What's available for the Sept. 5 pick-up event
The Sitka Local Foods Network will have produce available for purchase from 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 1, through 8 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 3, using the Salt and Soil Marketplace website, http://www.saltandsoilmarketplace.com. Our pick-up event will be from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Sept. 5, at St. Peter's Fellowship Farm (located by the See House behind St. Peter's By The Sea Episcopal Church, 611 Lincoln Street). Note, if you can't make our pick-up time, please arrange for a family member or friend to pick up your order so we can close at noon.
Due to our rainy summer, it's looking as if we won't have enough produce to hold our last scheduled pick-up event on Sept. 26. That means our final pick-up event most likely will be on Saturday, Sept. 19. Please plan accordingly.
Our lead gardener is Laura Schmidt, and our Sitka Farmers Market co-managers are Ariane Goudeau and Nalani James. We wear masks and gloves during the market. Please remember to wear your mask when you come to pick up your produce, or stay in your car until we get your name and bring you your produce. We want to keep everybody safe and healthy this summer, but still make fresh local produce available for Sitka. Thanks.
Sitka Farmers Market co-manager Ariane Goudeau arranges baskets on tables before the Aug. 29 pick-up event. The big blue tub on its side has extra items that became available for purchase on Saturday. We don't get many extras, but they do happen on occasion.
Here is what's available for purchase this week. We have five large farmer's choice veggie boxes, 10 small farmer's choice veggie boxes, five small bundles of garlic, and four baggies of basil.
Do keep watching our Salt and Soil Marketplace page, because sometimes we add new items that become available after the order period opens (for example, a couple of weeks ago we added white sweet turnips to our offerings on a Wednesday). It's amazing what just a little bit of sunshine can do. All of our produce is grown in Sitka and has a Certified Naturally Grown designation for sustainable agriculture practices.
Large farmer's choice basket for Sept. 5
This week our large farmer's choice basket sells at $40 each. It includes two bundles of carrots, a bundle of leeks, a bundle of beets, a head of lettuce or bundle of greens, a basket of potatoes, zucchini, and another item such as a cucumber, broccolini, or baggie of basil.
Small farmer's choice basket for Sept. 5
The small farmer's choice basket, at $20 each, will include a bundle of carrots, a bundle of leeks, zucchini and a head of lettuce or bundle of greens. Our bundles of 2-3 small or medium heads of garlic are $6 each, and a baggie of basil is $4.
A bundle of garlic
Once again, we will have our 2020 Sitka Local Foods Network tote bags, with our new logo designed by Alyssa Russell and Lisa Gilardi of The Hullabaloo Studio in consultation with our board of directors. These tote bags will be available for $12 each, and the funds raised will help support our efforts to grow food, host the farmers market, connect people to garden education classes, and sponsor the Sitka Food Business Innovation Contest. We also have some of our 2019 Sitka Farmers Market tote bags left in stock for $10 each, and once they are gone they are gone. These make great gifts for friends and family, and they help cut down on plastic waste.
2020 Sitka Local Foods Network logo tote bag
We accept WIC farmers market coupons and SNAP Alaska Quest EBT cards, with matches provided thanks to grants from the White E, Sitka Legacy Fund, and The Alaska Community Foundation. We will provide one $20 small produce basket for one $5 WIC coupon or $5 in SNAP benefits with this grant (limit one per family per week, and limited by our available baskets each week). People using WIC and SNAP benefits aren't able to use their benefits through the Salt and Soil Marketplace, so they will need to reserve their basket by calling the Sitka Farmers Market phone at 738-7310 or emailing sitkafarmersmarket@gmail.com. WIC users will need to bring their coupon and SNAP users need to bring their Alaska Quest cards to the pick-up so we can process your orders. Reservations need to be placed starting at 5 p.m Tuesday and by 8 p.m. Thursday for that Saturday. Due to the limited amount of available produce, this service is provided on a first-come, first-served basis. When we are out, we are out for the week.
When you go to the Sitka page of Salt and Soil Marketplace website, http://www.saltandsoilmarketplace.com, to order this week, you might notice a couple of other Sitka vendors. Andrea Fraga of Middle Island Gardens will share our pick-up event and have her own produce baskets for sale. Lisa Sadleir-Hart of Anam Cara Family Gardens will have jams and jellies available this week, but will distribute those from her house. Spinning Moon Apothecary has herbal preparations for sale, and those will be distributed from their store. Raincoast Flowers is a new business selling bouquets of cut flowers, with distribution at our pick-up event. There may be new vendors from Sitka added later in the season.
As always, we look forward to seeing you this Saturday. Thank you for supporting local foods.
Brooke Schafer, left, of Raincoast Flowers and Andrea Fraga of Middle Island Gardens with some of their products at the market.
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