There’s not much better, in my opinion, than waking up on Tonsina Beach in Seward on a summer Saturday morning, meandering the mile and a half through the rainforest to the trailhead, and making your way to the Seward Farmers Market.
This is my first summer as AFMA’s Executive Director (I started in October), and this Saturday was my 5th “Meet Me at the Market’ day. How fun to have it in Seward and how lovely to experience the market that AFMA Food Access Director Claire Marshalek stood up years ago, now managed by our newest board member Ryan Wanamaker.
Growing food in Seward is a different endeavor than other parts of the state, as producers are few and far between. Farmers market produce is supported by the Market Manager going to Soldotna farms to harvest and bring back fresh produce and also by Chugach Regional Resources team Health Foods Coordinator Allie Toloff’s relatively new hydroponic endeavor. Asisqat neq’rkat, the Healthy Foods program, is part of an exchange with the Alutiiq Grown collective of tribal and community owned farms in the Kodiak Archipelago. Thanks Allie for inviting Claire and me on a tour this summer!
I spent my market time thanking vendors for their service to the Seward community, handing out AFMA postcards and our popular ‘Don’t Buy Food From Strangers’ bumper stickers, and sampling everything from smoked salmon (there were two vendors with fish for sale) to fresh baked goods. Also lots of lovely art for sale. The Seward Children’s Museum booth, with a play market for kids, was the first of its kind I’ve seen and so much fun.
I left with a $5 Alaska Farmers Market Cookbook by Heidi Rader (seems worth 10x that), smoked salmon for Father’s Day brunch the next day, Allie’s arugula, and wooden earrings (couldn’t resist). I could also have bought turnips and rhubarb, but my family is still munching on the ones I brought back from Palmer market day on Wednesday as we shift to more seasonal eating habits with gratitude.
Seward is a tourist hub in the summertime, and it was so nice to see this effort to keep community members connected to one another and nourished through the big hosting season. And Ryan and Claire have fields newly in production near Moose Pass this year, so here’s to more and more locally grown food available in Seward over the seasons to come!
