All in This Just In

Next Article

This Just In

Inspiring urban growers

Just in time for the fresh-food abundance that comes with summer and farmers' markets and pick-your-own adventures, the folks at SPACE Gallery and the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) will host their second Food+Farm extravaganza this week. The four-day event highlights sustainable and healthy food production.

"Food+Farm seems to dovetail nicely with what seems to be some of the current ideas surfacing in the media," SPACE's Jon Courtney writes in an e-mail, referencing the cost of food, the creation of a White House "victory garden" (an idea conceived by Scarborough resident Roger Doiron of Kitchen Gardeners International, who spoke at last year's Food+Farm event and who will be leading a workshop on Sunday), and the origins of swine flu.

The line-up this year includes a conversation with sustainable lobsterman and fisheries expert Ted Ames, a Mainer who helped revolutionize the fishing industry and received the first-ever MacArthur "Genius" grant awarded to a fisherman; an urban gardening fair at the Boyd Street Farm on the corner of Cumberland Avenue and Franklin Arterial; a day-long series of MOFGA-run workshops to teach skills like chicken-raising, vermicomposting (worms!), beekeeping, and canning; a discussion with "eco-chef" Bryant Terry (for $10 extra, the Local Sprouts Cooperative will prepare a meal of Terry's recipes, including citrus collards with raisins and black-eyed pea fritters); and screenings of Cecily Pingree's short film, Fishing Voices, as well as the feature documentary Food Inc. (Read more about the film on page 37.)

"This year's hands-on components have a special focus on urban and small-space food production," Courtney says, which makes sense for most of Portland's population. If it goes well, he says, "Food+Farm will most likely be an annual event at SPACE." See a schedule of events at space538.org.