Slow Food Portland is pleased to award $250 to the King Middle School, in support of the ‘Seed to Soil to Supper’ program. The ‘Seed to Soil to Supper’ is a dinner with recipes suggested by the students at King Middle School and finally chosen by the group based on what they can produce.  The students will cook and serve approximately 200-250 meals.

The King Middle School serves the most racially, ethnically, and economically diverse neighborhoods in the state of Maine. King’s approximately 500 students speak 28 languages and come from 17 countries.

The poster you see was designed by the students in the program, at the studios of photographer and Slow Food Portland member Russell French. Thanks to Russell for bringing this valuable community project to our attention.  

Due to a Publisher’s Rep error, the selected title has not yet (!) arrived in the store.  We will postpone the meeting two weeks to Thursday June 11th, at 6:00 here at Rabelais. The book will arrive at the store on Wednesday, May 27th, so come in and get your copy.  It is a slim volume, so we should all have time to read it. This MFK Fisher classic addresses making the most from meager resources, a timely read!
The Slow Food Portland Book Group meets about once a month to discuss a book chosen by the group. Books include food history, politics, literature and memoir, and authors read to date include: Angelo Pelligrini, Michael Pollan, George Orwell, Amy Trubek, Barbara Kingsolver, Mark Kurlansky, Bill Buford and others. The group is informal and fun, and discussion of any food related topic is usually welcome.  The meetings take place at Rabelais Books, 86 Middle Street, Portland.

FOOD+FARM - Examining our access to sustainable foodThursday, May 7 – Sunday, May 10th, 2009Presented by SPACE Gallery, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association and Cultivating CommunityAll events (except Saturday’s Urban Garden Fair) held at:SPACE Gallery - 538 Congress St, Portland, MaineInfo: (207) 828-5600 | www.space538.org | info@space538.orgBuy advance tickets at: www.brownpapertickets.com/producer/5845

The headlines are full of food and gardening stories: The Obamas plant a White House vegetable garden (an idea championed at last year’s Food+Farm by Roger Doiron of Kitchen Gardeners International), the Secretary of Agriculture jackhammers up the pavement in front of his office to create a People’s Garden, the National Gardening Association predicts a 19% increase in the number of new gardens, the New York Times Sunday Business Section devotes a full page and a half to talk about Michael Pollan, Alice Waters and the new documentary Food, Inc.   Public interest in healthy, sustainable food is clearly at a crucial point.

 

Food+Farm is a 4-day event which examines our access to sustainable food.  It is intended to motivate and inspire our community with some of the brightest leaders in sustainable food thinking and activism, both from Maine and from away, to understand the challenges to safe, responsible food and to illuminate opportunities that are available to producing and accessing it.  Recognizing the need for positive action to compliment awareness, we want to provide informative and affordable hands-on workshops that will teach the skills needed to produce healthy, locally grown food.  This year’s hands-on components have a special focus on urban and small-space food production to address the majority population of Portland’s living circumstances.

 

• Thursday, May 7^th,7:30pm  Ted Ames: Fishing Voices.  The Stonington lobsterman and MacArthur “Genius” winner will discuss his work researching the past and future of wild fisheries and how they can be restored and used sustainably.  The event will include a screening of local filmmaker, Cecily Pingree’s short film, Fishing Voices. 

• Friday, May 8^th, 7:30pm– Food, Inc. screening.  A special advance-release screening of the new documentary exposing how corporations compromise profit over consumer health and safety in the American food industry.  The film features such sustainable food luminaries as Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma), Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Joel Salatin (Polyface Farms), and Gary Hirshberg (Stonyfield Farm).  Introduction and post-film discussion with Russell Libby, Executive Director, MOFGA.  Website: www.takepart.com/foodinc

• Saturday, May 9^th 9am-Noon – Urban Gardening Fair at Cultivating Community’s Boyd Street Urban Farm in downtown Portland.  The event will be a variety of demonstrations including garden preparation, composting, container gardening, rainwater collection and raised bed gardening.  CC website: cultivatingcommunity.org

• Saturday, May 9th, 7:30pm – An Evening with Bryant Terry.  Eco chef, author, food justice activist, Bryant Terry works in many facets of food advocacy. He is currently a fellow of the Food and Society Policy Fellows Program, a national project of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and has worked to build a more just and sustainable food system and has used cooking as a tool to illuminate the intersections between poverty, structural racism, and food insecurity. Website: www.bryant-terry.com

• Sunday, May 10^th 9am-5pm– Food+Farm University.  MOFGA helps organize a series of intensive workshops to give attendees the skills to start producing their own sustainable food with a focus on urban/suburban food production.  Topics will include, small space gardening, beekeeping, chicken care, root cellars, fruit for small spaces and vermicomposting.  Taught by some of Southern Maine’s leaders of local food production and preservation.