Kachemak Bay Conservation Society is seeking volunteers to assist at the upcoming Earth Day celebration from noon-6 p.m. April 26 at the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center. There are several activities and events running concurrently and some backstage help is needed. If you can help out, please call Linda Gorman at 399-9211.
Sandhill crane monitoring season may be early this year. Kachemak Crane Watch has already had a report of high-flying sand-hill cranes passing overhead, the earliest report it has ever had. Please report sandhill crane sightings to Kachemak Crane Watch at 235-6262 or reports@cranewatch.org. The date, time, location and number of cranes is helpful. Leave a name and number in case Kachemak Crane Watch needs more details.
Homer’s American Legion Post and Junior Auxiliary invite Coast Guard families and all other children in the community to participate in an Easter Egg Hunt at 1 p.m. (sharp) April 19. The hunt will be at the American Legion Post, Mile 2.5 East End Road. Participants are asked to bring their own basket. The Easter Bunny will be there to greet all the children.
As part of its Green Dot program, South Peninsula Haven House holds “quick conversations” about Green Dot from noon-1 p.m. every Tuesday in April at K-Bay Caffé. A public training session is 5:30-8:30 p.m. April 23 at a location to be announced. Please RSVP for the training sessions to rachel@havenhousealaska.org or call 235-7712. A Green Dot is “any behavior, choice, word or attitude that promotes safety for everyone and communicates intolerance for violence.”
Kenai Peninsula Fair will host the Second Annual Alaska Fiber & Arts Festival from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. April 26-27 at the fairgrounds in Ninilchik. This festival was started to bring awareness to a dying art — natural fibers of Alaska and education of that art. There will be informative booths, hands-on experiences and demonstrations as well as craft booths. Booth space is still available if anyone is interested. Classes are being made available this year. The class schedule is on the website: www.kenaipeninsulafair.com, along with the registration form.
West Homer Elementary will host a First Friday event on May 2 from 5-7 p.m. This is an all-school student art exhibit. Comments will be made by local artists on each piece. It will be an outstanding display of student work. Tables with art activities including a table of art trading cards will be available for all who attend.
The Second Annual Almost Spring Fling Bazaar, benefiting Special Olympics-Homer Area, will be from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. May 3 at Homer United Methodist Church on East End Road. Vendors are still needed and may contact Joyce Shuler at 907-398-6712 or e-mail at joyce.shuler@yahoo.com for more info. There will be a massage therapist at the bazaar, as well as home-based businesses with booths. Handmade items and baked goods will be sold. This will be a great day of fun for the entire family.
It’s time to clean out your closets and support Big Brothers Big Sisters. BBBS will have a clothing drive from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. May 3 at the Homer Chamber of Commerce’s Cleanup Day event. There will be a $50 prize for the person who brings in the most bags of gently used clothing, bedding, shoes or towels. For more information, call 235-8391 or go to the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Homer Alaska facebook page.
The reunion for Anchorage’s Robert Service High School class of 1974 will be July 25-26. If you are a graduate or know someone who is, please contact Sharon Hall Minsch at 399-4266, sminsch@alaska.net or Marie Mayo Allen at 907-350-4176.
Cooperative Extension Service
There are numerous reasons why many Alaskans choose to keep small poultry flocks in their backyards. Not only is there the joy of farm animals, but poultry flocks also provide a steady source of protein, eggs and garden fertilizer. However, keeping both birds and humans healthy requires poultry owners to be proactive by creating a clean and healthy environment.
Whether you’re ordering your first chicks this spring, have an established laying flock, are considering selling eggs locally, or perhaps you’re even venturing into the world of raising chickens for meat, the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service has a number of publications to help you.
Find “Selecting, Brooding, and Rearing Small Numbers of Chicks,” “Home Laying Flock,” “Safe Egg Handling for Small Egg-Laying Flocks and Operations” and “Broiler Production” at http://www.uaf.edu/ces/districts/kenai/. Hard copies also are available in the Extension Service’s Kenai Peninsula office located at 43961K-Beach Rd., Suite A, Soldotna. For more information, call 907-262-5824.
Friendship Center
Friendship Center Adult Day Services is open 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday with extended hours for special situations. Special programs are offered daily, including story time, crafts and musical performances. For more information, call 235-4556.
Homer Farmers Market
The market’s “Night at the Movies” fundraiser will be at 7 p.m. today at the Homer Theatre. The movie is “To Market to Market to Buy a Fat Pig.” There will be door prizes. Admission is by donation. Applications for the Homer Farmers Market scholarship are due May 1. Details can be found on the Web at homerfarmersmarket.org. Deadline to apply for the job of market greeter is May 1. Details are on the website.
Homer Senior Citizens
Homer Senior Citizens lunch is open to seniors and guests and is served 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Monday-Friday. The lunch menu for this week is: today, roast turkey; Friday, stuffed rockfish; Monday, baked chicken; Tuesday, turkey hotdogs; Wednesday, beef tacos; and April 17, roast pork tenderloin.
Strong Women classes are 2-3 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the Homer Senior Center. The cost is $3 for members and $6 for nonmembers per class.
Zumba Gold classes with Maria are 11 a.m.-noon Tuesdays and 1:30-2:30 p.m. Thursdays at the Homer Senior Center. The cost per class is $4 members, $6 nonmembers.
Tai Chi classes are Thursday at 3 p.m. The cost per class is $3 members and $6 nonmembers. Call Daniel at 235-7655.
Caregiver Support Group meets 2-3:30 p.m. the second and fourth Thursday in the senior center dining room. Call Pam Hooker at 299-7198 or Daniel Weisser at 235-7655.
The AARP Foundation offers free tax assistance and preparation for taxpayers with low to moderate income through the AARP Foundation Tax-Aide program. Tax assistance is offered 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays by appointment only at the Homer Senior Center. For an appointment, call 235-7655. Individuals also can visit www.aarp.org/findtaxhelp or call 1-888-AARPNOW (1-888-227-7669).
Kachemak Bay Campus
There will be a workshop on garden design with Brenda Adams April 12 and April 26. Cost is $85. Sign up at KBC. Call 234-7743 for more information.
Registration is now being held for the 2014 Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference, June 13-17, featuring 19 visiting, local and statewide poets and creative literary nonfiction and fiction writers. Early registration fee available. See http://writersconference.homer.alaska.edu for more information.
The Student Art Showcase opening reception featuring artwork from painting and ceramics classes will be from 5-6:30 p.m. April 25.
KBC Commencement at Mariner Theater will be at 7 p.m. May 7.
The annual watercolor painting workshop with Jan Peyton will be May 31, June 2, June 5 and June 7. Register now.
Pratt Museum
The museum galleries are open noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Business offices are open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday.
The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill is the subject of the Pratt’s stewardship exhibit, Darkened Waters, which will be on display through May 11. The Jubilee Student Art Showcase will be on display in the Pratt’s lower level art gallery through May 11. “Key Ingredients,” the Smithsonian Institution’s traveling exhibition about how food and culture inform each other across America, is on display in the special exhibits gallery though May 15. A subsequent exhibit “Putting By: Food Identity on the Kenai” will open May 15 and focus on foods collected and preserved to last the winter. During the exhibits, the Pratt will accept donations of canned and preserved foods for the Homer Community Food Pantry.
In conjunction with the “Key Ingredients” exhibit and to help inform the “Putting By” exhibit, the Pratt will hold a community conversation on gardens, farms and food storage from 5-7 p.m. April 16.
Environmental artist and basket and story weaver Mavis Muller will present a talk and slideshow of personal reflections of the Exxon oil spill and her travels from Alaska to Spain to the Gulf of Mexico with her ongoing project of community interactive, impermanent art. “Remembering — Community Art As Healing Force” will begin at 6 p.m. April 18.
The public is invited to participate in exhibit planning workshops from 5:30-7 p.m. April 25 and from 2-3:30 p.m. April 26. The Pratt’s consulting exhibit planner and exhibit designer will be at the museum sharing preliminary exhibit plans for the new Pratt Museum. This is an opportunity to provide feedback and suggestions. These two events are identical.
R.E.C. Room
The R.E.C. Room (a Youth Resource and Enrichment Co-Op) offers activities for the school year. Free programs include instruction on software installation and customization, digital music production, fresh and organic cooking, gardening and slam poetry. The R.E.C. Room provides teens ages 12-18 with a safe space to hang out after school and connect with positive resources, activities and programs available in our community. It offers computers and Wi-Fi for homework, guitars, XBox Kinect, games, darts, rave gloves, movies, art supplies and more. A program of Kachemak Bay Family Planning Clinic, the R.E.C. Room is always staffed by a program manager. Hours are 3 p.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 3957 Nielsen Circle, off Ben Walters Lane. For more information, call 235-6736, e-mail recroom@kbfpc.org or visit facebook.com/rec.room7 or HomerRECroom.org.
South Peninsula Hospital
Dr. Ross Tanner of the Diabetes and Lipid Clinic of Alaska will present a free community talk on diabetes and pre-diabetes at 6 p.m. today at the Alaska Islands and Ocean Seminar Room. Call 235-0310 for more information.
South Peninsula Hospital is offering these American Heart Association classes:
• Basic Life Support for Healthcare Providers at 8 a.m. April 11 for $75; and
• HeartSaver CPR/AED training for the public at 1 p.m. April 11 for $75.
Pre-registration is required for all classes via the SPH Education Department,
235-0258.
SVT Health & Wellness
SVT Health & Wellness offers a series of classes covering all aspects of wellness every Thursday at 6 p.m. Today’s class is part one of a three part gardening series presented by Kyra Wagner and Jessica Ryan. The classes are open to the public. For more information, call 226-2228 ext. 660.
