Contributed by Valerie Barber
Monday Market at Palmer Depot
10/22/2018-12/17/2018 (Except 11/5/2018) - 11:30AM
Monday Market at Palmer Depot
Palmer Train Depot
610 S Valley Way, Palmer
FREE Admission, Booth Space Fees Vary
The local Monday Market at the Palmer Depot is the place to be to pick up locally-sourced goods, and now will also include fresh-baked goods for sale and special-order. Fun classes using the bounties of Alaska natural resources will also be offered to make gifts for the holiday season fast approaching.
Valerie Barber will be joining the Monday Market after a short hiatus due to health issues. She is the owner of the Spruce Tip Café, a food wagon started in 2016, which uses locally-sourced and mostly organic ingredients to make fresh-baked goods, grilled sandwiches, homemade soups and more. While the Spruce Tip Café will not be up and running until spring, Valerie will be at the Monday Market selling fresh-baked goods and tempting treats. You can also special-order desserts for special events or just to take home and share.
Valerie grew up in southern Vermont in a ski lodge turned into a year-round resort by her parents. It was here in the massive commercial kitchen that she first learned how to bake and cook. She came to Alaska in 1990 to pursue a graduate degree at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and she honed her baking skills by baking part-time for the Alaska Coffee Roasting Company in Fairbanks while in graduate school. She finished her degrees and worked for the School of Natural Resources and Extension at UAF as a forest resource specialist and the forest products program director until retiring in 2015.
It was during this time that Valerie learned much about the abundance of natural resources in the boreal forest, and started teaching classes for Cooperative Extension in Palmer. Classes to be offered at Monday Market include birch sap collection and syrup making, collecting wild, edible and medicinal plants and making salves and tinctures, sustainable harvesting of birch bark for making baskets and ornaments, spoon carving using local wood, needle felting and more.
Valerie loves teaching and sharing all Alaska has to offer and will be teaching an assortment of classes at the Monday Market in the evenings. See the list of courses available in this paper and sign up at the Monday Market or by calling 907-770-3532.
