Month: September 2009

Ocean Approved Get’s Kelp Farming Lease

| Posted in General News

Mainebiz has published an article on Ocean Approved Co.’s new lease to farm kelp in Casco Bay.

“Kelp aquaculture is a $7 billion a year industry worldwide,” says Paul Dobbins, president of Ocean Approved. “Twenty-eight countries now cultivate kelp, but it’s not happening here in the United States. That’s too bad because this is an aquaculture product that is beneficial to the environment. There is zero discharge, we don’t feed it any fertilizer, and it’s highly nutritious. We see tremendous opportunity for growing vegetables that don’t require freshwater, fertilizer or any arable land.”

Ocean Approved Get's Kelp Farming Lease

| Posted in General News

Mainebiz has published an article on Ocean Approved Co.’s new lease to farm kelp in Casco Bay.

“Kelp aquaculture is a $7 billion a year industry worldwide,” says Paul Dobbins, president of Ocean Approved. “Twenty-eight countries now cultivate kelp, but it’s not happening here in the United States. That’s too bad because this is an aquaculture product that is beneficial to the environment. There is zero discharge, we don’t feed it any fertilizer, and it’s highly nutritious. We see tremendous opportunity for growing vegetables that don’t require freshwater, fertilizer or any arable land.”

Farmer's Cart

| Posted in Profiles

The Natural Foodie column in today’s Press Herald examines the regulatory challenges encountered by two farmers in setting up a prepared food cart at the Farmers’ Market. The collaborative venture is called Farmer’s Cart and appears at the weekly Wednesday markets.

When life gives you bruised potatoes, make homefries. Or potato salad.

This is what Simon Frost of Thirty Acre Farm in Whitefield and Daniel Price of Freedom Farm in Freedom are doing with their unsold and B-grade potatoes. The two farmers sell vegetables, meats and fermented foods each week at the Portland Farmers’ Market. A month ago, they launched the city’s first local food street vendor venture, aptly named the Farmer’s Cart.

Farmer’s Cart

| Posted in Profiles

The Natural Foodie column in today’s Press Herald examines the regulatory challenges encountered by two farmers in setting up a prepared food cart at the Farmers’ Market. The collaborative venture is called Farmer’s Cart and appears at the weekly Wednesday markets.

When life gives you bruised potatoes, make homefries. Or potato salad.

This is what Simon Frost of Thirty Acre Farm in Whitefield and Daniel Price of Freedom Farm in Freedom are doing with their unsold and B-grade potatoes. The two farmers sell vegetables, meats and fermented foods each week at the Portland Farmers’ Market. A month ago, they launched the city’s first local food street vendor venture, aptly named the Farmer’s Cart.

NYT: A Controlled Fermentation for Culinary Ideas

| Posted in Reviews

The New York Times has published a celebration of food in Portland.

In the last decade, Portland has undergone a controlled fermentation for culinary ideas — combining young chefs in a hard climate with few rules, no European tradition to answer to, and relatively low economic pressure — and has become one of the best places to eat in the Northeast. The most interesting chefs here cook up and down the spectrum, from Erik Desjarlais’s classically pressed roast ducks at Evangeline, to the renegade baker Stephen Lanzalotta’s gorgeously caramelized sfogliatelle (sold out of the back of Micucci Grocery, an Italian-imports shop), to Mr. Potocki’s simple but brilliant chili-garlic cream cheese and handmade bagels.

John Myers, Bartender

| Posted in People

Down East has published an extended profile of John Myers, the Dean of Portland bartenders and an acknowledged expert in classic cocktails.

Myers is large and a bit shambling, and has something almost architectural occurring as regards to facial hair. One would be forgiven for thinking him the offspring of Grendel’s mother and Wyatt Earp. (In describing his appearance on stage last year during a national cocktail competition against well-groomed twentysomething bartenders, the Wall Street Journal’s Eric Felten wrote that Myers cultivated “a dour glower in keeping with his Wild Bill Hickok whiskers and locks. His demeanor also appeared to reflect some culture-clash discomfort, the awkwardness Leon Redbone might feel sharing the stage with Moby.”)