Sitka Health Summit

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St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm attains People’s Garden designation from USDA

The Sitka Local Foods Network’s St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm has been admitted to the USDA People’s Garden Initiative, which recently was rekindled after going dormant during the Trump Administration. St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm held People’s Garden status in the original program, which launched in 2009.

When the USDA relaunched the program this spring, it initially included the garden at USDA headquarters in Washington, D.C., and 17 other gardens in major cities around the country. In September, the USDA opened the program to other gardens around the country, and organizations could apply for the program by going to the People’s Garden website and applying.

According to the USDA, school gardens, community gardens, urban farms, and small-scale agriculture projects in rural and urban areas can be recognized as a “People’s Garden” if they:  

  • Benefit the community by providing food, green space, wildlife habitat, education space.
  • Are a collaborative effort. This can include groups working together with USDA agencies, food banks, Girl Scouts, Master Gardeners, conservation districts, etc.
  • Incorporate conservation management practices, such as using native plant species, rain barrels, integrated pest management, xeriscaping.
  • Educate the public about sustainable gardening practices and the importance of local, diverse and resilient food systems providing healthy food for the community.

“St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm has been a tremendous resource for getting local produce into the hands of Sitka residents,” Sitka Local Foods Network board president Charles Bingham said. “We started the communal garden after the 2008 Sitka Health Summit, and we’ve been building on it ever since. It’s where the Sitka Local Foods Network grows most of the produce it sells at the Sitka Farmers Market each summer. In 2020 and 2021 we added two high tunnels, which allowed us to extend our growing season and reduced the impact of recent cold, wet summer weather.”

Laura Schmidt has been the lead gardener at St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm for a dozen years. In 2019, St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm earned a Certified Naturally Grown designation, meaning it follows sustainable gardening principles, such as not using chemical fertilizers or GMOs. The People’s Garden website currently shows five gardens in Alaska with the designation.

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Sitka Conservation Society brings back Fish to Schools coho donation drive

The Sitka Conservation Society is excited to bring back its Fish to Schools coho donation drive after a couple-year hiatus due to the pandemic. This year’s drive is in full swing and will run through mid-late September. Thanks to the F/V Mindalina for its recent donation of 50 coho to the program.

To participate, simply tell your processor how many pounds or the number of coho you want to donate when you offload and they will record it. Yelloweye rockfish overage is also welcome. If you are a freezer-troller offloading at the Samson Tug and Barge Dock and would like to donate fish, look for the Fish to Schools tote or coordinate with Kurt Ainslie.

Thank you to all fishermen for their support of the Fish to Schools program year after year, helping increase access to healthy local seafood for youth in Sitka and ensuring the program remains a success.

Contact Kylee Jones at kylee@sitkawild.org or call 907-738-7232 with any questions or for more information.

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Thanks to all who participated in the Sitka community food asset-mapping workshop

The Sitka Local Foods Network wants to thank everybody who participated in the Sitka community food system asset-mapping workshop held Saturday afternoon (Feb. 19).

Thanks to Lisa Trocchia for facilitating the workshop, as well as the other local/regional asset-mapping sessions taking place this winter across Alaska. This is part of an 18-month USDA Regional Food System Partnership planning grant coordinated by the Alaska Food Policy Council. The next step will be part of an implementation grant to take the results of all of of the local/regional asset-mapping sessions and use them to build a 10-year state food security plan.

In Sitka, we hope to use some of the information and connections gathered in today’s workshop to improve our local food security. We also hope to use the information to possibly update the 2014 Sitka Community Food Assessment Indicators Report, which gave us a lot of baseline planning data that now is nearly a decade old.

For those who weren’t able to attend, please watch for a survey link that will be posted in the next few weeks to gather more information. Also, the recorded Zoom meeting and the asset-mapping Google document are linked in the Documents section of this website, under food security.

If you are interested in helping improve Sitka’s food security, contact Sitka Local Foods Network board president Charles Bingham at sitkalocalfoodsnetwork@gmail.com or 907-623-7660. The next SLFN board meeting is at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 30, by Zoom, and these meetings are open to the public.

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Sitka to host community food system asset-mapping workshop on Feb. 19 using Zoom

Over the past year or so, the Sitka Local Foods Network has been working with a dozen other local and regional groups as part of a two-year USDA Regional Food System Partnership grant coordinated by the Alaska Food Policy Council.

As part of this work, the Sitka Local Foods Network will host a community-focussed food system asset-mapping workshop from 1:30-3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 19, using Zoom. The goal of this project is to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the 13 local and regional food systems, then use that knowledge to create a 10-year statewide food security plan. The workshop on Feb. 19 will use an outside facilitator, Lisa Trocchia, who is facilitating all of the regional/local workshops.

“Food security, or insecurity, is a big issue in Alaska and in Sitka,” Sitka Local Foods Network board president Charles Bingham said. “Hopefully this project will give us some strategies on how to improve Alaska’s food security. We have special challenges in Alaska, with our remoteness and climate, and we see that every time the grocery store shelves are empty or when we go to a village store and can’t find fresh fruit and veggies. If you have concerns about Alaska’s, and Sitka’s, food system, then this workshop is for you.”

Sitka has a bit of an advantage over some of the other communities involved in the project, because in 2014 we released the Sitka Community Food Assessment Indicators Report, which came out of a Sitka Health Summit project. This gave us some baseline data about food security in Sitka. But most of the data is a decade old and is becoming dated. It’s hoped this workshop might inspire discussions that will help us update the report.

We want people from all parts of the Sitka community to attend this meeting — Alaska Native, Filipino, people on public assistance, people who hunt and gather, gardeners, commercial fishermen, people who run food businesses, young people, elders, etc. The broader the diversity in our group, the better our results.

If you are interested in attending, please RSVP before Tuesday, Feb. 15, by sending an email with the note “food security” in the subject line to sitkalocalfoodsnetwork@gmail.com. Space is limited. You will receive an email a few days before the event with a Zoom link. Those who can’t attend on Feb. 19 still can participate when there is a statewide survey announced. For more details, contact Charles Bingham at 907-623-7660

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Revived Sitka Compost Project Team to host virtual meeting on Friday, Nov. 12

A revived Sitka Compost Project Team will hold a virtual meeting at 4 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 12, via Zoom.

The Sitka Conservation Society is serving as a nonprofit umbrella for the Sitka Compost Project Team. The project team is being led by Caitlin Woolsey, Elizabeth Borneman, Norm Campbell, and Doug Osborne.

Large-scale composting has long been a goal in Sitka, and it was selected as a top goal at the 2011 Sitka Health Summit Planning Day. That led to the Sick-A-Waste group, which did some preliminary work on a community composting plan.

The recent revival of interest in composting led to the Sitka Health Summit contributing $500 to the composting project. The Sitka Health Summit is keen on seeing this happen (in addition to the current goals of ending homelessness and reviving community schools.)

One reason why there is some urgency to this project revival is Sitka has a 45-foot EcoDrum industrial compost unit in town (similar to the photo), and we want to keep it here in town. The person who brought the unit to Sitka no longer lives in Alaska, and the unit must be moved from its current location. We’re trying to keep it from being barged elsewhere.

Also, the city ships a lot of waste that could be composted to the Lower 48, and having a community compost program can reduce how much waste the city ships south. Good compost makes great garden soil, which can be worth its weight in gold in a rain forest community where a lot of nutrients are washed out of the soil due to the moisture. Having access to fresh compost will make it easier for more Sitka gardeners to grow their own food, which will improve food security in town.

The compost project could use people power. It seems like a simple idea; however it’s got a lot of complexity and needs a variety of things: land, brown material, a place for finished compost, etc. Norm Campbell has been leading the charge and has lots of good ideas.

The Sitka Health Summit hosted a Pardee RAND School of Public Policy Fellow named Zhan Okuda-Lim this summer-fall. He is working up a final report for composting in Sitka which was the focus of his work. Zhan will have his final report ready to present on Friday, Nov. 12 (reports are posted below the Zoom info). After going over his slide deck, Zhan can answer questions. After that we can all discuss next steps.

All are welcome – anyone in town who is interested in seeing us composting more in Sitka.

Topic: Composting

Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 819 7479 4447
Passcode: 319146
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• Sitka Compost Project Team final presentation, Nov. 12, 2021

• Sitka Compost Project Team final report, Nov. 11, 2021

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Check out the February 2021 edition of the Sitka Local Foods Network newsletter

The Sitka Local Foods Network just sent out the February 2021 edition of its monthly newsletter. Feel free to click this link to get a copy.

This month’s newsletter includes short stories about the 2021 Sitka Food Business Innovation Contest, the Pick.Click.Give. charitable giving program being active for when people file for their PFDs, an invitation to join our board of directors, and information about our 2021 sponsorship program. Each story has links to our website for more information.

You can sign up for future editions of our newsletter by clicking on the newsletter image in the right column of our website and filling in the information. If you received a copy but didn’t want one, there is a link at the bottom of the newsletter so you can unsubscribe. Our intention is to get the word out about upcoming events and not to spam people. We will protect your privacy by not sharing our email list with others. Don’t forget to like us on Facebook, like our Sitka Farmers Market page on Facebook and follow us on Twitter (@SitkaLocalFoods).

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Check out the January 2021 edition of the Sitka Local Foods Network newsletter

The Sitka Local Foods Network just sent out the January 2021 edition of its monthly newsletter. Feel free to click this link to get a copy.

This month’s newsletter has short articles about the 2021 Pick.Click.Give. donation period opening, a Preserving Alaska’s Bounty online class series, an invitation to join the Sitka Local Foods Network’s board of directors, and an item about the 2021 SLFN sponsorship program. Each story has links to our website for more information.

You can sign up for future editions of our newsletter by clicking on the newsletter image in the right column of our website and filling in the information. If you received a copy but didn’t want one, there is a link at the bottom of the newsletter so you can unsubscribe. Our intention is to get the word out about upcoming events and not to spam people. We will protect your privacy by not sharing our email list with others. Don’t forget to like us on Facebook, like our Sitka Farmers Market page on Facebook and follow us on Twitter (@SitkaLocalFoods).

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Check out the September 2020 edition of the Sitka Local Foods Network newsletter

The Sitka Local Foods Network just sent out the September 2020 edition of its monthly newsletter. Feel free to click this link to get a copy.

This month’s newsletter includes information about this week being our last Sitka Farmers Market online order period and pick-up event of the summer, info about our new Sitka Local Foods Network tote bags, details of the Alaska Food Festival and Conference, an invitation to join the SLFN board of directors, and a thank you to all of our 2020 sponsors. Each story has links to our website for more information.

You can sign up for future editions of our newsletter by clicking on the newsletter image in the right column of our website and filling in the information. If you received a copy but didn’t want one, there is a link at the bottom of the newsletter so you can unsubscribe. Our intention is to get the word out about upcoming events and not to spam people. We will protect your privacy by not sharing our email list with others. Don’t forget to like us on Facebook, like our Sitka Farmers Market page on Facebook and follow us on Twitter (@SitkaLocalFoods).

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Check out the August 2020 edition of the Sitka Local Foods Network newsletter

The Sitka Local Foods Network just sent out the August 2020 edition of its monthly newsletter. Feel free to click this link to get a copy.

This month’s newsletter includes information about Aug. 2-8 being National Farmers Market Week and what’s happening at the Sitka Farmers Market, info about our new Sitka Local Foods Network tote bags, an update on a fundraiser and class from the Sitka Kitch, an invitation to join the SLFN board of directors, and a thank you to all of our 2020 sponsors. Each story has links to our website for more information.

You can sign up for future editions of our newsletter by clicking on the newsletter image in the right column of our website and filling in the information. If you received a copy but didn’t want one, there is a link at the bottom of the newsletter so you can unsubscribe. Our intention is to get the word out about upcoming events and not to spam people. We will protect your privacy by not sharing our email list with others. Don’t forget to like us on Facebook, like our Sitka Farmers Market page on Facebook and follow us on Twitter (@SitkaLocalFoods).

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Check out the July 2020 edition of the Sitka Local Foods Network newsletter

The Sitka Local Foods Network just sent out the July 2020 edition of its monthly newsletter. Feel free to click this link to get a copy.

This month’s newsletter includes a short update on the 2020 Sitka Farmers Market, info about our new Sitka Local Foods Network tote bags, information about two upcoming Sitka Kitch classes, an invitation to join our board of directors, and a thank you to those businesses and individuals sponsoring us for 2020. Each story has links to our website for more information.

You can sign up for future editions of our newsletter by clicking on the newsletter image in the right column of our website and filling in the information. If you received a copy but didn’t want one, there is a link at the bottom of the newsletter so you can unsubscribe. Our intention is to get the word out about upcoming events and not to spam people. We will protect your privacy by not sharing our email list with others. Don’t forget to like us on Facebook, like our Sitka Farmers Market page on Facebook and follow us on Twitter (@SitkaLocalFoods).