class, but students will need to bring certain cooking items from a list provided before the class. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the class will be limited to 10 students, face masks must be worn, and social distancing must be observed.

The registration deadline is 11:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 15. Space is limited, so register early at http://sitkakitch.eventsmart.com (click class title) to secure your place in the class. We need at least eight students to register and pre-pay to make this class happen.

Current (paid) members of the Sitka Food Co-Op are now able to attend the classes for $30 each (the co-op will cover the other $10 of your class fee). Please use the Sitka Food Co-Op ticket when you register and send an email to sitkafoodcoop@gmail.com letting them know you’re in the class. (NOTE, Only one person per Co-op household may use the Co-op discount per class. Please name that person when you register so the name can be checked against the Co-op membership list.)

You can register and pre-pay using credit/debit cards or PayPal on our EventSmart page, http://sitkakitch.eventsmart.com (click on class title). For those wanting to pre-pay with cash or check, please call Clarice Johnson at Sitka Conservation Society (747-7509) to arrange a payment. Please note there is a $5 charge for parking at Halibut Point Rec, which is payable to the State of Alaska.

For more information about the class, contact Jasmine Shaw at 747-9440. We do offer one potential scholarship spot per class for people with limited incomes, so long as we have enough students registered to make the class happen. This class is a fundraiser for the Sitka Kitch community rental commercial kitchen.

The Sitka Kitch also has a new class cancelation policy. If you register for a class, then find out you can’t attend, please email us at sitkakitch@sitkawild.org and we may be able to help fill your slot through our waiting list. If you cancel from the class at least five days in advance (eg, by Wednesday the week before for a Monday class), you are eligible for a partial refund of your class fee, minus $5 for processing (in this case, $35). If you need to cancel with less than five days advance notice, there is no refund.

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UAF Cooperative Extension Service to host ‘Starting a Cottage Foods Business’ as online webinar

Photo from Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation website page on Cottage Food Regulations

Join Sarah Lewis of the Juneau District Office of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service as she hosts a free webinar from her kitchen about the basics of starting a home-based, cottage foods business in Alaska. The class is from noon to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, June 22, using Zoom online meetings.

This class includes an intro to Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation‘s cottage foods (aka, home-based foods) regulations and information about the “non-potentially hazardous” food preservation methods that are allowed: dehydration, boiling water-bath canning, and pickling. In addition, Sarah will emphasize the best food safety and sanitation methods to use in a cottage foods business, and how a cottage foods business can continue sales during this time of social distancing.

This class is being offered in preparation for the 2021 season of Sitka Farmers Markets, which take place on eight Saturdays this summer. This is a good way for new and past vendors to familiarize themselves with the current cottage food business regulations in Alaska.

To register, contact Jasmine Shaw of the Sitka District Office of the UAF Cooperative Extension Service at 747-9440 or jdshaw2@alaska.edu. Please register by Monday, so you can receive the Zoom link in time.

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UAF Cooperative Extension Service offers online Preserving Alaska’s Bounty series

Did you have a productive garden or catch a lot of fish this year? Did you struggle with how to save the food so it doesn’t go bad? The University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service is offering its Preserving Alaska’s Bounty online course this winter via Zoom.

Online classes will be held from 1-4 p.m. on Saturdays, from Jan. 4 to Feb. 20. The fee is $128 per household, and fee waivers are available. 

For more information, please contact Sarah Lewis at 907-523-3280 x1. To register go to: http://bit.ly/PAB21.