Traveling Exhibits

Three photo exhibits: Groundbreakers, Feeding Maine, and The Lexicon of Sustainability, each provide a platform for food system discussion and are available to travel for an exhibition in your community.

FEEDING MAINE

Growing Access to Good Food

Tim Libby separates beets from their leafy green tops and puts them in bags at a Veggies For All field in Unity. Tim, one of the founders of Veggies For All, is now the project’s farm manager. He honed his vegetable growing skills at farms in Maine and elsewhere, and uses those skills daily to help with hunger relief in the Unity area.

Stacks of old wooden apple crates wait at a property farmed by Veggies For All in Unity; at Salty Dog Farm in Milbridge, antique tools hang on a wall. Crops grown at these locations go to local food pantries (Veggies For All) or to local school lunch programs (Salty Dog Farm). Crates and tools are just a few of many items found on Maine farms that recall the state’s rich history of farming and subsistence.

During the fall root vegetable harvest, Tammy Richards operates a forklift to move crates of carrots at the Good Shepherd warehouse in Auburn. Other crops coming in include potatoes, squash, and other late season vegetables. Good Shepherd Food Bank runs the Mainers Feeding Mainers program, a collaboration with farms across the state to purchase locally grown food, which is then distributed to pantries, meal sites, and directly to families.

Tom Prohl washes off Rudolf radishes at Wolfe’s Neck Farm. Tom manages the teen agriculture program at the Farm; the program is in its second year, and plans to grow 2000 pounds of food for Mainers Feeding Mainers, which is rapidly expanding. Since launching in 2010, Mainers Feeding Mainers has worked with more than 30 farm partners to distribute 4 million pounds of fresh food grown in state.

Cate Stoner of Turning Wheel Farm in Bowdoinham is a single mother, and a one-woman farming operation. Here, she’s pictured planting carrot seeds with her dog, Anomi. Stoner leases her fields from a local landowner; her farm is o the grid, and runs on solar power. Last year she harvested seven tons of food for the Mainers Feeding Mainers program.

A traveling photo exhibit documenting some of the many people working for change in our communities across the state, with the hope that these efforts will continue to grow into a resilient food system that serves all Mainers.

PHOTOS by Brendan Bullock

WORDS by Annie Aviles

When you see the phrase “food insecurity,” you might picture scenes from distant places hit by the global food crisis: barren fields marked by drought, families fleeing wars, or people waiting in long ration lines. You might not picture Maine.

Yet more than 200,000 Mainers are food insecure. The term encompasses hunger and scarcity, as well as a lack of access to food that’s fresh and healthy.

Meeting this need for good food is where Maine’s farmers, workers, and volunteers come in. We are fortunate to have at hand everything required to feed our state: rich farmland, skilled farmers, and people invested in forging ties between farms and low-income Mainers.

In making fresh ingredients accessible to those who need them most, the projects featured here are also forging new opportunities for Maine farms—by opening up markets, diverting waste through farm donations and gleaning, and creating new customers who seek fresh, local food.

This photo series is a collaboration between Maine Farmland Trust and Good Shepherd Food Bank. It seeks to document some of the many people working for change in our communities across the state, with the hope that these efforts will continue to grow into a resilient food system that serves all Mainers.

GROUNDBREAKERS

Mainers Shaping Agriculture’s Future

Photographer Lily Piel has captured on film two dozen persons who have helped revive farming in Maine, and who remain committed to the cause.

Eliot Coleman & Barbara Damrosch: Farmers and writers who boast an international following, Coleman and Damrosch have inspired countless people to take up farming, plant a garden, or begin to eat better.

Barry Higgins: Dairy farmer, beef farmer, meat processor, and ag-tourism entrepreneur, Higgins epitomizes the creative farmer, one who is always exploring new ways to keep farming.

Bob Spear: Spear and his family set an example for other farmers when they transitioned their former dairy farm into a successful diversified vegetable farm, with a vibrant farm stand and sales to local stores.

Bonnie Rukin: A former farmer, Rukin is now helping transform Maine agriculture through her leadership of Slow Money Maine.

Herbert “Bussy” York (with Poppy): A farmer who is always experimenting, York now primarily raises dairy cattle and organic grain, leading the way for Maine to once again become an important grain producer.

Caitlin Hunter (with Tiny Turner ): Farmer and artisan cheese-maker, Hunter has been a force behind the Maine Cheese Guild and a mentor to many.

Chellie Pingree: Pingree serves in Congress, but her heart and hands remain in farming. Over thirty years ago, she created MOFGA’s apprenticeship program. Today, when not in Washington, she guides Turner Farm on North Haven.

Chris & Dave Colson: Among the first farmers in the northeast to make a living by growing organic produce and selling it locally, the Colson have for over thirty years grown good food and trained young farmers.

Don Marean: Horse-farmer, former legislator, and chair of the Land for Maine’s Future Board, Marean repeatedly displays his deep commitment to Maine agriculture.

Jim & Megan Gerritsen: Talented farmers who have stood up to Monsanto, the Gerritsens display in spades the elements of character found in many Maine farmers—independence, smarts, and courage.

John Bunker: One of America’s top authorities on heirloom apples, Bunker is always willing to share his knowledge and passion.

Leah & Marada Cook: The Cook sisters run Crown O’Maine Organic Cooperative, demonstrating daily that out-of-the-box solutions can be delivered on a truck.

Nancy and Chip Gray: Owners of the Harraseeket Inn, one of the first hotels in the nation to actively promote local organic food, the Grays have now been farm-to-table innovators for over twenty-five years.

Nancy Harmon Jenkins: A world-famous food writer, Jenkins is passionate about good Maine food—as well as the farmers, fishermen, chefs, artisan bakers and processors who make this food available.

Rob Johnston & Janika Eckert: Johnny’s Selected Seeds—the thriving business Johnston founded, and that the couple ran together for years, before selling it to their employees—provides a critical service to farmers in Maine and beyond.

Russell Libby: Libby is a homestead farmer, poet, and deep-thinker—and since 1995, the executive director of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA), a national leader in the organic foods movement. Russell Libby passed away in late 2012, a few months after this photo was taken. He was a founder of MFT, and served on our board from 1999 until last fall. He guided and supported us in so many ways. He is sorely missed.

Sam Hayward: Hayward is a James Beard Award-winning chef who helped launch the farm-to-table movement in Maine and has inspired countless chefs, farmers, and eaters.

Stew Smith: As Maine’s Commissioner of Agriculture a generation ago, Smith offered a vision for Maine’s small farms. He went on to teach at U-Maine and has now, in his retirement, returned to farming.

THE LEXICON OF SUSTAINABILITY

Moving forward together, towards the sustainable future we desire, requires a common understanding and language of sustainable ideas and practices. Words are the building blocks for new ideas. This is the premise that inspired the Lexicon of Sustainability. Based in California, the Lexicon creates collaged and altered large-format photographs that illustrate ideas central to the ever-evolving sustainable food movement.

MFT is proud to be one of several guest curators of the Lexicon nationally. By sharing this photo exhibit, we hope to spark conversation about the next steps for the future for farming in Maine.

THE LEXICON OF SUSTAINABILITY™ is a multi-platform approach to sustainability. Check out their media resources and tools on their website.

Let's grow a bright future for farming in Maine, together.

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