Category: Farming

Look & See @ Space Gallery

| Posted in Farming, Events

SPACE Gallery is screening the movie Look & See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry.

In 1965, Wendell Berry returned home to Henry County, where he bought a small farm house and began a life of farming, writing and teaching. This lifelong relationship with the land and community would come to form the core of his prolific writings. A half century later Henry County, like many rural communities across America, has become a place of quiet ideological struggle. In the span of a generation, the agrarian virtues of simplicity, land stewardship, sustainable farming, local economies and rootedness to place have been replaced by a capital-intensive model of industrial agriculture characterized by machine labor, chemical fertilizers, soil erosion and debt – all of which have frayed the fabric of rural communities. Writing from a long wooden desk beneath a forty-paned window, Berry has watched this struggle unfold, becoming one of its most passionate and eloquent voices in defense of agrarian life.

Look & See will be screened Thursday night at 7pm and on Sunday at 4pm. Tickets are available online.

The movie is presented in collaboration with the Maine Farmland Trust.

How Chefs Develop Menus/Recipes and the Last Apple

| Posted in Farming, General News

Today’s Press Herald includes a feature article on how chefs develop recipes and menus,

Recipe development and testing goes on all the time in restaurant kitchens, but is especially intense in the weeks before opening a new place. It gives chefs the opportunity to make tweaks in dishes that can transform them from just OK into real crowd pleasers. It gives the kitchen staff time to become familiar with ingredients and techniques. And it can help chefs balance their overall menu.

and the final installment of the apple series by Sean Turley.

Russets and other late-season apples, by contrast, are typically crisp and crunchy. They contain high levels of acidity and sugar that play off each other in fascinating ways. The flavors run the gamut: from well balanced or cleanly sweet to floral, astringent or punchy tart, complicated flavors that no early season apple can replicate. Some people liken the taste of russets to pears. It’s the extra tree time to ripen that makes the difference.

Maine Food Sovereignty Law

| Posted in Farming

Maine has enacted a new law that gives towns more control over regulating food businesses within their borders, reports the Press Herald.

Gov. Paul LePage has signed a bill into law that affirms the rights of cities and towns to regulate local food production, making Maine the second state in the nation to allow consumers to buy directly from farmers and food producers regardless of the state and federal licensing and inspections that would otherwise apply.

One Millions Pounds of Maine Grain (Updated)

| Posted in Farming, Beer

Rob Tod has committed Allagash to buy one million pounds of Maine grains per year by 2021. That’s more than an eight-fold increase.

In the brewing business, buying locally often isn’t feasible. In Maine, the climate has always been right for growing grain, but the infrastructure just hasn’t been sufficient to meet our needs. Much to our delight, we’ve recently seen a steady and substantial increase in the amount Maine-grown and malted grains. That’s why we’re making the pledge that by 2021, Allagash will be buying one million pounds of Maine-grown grain per year.

Update: Mainebiz has published about Allagash’s commitment to buy more grain from Maine.

Farmers’ Market Stalwarts

| Posted in Farming

Today’s Press Herald reports on two Farmers’ Market stalwarts that continue to serve customers in Monument Square throughout the winter months.

The Wednesday edition of the Portland Farmers Market, which draws more than two dozen farmers downtown every week, officially ended in November, but Piper shows up throughout the winter to sell his meats, honey and prepared foods. It’s not a big money-maker. Piper, 73, says it’s mostly enjoyment that brings him out. He needs to get away from his Buckfield farm and socialize.

Maine Apple Season

| Posted in Farming

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Maine Apple season is getting underway and I’m happy to see heirloom varieties starting to  show back up on the shelves at Rosemont Market.

These beautiful Martha Crabs from John Bunker’s Super Chilly Farm are available at the West End store.

You can see a list of many Maine orchards on the Maine Pomological Society website.

Today’s Maine Sunday telegram includes advice on which apple varieties work best for your recipes.

Botto’s Bakery

| Posted in Farming, Profiles

The Portland Phoenix has published an article on Botto’s Bakery,

“A lot of people know we do bread. They come in and say, ‘I didn’t know you made pastries,’” Jessica said. Their Washington Avenue location sees a lot of foot traffic from the neighborhood and the morning commute. The storefront business, with a quaint design and a couple of tables and chairs, has tripled since they expanded and upgraded their equipment in 2002, she added. They now bake everything in-house, switching from offering a few frozen items.

and a report on organic farming.

The general impression, from casual conversations with farmer’s market foodies, is that buying organic produce comes with certain expectations: the food will be safer, healthier, tastier and less of a strain on the environment. It’s the “you are what you eat,” kind of mentality and firm believers are willing to pay extra money to adhere to it.

Seed: The Untold Story

| Posted in Farming, Events

PrintThe Nickelodeon will be screening the award winning movie Seed: The Untold Story starting this Friday, through Wednesday September 21st.

Few things on Earth are as miraculous and vital as seeds. Worshipped and treasured since the dawn of humankind. SEED: The Untold Story follows passionate seed keepers protecting our 12,000 year-old food legacy. In the last century, 94% of our seed varieties have disappeared. As biotech chemical companies control the majority of our seeds, farmers, scientists, lawyers, and indigenous seed keepers fight a David and Goliath battle to defend the future of our food. In a harrowing and heartening story, these reluctant heroes rekindle a lost connection to our most treasured resource and revive a culture connected to seeds. SEED features Vandana Shiva, Dr. Jane Goodall, Andrew Kimbrell, Winona Laduke and Raj Patel.

The screening of Seed at the Nickelodeon is in partnership with Rosemont Market, Cultivating Community, The Wild Seed Project and the Portland Pollinator Project.

Maine Calling: Farming in Maine

| Posted in Events, Farming

Wednesday’s episode of Maine Calling on MPBN focuses on what it takes to be successful at farming in Maine and what resources are available to get started.

Maine is bucking a national trend – as farms and farmland shrink in other states, the number of new farms in Maine has been on the rise for more than a decade. What does it take to be a small farmer in Maine?  Where can new farmers turn to get help? We’ll learn what it takes to till the land and make a living as a farmer in Maine.

Sam Hayward will appear on the show today on a segment about the novel Sweetbitter,

We’ll hear from the author about her life as a waitress at an upscale restaurant in NYC, how much of the book is based on her own experiences, and we’ll be joined by a Maine restaurateur and by a Maine writer to get their take on food, restaurants and writing.