Food preservation, healthy living classes offered in Sitka

Julie Stricker
907-474-5406
June 24, 2026

A woman loads a small bicycle trailer on the dock of a small boat harbor with snow-covered mountains in the background. — Photo courtesy of Sarah Lewis
UAF professor Sarah Lewis loads a trailer on the dock of a Southeast �ֻ�ֱ�� town in 2024. She will travel to Sitka by boat to lead a series of workshops in July.

The �ֻ�ֱ�� Cooperative Extension Service in Southeast �ֻ�ֱ�� is offering food preservation, entrepreneurship and healthy living classes in Sitka from July 7-12.

Extension professor Sarah Lewis will lead the workshops in collaboration with Jasmine Shaw from the Sitka District office.

On Tuesday, July 7, from 5:30-7:30 p.m., Lewis will discuss �ֻ�ֱ��’s homemade food rules. She will also introduce basic safety practices for produce growers and farmers. The free class is at the Sitka Public Library, 320 Harbor Drive.
On Wednesday, July 8, from 6-8 p.m., she will attend the Sitka Community Garden Potluck. Sitka-area gardeners are encouraged to bring a dish to share, as well as their midsummer gardening tips. Lewis will demonstrate how to safely preserve berries, wild plants and garden harvests for the pantry shelf while preserving their quality and nutrition. In this class, Lewis will introduce pressure canning, water-bath canning, dehydrating, pickling and freezing. The free workshop and potluck is at See House, 611 Lincoln St.
On Thursday, July 9, from 5:30-7:30 p.m., Lewis will teach workshop participants how to dehydrate herbs and use them to create culinary salts, infuse vinegars and flavor sugars. The workshop is at Sitka Lutheran Church. The cost is $20. Registration is available at .
On Saturday, July 11, Lewis will be at the Sitka Farmers Market, 235 Katlian St., from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. to conduct free tests on pressure canner dial gauges. She will also answer questions about pressure canners and food preservation. Free food preservation publications will be available.
On Sunday, July 12, Lewis will lead a menopause mocktail hour at See House from 1-3 p.m. She will discuss strategies and lifestyle changes that women can make before or during perimenopause to enable them to enter menopause with strength and confidence. The cost is $10. Registration is available at .

For more information, contact Lewis at sarah.lewis@alaska.edu.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Accommodation requests related to a disability should be made five business days in advance to Alda Norris at amnorris2@alaska.edu or 907-474-7120. Language access services, such as interpretation or translation of vital information, will be provided free of charge to individuals with limited English proficiency upon request to amnorris2@alaska.edu.

This work is supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

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