Friday, April 17, 2020

OneTree and ACEP provide birch-tapping supplies

Barb Sivin, an education specialist with the school district's home school
association, loads some OneTree birch sap kits into her car to share with students.

Because of the coronavirus restrictions, OneTree Alaska can’t do its usual sap collecting and processing at UAF this year. Instead, it has been working with the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District and home schools to provide birch sap collecting kits for youth K-12.

Birch sap kits with buckets, tap, drill bit and instructions await
pickup at the OneTree STEAM studio at Lola Tilly Commons.
OneTree Director Jan Dawe said 135 kits have been ordered. Kits include a sap bucket and lid, spile (tap), a drill bit and comprehensive instructions, including a how-to video. The Alaska Center for Energy and Power provided funds to cosponsor the project. Families that usually participate in the Fairbanks birch sap cooperative and have students will also receive the free kits.

One of the cooperative’s members has volunteered to put all the household locations on a Google map, so they will be able to get citizen science information and track different sap season markers, such as the first day of sap flow, peak sap, sap turns cloudy, green-up, etc.

Dawe said, “So the pandemic is forcing us to take the leap into doing what we have hoped to do for years: scale up from individual classroom work to crowd-sourced community science and long-term monitoring.”

In the Interior, the sap season is expected to begin this weekend with green-up forecast for the week of May 5-11.

Friday, April 10, 2020

Alaska's farmers markets to stay open this summer

Alaska’s farmers markets, like grocery stores and supermarkets, are considered “essential businesses” and will remain open this summer.

Maria Bender of Bender Mountain Farm poses with her
potatoes at the 2019 Tanana Valley Farmers Market.
 Photo courtesy of Tanana Valley Farmers Market
A representative from the Department of Environmental Conservation announced that welcome bit of news during the Alaska Farmers Market Association’s virtual annual meeting last Friday. The markets will operate differently however, because of coronavirus concerns.

Working with the association, DEC has posted guidance and market measures on its website. The measures require that markets be redesigned to limit contact, increasing the space between vendors to 10 feet, with no more than two customers at each booth. If possible, vendors should place another table in front of the products to keep customers 6 feet away. Additionally, vendors must wear gloves and provide no samples. Prepared food is carry-out only. See additional information on the DEC site.

Concern about the status of farmers markets was underscored by better-than-average attendance for the conference. Association director Robbi Mixon said 262 people registered, but attendance varied greatly by session.

Squash for sale at the Tanana Valley
Farmers Market.
Members heard from market managers from Washington, California and Minnesota. Colleen Donovan, the executive director of the Washington State Farmers Market Association, said “The challenge has been to convince the local jurisdictions that they can operate safely.”

Some of the markets in Washington state have been cancelled and others have delayed opening, Donovan said. Washington has 110 markets in 80 communities that generate $55 million in sales, she said.

In a keynote address, she said that farmers markets are important because they help people eat healthy, cultivate community, energize neighborhoods and incubate businesses. She encouraged markets to work together cooperatively with shared training and tools.

Other sessions focused on educating the public on why farmers markets are a good thing to support. Catt Fields White, who manages a large farmers market in San Diego, said in addition to providing nutrient dense, fresh foods, markets support farmers. Farmers receive an average of nine cents for every dollar spent on their produce sold through a grocery store, White said.

With a farmers market, she said, “The farmer puts the whole dollar in his pocket.”

Brad St. Pierre, the manager of the Tanana Valley Farmers Market, and Homer Farmers Market director Robbi Mixon gave a joint presentation. They said that a lot of farmers are trying to get established in the state and many of their farms are small — nine acres or less. The last Census of Agriculture, in 2017, showed that 46 percent of Alaska’s farmers have farmed 10 years or less.

More vendors selling at the 2019 market in Fairbanks.
The importance of markets is reflected in the growth of Alaska farmers markets, they said. The number increased from 13 in 2005 to more than 50 markets in 2019. The growth is also reflected in sales. According to the 2017 census, the value of food sold directly to consumers, was $4.5 million, more than double the amount reported in the previous census, in 2012. At the same time, the market association, has become revitalized and members are working together on issues.

In a wrap-up session, Jodie Anderson said making the farmers markets safe and getting the word out about that is critical. “We are inventive," she said. “We are going to figure this out together.”

Anderson is the director of the Matanuska Experiment Farm and Extension Center. She noted how important farmers markets are to Alaska’s food system. “What happens when the boats don’t come in or the trucks don’t come,” she asked.

Mixon said recordings of conference presentations will be available soon on the association’s website. The association will host a joint webinar with DEC April 24 on markets and COVID-19. See details here.















Wednesday, April 1, 2020

What varieties grew well in the summer of 2019?

Glenna Gannon, left, and Nicole Carter prepare to transplant 2-plus-month-old
celery as part of the 2019 variety trials. Heidi Rader photo
In the summer of 2019, we tested different vegetable varieties at the Georgeson Botanical Garden. In replicated trials, we trialed beets, snap beans carrots, celery, and corn. Brussels sprouts were trialed in unreplicated or preliminary trials.

Replicated trials mean the vegetables were grown in three different plots. Preliminary trials were done mainly to decide which crops and varieties warranted further testing.

The goal of these trials is to help Interior Alaska gardeners and farmers like you decide whether or not to stick with your tried-and-true varieties or try something new. Sometimes we’re forced to try new varieties when old favorites are “improved” or discontinued.

We’re also focusing on crops that have been considered borderline in the past either because of the number of days to maturity or because of their heat requirements. It’s possible that climate change could expand the number of crops and varieties we can grow in Interior Alaska. The Alaska Garden Helper app could help gardeners and farmers understand the influence more. You can find it at www.snap.uaf.edu/tools/gardenhelper/.


For example, most varieties of Brussels sprouts need 100 days to mature and some even require upwards of 200 days. Even though there are more and more short day corn varieties, corn still loves the heat. Heat is not so important for celery, but it does require most of the summer to mature. I should mention too that these are not the best crops to grow if you have a small space and want to maximize your production. I talk about the crops where you can get the biggest bang for your buck in this article: bit.ly/2Twb7mf.

You can find the 2019 vegetable variety report and variety trial reports from past years by going to http://afesresearch.uaf.edu/publications/ and selecting “variety trials” from the drop-down menu.

If you don’t get a chance to read the full report, here are some highlights. Surprisingly, in snap bean trials, Provider was the lowest-performing variety. This is surprising because Provider has long been the standard for cold hardiness. I welcome this development as Provider has a tough, leathery texture and has never been a favorite of mine. As the name would imply, Jumbo is a large bean, and it tied Rocdor for the highest yield and also scored highest in taste tests. Larger beans could be an advantage for a busy farmer or gardener because it’s faster to pick larger beans. Rocdor, a yellow bean, scored second highest on taste and highest for texture.

Subeto and Zeppo were the top two yielding beets, and in some cases, produced beets almost half a pound in size.

Bolero was the highest yielding carrot variety, followed by Napoli, followed by Napoli. Nelson, an old favorite that is no longer widely available, was the lowest yielding variety, but we think that’s because it was old seed. Bolero also received the highest taste and texture scores, but because taste tests were done a month or so after they were harvested, this is more an indication of storability.

Corn varieties Legend, CafĂ© and Espresso (I’m not sure what the coffee connection is) were the top producers, but other varieties were close behind. Early Sunglow and Earlivee produced smaller ears and weren’t as tasty but they were early as the name advertises. Sugar Pearl was a standout in terms of taste and texture, while Sugar Buns, Sweetness and Espresso followed close behind.

Some of varieties produced truly behemoth heads of celery — Nero and Tall Utah 52-70 Improved produced heads that averaged close to 5 pounds a head. Some of the Tall Utah stalks were hollow, though. Merengo was the best tasting variety and also was the highest yielding variety.

We had problems with loose Brussels sprouts in several varieties, but in our preliminary trials, Dagan was the top yielding variety. Gustus was the lowest yielding but had the best flavor and texture.

In addition to weighing each crop and variety, we also rated each variety in terms of plant vigor, bolting sensitivity (or susceptibility to bolt), uniformity, pest resistance, disease resistance and taste.

You can look forward to more vegetable trials in the summer of 2020. While we, unfortunately, are not able to test as many crops and varieties as we would like to, you can consult the “Recommended Variety List for Interior Alaska” for additional suggestions on what you might want to grow this year, at http://bit.ly/2U6Ptn9.

Heidi Rader is a tribes Extension educator for the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service and the Tanana Chiefs Conference. She can be reached at hbrader@alaska.edu.