Canning the Catch RECOMMENDED FOR JARS OF FISH • Tightly pack jars leaving 1-inch head space. • Process *1-pint jars for 100 minutes. • Use 10 pounds pressure for a weighted pressure gauge. • Use 11 pounds pressure for a dial pressure gauge. * If you use 1/2-pint jars, process for 100 minutes also, using the same pressures recommended for 1-pint jars.
The Cock-a-Doodle – Do’s & Don’ts about
Raising & Wintering
CHICKENS IN RURAL ALASKA It is relatively easy to maintain a small laying flock for eggs for family use or for small-scale egg production. However, it is not inexpensive, particularly in remote rural Alaska. Eggs produced by a home flock will cost more than store-bought eggs (even including air freight costs), but the trade- off is that fresh eggs are superior in taste and quality.
Locally Grown BASIC COOP SET-UP:
• Small, insulated building with at least one window for light, a door, and a small chicken door. Allow an average of 2.5 square feet of floor space/chicken. • Fenced & netted run: It’s a good investment to create a fenced yard around or on one side of the coop. Welded wire fencing at least 4 feet high is best; the bottom should be reinforced against digging to prevent predators, such as dogs, from digging in. • The coop building should have several nest boxes for laying eggs; these should be located at least 3 feet off the floor.
BASIC EQUIPMENT:
• Commercial chicken feeder and water container. • Thermometer: mount a thermometer on a coop wall at about the height that your birds generally spend most of their time (this would be at roost and nest box height). • Heat lamp: This is a high wattage lamp that uses a special heat lamp bulb (typically red); Do NOT use a regular shop lamp with a heat lamp bulb; you will risk a fire. • Shop light with 50 – 75 watt bulb/timer: To keep hens laying through the winter. • Water pan heater: This is a metal pan with a thermostatically-controlled heater that sits under a metal poultry water container.
Chicken Calculus
Answer: One hen lays three eggs/week. One family eats 12 eggs/week. Thus, 12 eggs/(1hen X 3eggs) = 4 hens
Roosters Need Not Apply:
How Many Chickens? An average hen will produce between three and four eggs per week during her prime (0.6 months to about three years old). Factors to consider when deciding how large a flock to maintain are:
• Coop size: Over-crowding a coop will lead to disease and premature death. On the other hand, too few birds in a coop will mean increased heating costs during the winter. Generally, one bird needs about 2.5 square feet of floor space. So, a coop that is 5 feet by 6 feet (30 square feet) will comfortably house 12 chickens. • Weekly egg production: How many eggs/week do you want? If your family consumes a dozen eggs/week, then four hens will provide sufficient eggs. • Mortality: Even with good care, chickens sometimes die, or get eaten by predators (weasels, fox, dogs, ravens, owls, hawks are all critters that like a good chicken meal now and then). When deciding on number of chickens, factor in the potential of losing at least one or two birds, especially when purchasing chicks.
A rooster is not needed for egg production, unless you want fertilized eggs (to raise your own chicks for flock sustainability). However, a rooster is important for flock health for the following reasons:
• Protection: Roosters help protect their hens from attack. Although often not a match for a fox or a dog, roosters can and do fend off attacks by raptors. • Harmony: Chickens are very social birds, with strict hierarchy – much like sled dogs. A balanced flock has at least one rooster, one dominant hen and several other hens. • Early Warning System: Contrary to popular opinion, roosters do not crow at first light – they crow as a warning, or as a challenge to other roosters. A crowing rooster can alert you to flock threats such as loose dogs. For more information contact:
UAF is an AA/EO employer and educational institution.
chicken poster.indd 1
5/17/11 1:33 PM
The Cock-a-Doodle – Do’s & Don’ts about
Raising & Wintering
CHICKENS IN RURAL ALASKA
It is relatively easy to maintain
a small laying flock for eggs for
family use or for small-scale egg production. However, it is not inexpensive, particularly in remote rural Alaska. home flock will cost more
Eggs produced by a
than store-bought eggs (even including air
freight costs), but the trade- off is that fresh eggs are superior in taste and quality.
Basic Equipment: • Commercial chicken feeder and water container. • Thermometer: mount a thermometer on a coop wall at about the height that your birds generally spend most of their time (this would be at roost and nest box height). • Heat lamp: This is a high wattage lamp that uses a special heat lamp bulb (typically red); Do NOT use a regular shop lamp with a heat lamp bulb; you will risk a fire. • Shop light with 50 – 75 watt bulb/ timer: To keep hens laying through the winter.
Basic Coop Setup: • Small, insulated building with at least one window for light, a door, and a small chicken door. Allow an average of 2.5 square feet of floor space/chicken. • Fenced & netted run: It’s a good investment to create a fenced yard around or on one side of the coop. Welded wire fencing at least 4 feet high is best; the bottom should be reinforced against digging to prevent predators, such as dogs, from digging in.
• Water pan heater: This is a metal pan with a thermostatically-controlled heater that sits under a metal poultry water container.
• The coop building should have several nest boxes for laying eggs; these should be located at least 3 feet off the floor.
Roosters Need Not Apply:
How Many Chickens? An average hen will produce between three and four eggs per week during her prime (6 months to about three years old).
Factors to consider when deciding how large a flock to maintain are: • Coop size: Over-crowding a coop will lead to disease and premature death. On the other hand, too few birds in a coop will mean increased heating costs during the winter. Generally, one bird needs about 2.5 square feet of floor space. So, a coop that is 5 feet by 6 feet (30 square feet) will comfortably house 12 chickens.
Chicken Calculus
Answer: One hen lays three eggs/week. One family eats 12 eggs/week. Thus, 12 eggs/(1 hen X 3eggs) = 4 hens
chicken poster final for fairbanks.indd 2
• Weekly egg production: How many eggs/week do you want? If your family consumes a dozen eggs/ week, then four hens will provide sufficient eggs. • Mortality: Even with good care, chickens sometimes die, or get eaten by predators (weasels, fox, dogs, ravens, owls, hawks are all critters that like a good chicken meal now and then). When deciding on number of chickens, factor in the potential of losing at least one or two birds, especially when purchasing chicks.
A rooster is not needed for egg production, unless you want fertilized eggs (to raise your own chicks for flock sustainability). However, a rooster is important for flock health for the following reasons: • Protection: Roosters help protect their hens from attack. Although often not a match for a fox or a dog, roosters can and do fend off attacks by raptors. • Harmony: Chickens are very social birds, with strict hierarchy – much like sled dogs. A balanced flock has at least one rooster, one dominant hen and several other hens. • Early Warning System: Contrary to popular opinion, roosters do not crow only at first light – they crow as a warning, or as a challenge to other roosters. A crowing rooster can alert you to flock threats such as loose dogs.
For more information contact: Mara C. Bacsujlaky, Community Development Agent (907) 474-5741 mara.bacsujlaky@alaska.edu
UAF is an AA/EO employer and educational institution.
This poster was funded through a grant from the USDA Community Food Projects Competitive Grant Program, USDA award # 2008-04567.
7/25/11 9:38 AM
Nutritious Blueberries
1
2 3 4
All blueberries can be eaten fresh or used interchangeably in pies, muffins, puddings, jellies, jams and other recipes.
Vitamins Rosehips
Lowbush Cranberries
Rich in antioxidant lycopene which may be protective against heart disease and prostate cancer.
Lowbush Cranberries are a rich source of antioxidants.
Healthy Cloudberries
One cup of cloudberries contains nearly twice the daily recommended intake for vitamin C.
Antioxidants
5 WildAlaska Berries Tasty
Salmonberries
Eat them fresh or make jams, jellies and pies.
Eat Well, Live Well Education Class Series Cooperative Extension Service
Family Nutrition Program UNIVERSITY OF
FAMILY
NUTRITION
PROGRAM
www.uaf.edu/ces • 877-520-5211
ALASKA
F A I R B A N K S
UAF is an AA/EO employer and educational institution.
EFNEP poster.indd 2
9/18/12 5:36 PM
pics s o T n sso ideline
Le
u tary G • Die Plate • My Group up ry ns Gro a e • Dai B at and getables g • Me oppin nd Ve h a S t i d u n r ga • F lannin P l a e • M Safety d ating o o F • lthy E a e H rt • Hea fast ak • Bre Meals k c i u • Q ise cks • Sna s and Exerc egnancy es Pr rs • Fitn ion During Preschoole t i tr nd • Nu fants a n I g n i d • Fee
What is the Family Nutrition Program? The Family Nutrition Program is a nutrition education program that helps families and individuals learn how to plan, shop for and prepare tasty and healthy foods within a limited budget. There is no cost to participate in the program. Cooperative Extension Service
Family Nutrition Program UNIVERSITY OF
FAMILY
NUTRITION
PROGRAM
www.uaf.edu/ces • 877-520-5211
ALASKA
F A I R B A N K S
UAF is an AA/EO employer and educational institution.
EFNEP poster.indd 3
9/18/12 5:36 PM
Fresh International Gardens ✰ Fresh International
McPhee Ave.
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ai
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About our garden…
y hwa g i nH
The Refugee Farmers’ Market Program was developed in 2007 to help recently arrived refugees transition into their new lives in Alaska. Participants garden an 8,000 sq. ft. plot on McPhee Ave. and sell produce at local farmers’ markets to increase their English skills and expand their knowledge of smallscale business and marketing.The program is completely donation and volunteer based, allowing all earnings from “Fresh International Gardens” to go directly to the participants. If you would like to volunteer, please contact the Anchorage Cooperative Extension Service at 786-6300.
What do we grow? head lettuce leaf lettuce spinach mustard greens mizuna arugula Swiss chard
collards kale cabbage carrots radishes turnips beets
snap peas green beans broccoli kohlrabi pac choi yellow squash zucchini
pumpkins onions tomatoes various herbs chives and a few flowers here and there.
The Refugee Farmers’ Market Program is part of Catholic Social Services Refugee Assistance & Immigration Services and the UAF Cooperative Extension Service.
Providing Help. Creating Hope. UAF is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and educational institution.
Beginnings
R e l l i v Col
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Kotzebue
Fairbanks
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Anchorage
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Alaska Farm Facts20 Number of Farms in 2008: 680 Number of Farmers’ Markets in 20099: 27 Acres in Ag Production in 2007: 881,585 Average Farm Size (acres) in 2007: 1,285 Market Value of Ag Products (million) in 2007: $57.02 Average Farmer Age in 2007: 56.2 years
1905
1910
September 1982—Lottery for 15,000 acres at Point MacKenzie. There were 31 tracts designed for dairies and supplemental farms.3 By 1983, one farmer had already begun producing milk, with high prices at $22 cwt, making farmers feel confident in the project. 3
Past Present Future From 1929 to 1939, the number of farms increased from 500 to 623 with an increase in farmland from 525,942 to 1,755,752 acres.6 By 1964, the amount of farmland in the state was nearly 2 million acres distributed over 382 farms.7
1915
1920
1925
1922—Five agricultural experimental stations located in Sitka, Rampart, Kodiak, Fairbanks and Matanuska.2
1930
Dairy
Oct. 28, 1936—Matranuska farm colony forms a cooperative and opens a creamery.4 By November Kodiak 1939, the first Matanuska Maid butter appears on the market.5
Farmland
Colonists Arrive 1900
Palmer
Soldotna
1932—202 families are transported to Matanuska Valley from the Mid-West.3
June 1, 1900— Twelve farms have been established in Alaska totaling 159 acres with an estimated wealth of $15,686.1
Ft. Yukon
R
Kobuk R.
1935
194
Celebrating 100 years t
Smith-Lever Act creates Cooperative Extension
The Smith-Lever Act of 1914 established the Cooperative Extension Service, a state-bystate national network of educators who extend university-based knowledge to the people. The Smith-Lever Act provided funding for outreach at the land-grant universities founded by the Morrill Act of 1862. The act stated: Pioneering agent Lydia Fohn-Hansen, center, set up an Extension office in a tent and taught food preservation techniques to the newly arrived Matanuska colonists in 1935.
Cooperative Extension came to Alaska in 1930, a year after Congress amended the legislation to include the territory. Extension became a department of the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines, which is now the University of Alaska Fairbanks. College president Charles Bunnell served as the first director. A 4-H gardening club was chartered in Fairbanks on the same day the Smith-Lever Act became official in Alaska, on July 1, 1930. Within days, the first two agents, Lydia FohnHansen and George Gasser, began travels around Alaska to teach sewing and canning and start 4-H clubs, as well as offer tips on livestock and food-growing tips to Alaskans.
“In order to aid in diffusing among the people of the United States useful and practical information on subjects relating to agriculture, uses of solar energy with respect to agriculture, home economics, and rural energy, and to encourage the application of the same . . .”
Members of the first Alaska 4-H club in a 1930s Fairbanks garden.
• Nome
Fairbanks • Delta Junction •
College president Charles Bunnell
Palmer • • Bethel • Anchorage Soldotna/Kenai •
• Juneau • Sitka
Pioneering Extension agent Lydia Fohn-Hansen taught home economics and organized 4-H clubs for nearly 30 years in Alaska. She is seen here getting ready to fly to rural Alaska for workshops.
UAF Cooperative Extension Service In its early days, Extension helped Matanuska colonists, homesteaders and others thrive in Alaska’s challenging environment. We continue to meet the needs of Alaskans today — whether it’s helping them establish community gardens, can salmon, use a GPS or learn the best way to use solar energy. We provide informal education with a purpose.
Celebrating 100 Years
Extending knowledge
Changing lives
UAF Cooperative Extension Service • 877-520-5211 • www.uaf.edu/ces
UAF is an AA/EO employer and educational institution.
2013
A sensory evaluation of Alaska grown pigmented and specialty potatoes
Participants tasted 150 pounds of potatoes at the Bash.
“I didn’t think I could ever eat a purple potato, but they were great” Alaska Potato Varieties B Red
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Cal White Large oblong potatoes with white flesh. High yield. Good for baking or frying.
. we , e flesh harvest. S w starch whit very tender at cause of lo orage. st skin, e Red yes. Skin oiling b ng-term b e lo deep tional for xcellent tips. E p e Exce oisture. ith whit w m high rs purple e Flow
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All purpose, dappled violet skin with snow white flesh. Good all-purpose potato for baking, mashing or frying. Excellent keeper. Superb yield and good storage.
Alask Magic a Myrn with n bred, n ew a p shape, ink skin a variety. G n swee medium d yellow e olden flav t pota size. y orful e b lu V to. N OT g ery sweet sh, peanu flesh ood fo t ta r lon ste close g term to stora ge.
French Fingerling Rosy-pink with creamy yellow flesh. Gourmet quality skin, shallow eyes. Narrow, oblong shape. Mid-season maturity, medium yield. Delicious baked, boiled or steamed. Great in
rge dy g. L a German Butterball essin proc h fry ely large. Heirloom variety. Skin yellow, slightly flakey, c n e r fr em fo tr x a flesh dark yellow. Large, prostrate vine. High e d w na in Ca an gro yield, very late maturity. Flavorful, buttery taste. Bred tubers. C e whit
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er York e l New with whit ro- King Edward Rura dOval shaped e e rs. P p skin with pink blush. Great a it tube -pwhite g sh urWh blon large all
and l a floury texture. All purpose with ra ty. O st of flavor Genetexture. Ideal for microwaving. Makes varie ate harve eld.light fi L loom Heir nd flesh. s nice in yummy chips and great gnocci. Good container k a skin owers loo plant. fl fuse se. u pose
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“The Magic Myrna lived up to my billing as a sweet potato wannabe.”
UAF is an AA/EO employer and educational institution.
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Challenges
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Five pounds of potatoes were prepared for each of the 30 varieties.
9/27/13 6:43 PM
Embracing the unexpected ABSTRACT
The earth and its atmosphere are made of different environmental layers. Some being transparent and others more opaque. My project is about the earth’s ecosystems and the ever-changing world we live in. Much of the content of my art work is based on transparency and layering as it relates to the natural world. The opaque layers have color, intensity, tone and value while the transparent layers take on the colors of what lies beneath as well as reflections from above. I planned four multicolored woodblock prints that layered transparent color inks on Japanese paper. This endeavor is a continuation of my initial exposure to printmaking processes.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Spending time outdoors is one of my favorite pastimes. Whether it is going on walks in the woods or exploring caves I find nature fascinating and surprising. It poses risks and challenges and nourishes my senses. Nature brings me back to reality by reminding me there are forces I have no control over and that natural ecosystems are ever-changing. I am reminded that nature is unpredictable and apt to change in unforeseen and seemingly spontaneous ways. The content of my art work is based on transparency and layering as it relates to the natural world. The opaque layers have color, intensity, tone and value while the transparent layers take on the colors of what lies beneath as well as reflections from above. These multicolored woodblock prints layer transparent color inks on Japanese paper. I work in an unpredictable, loosely-controlled manner to create artistic prints. As one color is layered on top of another color I never quite know what to expect when the woodblock and paper are run through the press. I can’t predict the result but generally the ink combinations produce a unique rich and intense color. The work is controlled to a certain extent but I am able to embrace the unexpected colors, contrasts and shapes that happen. I enjoy working intuitively in a give-and-take process with the prints I make. Like life, things are not always peaceful and harmonious but at the end of a storm there is a good possibility for a rainbow.
By Susan Bybee
ARTIST INFLUENCES
Karen Kunc, a woodcut artist, has influenced my work. Her woodblock prints are of nature and her surroundings of the Nebraska landscape. She says “My prints suggest extremes of weather and natural forces at work, a sense of the micro/macrocosm, set against landscape or space, both wild and cultivated, intimate and unknowable.” Cudra Clover is a skilled artist who works in silk painting. “I see change as the norm, not the exception, and chaos as something to be celebrated, not feared,” Clover says. “Chaos is the natural rhythm of the universe.” Nature has a rhythm and ebbs and flows like the tides.
MATERIALS
• Cyan, magenta and yellow process inks — these inks absorbed into the paper and layers of ink were added to achieve rich colors. • Nishinouchi Japanese paper — sturdy enough for multiple runs. • 1/2 inch birch plywood which made carving and mark-making easy • Flexcut carving tools • Palette knife • Stencils • Glass mixing surface • Brayers • American French Tool Press American French Tool Press
RESULTS
The woodblock prints are part of the group BFA show in the Kimura Gallery in April 2016. They will be displayed in a frame with a back-lit light source that illuminates the nuances created by the layering process on paper. The viewers will see the beauty in our Cyan, magenta and yellow ink world and consider that what we put into the ecosystems makes an impact that affects us today and into the future. It matters how we take care of the planet.
The Sea, Woodblock Print, 2016
REFERENCES: Karen Kunc. “About.” Aug. 2015. www.constellation-studio.net • Cudra Clover. “About Cudra Clover.” Sept. 2015. www.cudraclover.com
The Sky, Woodblock Print, 2016
The Trees, Woodblock Print, 2016
The Earth, Woodblock Print, 2016