Category: Farming

Strawberry O-Rama

| Posted in Farming, Cooking, Reviews

For the July edition of our collaborative food writing project the group is publishing a celebration of Maine native strawberries. Strawberries are still widely available in Portland at the Farmers Market and other locations like Rosemont. If one of the wonderful recipes below isn’t to your liking then take CW‘s advice and pick up a strawberry pie from Blackbird Baking, or just eat them raw with a little heavy cream (my dessert tonight) or give the smoothies they’re making at the Farmers Market a try. Regardless of AP has to say, don’t let the season pass you by.

Appetite Portland – Anti-Strawberry “Preference”

I grew up with a strawberry-loving mom. She would just shake her head and say, “well, more for me then” while popping a plump red berry in her mouth. It’s not that I hate strawberries. To quote my never-admit-to-not-liking-anything, farm-raised Dad, “I just really don’t prefer them.”… read the full article

Chubby Werewolf – Review of Memere’s Strawberry Pie

The generously sized strawberry pie—like so many of the desserts I’ve tried from the Blackbird Baking Company of Maine—is a unique and memorable experience. For starters, it is just stunning to look at. Deep red berries sit in stark contrast to the ring of golden crust that encases them. The top of the pie is dotted with huge, whole strawberries, their tiny seeds visible through the thick red glaze, reminding you that you are, in fact, about to eat a dish made with fresh, flavorful ingredients.… read the full review

Edible Obsessions – Spring Panna Cotta w/Strawberry Balsamic Jam

In the land known for blueberries, for me, it is the strawberry that has come to represent summer in Maine. I think this is due to the fact that their appearance at the Farmers Markets signals the true beginning of the local produce season. The single hue of greens is finally broken by the brilliant pop of red berries at nearly every stall.… read the full article

From Away – Grilled Strawberry Shortcake Kebabs

The use of wooden barbecue skewers isn’t limited to cooking sad little dried-out chunks of beef and pepper; they can also be used to make simple, delicious grilled desserts. And you don’t even have to pre-soak the wooden skewers, because they are on the grill for such a short amount of time. Our grilled “Strawberry Shortcake” kebabs completely change the character of the classic Summertime dish.… read the full article

Vrai-lean-uh – Memories of (not)Picking Strawberries

So when A. suggest that this month’s O-Rama posts be focused on strawberries I had the wherewithal to reject my gut inclination to go picking strawberries. In theory, I want to pick strawberries. In real life, I want to do leisure activities that do not require me to labor in unrelenting sun, stooped to the ground with sunscreen dripping into my eyes for extended periods of time. Instead, I did what people who want to pick strawberries in theory but not in practice these days do. I went to the farmer’s market.… read the full article | hulling strawberries

And Portland fashion/food blogger also couldn’t resist the pull of Maine strawberries in prime season and has also posted a piece about going strawberry picking at Maxwell’s Farm in Cape Elizabeth.

Be sure to check Vrai-lean-uh’s blog later when she’ll be publishing the results of an interview with David Buchanan about his work at Origins Fruit to bring back the Marshall Strawberry.

Island Micro Farm, Farmers Market Delivery Options and Way Way

| Posted in Farming, General News

The Food & Dining in today’s Press Herald includes a profile of the Island Micro Farm on Peaks Island,

Located on the back side of Peaks Island down a winding gravel road, the farm is a new enterprise created by resident Mark Shain. But unlike traditional farms where straight rows of tilled soil define the landscape, Shain’s farm follows a permaculture model.

an article about three Farmers Market add-on services that either cook meals for you or deliver groceries to you door,

The concept of eating local foods is already wildly popular here in Maine, but for some people it can still be a challenge. It’s hard to make it to a farmers market on Saturday morning if your kids have a soccer game on the same day. Other people like the idea of eating locally, but they aren’t sure what to do with the food that comes in a CSA share.

Now a couple of local businesses are trying to remove any remaining barriers by making local, seasonal foods even more accessible to the public.

and a report the recently revived Way Way penny candy store in Saco.

SoPo Bees, Meatless Monday, Grilling Veggies, and Berwick Bison

| Posted in Farming, Cooking, General News

Today’s Press Herald reports on the bee ordinance in South Portland. Beekeeper Phil Gaven who was interviewed for the article plans on opening “a store in Portland called The Honey Exchange. He will offer local honey, wax products and honey-based food and drink.”

The paper also includes an article about Sebago Brewing’s new Meatless Monday menu,

“We’ve gotten a lot of requests for more healthy, more local and more vegetarian,” said Elise Loschiavo, Sebago’s marketing manager. “It’s not that hard to come up with a few more meatless options.”

advice on grilling vegetables,

Or brush some Brussels sprouts with olive oil and tamari, and toss them on the grill. “Brussels sprouts are excellent on the grill,” [Toni] Fiore said. “I’ve made them for people who don’t like Brussels sprouts, but they like them on the grill. It just adds a different dimension. It’s not so cabbage-y.”

and a report on a pair of friends who are raising Bison in Berwick, Maine.

Strawberries and the Vegetarian Food Festival

| Posted in Farming, Events

The Food & Dining section in today’s Press Herald celebrates the start of the native strawberry season,

“The crop looks really good,” [farmer Bill Bamford] said. “There were a lot of blossoms there earlier, and every blossom turns into a strawberry. Barring some natural disaster, we’re pretty optimistic at this point and hoping we can make a few people happy.”

and provides an overview of this wekend’s Vegetarian Food Festival,

“The food we eat makes us sick over time,” Bell said. “We have pharmaceuticals to get us well. But the bad news is, no one gets well. We just take more pharmaceuticals.”

In his own life, Bell has broken out of the conventional way of thinking and switched from the standard American diet to one based on plants. At Saturday’s festival, he will be surrounded by plenty of other folks who have subverted the dominant food paradigm.

Weather Gives Farms a Slow Start

| Posted in Farming

The Portland Daily Sun interview Maine farms about the start of the 2011 growing season.

“It’s a little slower than normal between the cold, too much rain, not enough rain,” said Sarah Bostick, who’s worked for the past six years at Meadowood Farm, a 10-acre tract in Yarmouth.

Bostick, who was selling plants and vegetables yesterday at the Portland Farmer’s Market, admits this year isn’t as bad as two years ago, when damp weather lasted for more than a month, causing some crops to rot in the field.

Locally Grown Package Foods

| Posted in Farming, General News

The front page of today’s Press Herald Food & Dining section reports on efforts by Marada and Leah Cook to start up Northern Girl. The new firm will process and package Maine-grown vegetables into convenient formats such as baby carrots and frozen broccoli. The article also looks at the state of food packaging in Maine in general.

“How many of us have had a rutabaga in the fridge forever?” Marada asked. “But a bag of peeled, cut root vegetables wouldn’t last more than a week in the fridge.”

The desire to make the bounty of Maine’s vegetable farms more accessible is one of the motivations for this endeavor.

Urban Beekeeping

| Posted in Farming

This week’s Portland Phoenix reports on the rising interest in beekeeping in Portland.

Interest in backyard beekeeping has increased dramatically in the last five years, says MacGregor-Forbes, who teaches three courses through the University of Maine Cooperative Extension program. Off the top of her head, she can think of 25 urban beekeepers in the city of Portland, but there are about 800 beekeepers in Maine who manage a total of 10,000 hives. “Most people keep bees as a way to give back to the environment,” she says. “The bonus is that they get honey.”

Meet Your Farmer

| Posted in Farming

The Portland Daily Sun interviewed the creators of Meet Your Farmer.

Debuting on Maine Public Broadcasting network on Thursday, May 19, “Meet Your Farmer” is a co-production of Pull Start Pictures and The Maine Farmland Trust and offers a series of eight short profiles of farms in Maine.

“The Maine Farmland Trust wants to help every aspect of agriculture, but the mission of the [film] is to try to profile a bunch of different types of farming in the state, and look at the diversity of agriculture in Maine,” said Jason Mann of Pull-Start Pictures.

Food Freedom

| Posted in Farming

The cover story in this week’s Portland Phoenix reports on the struggle of local Maine farmers to break free from federal and state food rules that were written for industrial agriculture.

“From farm to table” isn’t just a meaningless foodie slogan anymore. It’s the rallying cry for the smallest of small-scale farming operations in Maine, which are fighting against what they consider to be burdensome state and federal regulations. In the process, they’re laying the groundwork for a nationwide “food sovereignty” movement, aimed at restoring the direct relationship between food producers and consumers, while reducing government interference in local food systems.

The Changing Face of Maine Farming

| Posted in Farming

The latest issue of Mainebiz reports on the changing face of farming in Maine,

Younger farmers like Brenner and Bliss are invigorating Maine’s agriculture industry, riding a societal shift toward locally sourced goods that has made farming a viable enterprise even for those lacking land and generational expertise. The average Maine farmer is 56.4 years old, hardly a spring chicken but ranking the state a decent 17th in the nation (between Wisconsin and Indiana’s youthful 55 years and last place New Mexico’s comparatively old 59.6), according to 2007 USDA census figures, the most recent available. The age is lower among Maine’s organic farmers, who average 52 years old.