Sarah Lewis

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Scenes from the third Seasonal Cooking class: Pakistani Cooking With Shanzila Ahmed at the Sitka Kitch

Students learned how to make a classic Pakistani dish called biryani during the Pakistani Cooking With Shanzila Ahmed class on Tuesday, Feb. 27, at the Sitka Kitch community rental commercial kitchen. This was the third class of the Seasonal Cooking class series at the Sitka Kitch.

Shanzila (pronounced SHAN-zi-la) is an AFS exchange student from Pakistan. She taught students how to make biryani, which features chicken, rice, veggies, and a lot of different spices, as well as a chutney and salad to go with it.

The next classes in the Seasonal Cooking series are:

  • National Nutrition Month Healthy Cooking Demonstration — 5:30-7 p.m., Tuesday, March 27, Free event with SEARHC health educator Heleena Van Veen, health educator Holly Marban, registered dietitian Jessica Holland and diabetes nurse Kelly Lakin. This year’s National Nutrition Month theme is “Go Further With Food,” so students will learn creative ways to use leftovers and how to store food so it doesn’t spoil.
  • Herring Appreciation With Renee Trafton (Beak Restaurant) — 6-8:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 3 (alternate date is April 10 if herring running late), Celebrate the return of herring to Sitka by making herring egg salad and sushi.
  • Naturally Clean Home Products — 1-3 p.m., Saturday, April 7, Videoconference with Sarah Lewis of Juneau office of UAF Cooperative Extension Service. This class will teach you how to reduce your use of harsh, chemical cleaners but still be able to do deep cleaning. Students need to bring five 32-ounce spray bottles and a 20-ounce jar with lid (or six quart canning jars to store products to take home and then transfer to spray bottles). Class fee is $20, no supply fee.
  • Starting A Cottage Foods Business — 1-3 p.m., Saturday, April 14, Videoconference with Sarah Lewis of Juneau office of UAF Cooperative Extension Service. 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. Tours of the Sitka Kitch and rental information will be available. Class fee is $10, no supply fee. The Sitka Local Foods Network offers class participants half-off the registration fee for their first Sitka Farmers Market in 2018.
  • Puerto Rican Cooking With Nina Vizcarrondo — 6-8:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 2, Learn how to cook sofrito with recao, empanadas or pastelon, and arroz con gandules from Nina, a former U.S. Coast Guard chef and the current Sitka Farmers Market manager.

Class space is limited, so register early. Unless noted, the Seasonal Cooking classes cost $27.50 per person, plus a food/supply fee split between the registered students.

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 Chandler, Claire, or Clarice at 747-7509 to arrange payment. For more information about the class series, contact Jasmine at 747-9440.

A slideshow of scenes from the Pakistani Cooking class is posted below.

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Sitka Kitch to host Seasonal Cooking class series in Winter and Spring 2018

Learn a variety of cooking techniques during the new Seasonal Cooking class series, which will be hosted by the Sitka Kitch community rental commercial kitchen in Winter and Spring 2018.

All classes in this series take place at the Sitka Kitch (505 Sawmill Creek Road, inside First Presbyterian Church). Two of the classes already have taken place, as we delayed the announcement of the complete series while waiting for some dates to finalize.

Here is the list of classes (click on the class title for a direct link to the online registration page, link will open when registration page is available).

  • Cooking With Hank Moore — 6-8:30 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 16, In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, make blackcod, collard greens, black-eyed peas, and brown rice.
  • Spice It Up With Lexie Smith — 6-8:30 p.m., Monday, Feb. 12, Make a Valentine’s Day dinner of baked coho salmon with an apricot glaze, curried butternut squash, couscous, and a marinaded salad with arugula, baby tomatoes, strawberries, cucumbers and watermelon, with pistachios, limes and Greek yogurt as a topping. Lexie is the NMS chef manager at the Island Skillet at SEARHC Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital.
  • Pakistani Cooking With AFS Exchange Student Shanzila Ahmed — 6-8:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 27, Learn how to make biryani (rice, chicken and a variety of spices).
  • National Nutrition Month Healthy Cooking Demonstration — 5:30-7 p.m., Tuesday, March 27, Free event with SEARHC health educator Heleena Van Veen, health educator Holly Marban, registered dietitian Jessica Holland and diabetes nurse Kelly Lakin. This year’s National Nutrition Month theme is “Go Further With Food,” so students will learn creative ways to use leftovers and how to store food so it doesn’t spoil.
  • Herring Appreciation With Renee Trafton (Beak Restaurant) — 6-8:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 3 (alternate date is April 10 if herring running late), Celebrate the return of herring to Sitka by making herring egg salad and sushi.
  • Naturally Clean Home Products — 1-3 p.m., Saturday, April 7, Videoconference with Sarah Lewis of Juneau office of UAF Cooperative Extension Service. This class will teach you how to reduce your use of harsh, chemical cleaners but still be able to do deep cleaning. Students need to bring five 32-ounce spray bottles and a 20-ounce jar with lid (or six quart canning jars to store products to take home and then transfer to spray bottles). Class fee is $20, no supply fee.
  • Starting A Cottage Foods Business — 1-3 p.m., Saturday, April 14, Videoconference
    with Sarah Lewis of Juneau office of UAF Cooperative Extension Service. 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. Tours of the Sitka Kitch and rental information will be available. Class fee is $10, no supply fee. The Sitka Local Foods Network offers class participants half-off the registration fee for their first Sitka Farmers Market in 2018.
  • Puerto Rican Cooking With Nina Vizcarrondo — 6-8:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 2, Learn how to cook sofrito with recao, empanadas or pastelon, and arroz con gandules from Nina, a former U.S. Coast Guard chef and the current Sitka Farmers Market manager.

Class space is limited, so register early. Unless noted, all Seasonal Cooking classes cost $27.50 per person, plus a food/supply fee split between the registered students. The registration deadline for Shanzila’s class is 11 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 24, and other registration deadlines are two nights before the class so instructors have time to buy supplies.

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 Chandler, Claire, or Clarice at 747-7509 to arrange payment. For more information about the class series, contact Jasmine at 747-9440.

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Date changed to May 26 for spring garden class about raising trees

There is one spring garden class left on this year’s schedule, but the date has been changed. The “Everything You Need To Know About Trees” class taught by Jud Kirkness now will take place from 6:30-8 p.m. on Friday, May 26, at the Sitka Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall (408 Marine Street, parking off Spruce Street).

The class is free, but donations to the Sitka Local Foods Network will be accepted.

For more information about the class, contact Jennifer Carter at 747-0520. Other classes may be added at a later date if we find volunteers to teach them.

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UAF Cooperative Extension Service, Alaska Sea Grant to host online specialty food business class series

The University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service and Alaska Sea Grant program are teaming up to offer a four-session online-only class on how to start and operate a specialty food business. The four classes are from 6-8:30 p.m. on Monday through Thursday, May 15-18, and the classes will cost $50 for all four sessions. To register, go to http://bit.ly/SpecialtyFoodBusiness.

This course outlines the development and management of a successful specialty food business from inception to operation. Participants will learn about the practical application of business planning, obtaining
financing, permitting, feasibility analysis and marketing along with the operational aspects of a specialty food business.

This course will be delivered primarily by lectures, with four homework assignments that are individualized to help you develop an action plan for your business. At the end of this course, the student will understand and use the appropriate managerial and decision-making tools that are needed to start and run a specialty food business.

The course is available statewide from any computer with a reliable connection. We will be using Zoom to deliver class content. Students must have access to a video camera, speakers and microphone to actively participate. To learn more about the system requirements for Zoom, visit https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362023-System-Requirements-for-PC-and-Mac.

For more information, contact Sarah Lewis of the Juneau District Office of the UAF Cooperative Extension Service at (907) 523-3280, Ext. 1, or sarah.lewis@alaska.edu, or Quentin Fong of the Alaska Sea Grant program at (907) 486-1516 or qsfong@alaska.edu.

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Sitka Local Foods Network education committee announces its 2017 spring garden classes

Want to learn how to grow your own food? Are you new to Sitka and want to learn what veggies grow in our town? The Sitka Local Foods Network education committee has a list of free 2017 spring garden classes that can help you learn what to do and when to do it so you have a healthy garden.

This spring, all of our classes except one will take place from 6:30-8 p.m. on Thursdays at the Sitka Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall (408 Marine Street, parking off Spruce Street). Each week will feature a different topic, and all classes are free (donations to the Sitka Local Foods Network will be accepted).

The class schedule is as follows:

  • Gardening in Sitka 101 — March 30, taught by Michelle Putz
  • Cottage Foods Business Basics — April 6, 6-8 p.m., Room 106, University of Alaska Southeast Sitka Campus, taught by Sarah Lewis and Nina Vizcarrondo, in partnership with the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service
  • Growing Potatoes in Sitka — April 13, taught by Kathy Kyle
  • Extending Your Garden Season — April 20, taught by Kerry MacLane
  • Container Gardening — April 27, taught by Joshua Andresky
  • Raising Chickens — May 4, taught by Joshua Andresky, Nina Vizcarrondo and Brinnen Carter
  • Everything You Need To Know About Trees — Friday, May 19, taught by Jud Kirkness
  • Growing Garlic in Sitka — Date TBA (toward the end of the summer), taught by Jennifer Carter

For more information about the classes, contact Jennifer Carter at 747-0520. Other classes may be added at a later date if we find volunteers to teach them.

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Learn the basics of starting and running a home-based food business with free class

Do you have an old family recipe for barbecue sauce you think would sell at the local farmers market? Have you seen your friends and neighbors selling their home-processed jams and jellies and thought you could do that too? Do you like to bake bread and cookies and think you could sell them?

The Sitka Local Foods Network and the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service have a free class for you. Join us from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday, April 6, in Room 106 at the University of Alaska Southeast Sitka Campus for a https://www.uaf.edu/ces/small-food-business/cottage-foods/ basics class.

This class will be taught via videoconference by Sarah Lewis of the Juneau District Office of the UAF Cooperative Extension Service, with assistance from Sitka by Nina Vizcarrondo of the Sitka Local Foods Network. The short class will teach people some of the basics of the home-based food industry, including Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation food safety regulations for home-based food businesses, how to market your products, how to set your prices, and more.

For those folks hoping to sell home-based food items at the Sitka Farmers Market, there will be a special discount for class attendees of 50-percent off for your first Sitka Farmers Market table of the 2017 season.

Please pre-register for this free class by clicking this link and filling in this short online form. For questions, contact Nina at (863) 286-9230 or email us at sitkalocalfoodsnetwork@gmail.com.

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Scenes from the Safe Home Food Preservation certification course May 14-15 in Sitka

SarahLewisDiscussesTypesOfPressureCanners

Food preservation certificate flierIn an effort to train people to teach safe home food preservation classes in their Southeast Alaska communities, the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service hosted a series of certification courses around the region in recent months. The Sitka class on May 14-15 at Blatchley Middle School wrapped up the series, which featured several online lessons followed by two-day hands-on classes in Juneau, Ketchikan and Sitka.

The Sitka class was taught by UAF Cooperative Extension Service Associate Director Roxie Rodgers Dinstel of Fairbanks and Sarah Lewis, a Family and Community Development faculty member from Juneau. In addition to several Sitka residents, there also were students from Haines, Petersburg and Juneau in the Sitka class. The series was funded by a grant from the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC).

During the class, the 10 students learned which foods need waterbath canning vs. pressure canning, had a lesson on fermenting, tested pressure canner gauges, dehydrated fruits and veggies, made jerky, and learned how to find reliable resources to make sure their home food preservation practices are safe.

In addition to teaching classes, some of the students will use their new skills for cottage food businesses and home canning projects. One of the purposes of the class was to certify people in a variety of Southeast Alaska communities on how to teach safe home food preservation classes, so they don’t have to wait for a UAF Cooperative Extension Service faculty member from Juneau, Anchorage or Fairbanks to come to town to teach.

A slideshow of scenes from the two-day hands-on classes is below.

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• UAF Cooperative Extension Service offers safe home food preservation certification class

Food preservation certificate flier

The University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service will offer a combined online/in-person safe home food preservation certification class series for residents of Southeast Alaska.

SarahLewisLoadsJarsIntoPerryAndMichellesCanner

Sarah Lewis loads jars of soup into a canner during a July 2015 food preservation class at the Sitka Kitch

This program involves students taking six online courses — on canning basics, canning acidified foods, dehydrating foods, canning high-acid foods and tomatoes, canning low-acid foods, and freezing foods — from Feb. 16 through May 13. Each online class has an option for slower Internet speeds.

After completing the six online courses at their own pace, the students then participate in a two-day workshop in either Juneau, Ketchikan, or Sitka (the Sitka in-person workshop is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, May 14-15, at the Blatchley Middle School Home Economics Kitchen).

The certification costs $200, and there are a few scholarships available. There is a limit of 20 students for each in-person workshop location.

“The main goal is to get local, Southeast community members trained up to offer information, gauge testing, and even classes, within their home communities,” said instructor Sarah Lewis, of the Juneau District Office of the UAF Cooperative Extension Service. “But it’s also a great class for home/local food enthusiasts; planning to teach others is not required.”

To learn more, go to the UAF Cooperative Extension Service online registration page at http://bit.ly/ces-workshops. You also can contact Sarah Lewis for more information at sarah.lewis@alaska.edu or 907-523-3280, Ext. 1.

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• Scenes from a series of home canning and cottage foods classes July 16-18 at Sitka Kitch

SarahLewisPlacesLidOnAllAmericanCanner kitch_logo_mainOn July 16-18, the Sitka Kitch project hosted Sarah Lewis of the Juneau District Office of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service to host four classes in Sitka on the cottage food industry and home canning. These classes were free and paid for by a grant from the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) WISEFAMILIES Traditional Foods program. In addition, Sarah had a table at the Sitka Farmers Market on July 18 where she tested pressure canner gauges.

For those who missed the classes and want to learn more about home canning, the UAF Cooperative Extension Service has a series of online tutorials on its website called “Preserving Alaska’s Bounty.” In addition, Leslie Shallcross from the Anchorage District Office of the UAF Cooperative Extension Service will be in town during the Sitka Seafood Festival to teach canning classes on Thursday and Friday, Aug. 6-7, at Sitka Kitch, and on Saturday, Aug. 8, at Sweetland Hall on the Sheldon Jackson Campus. Watch for a class schedule to be posted soon (note, these classes will cost $15 each).

A reminder, pressure canner gauges should be tested at least once a year to make sure they are hitting the right pressures for safe food preservation. For those who couldn’t get to the July 18 Sitka Farmers Market for pressure canner gauge testing, the Sitka District Office of the UAF Cooperative Extension Service has a tester in its office and you can call Jasmine Shaw at 747-9440 to set up an appointment for testing. The office also has a variety of resources — many of them free — on home canning, gardening and other topics.

Sitka Kitch is a community wellness project from the 2013 Sitka Health Summit designed to improve food security in Sitka. The different parts of the project include creating a community kitchen Sitka residents can rent to prepare food for their small businesses or to preserve their family harvest of fish, game, or garden veggies; expanding Sitka’s emergency food storage capacity; and providing education about preserving food and building family emergency food pantries.

For more information about the Sitka Kitch project, go to the Sitka Kitch website or Facebook page. For rental information, contact Kristy Miller at sitkakitch@sitkawild.org. Click this link to take a quick tour of the facility.

Slideshows featuring scenes from Friday’s class on canning salmon and berries and Saturday’s class on canning soups and sauces are below. Also, KCAW-Raven Radio attended the pickling and fermenting class and filed this story (which also includes a slideshow at the bottom). The Alaska Dispatch News recently posted this link on how to can salmon.

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Slideshow from the Friday, July 17, class about canning salmon and berries (above).

 

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Slideshow from the Saturday, July 18, class about canning soups and sauces (above).

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• A quick tour of the Sitka Kitch community rental commercial kitchen

Sitka Kitch Advisory Team Members, from left, Lisa Sadleir-Hart, Kristy Miller, Sarah Lewis, and Dorrie Farrell go through the orientation packet before a recent series of canning and cottage foods classes taught by Lewis.

Sitka Kitch Advisory Team Members, from left, Lisa Sadleir-Hart, Kristy Miller, Sarah Lewis, and Dorrie Farrell go through the orientation packet before a recent series of canning and cottage foods classes taught by Lewis.

kitch_logo_mainDid you know Sitka has a community rental commercial kitchen?

The Sitka Kitch, located inside First Presbyterian Church at 505 Sawmill Creek Road, officially opened in March and is available for cottage food businesses needing a commercial kitchen, people wanting to put up their own harvest, cooking and canning classes, and even groups who want to cook a dinner for friends and family that’s too large to hold in someone’s home.

The Sitka Kitch is a rental community commercial kitchen project coordinated by the Sitka Conservation Society, in partnership with the Sitka Local Foods Network, located inside the First Presbyterian Church. The Sitka Kitch was a project from the 2013 Sitka Health Summit designed to improve food security in Sitka while also providing a space for people wanting to get into the cottage food business or wanting to preserve their harvest for storage in the home pantry. Sitka Kitch (Facebook page) officially opened after a series of renovations to make the church kitchen pass Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation commercial kitchen food safety standards.

The Sitka Food Co-op and Everything Organic Sitka regularly use the facility for deliveries and distribution.

Kristy Miller, the facilities manager for First Presbyterian Church, serves as the manager of Sitka Kitch and helps with scheduling and communal supplies. If you are interested in learning more about how to rent the Sitka Kitch, please go to this website, http://www.sitkawild.org/sitka_kitch, and the best way to schedule a rental is by email at sitkakitch@sitkawild.org.

The slideshow below provides a quick tour of the facility.

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