Harvest Moon ( a day late)

Frost has come to Hoonah. The mountain peaks have transformed to a bright white, which marks the looming winter season. Just two days after the actual October harvest moon we headed down to the garden to harvest some final treats. To our surprise we found a plethora of potatoes burrowed deep into the ground, some turnips and of course a hearty bunch of kale.
Check out our new Autumn Album for pictures of our veggies and our first cooking project!

Time to Eat

Purple Kale & Purple Potatoes

Harvest Moon

The Hoonah School and Community Garden located behind Collette’s Cupboard is looking grand.

A big Gunalchéesh to everyone who helped look after the garden this summer! Many vegetables are ripe and ready to be picked.

The garden is free to anyone here in Hoonah so, PLEASE browse the rows and take home some fresh, local veggies grown by Hoonah Students!

Some of the vegetables include:

Rainbow Chard- Delicious when sautéed with some minced garlic.

Cabbage- Make your own coleslaw or sauerkraut.

Carrots- Small but sweet, take these home and eat them raw.

Potatoes- Yum! Baked, boiled, steamed, you name it.

Beets- Steam these with their skins on and enjoy their candy-like flavor.

If you have any questions about preparation, preservation, or starting a garden of your own please contact Macky Cassidy:

cassidym@hoonahschools.org 945-3613.

Cabbage Patch & Rainbow Chard

Health at Every Size

Kari Natwick a dietitian for Search Hospital in Juneau, came to Hoonah for the last week of school and gave a few presentations about nutrition. The first day she was here she used sugar cubes to demonstrate the amount of sugar found in different drinks students commonly consume. The following day she spoke with the students about body image and "health at every size".

Planting

What a beautiful sunny day to put our transplants into the ground. Being the last week of school we are spending the entire week in the garden!

First we used the rototiller to make our rows.


Next, we removed the large rocks and sticks from the row.



Dirt sifters were used to remove the small rocks.

Finally our rows were ready to add fertilizer.

Pot Ash, Bone Meal Crushed Clam Shells and Alfalfa Pellets.

Presto! Planting Time.

More Planting Photos

Sea Week

With the rapidly approaching summer break we decided to spend a few days talking about Sea- Safety and Survival Skills. As a part of this three day seminar, students were asked to scavenge the beach and forest for wild edibles. Volunteers from the community included Kenny Carl, Bob Barton, and Sally Dybdhal. Robin Hasselquest and John Hyde from the forest service helped students to identify edible and poisonous plants. Thanks to all the volunteers who shared their knowledge on harvesting wild food!
Indian Celery or Cow Parsnip can cause painful rashes in the summer months but the young, spring shoots are delicious and reminiscent of celery (hence the name). Peel the outer bark off before eating raw and prepare your immune system for a Vitamin C boost.

Dandelion leaves are best before the flowers appear. These can be eaten raw or cooked. The smaller the leaves, the less bitter.
YUM! Little Fiddlehead Ferns are best when the fiddlehead is still tightly curled. Simply remove the plant at the base, rinse off the brown peels, and saute'. The entire stem is edible not just the fiddlehead!

The emerging leaf buds of Devil's Club must be picked when the spines on the undersides of the leaves are still soft. Throw these in a soup or saute' them with some olive oil and garlic.

Another intimidating & prickly plant, Nettles become friendlier when roasted or steamed.

One of Alaskan's favorite summer treats, Fireweed must be eaten when they first emerge. These have a taste similar to wild asparagus. When boiled these shoots loose some of their bitterness.
More Pictures of Sea Week.

Muddy Day

Today we set our plants in the greenhouse to get them acclimated to the cold air. We only left them out for a few hours. We made sure the plants were protected from direct sunlight, wind, and rain.
We headed over to our larger plot to dig out rocks and sticks. It was a rainy, muddy day but the soft dirt made our jobs a bit easier.

This soil is rich and fertile; we are digging in what used to be home to a thicket of salmon berries whose large and stubborn roots we wrestled all day.

More Photos

Little ones are Growing up

Much can happen in three weeks. Our starts are doing well. We put fluorescent lights over top of them because they were starting to get leggy reaching for the window. The basil plants have taken the longest to pop up and say hello, but now they are arriving en masse. We ordered some nutrients for our soil and they arrived today!
Bone Meal- Phosphorus.
Coffee Grinds- Phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and copper.They also release nitrogen into the soil as they degrade.
Lime Pellets- Increase the PH of acidic soil.



Baby Basil!


Infant zucchinis poking out of their shells






Kale Toddlers






Kohlrabi Teenagers

Exploring Indigenous Eating

Check out the complete route on our Trip Map.

A century ago people began gardening in the Hoonah area. Corn, potatoes, and other hearty plants were put into the ground and left to grow over the summer. The Hoonah FEA Club (Future Educators of Alaska) headed up to the head of Port Frederick to explore an indigenous garden site and collect fertilizers for our garden.

Trees are growing in an old raised row. The garden was located near the beach on a slight downhill. This layout allowed for nice drainage. The garden plot was North-facing which kept the soil from getting too much sun and drying out.

Living quarters and smoke house.

We encountered lots of Culturally Modified Trees (CMT). Pitch was chipped away to use as fire starter for the smoke house.

Shells are rich in calcium, so we collected crushed shells to add to our garden soil.

Starfish are an excellent source of phosphorus, they can be cut up and buried with the plants when transplanted outside.

Seaweed and Kelp are high in potash. We will work seaweed into the soil and use it as mulch in the fall to protect perennials from winter weather.

We checked out some old fish traps. Rock walls were built to trap fish swimming upstream at high tide and when the tide went out fish would be easily plucked from the pools.

This seal blind is located next to the beach and was used for hiding behind to hunt seal.
Complete Trip Photo Album