Category: People

It’s apple season, yesterday marked the start of the Out on a Limb apple CSA and so it’s perfect timing for The Root to post an article about Maine apple expert John Bunker.

Super Chilly Farm in Palermo, Maine is the home of John Bunker and Cammy Watts, and the base of operations for the “Out on a Limb” CSA program. A self-taught preservation pomologist, John has been tracking down heirloom apples and pears, particularly those originating in Maine, for decades. His 2007 publication Not Far From the Tree: A Brief History of the Apples and the Orchards of Palermo, Maine chronicles his fruit exploring adventures.

The Bollard has published a 2nd article about chef Harding Lee Smith, owner of The Front Room, The Grill Room, The Corner Room and Boone’s Fish House & Oyster Room.

During the two months since our July issue hit the streets, hardly a day has gone by that I have not encountered someone eager to share their own account of awful behavior by the subjects of that issue’s cover story: Chef Harding Lee Smith and his wife, Darcy.

Editor Chris Busby has announced that the September issue of The Bollard will include a second article about Harding Lee Smith, chef/owner of “The Rooms” series of restaurants.

Matt Bolinder, owner and roaster at Speckled Ax, was featured in article about wood-roasted coffee in the latest issue of Imbibe magazine.

For Bolinder, wood choice is about controlling this highly specialized process. “The type of wood is important for the rate of burn and how quickly I can manipulate temperature,” he says. “I can’t go from zero to full gas in a second like most roasters, so I compensate by using different types of wood. Ash takes off quickly and with it, I can increase temperature fairly quickly. On the other hand, red oak takes longer to catch and start throwing heat, but its large pieces hold the temperature.”

The article isn’t yet available online but there is a copy behind the counter at Speckled Ax which you can take a look at. Imbibe has posted a short list of coffee shops in the US that feature wood-roasted coffee.

The Press Herald has published an interview with Mike Keon and Anthony Allen, owners of Otto Pizza.

Q: What’s next for Otto Pizza?
A: Allen: We like what we do now, but the idea of growing bigger probably means we’d be working for someone else, and we look at each other and say, “Why do we want to do that?” We added four locations last year, and this year we’re down to two and next year is going to be for retrenching and making sure every line on our notepad gets more attention and every product gets more scrutiny. It’s time to just fine-tune things.

Also in today’s paper are articles about the dismal 2013 Maine honey crop,

Bees and beekeepers have been struggling through one of the worst summers for honey production in Maine in recent memory.