Gardening in Hoonah

Harvest Moon ( a day late)

2011-10-14T12:28:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-23T09:16:00.001-07:00

Purple Kale & Purple Potatoes

Harvest Moon

2011-09-14T18:30:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-20T11:08:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-18T12:44:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-14T15:14:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-10T17:45:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-29T09:45:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-26T10:23:00.000-07:00

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

Sprouts

2011-04-22T15:35:00.000-07:00

Kohlrabi

Cabbage

Photo Album

2011-04-16T16:45:00.001-07:00

Click HERE to peruse the complete collection of garden photos.

GERMINATION STATION!

2011-04-15T17:43:00.000-07:00

Our little seedlings are showing signs of life!!!!

Planting and Playing in the Dirt

2011-04-15T14:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we planted Kohlrabi, Cauliflower, Cabbage, Broccoli, Kale, and Basil.

We planted one see per plug tray. Each seed was placed in a shallow hole we poked with a pencil, then covered with dirt.

Today we started to prepare the soil.

Getting rid of rocks and grass was our main priority.

We commissioned the kindergartners to come and help us find earthworms!

We saved our earthworms in a little earthworm habitat to return to our finished soil. Earthworms move around in the dirt and make space for the roots to get air and moisture.

Sorting Starting Seeds

2011-04-13T14:51:00.000-07:00

We sorted our Vegetables by start dates.

We created plastic labels for each type of seed- Plastic is better than cardboard because cardboard/paper can mold.

We packed our plug trays with soil and began planting!

Hoonah Garden Grant

2011-04-13T10:29:00.000-07:00

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, two of the leading preventable causes of premature death and disability in the U.S. are obesity and tobacco use. The Association of American Indian Physicians (AAIP) is a national non-profit organization that supports communities who are putting obesity prevention to work. Hoonah City School applied for the AAIP Healthy Active Native Communities Grant that was created to fund 10 lucky communities in implementing healthy, sustainable, obesity prevention strategies. The AAIP received over 130 applications and of 10 grants awarded, Hoonah’s School Garden project was chosen!

In the upcoming weeks I will be keeping a garden log on my blog. Gardening is a trial and error process so keeping track of information, dates, failures, and successes will be useful in the future and possibly inspire other classes to start growing vegetables of their own!

Teens and Technology - How Much is Too Much?

2010-05-04T18:06:00.000-07:00

As the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) was being revamped this year, one psychological disorder brought up much debate- Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD), or pathological internet use was a hot topic up for discussion amongst members of the American Medical Association.

Can internet overuse be considered a harmful dependency or addiction, or is it merely a compulsive behavior?

Self-proclaimed sufferers are popping up all over America in courtrooms, and hospitals. Many medical experts feel more research and data on these electronically compulsive behaviors is necessary before making a final call.

Increasingly in our culture we are seeing teens who are emotionally and psychologically dependent on electronics. Most experts agree that internet addiction does come with structural alterations to the brain, and these web-dependent individuals are frequently self-prescribing technology for depression, or anxiety-related disorders.

The patterns emerging amongst techno-savvy twenty-first century teens is concerning. Educators and parents alike are responsible for monitoring and regulating these techno-babies before it is too late.

Teens and Technology- A Good Match??