Category: Farming

Mushrooms and Shima in the Sun

| Posted in Farming, Under Construction

Wednesday’s edition of the Portland Daily Sun included an article by Margo Mallar on mushroom foraging in Maine,

There are many who don’t mind a little rainy weather: book-lovers and sellers, movie theaters and mushrooms. Although the record setting summer rains haven’t resulted in record setting harvests, goldenchanterelles, black trumpets, and hens of the woods are making their way from forest floor to dinner plates across Maine.

and an article about Shima, the new Japanese restaurant under construction on Fore Street. The Shima article unfortunately hasn’t made it online so here’s some of the key points:

  • Shima’s chef/owner Dave Shima hopes to open in the next 10-12 days
  • Chef Shima had worked for 5 years at Fuji and has been the private chef for a number of bands such as Rush, Chicago and Aerosmith
  • He plans on serving “an eclectic mix of Japanese, French and some Hawaiian food”
  • there will be 25 different types of sake on the menu

Maine Apple Guide

| Posted in Fisheries, Farming, Cooking

Today’s Press Herald includes a detailed guide to nearly 40 apple varieties grown in Maine with brief tasting notes and some suggestions on which farms are growing them.
Also in today’s paper is an interview with raw food chef Lisa Marie Lindenschmidt and an article on how lobster is now showing up in discount stores.

Maine lobster has long been associated with white tablecloths and candlelight, but a South Portland-based dealer is putting its lobster where the customers are: in discount wholesale clubs and supermarket take-out aisles.

Maine Fare, etc

| Posted in Farming, People, Events, General News

The Food & Dining section in today’s Press Herald includes a pair of articles about Maine Fare which is taking place in Camden next month. Meredith Goad authored an overview of the food festival

If you’d like to learn how to pair Maine-made spirits with smoked seafood, if you want to experience an old-fashioned beanhole supper – even if you’re curious about how to properly butcher a whole hog – Maine Fare is the place to be, whether you feel comfortable calling yourself a foodie or not.

“People need to know that it’s OK to care about what you eat, that it’s not being a snob to care about what you eat,” Jenkins said.

and Avery Yale Kamila tackles the topic of the keynote address “Can Maine Feed Itself?”

The panel brings together a number of movers and shakers from Maine’s food scene for a conversation centered on how the state can become more self-reliant when stocking our grocery stores and filling our dinner plates.

Also is today’s paper is an article about a Maine Cooperative Extension seminar designed to help farmers cope with this year’s poor growing season, and a short piece on Chef Hayward’s shaved head.

Bartenders and more

| Posted in Farming, Distilling & Cocktails, People, Beer, Reviews

The new issue of The Maine Switch includes a feature article on Portland’s favorite bartenders.

Here in booze-loving Portland, we’re lucky to have an abundance of excellent bartenders. Which explains why when Switch reached out to readers, friends, bar flies and the Twitterverse asking for the names of the city’s favorite drink mixers, we were flooded with responses. We took the top suggestions, stirred them with our own bar experiences and these nine individuals rose to the top. Here they share outlandish bar stories and hangover cures, plus pepper us with drinks both beloved and loathed.

As well as a restaurant review of The Frog and Turtle, a guide to Maine beer and an interesting piece on the Maine Local 20 Project. Maine Local 20 is an effort by MOFGA to determine how well matched Maine’s food production and consumption are.

In contrast, we don’t grow nearly enough carrots to supply our local needs, which explains why the vast majority of carrots on grocery store shelves are trucked in from California. Right now, carrots are grown on roughly 30 acres of Maine farmland, but this would need to jump to about 700 to 800 acres to support Maine’s carrot habit. Even though Maine has a short growing season, carrots are a root crop that stores well and could be stockpiled for the winter.

$1.3 Million to Develop Local Wheat

| Posted in Farming

There’s in an article in today’s Food & Dining section on a grant to support wheat farming in Maine and Vermont.

The grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will fund a four-year project that brings together scientists, farmers, bakers and millers from both states to expand organic wheat production in New England, once a bread basket of the nation.

Ellen Mallory, a sustainable agriculture specialist with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Service who is leading the project, estimates that Maine produces 200 to 500 acres of organic wheat. Vermont produces about the same.

“It’s hard to get a handle on what the demand really is, but we know that we’re well below supplying that demand,” Mallory said.

CSAs on an Upswing

| Posted in Fisheries, Farming

There’s a front page story in today’s Press Herald on the increasing popularity of CSAs in Maine.

The number of CSAs in Maine has roughly doubled to 140 in the past three years, said Melissa White Pillsbury, organic marketing coordinator for the Maine Organic Gardeners and Farmers Association. The public’s increased familiarity with CSAs and the growing number of farms in Maine are some of the reasons cited for the trend.

The CSA approach is also being applied to business beyond the farm.

Others involved in food production are also adopting the concept and tailoring it to meet their needs. In Maine, apple orchards, sheep farms, fishermen and bakeries are among those using the CSA model.

Saskatoons, Rare Books and the 4th

| Posted in General News, Farming

According to today’s Press Herald, Old Ocean House Farms will be selling Saskatoon berries at the the Saturday Farmers’ Market in Deering Oaks. Today’s paper also includes a note about a new rare book catalog from Rabelais, and an article about the traditional Independence Day meal of salmon and peas.

Salmon and peas on Independence Day is an old Maine tradition that hearkens back to the days when wild salmon were plentiful in the state’s rivers, and peas were a tasty summer holdover of the traditional English diet. Old-time Mainers didn’t plan to celebrate the Fourth this way; wild-caught salmon and home-grown peas were simply the foods that were available at this time of year after a long, hard winter and cool spring.