Two Portland-area farms are using Kickstarter to raise funds for infrastructure projects:
The Forecaster has a report on a youth program that’s provided four teens with the experience of working on a farm.
By the end of the week, the small crew will have followed as much as 5,000 pounds of produce from seed to table, and donated it to food pantries in Freeport and Brunswick, while learning about all aspects of farming.
The Food & Dining section in today’s Press Herald includes an article about Dan Agro, an expert in foraging for edible and medicinal mushrooms,
After we make our way to the base of the birch tree, we gaze high above our heads at two dark, misshapen knots protruding from either side of the white bark. We all ponder the same question: is the growth the sought-after medicinal mushroom known as chaga or is it a wooden burl?
and an article on the wine cellar dining rooms at Caiola’s and the White Barn Inn.
Just last week, Caiola’s hosted a wedding in the cellar. It’s also been used for business meetings, birthday celebrations, marriage proposals, and lots of rehearsal dinners. “With the music going,” Vaccaro said, “it’s pretty romantic.”
The Food & Dining section in today’s Press Herald includes an article about North Star Sheep Farm in Windham. North Star provides lamb to several local restaurants as well as to Whole Foods.
The thin line of animals marching in single file is part of a larger flock of 500 to 600 that Webster and his wife, Lisa, keep here on about 650 acres of leased land that is just steps away from the country’s first woolen mill. The sheep that grazed here during the American Revolution provided the wool blankets that kept patriots warm.
Soon, this pastureland may once again be filled with these gentle creatures and the distant sound of their soft bleating.
Today’s Press Herald includes a bar review of Congress Bar & Grill,
The menus were tucked in between condiments in round tins on the bar. Specialty drinks range from the house-made sangria for $6 to the “JD Rita,” the bar’s spin on a margarita, for $12. There are eight beers on tap for $4 or $5 apiece, and a number offered by the bottle for $2 to $4. There’s also a selection of white, red and pink wines costing $5 to $7.
and a review of Mellen Street Market.
I ordered a steak-and-cheese with green peppers and onions for $6.49, which I thought was a fair price. The bun was chewy, the veggies were freshly grilled, and American cheese embedded underneath the meat melted into a favorable gooey mix.
The steak? Eh. So-so. It was very chewy, which disappointed me. But it was mostly chunky and not cut into strips, so it was easy to eat.
Also in today’s paper is an article about Rock Island Hop Farm in Springvale which raises hops for Sebago Brewing Bunker Brewing, and a detailed explanation from the President of the Maine Restaurant Association on what factors go into the price of a lobster dinner.
Calculating the average lobster cost at $4.25 per pound, a 1.25-pound lobster means a $5.31 raw lobster food cost for a typically served one and a quarter pound lobster. Add drawn butter, side salad or fries and a roll and you arrive at a total food cost of $6.815. This would result in a retail price of $20.63 for the meal, with a 33 percent food cost. All of that retail price except for $1.03 (5 percent profit) goes to pay the business overhead.
For the fourth year running, apple expert extraordinaire John Bunker, is offering shares in Out on a Limb, a rare apple CSA. Shareholders will receive 5 deliveries of apples every other week starting in September of approximately a quarter bushel each. The CSA will “be offering a wide assortment of endangered, historical and just plain unusual eating and cooking apples, including some that we’ve never offered before.”
Shares are $125. This year Out on a Limb is expanding beyond just Portland to offer pick-up spots in Waterville, Freedom, Belfast and Mount Desert Island. For more information and details on how to sign-up, read the CSA’s FAQ.
Today’s Press Herald reports on this year’s blueberry harvest.
Maine’s wild blueberry growers are expecting their biggest crop in more than a decade.
This year’s crop is projected to come in between 90 million to 95 million pounds, with the monthlong harvest kicking into gear the first week of August. If the yield reaches 90 million pounds, it would be the largest harvest since 2000, when production reached a record 110 million pounds.
The Forecaster contains a report on how farms in Cape Elizabeth are responding to changes in Maine weather patterns.
On one end, the spring is lasting longer, [farmer Penny Jordan] said, and on the other, the snow is coming early, in October and November. This has forced her farm to learn how to adapt quickly to the changing climate.
“I know what the normal used to be, but that no longer seems to apply. You have to respond in the moment,” Jordan said. “It becomes even more important to respond to that moment because you don’t know if you’re going to have another moment.”
The Food & Dining section in today’s Press Herald includes a report on this year’s blueberry harvest and some recipes for putting the blue fruit to use,
Allen Crabtree of Crabtree’s Blueberries in Sebago has a bumper crop of highbush blueberries this year as well.
“I have never seen so many blueberries,” Crabtree said. “We’ve had a pick-your-own operation since 2001, and this is by far the best crop we have had, the most berries on the bushes.”
The Food & Dining section also has a list of blueberry festivals across the state and a directory of pick-your-own blueberry farms.
There’s also a very interesting article on how farmers are trying to attract wild pollinators to to assist with the blueberry crop.
“It looks like a bee, but it’s the size of a housefly,” he said.
But size doesn’t matter when it comes to this hard-working, native pollinator, he said. “They’re about four to five times more effective as spring-season pollinators than honey bees,” said Van Horn, who has tended the organic blueberry fields for more than 35 years.
The 23rd Annual Open Farm Day takes places today at dozens of farms across the state and 13 here in Cumberland County. A list of all participating farms and the activities they’re hosting is available online (starts page 5).