Slow Food Portland, Whitney Art Works and Creative Material Group present:  Kenneth Helphand, author of Defiant Gardens, Making Gardens in Wartime. A reading and booksigning.On Saturday, January 30th at 8:15 pm, author Kenneth Helphand will give a 30 minute presentation, reading and book signing for his book Defiant Gardens: Making Gardens In Wartime, at Whitney Art Works, 492 Congress Street.  Helphand remarks that even in the midst of war one can still find gardens: defiant gardens. Illustrated with ninety-five photographs of gardens from such locations as the trenches of the First World War,  the internment camps of the Second World War, and the Gulf Wars.

This fascinating book documents the triumph of the gardening spirit over the horrors of war.Defiant Gardens was named one of the New Statesman ‘Books of the Year’ for 2007, received an American Horticultural Society book award and the John Brinkerhoff Jackson Book Prize.

There will be 20 seats available and a $5 donation will be requested.  For more details go to the Whitney Art Works website.

Our friends Karl Schatz and Margaret Hathaway, of Ten Apple Farm in Gray, are hosting an apple tree pruning workshop at the farm this Sunday, January 24, from 1-4pm, which they’re doing in conjunction with the Lakes Region Permaculture group. Dave Homa, who has pruned trees professionally, will be showing us how to prune our apple trees while they are in their winter dormancy in order to improve their ongoing health and productivity. The event will include discussion of techniques, common mistakes and suggested tools. Handouts will be provided. The session is expected to run about 3 hours, including an hour outside pruning (so dress warm and in layers), and will be followed by the sharing of a potluck meal (please bring a dish to share). There is a $5 fee that covers the Permaculture group’s Meetup costs. Bring pruners or loppers if you have them. There is a limit of 15 people, and there are 7 spots still available. Email or call if interested or if you have any questions.

What: Winter Tree Pruning Workshop

When: January 24, 1-4pm

Where:  Ten Apple Farm

241 Yarmouth Road

Gray, Maine

207-657-7880

http://www.tenapplefarm.com

Cost: $5

Bring: Potluck dish to share, pruners or loppers if you have them.

The next selection for the Slow Food Book Group is American Fried, Calvin Trillin’s first food book, which is now collected with the other two works in The Tummy Trilogy, and available in paperback. Trillin has long written humorously about his travels in search of good food, travels which usually take him far from the fancy restaurants, and more likely into ethnic,  neighborhood joints. The book group will meet Thursday, February 18th, 6-8pm. The meeting is free and open to everyone. Usually 8 to 20 people participate in each. We talk about the book in question, which is chosen by the group from amongst books on food politics, farming, memoir, or literature. Conversation frequently moves to what we’re eating or cooking, or what’s going on with food in other ways.

So it’s January and Writer’s Night should be rolling around just about now, right? Well this year we’ve moved Writer’s Night to March, partially in an effort to give us all a break after the holidays, and also to be able to reach out to more writer who might be reluctant to travel in January. So save the date: Wednesday, March 10th, at Space Gallery as usual.  So far, writer’s appearing include: Greg Marley, author of Mushrooms for Health: Medicinal Secrets of Northeastern Fungi, John Bunker, author of The Apples of Palermo, Maine, and Max Watman, author of Chasing the White Dog, An American Outlaw’s Adventures in Moonshine, and more to be announced. We’re pleased that this year we’ll be discussing three topics we have yet to include in Writer’s Night: mushrooms, apples and craft distilling, all of which have lively proponents in Maine.This new date will also mean that Writer’s Night is overlapping with Maine Restaurant Week, and will follow right on the heels of Judith Jones’ appearance for the Portland Museum of Art. Stay tuned for more  info about Writer’s Night!

On Saturday November 14th from 1:00 to 3:00 at Rabelais Books 86 Middle Street, and in association with Slow Food Portland, Novella Carpenter, the author of Farm City, The Education of an Urban Farmer will give a brief talk on her experiences farming in inner-city Oakland, California.

 At Ghost Town Farm on her small plot in Oakland, Carpenter raises vegetables and herbs as well as bees, chickens, ducks, geese and even pigs.  She has taken a deserted, desolate lot and turned it into an Eden.  Her book Farm City tells of the journey of transformation, and the trials and tribulations along the way.  She blogs about her exploits at www.novellacarpenter.com.

Carpenter will be joined by members of Cultivating Community to discuss the challenges of farming here in Portland.  Cultivating Community farms at the Boyd Street farm.

After the talk Carpenter will sign copies of her book which will be available for sale.  For more information go to www.RabelaisBooks.com.

The Maine Bean Suppah project invites you to eat like a real Maine local!  This Saturday, October 24th, there are three more Bean Suppahs around southern Maine, located in Gorham, Casco and Windham. Please visit the beautiful website for details and read up on this great local food tradition.  And stay tuned for more bean suppahs to come!

Open Creamery Day is scheduled for this Sunday, October 11, 11 - 3, at cheesemakers all around the state, sponsored by the Maine Cheese Guild.

As the hardwood foliage bursts in a blaze of colors on Columbus Day weekend, here is an opportunity to take in the spectacular sights and to taste some award winning cheese at the same time. Visit the creameries, meet the animals, and learn the stories behind Maine’s more than 150 artisan cheeses. Along the way you can also visit a farmers’ market, stop at an orchard, explore one of Maine’s premier breweries or winemakers, and drop in on one of the many artisan breadmakers our state has to offer. You’ll love the views, but you’ll remember the taste!

Check the Maine Cheese Guild’s website, www.mainecheeseguild.org, for a full listing of all participating creameries, as well as maps to each of them.

Sunday, September 13th, 2-9pm, join Rippling Waters Farm for the 5th Annual Soil to Supper Farm Dinner.Location: Rippling Waters Farm, 55 River Road, Steep Falls, Maine.Contact: 207-642-5161.A $10 donation is appreciated to help support Rippling Waters initiative to promote local food independence through education, service and action.Directions:  Head 13 miles west of Gorham on Route 25, continue past Route 25 in Standish. Turn left onto River Road immediately before crossing the Saco River. Go 0.2 miles, 2nd farm on the right.

Activist chef Dan Barber had an op-ed in Sunday’s NYTimes about the current late blight incursion into New England. It’s an important piece, one that highlights the dangers of “tight coupling” or the overly consolidated distribution chain. The blight was likely spread through seedlings sold in big-box stores, which means they travelled far and with minimal supervision. For those looking to diagnose and treat the blight, there’s some excellent additional info on the MOFGA website.

Slow Food Portland is pleased to be a sponsor of Cultivating Community’s 2009 Boyd Street Bash.The Boyd Street Bash is coming this Sunday, July 19 from noon to 2 pm. A celebration of sustainable cities at our Boyd Street Urban Farm! There will be music, crafts, kids’ activities, a raspberry bake-off, yummy food, and an urban sustainability fair. Bring the family!Location: 40 Boyd Street, PortlandCultivating Community need volunteers to help with set-up (9:30-noon), during the event (noon-2) and for clean-up (2-3:30). Contact Hilary Burgin at hnburgin@gmail.com if you can help.