Alaska

The Alaska AgrAbility team, as a panel, gave an hour-long presentation on accessible gardening at the Alaska Botanical Garden's Virtual Spring Garden Conference. Approximately 100 people attended and there was some engaging discussion amongst participants. This session has resulted in planning to determine feasibility to bringing further awareness to the AK AgrAbility project through having some demonstration areas at the garden, which is located in Anchorage.

DeShana York is part of the planning team for an upcoming (March 20) Alaska Women in Agriculture virtual event. This event is the first of its kind and is themed "Strong Then, Strong Now" and designed to take a look at Alaska Agriculture through a multi-generational lens of then, now, and into the future. With an increased awareness of food insecurity in Alaska due to the pandemic, there has been an overwhelming interest in this event. Registration was closed last week due to numbers topping 300. The event is free, and t-shirts are being distributed to commemorate the event through gracious sponsorships.The t-shirts are imprinted with "47%" on them. On average, 35 percent of farmers in the US are women, but in Alaska, women account for almost half at 47 percent, leading the nation! AK AgrAbility is honored to be part of this event and the team is excited about the amount of outreach that this amazing event will generate.

Submitted by DeShana York