Sitka Local Foods Network

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• 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

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.

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• 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.

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.

Evening Star Grutter and a rack of her homemade jams and jellies

Evening Star Grutter and a rack of her homemade jams and jellies

Lexi Fish cooks up a crepe

Lexi Fish cooks up a crepe

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• SEARHC, Cooperative Extension hosts free garden workshop on Sept. 9

Master gardener Bob Gorman shows off seed starts in wet paper towels during a March garden workshop

Master gardener Bob Gorman shows off seed starts in wet paper towels during a March garden workshop

Do you want to grow some of your own food this summer, so you can have more fresh food choices and eat healthier dinners? Then the fourth and final installment in a continuing series of garden workshops is for you.

The SEARHC Diabetes and Health Promotion programs have teamed up with master gardener Bob Gorman of the Sitka office of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service to offer a series of four free garden workshops during the summer of 2009. The last workshop of the series takes place from 1:30 to 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 9.

The class will be hosted at the SEARHC Community Health Services Building third-floor conference room in Sitka (1212 Seward Dr.). But participants in other communities will join by video or audioconference from the SEARHC Juneau Administration Building Conference Room, the SEARHC Jessie Norma Jim Health Center in Angoon, the Haines Borough Library, the SEARHC Kake Health Center and the SEARHC Alicia Roberts Medical Center in Klawock.

“Even though summer is winding down, people still have a lot they can do in this year’s growing season,” said Maybelle Filler, SEARHC Diabetes Grant Coordinator. “Southeast Alaska is unique in its growing conditions, and it’s great that the SEARHC Diabetes and Health Promotion programs can partner with the Sitka office of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service to provide information on growing things in our area.”

The first three workshops in the four-workshop series were March 11, May 6 and July 8. The topics for the remaining workshop are:

* Sept. 9 — Late-winter plantings; trees and shrubs; house plants and indoor gardening; and winterizing your garden.

For more information about this series of free workshops, contact SEARHC Diabetes Grant Coordinator Maybelle Filler at 966-8739 or maybelle.filler@searhc.org. People who aren’t able to attend at one of the listed video or audioconferencing sites, should contact Maybelle for other options. Maybelle also has extra copies of the handouts for those who miss any of the garden workshops.

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• Capital City Weekly features Sitka Farmers Market, and other local food stories in the news

Screenshot of Capital City Weekly site with the Table of the Day Winners from the third Sitka Farmers Market

Screenshot of Capital City Weekly site with the Table of the Day Winners from the third Sitka Farmers Market

Click here to see a photo in this week’s issue of Capital City Weekly that shows Table of the Day Award-winners Hope Merritt and Judy Johnstone of Gimbal Botanicals and Sprucecot Gardens receiving their award from Ellen Frankenstein at the third Sitka Farmers Market of the season on Aug. 15. We host the fourth Sitka Farmers Market of the summer from 10 a.m. to 20 p.m. this Saturday (Aug. 29) at Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall, 235 Katlian St.

In addition to the Sitka Farmers Market photo, there were several other local foods stories in statewide news the last few days.

Click here to read a Capital City Weekly story about the second annual Juneau Farmers Market and Local Foods Fair that takes place on Saturday, Aug. 29, at the Juneau Arts and Culture Center.

Click here to read a Capital City Weekly story about using and preserving healthy, delicious rose hips (by Dr. Sonja Koukel of the Juneau office of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service, article includes a recipe).

Click here to read a story from Thursday’s Juneau Empire previewing this Saturday’s second annual Juneau Farmers Market and Local Foods Festival.

Click here to read a Fairbanks Daily News-Miner story about the history of sourdough bread in Alaska (article includes a couple of recipes).

Click here to read a roundup from the Anchorage Daily News about what’s available this week in local farmers markets.

Finally, click here to read an article from the Canadian magazine “Up Here” about a Yukon Territory resident’s attempt to eat a 100-mile diet (eg, a locavore diet).

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• Fourth Sitka Farmers Market of summer takes place on Saturday (Aug. 29)

SitkaFarmersMarketSign

The fourth Sitka Farmers Market of the summer takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Saturday (Aug. 29) at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall (235 Katlian St.).

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 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.

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.

By the way, if you haven’t already done so, then click the logo below to cast your vote for the Sitka Farmers Market in the “Love Your Farmers Market” contest, sponsored by Care2.com and LocalHarvest.org.

The contest will award the voters’ favorite farmers market the grand prize, which could go a long way toward helping the Sitka Farmers Market support local family farmers and gardeners provide Sitka with fresh, healthy, locally grown food. Voting opened on June 19 and closes on Sept. 17. In addition to the $5,000 grand prize for the top farmers market, there are several other prizes including weekly $250 prizes for a random market and some prizes for voters (tote bags, $50 prizes for top recruiters to spend at their market, etc.). We appreciate your vote.

love your farmers market contest - help your market win $5,000 - vote today!

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• Sitka Farmers Market on the Farm-To-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, Corvallis (Ore.) Gazette-Times sites

Screenshot from the Farm-To-Consumer Legal Defense Fund site with the Sitka Farmers Market story

Screenshot from the Farm-To-Consumer Legal Defense Fund site with the Sitka Farmers Market story

The Daily Sitka Sentinel article from mid-July previewing this year’s series of Sitka Farmers Market events continues to make the rounds of publications in the Lower 48. Click here to see the article posted on the Farm-To-Consumer Legal Defense Fund site.

The article also made its way to the Gazette-Times of Corvallis, Ore. (click here to see the article).

Screenshot of the Sitka Farmers Market article in the Gazette-Times of Corvallis, Ore.

Screenshot of the Sitka Farmers Market article in the Gazette-Times of Corvallis, Ore.

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

Screenshot from Sunday's Juneau Empire with the Table of the Day Award for Hope Merritt and Judy Johnstone at the third Sitka Farmers Market of the summer (Aug. 15).

Screenshot from Sunday's Juneau Empire with the Table of the Day Award for Hope Merritt and Judy Johnstone at the third Sitka Farmers Market of the summer (Aug. 15).

Click here to see the photo in Sunday’s Juneau Empire of Sitka Farmers Market (Aug. 15) Table of the Day Award winners Hope Merritt and Judy Johnstone of Gimbal Botanicals and Sprucecot Gardens. Presenting the award is Ellen Frankenstein.

Join us for the fourth Sitka Farmers Market of the summer from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 29, at Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall, 235 Katlian St.

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• Alaska Grown hosts the “Eat Local Challenge 2009” on Aug. 23-29

Flier for the Alaska Grown "Eat Local Challenge"

The Alaska Grown program will launch its “Eat Local Challenge 2009” this week, Sunday through Saturday, Aug. 23-29 (click here to read more).

During the next week, Alaska residents are encouraged to:

• Try eating at least one home-cooked meal this week, made of mostly local ingredients.
• Try to incorporate at least one never-before-used local ingredient into a meal.
• Try “brown-bagging” at least one meal this week made primarily of local ingredients.
• Try talking to at least one local food retailer and one food producer about local food options.
• Try to choose local food products whenever possible.

By the way, a good time to buy local food this week is the fourth Sitka Farmers Market of the summer, which takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 29, at Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall (235 Katlian St.). We’ll see you there.