Seacoast Eat Local

On Tuesday, April 27, at 5:30 p.m. the York County Farmers’ Network will be holding a workshop to answer questions about preparing and selling processed farm foods to the public. “Certified Kitchens for Food Processing” will be held at the Anderson Learning Center (21 Bradeen Street, Springvale, Maine) in the Nasson Room. The guest speaker will be Marshal Piper of the Maine Department of Agriculture. Piper will discuss state rules and regulations surrounding certifying a home kitchen and other rules and licenses involved in the selling of fresh produce, baked goods, and on-farm processed items.

The evening begins at 5:30 with a potluck supper, followed at about 6:30 with the evening’s discussion. All farmers are welcome.

For more information see the Licensing Kitchens flyer. Or contact Frank Wertheim, University of Maine Cooperative Extension, York County, at 207.324.2814 or frankw@umext.maine.edu.

Alexis Macarchuk recently published a story for Seacoast Online about new fishing regulations and the potential they are going to severely hurt New England fishermen, especially in New Hampshire.

Carolyn Eastman, co-owner of Eastman’s Fish Market in Seabrook, predicts a 70 percent reduction in the number of fish caught by local fishermen this summer—and the potential devastation of her business.

The new regulations put a cap on the number of groundfish that can be caught in New England waters. They are an effort to speed the process of rebuilding fish stocks, mandated by the government by 2014. The regulations are aimed at rebuilding 13 of the 19 species that are still considered understocked. Included in these limits are cod, flounder, and haddock. But locals claim regulators are doing too much at once.

“The goal is gradual reduction of the fishing effort, but at some point we have to take more extreme measures to rebuild fish stocks or we’re in violation of the law,” said National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration communication officer Maggie Mooney-Seus. 

“Everybody wants the same thing. Everyone wants fish stocks to rebuild. The issue becomes how we get there,” Eastman said.

Click here to read the entire article.

Tonight, Monday, April 26, at 7:00 p.m. at the Stone School Museum in Newmarket, there will be a lecture titled “Farm Women, Farm Work” given by Kathleen Shea, director of the New Hampshire Farm Museum. This is a free lecture, open to the public, and is the second in a series sponsored by the Newmarket Historical Society. Newmarket Happenings has this to say about the lecture:

Farm women are the heart of the farm. They cook, clean, raise and sell their crops, help with the chores, do the bookkeeping, and somehow manage to raise the family too.

For more information, call the Stone School Museum, 603.659.7420 or 603.247.3375. Or visit Newmarket Happenings.

I remember the first Earth Day, and this week’s Earth Day event at the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire was the perfect way to celebrate it’s fortieth anniversary. Seacoast Eat Local brought feathers from Yellow House Farm to touch, and locally grown heirloom beans to take home and plant. We were joined by wriggly Red Worms for a Green Earth, Cabot Creamery provided cheese snacks, and our friends from Wentworth Greenhouses soon had a virtual garden of marigolds lining the counter, all potted by participants enjoying some constructive playing in dirt.

Thank-you to the Children’s Museum for letting us participate — it was terrific fun and inspiring to meet a new generation coming out for Earth Day!

There are some local food-related events coming up at the Dover Friends Meeting as part of their Create a Peaceful World by Sustaining Our Future series. All events are at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesdays at 141 Central Avenue in Dover.

April 28, The Big River movie screening. A documentary by Ian and Curt of King Korn who follow the events of their acre of corn from the heartland to the Gulf of Mexico.

May 5, Food, Inc. movie screening. This documentary exposes us to our nation’s food supply, which is controlled by a handful of corporations.

May 12, John Carroll, of UNH Department of Natural Resources, will speak on ”Sustaining Local Food Security.”

June 2, Kevin Vernon, of York, Maine, will speak on “Permaculture & Production.”

Click here for the Quaker meeting events flyer. Visit their website at http://doverfriendsnh.org/.

On Monday, May 10, 2010, from 9:00 a.m. to noon Strafford County UNH Cooperative Extension and the NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant Program are sponsoring a Soil Health Workshop at Kingman Farm in Madbury.

In this three-hour workshop, Dr. Bianca Moebius-Clune from Cornell University will focus on soil health basics, soil health management options, and diagnosing and managing soil constraints using information from Cornell Soil Health Test Reports. You will learn why to consider using this test, when to test, and how to take the test samples to identify soil constraints.

Read the Soil Health Workshop flyer for full details.

It’s spring and the calendar is getting full! Here are some more events courtesy of Slow Food Seacoast.

Monday, May 3, 2010. 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Seacoast Community Garden Network’s Website Launch Party  and Seed Exchange. Portsmouth Library.

Saturday May 15, 2010. Tidewater May Faire, Eliot, Maine. 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Slow Food will be planting with children and giving away RAFT seeds to attendees of this. The location is 228 Beech Road in Eliot.

Sunday, June 6, 2010. Cooking Class, Potluck, and Meeting at the Blue Moon Market and Café in Exeter, NH.  4:00 p.m. class: Cook Your Greens and Eat Them Too with Blue Moon chef/owner Kathy Gallant. 5:30 p.m. dinner. Theme: Greens. 6:30 p.m. meeting. Kathy will share some thoughts about growing, preparing, and the nutritional benefits of eating greens. The location is Blue Moon Market and Café, 8 Clifford Street, Exeter.

A group of families in the Lakes Region are pooling their resources to create their own CSA. By combining, they are able to buy in bulk from several small farms in the area to supply all the fresh produce and baked items they need. The group will be functioning through their website, www.BigBanana.org. Participants pay through the website before Tuesday and on Saturday they can go and pick their food up at the distribution site. The first distribution day will be Saturday, May 15, from 8:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. at the Franklin Savings Bank in Gilford. Which means the cutoff for purchasing “baskets” for the first day is Tuesday, May 11 by 10:00 p.m.

Visit their website to learn more. There’s an easy frequently asked questions page, a list of their growers and producers, as well as all the information you need to join, if you live in the Lakes Region.

At UNH summer means that students head home and the food on the shelves at the Cornucopia food pantry dwindles. But not this year. This year, thanks to Cathie Plante, an intern at the food pantry; Larry Brickner-Wood, executive chaplain of the Waysmeet Center; and many others, the center will have it’s own community garden. A recent article by Amanda Beland in the New Hampshiretitled “Waysmeet Plans Garden to Supplement Pantry,” told the full story.

“While the generosity of local neighbors, organizations and the N.H. Food Bank are greatly appreciated, the Cornucopia food pantry would like to establish a permanent system that provides for its clients.” Plante said.

 Click here to read the entire article http://www.tnhonline.com/waysmeet-plans-garden-to-supplement-pantry-1.1321783.

This Saturday, April 24, 2010, there will be a Spring Farmers’ Market, 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., at Heron Pond Farm, 299 Main Avenue, South Hampton.

You don’t have to wait for the farmers’ markets to open in May and June!  Heron Pond Farm will be hosting a spring market featuring a wide variety of locally grown and made foods on April 24.  You’ll find fresh greens and other spring vegetables, plants for your garden, farm-raised meat and eggs, honey, maple syrup, and delicious prepared foods and baked goods!  The market will be held outside at the Heron Pond Farm farmstand, which is now open on weekends.  Come check it out!

Heron Pond Farm – the farm stand will be open with lots of spring vegetables! Fresh greens, cilantro, potatoes, carrots, parsnips. www.heronpondfarm.com
Yellow House Farm – chicken and duck eggs, farm photo cards, feathers. www.yellowhousefarmnh.com
Moriarty’s Greenhouse – potted perennials, herbs and houseplants. www.moriartysgreenhouse.com
Forty Five Market Street Bakery & Cafe – cookies, scones, bread, muffins, pies.
White Heron Tea – organic tea beverages, organic + fair trade packaged teas, ready-to-eat breakfast and lunch foods. www.whiteherontea.com
Kellie Brook Farm – farm-raised pork, beef, veal, turkey, chicken, prepared meals made with their own meats. http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M13157
Harrison’s Poultry – eggs, maple syrup, honey, chicken and guinea fowl meat, garden baskets, feathers and maple candy. www.harrisonspoultry.com
The Soup Guy – Gluten Free, All Natural Soups and Chili made with locally grown ingredients. www.thesoupguy.net
Eastman’s Local Catch – Sign up for a local fish share! Carolyn Eastman will be there with information about CSF shares. www.eastmansfish.com
New Roots Farm – scallions, greens, and pasture-raised pork, including bacon. www.newrootsfarm.com
Brookford Farm -  milk, cream, yogurt, quark, maybe some camembert, pastured eggs, potatoes, milk-fed veal, and ground beef. www.brookfordfarm.com

If you have questions about this event, email kate@seacoasteatlocal.org. For more information about Heron Pond Farm, visit their website, www.heronpondfarm.com