Together We Can Make Southeast Alaska’s Food System More Resilient.
Food is not just about what we eat. It’s also about where it comes from and the connections it creates between people and places along the way. Join us on a journey to explore and transform Southeast Alaska’s food system by being part of the Local Foods Challenge.
As a participant in this Challenge, you will join others in reshaping and fostering resilience within our local and regional food systems while increasing community wellness for both the short and long-term.
We ask you to deepen your involvement in the local food system by cultivating and elevating your personal knowledge, skills, and connection to the local food system within your community.
Here’s how it works:
When you sign up, you’ll take a survey to assess your involvement in 10 distinct categories of the local food system. Your challenge from May to September is to deepen your connection to the local food system by increasing your level of engagement for each category. The more levels you go, the more resilient our food system will be by September. At the end of the challenge, we will tally the progress of all of the challengers to discover how much we collectively shift our food system’s resilience.
To help you on this local food journey, we will connect you to resources related to all 10 categories, and we will share stories via email and social media to inspire and celebrate our successes.
The Local Foods Challenge is about building a community of Southeast Alaskans who care about local foods. We will share knowledge, resources, place-based advice, and best practices across our unique region.
Together we will forge a resilient, prosperous, and healthy Southeast Alaska. Sign up today and indulge in local foods stories below.
The Local Foods Challenge is taking place on the ancestral and unceded territories of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian Peoples. We recognize the deep ways of knowing and relationships with local foods held by the Indigenous Peoples of this region, and are grateful for their stewardship of these lands and waters since time immemorial and today. Gunalchéesh, Haw’aa, Sm’algya̱x, Thank You.
Tips, Tricks, Recipes, Profiles & More…
Have a story to contribute? A local food guru you want featured? Reach out, we’re listening.
What To Do With All The ‘barb?
Words, recipes, and images by Artist Lisa Schramek Adams. View Lisa's beautiful Artwork and blog here. She is currently working on a series of watercolors featuring gathered wild food. Rainy Southeast Alaskan summer days give rhubarb the moisture and cool sun it...
Beach Asparagus! Gathering + Tips
Media and text by Scott Brylinski Beach asparagus (Salicornia pacifica) is arguably the single best wild green we have in our area. It is delicious, tender, abundant, easy to identify and gather in quantity, has no poisonous look alikes, and lends itself to a...
Chickweed: Did you know it is a superfood?
Photos and text by Jennifer Nu Got chickweed? Yes? Why thank you for providing a perfect habitat for one of my favorite superfoods. Maybe I’ll show up on your doorstep with scissors and a large cloth bag in hand. In past years, I have been blessed to find bags...
Alaskans Own kicks off 11th year of delivering Alaska seafood directly to consumers, with a special donation program this year
This week, the Alaskans Own Community Supported Fishery (CSF) delivered its first monthly seafood shares to members in Fairbanks, Anchorage, Juneau, Sitka, and Seattle. This summer’s seafood shares will include some of Southeast Alaska’s most prized seafood...
Dandelion Recipe and Resources with Jennifer Nu
Photos and Text by Jennifer Nu Hello dandelions! All parts of the ubiquitous dandelion plant are edible. It just depends on the time of year. Flowers have been up awhile now. Some of my favorite preparations of dandelion flowers include dandelion vinegar,...
Wild Mustards: Using these wild seasonings with Scott Brylinsky
Photos and text by Scotty Brylinsky. Several wild mustards grow in our area. They pack a lot of flavor punch for their small size, and really jazz up a salad or starry. Three of the more common are scurvy-grass (cochlearia officinalis), Alaska baby’s...
What Can I Still Plant for a 2020 Harvest?
Grow + Share Part of the Local Foods Challenge is helping people share knowledge and learn by providing access to place-based techniques and resources in each of the 10 food systems categories: Thank you to our contributors for sharing their knowledge for this...
Neighbors Keep Moby Active
Grow & Share In Sitka, Moby the Mobile Greenhouse is being used to grow and share food. Moby is a project started by the Sustainable Southeast Partnership. The greenhouse on wheels travels across Southeast Alaska kickstarting local growing efforts. Over the past...
Harvesting and Cooking Wild Greens with Scott Brylinsky
Photos and text by Scotty Brylinsky. From now until mid-June is the sweet spot, literally and figuratively, for wild greens. They are abundant, tender, and nutritious. General guidelines for gathering: Harvest conservatively - only take a few plants from each...