July 2016 newsletter

View this email in your browser

Sitka Local Foods Network
http://www.sitkalocalfoodsnetwork.org/
https://www.facebook.com/SitkaLocalFoodsNetwork
408 Marine Street, Suite D
Sitka, Alaska 99835
sitkalocalfoodsnetwork@gmail.com
Board of directors — Matthew Jackson, president; Chris Todd, vice president; Kathy Jones, treasurer; Ben Timby, secretary; Charles Bingham, communications director; Jennifer Carter; Ben Cheatham, Edith Johnson, Greta Lewanski.

Sitka Farmers Market opens on Saturday

It's that time of year again, which means it's time for the first Sitka Farmers Market of the 2016 summer. This year we will host seven markets, our most ever. Our markets this summer will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays, July 2, 16, 30, Aug. 13, 20, Sept. 3, and Sept. 10, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Founders Hall (235 Katlian Street). Matthew Jackson and Brandie Cheatham are serving as our Sitka Farmers Market managers this year.

The markets will undergo a few changes for the 2016 market season, including a new management structure this year that is more vendor-driven. We restructured our vendor fees to put more of an emphasis on local food and produce, and now we're recruiting folks to sell their local products at the markets. Click this link to learn how you can become a vendor.

Change comes to SLFN's board of directors

The Sitka Local Foods Network board of directors has undergone some changes in recent months, and that includes some new officers. Matthew Jackson is the new board president, with Chris Todd taking Jackson's old vice president spot. Kathy Jones remains our treasurer, and Ben Timby will be our new secretary.

We had a couple of resignations due to some unexpected life changes, which means we recently added two new board members — Ben Timby and Greta Lewanski. We still need to find one new board member to fill a vacancy that will happen at the end of July, and we also are recruiting for when three of our usual board terms end in December. That means we need to fill their spots as we continue in our mission to increase the amount of locally produced and harvested foods in the diets of Southeast Alaskans.

Our board is a working board, which means each board member also sits on one or more of our committees related to the Sitka Farmers Market, St. Peter's Fellowship Farm, education, fundraising, board development, etc. Even though we work hard, we have a lot of fun as we work on improving the food security of Sitka and Southeast Alaska. To learn more about what it takes to be a board member and to fill out an application, click this link.

Also, feel free to attend our next board meeting from 6-8:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 21, at the See House behind St. Peter's By The Sea Episcopal Church. Our board meetings are always open to the public.

Fifth-grade students build garden at Keet Gooshi Heen

Five fifth-grade students from Jennifer Tulloh's class at Keet Gooshi Heen Elementary School built a school garden this spring to leave as their legacy to the school. The students — Kyan Scudero, Bridger Bird, Takeshi Handy, Samuel Jones, and Camden Young — contacted student-teacher Julie Jordan with the idea, and it became a class project. With Tulloh's blessing, Jordan designed the beds and Blatchley Middle School shop students built the beds under the supervision of their shop teacher, Karl Jordan (Julie's husband). For more info about the school garden, click this link.

Shellfish advisory issued for Southeast beaches

The SouthEast Alaska Tribal Ocean Research (SEATOR) project coordinated by the Sitka Tribe of Alaska has announced several harmful algal bloom warnings for shellfish harvested in different Southeast Alaska communities this summer.

"The Sitka Tribe of Alaska Environmental Research Lab (STAERL) has been collecting shellfish samples to test for biotoxins, specifically paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP)," STAERL announced in a press release. “Recent samples ... confirm that clams at the following beaches have elevated levels of toxins above the FDA regulatory limit of 80µg/100g and should not be harvested at this time.”

The recent advisories include all molluscan bivalves, such as butter clams, littleneck clams and mussels. To learn more about the shellfish advisories, go to this link . Check out the SEATOR website to see the current shellfish advisories.

Copyright © 2016 Sitka Local Foods Network, All rights reserved.

You are receiving this email because you joined our listserv or gave us your email at one of our events. We thank you for your support of local foods in Sitka and Southeast Alaska. We do not share our email lists with other groups.

Our mailing address is:
Sitka Local Foods Network
408 Marine Street, Suite D
Sitka, Alaska 99835

unsubscribe from this list

update subscription preferences

Donate

Pick.Click.Give.

Facebook Page

Facebook Group

Twitter

Website

This email was sent to <<Email Address>>
why did I get this? unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences
Sitka Local Foods Network · 408 Marine Drive, Suite D · Sitka, AK 99835 · USA