Farms & Food #296

Amanda Beal:

Well, I think, you know, 90% of the food that we eat actually comes from outside of Maine. And in Maine we really don't have those big agribusiness, you know, large farms that tend to have real issues with pollution and challenges like in other places where there are really large farms. So one of the things that we can do is try to buy more food locally because the farms that are in Maine, whether they're organic, certified organic or not, most farmers are working really hard to take good care of their land and their animals. And you can get to know that farmer if they're in your community and you're going to know what their practices are.

Heidi Powell:

I want to try to work with smaller farmers to just help them move product themselves because they don't need to be delivering as often as they do. I want them to be farming and producing and taking care of their crops and such and I'm happy to be there to move their product around for them.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This is Dr. Lisa Belisle and you

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

are listening to Love Maine Radio show number 296, airing for the first time on Sunday, May 21, 2017. Today we're talking about farms and food. How do, how do we support Maine farmers? One way is to buy our food from local producers. We can also do our best to make ourselves aware of agricultural issues in our state. Today we speak with Amanda Beale, the president and CEO of Maine Farmland Trust, a member powered statewide organization that protects farmland, supports farmers and advances the future of farming. We also speak Heidi Powell, the owner and operator of Dirigo Wholesale, a wholesale distribution company specializing in local and away produce, groceries and specialty ingredients. Thank you for joining us.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

With summer now upon us, I invite

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

you to join us at the kennebunkport Festival, five days of celebration centered around food, wine, art, music and of course, community. This year's festival is June 5th through 10th, and we're especially excited to note that Love Maine Radio's producer Spencer Albee and his band are headlining the Maine Craft music festival with special guests the

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Ghosts of Paul Revere.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

For tickets to the Maine Craft Music Festival and details about all the good

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

times waiting for you at the festival,

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

go to kennybunkport festival.com all of us at Maine Media Collective look forward to seeing you there.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Today it is my pleasure to speak

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

with Amanda Be, who is the President

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

and CEO of Maine Farmland Trust, a

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

member powered statewide organization that protects farmland, supports farmers and advances the future of farming.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How are you today?

Amanda Beal:

I'm great. Thank you for having me here.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah, it's great to have you in.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So I'm a big fan of farms and I'm hoping most people who are listening are big fans of farms because that's how we eat these days. How did you become a big fan of farms?

Amanda Beal:

Well, I guess I was born into it actually. My father is a, a commercial dairy farmer and so I grew up on a farm and I don't, I don't know that I really appreciated that upbringing until later in life and, but I definitely appreciated having access to woods and fields and animals and it was kind of a rich upbringing in that way. But I think, you know, I went away after high school like a lot of kids do, and I ended up taking a sort of an extended gap year which turned into maybe two and a half years where I lived out in Yosemite Park. And so there I really started to learn about ecology and the environment and conservation and the impact that humans have on land and on the earth. And I think that as I came back around to Maine and really having still a great appreciation for our working landscape here and for my upbringing on a farm, I started to put things together and started thinking a lot about how we produce food and how we don't appreciate enough, how much how hard farmers work for us and that they really do try to be good stewards and that it's important that we start to pay attention to that. So I think that's kind of how it came around. I also got really interested in human health and what we eat and nutrition, which eventually led me to do my master's degree at Tufts at the Friedman School of Nutrition. And so, yeah, that's been sort of my journey in a nutshell.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So you were looking at kind of nurturing, I guess, people both at a micro and a macro level. I mean, if you have. You have a master's degree from Tufts and nutrition, that's sort of a little bit more micro. And then you're looking kind of the circles that go out from that. That's an interesting. Not everybody who goes into the field that you're in has that background.

Amanda Beal:

Yeah, yeah, I think, you know, and I think it's an interesting time. Started getting more and more engaged in the conversations about looking at our food system as a system. And so that's been sort of a way that my mind has expanded in terms of thinking about how we produce food and how we move it around and who has access to it and all of those components of the system itself.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

One of the things I'm interested in hearing from you is we have this

Amanda Beal:

great

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

access to farmland in the state of Maine, and many people are doing organic farming. But it seems like it has been difficult to transition to a place where we can provide all the food that we need for all the people who need to eat it and have it all be, at this point, organic. And coming from small farms,

Amanda Beal:

how do

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

we make this transition from kind of big agriculture to smaller, more sustainably managed farms?

Amanda Beal:

Yeah, well, I think, you know, 90% of the food that we eat actually comes from outside of Maine. And in Maine, we really don't have those big agribusiness, you know, large farms that tend to have, you know, real issues with pollution and, you know, challenges like in other places where there are really large farms. So one of the things that we can do is try to buy more food locally because the farms that are. Are in Maine, whether they're, you know, organic, certified organic or not. Most farmers are working really hard to take good care of their land and their animals. And, you know, you can get to know that farmer if they're in your community, and you're going to know what their practices are. So I think the more that we can think about spending our food dollar here and with our farmers and supporting our farmers in the state, the. The more that we'll move toward that, that sustainable vision of our food production and food system.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Your family is from Litchfield, and do you still have a family farm there?

Amanda Beal:

We do. We do, yeah. It's actually an exciting story for me personally, because a few years ago, I really started trying to help my father and my brother, my youngest brother, figure out how to transfer ownership of that farm to my brother. He's known all his life that that's what he wanted to do when he grew up. He wanted to take over the farm. That's what my father has wanted for him. But it's a challenge that a lot of farmers face. And, you know, this sort of generational transition point is a point in time where a farm can actually be very vulnerable because it's. There are just so many complicated issues that come up when trying to figure out how to pass something like that on. And especially with a dairy farm, because there's a lot of infrastructure and it's. There's a herd of animals. It's not just a few fields and some greenhouses. And so for a young person to try to access the kind of capital that allows them to buy into a farm like that is really challenging. So totally coincidental, Maine Farmland Trust was actually shooting a film right around that time, and they were looking for a few different stories to tell. And the filmmakers came and talked to me thinking they were going to have me be sort of an academic, you know, perspective that they would interview and intersperse my opinion throughout the film. But they asked how I got interested in agriculture, and I talked about my family's dairy farm and that we were really in an interesting turning point and that it was complicated. And they said that's the story we want to tell. So there is actually a 15 minute vignette that is part of the growing local film that was released a couple of years ago, before I ever worked for Maine Farmland Trust. And it talks about. It tells the story of, you know, the challenges that we were facing. But it ends as kind of a cliffhanger. And you don't know if they were actually successfully able to, you know, do a number of things that they needed to do. So I always like to have the opportunity to say that, yes, they rebuilt the barn. They are, you know, they've been growing the herd. They are well on their way to making this transition, and they've come a long way, but it's taken years. And I think that that's, you know, something that also has helped me to understand that farmers need to be thinking about succession long before they think they'd like to retire.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It seems to me that we went through a time where people didn't want to go into farming, so succession wasn't really an issue. It was mostly how do I sell this farm or how do I donate the farmlands to a land trust. But it's, there's now a resurgence in interest, I believe, in farming. Why do you think that happened?

Amanda Beal:

I think it's been the result of a lot of really hard work. You know, when you look at the ag census numbers, what has been happening in Maine has actually been happening in New England as a block. And it's quite different than what's happening in the rest of the country in that we are increasing the number of farms, and we have been for a couple of decades now. But when you look at the long history, if you look at like a hundred year scale, it's almost imperceptible that, you know, uptick. And so what I think is that, you know, there are a lot of organizations and people that have been working hard at really getting people to change their minds about the importance of agriculture, particularly in a state like Maine where it's, it's just, you know, we have an incredible natural resource base here. And I think that, you know, young people are really starting to get excited about the idea of knowing how to do something like grow, grow their own food. It feels like a really satisfying profession. I think we still need to keep working really hard though, because the economics don't always work out and there are a lot of challenges that our farmers face that we need to keep trying to figure out how to, how to move through.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Tell me about some of those challenges.

Amanda Beal:

Yeah, well, I mean, basically the share of the food dollar that the farmer gets is still quite low. And people spending on food has, the rate at which they spend has remained relatively flat for decades. And meanwhile, we've got farmers who are dealing with rising costs of inputs. And then you throw in climate change and some of these other challenges that are changing the way that farmers can sort of anticipate things on the ground and can create more risk for them in terms of crop failure and things like that. So there are a lot of, you know, farmers operate with a pretty slim margin anyway and you know, the price of food, the cost of food is not necessarily reflected in what we pay and they're not necessarily getting the share of the food dollar that helps them to be more stable. So we have to work on that from a lot of different angles.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I believe. I remember statistics from a few years ago about how much Americans spend on food. And I don't think that's changed overly much. But we spend less on food than most modern nations.

Heidi Powell:

Correct.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And I think that we actually spend more on healthcare dollars.

Amanda Beal:

Correct.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So that's an interesting irony there.

Amanda Beal:

Yeah, I think there's a real connection there.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So how do we. You said a lot of people have worked very hard to bring younger farmers into doing this type of work. How do we help encourage people to focus their efforts on eating good food rather than waiting until the effects of bad food cause healthcare problems?

Amanda Beal:

Yeah, I think that's a great question. I wish I had the answer, but I think a piece of the answer is to just continue talking about this. And, you know, I think that we've come a long way in the last 10 years. When you think about all of the books and the articles that have been written about, you know, where your food comes from and really digging into some of these issues. And I think that the awareness is, it's rising and we just have to keep doing what we're doing and doing more of it so that more people understand that connection and so that more people know how to access healthy food and see the value of it.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

There's also an education that is necessary for running a farm, which not all of it can be had in a university setting. Some of it, we spoke to someone who had a soil science degree from a university. And that is a very scientific thing that is useful. But some of the spread stuff that farmers do is very practical and really can only be learned while you're going through it. So how do you help young farmers know what they need to know?

Amanda Beal:

Yeah, I think. Well, I think we have an incredible resource here in the state. The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners association has an excellent apprenticeship and journeyperson program. And so I think that, you know, the hands on nature of those learning experiences are really great for people who are thinking about farming. And it also gives them an opportunity to step into it without taking on all the, you know, all the overhead and the risk. And it also helps to build that network, the social network of young farmers. I think that's a really important piece of the puzzle in terms of, you know, the new farmers succeeding. I think they really need to feel connected and supported by each other as well as by older generations who are mentoring them. And I think that that program, you know, does a really nice job of helping to make those connections happen. And, you know, and there are some other more informal ways that people can learn how to grow food in different parts of the state. But I think that that particular program has really solidified a pathway for young new farmers that want to learn how to grow food.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You also have, I'm sure, both personal and professional relationships with these older farmers. I hope you still have a relationship with your own family members.

Amanda Beal:

Oh, definitely.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And I'm wondering what they think of all this.

Amanda Beal:

Well, I guess I don't know what other people think about it, but I know what my father thinks about it. At one point in time, I remember him telling me that of all of his children, I was the one he least thought or least suspected would end up being really invested in agriculture and the future of farming in Maine. I don't know why he thought that, but I know he is excited that I do feel passionate about it. And, you know, from helping out on our own farm all the way to thinking about what is the broader future of agriculture in Maine and how do we make sure that this excitement. These young farmers, these new farmers, not all of them are young, but new farmers who are interested in growing, you know, the agricultural base here in Maine, that they're not just connecting with land, but they're actually building viable businesses and able to sustain what they are creating now long, long, long time into the future.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How does the Maine Farmland Trust work with other organizations like the fisheries organization or the lobstering organizations within the state that are doing different types of, I guess, sourcing food products?

Amanda Beal:

Yeah. Well, maybe it's helpful for me to just, you know, say a little bit about our work and how it connects to what work that others are doing. We have three primary program areas. We work on protecting farmland. We work on farmland access. So, you know, these new farmers that are looking for land, helping them to find people who want to lease or sell land, farmland, and then farm viability, which is another really important component of success. And so, you know, our interest is in making sure that there's a future of farming in Maine forever. And that, you know, all of these pieces have to be in place in order to make. Make that happen. And so, you know, other organizations, and you mentioned some that are on the. Working on the fisheries issues, we're just as interested in making sure that we have, you know, access to fish and. And that people can sustain themselves in coastal communities fishing for the long term as well. So we're. We participate in a group called the Downeast Fisheries Partnership, which is really pulling together numerous organizations working on, you know, issues on the fisheries side of things. And we're really at that table because we feel that, you know, all of these resources remain and the wonderful, you know, benefit that it brings us to have such great seafood and such great food grown on land. We want to see all of that working together, and we don't want to, you know, forget about the fisheries side of things. And then we work with a lot of other organizations in Maine who are, you know, dedicated to other ag and food issues. And I think the collaboration and keeping sort of connected and understanding the work that we're all doing is a really important component. Because if we were just trying to work on our piece by ourselves, it would be a really tough, you know, boulder to roll up that hill.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I was talking about soil science a few minutes ago, and one of the things I think about often is how important healthy soil is. And obviously, we have a state that is many different. You know, we have. We've done. There have been mills in existence, for example. We've had the naval air base that has opened and closed. There are lots of different industries that can contribute negatively to groundwater runoff and healthy soil. Is that something that your organization is working on as well?

Amanda Beal:

You know, I think that we always have to be aware of, you know, competing uses or of land and ways in which land is being used, particularly adjacent to farms or, you know, in proximity to farms that could have an impact on the ability to grow healthy food there. And so that's certainly something that we pay attention to. And, you know, and to a certain degree, the work that we do around farmland protection is really aimed at preventing good farmland from being developed upon in a way that would prevent its use as farmland in the future. So whether it's by industry or by, you know, residential developments, but just really making sure that we're protecting our best agricultural soils.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How closely do you work with conservation trusts? We were up in Booth Bay this last weekend doing a 48 hours from Maine magazine, and they have a huge land trust there. So many wonderful walking trails. And I believe that they just purchased a large saltwater farm with many acres. Is that ever a collaboration that you engage in?

Amanda Beal:

All the time. Yeah. You know, our local land trusts throughout the state are such an asset, and we are actually in a really wonderful. We have a wonderful opportunity right now. We have a donor that has really invested in our ability to protect farmland and has given us $16 million. We have to raise the match for that. So that comes with a challenge, and we're working really hard to do that. But, you know, we. With that opportunity to protect more farmland, and especially more farmland here in southern Maine, where there's so much development pressure, we have to, you know, we work really closely with these local land trusts because they know where the farms are in their community that are, you know, most vulnerable and where there could be opportunity to ensure their future. And so we work closely with them to help identify those farms and also in helping to protect them.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You have done a lot of academic work in addition to the advocacy work and leadership that you're doing with the Maine Farmland Trust. You are co author of New England Food Vision, Healthy Food for All, Sustainable Farming and Fishing, Thriving Communities. What did you learn from that, and what have you learned from the academic side of your existence?

Amanda Beal:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's interesting. I'm actually a PhD candidate at the University of New Hampshire now. And so I definitely love the academic side of things. I love researching, and I love understanding trends and, you know, why things are the way they are are. What was great about working on the New England Food Vision was that I got to work with some people who had been thinking about our ability to produce food and the fact that we could be doing a lot more of it in New England for a long time. And so Brian Donahue, who was the lead author as a professor at Brandeis University, Russell Libby, who was the executive director of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners association before he passed away, Mark Lapping, who was a professor, was a professor, is retired now at the University of Southern Maine, and a number of other people who just had a lot of experience working on some of these issues and being able to step back and look at our natural resource base and think about a future 50 years forward and what's possible if we really put our minds to it. And, you know, on the other side of it, we came out with sort of a moderate projection that if we really all pulled together, we could be producing about 50% of the food that we eat here in the region. And that it would actually be a really wonderful and diverse diet. And, you know, we could really enjoy what we. What we have to offer here in that way. So I think it was really just all the way around a great experience to think about what's possible.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And you personally, how does working on food and having spent so much time thinking about food academically and practically and in your current role, how has that changed the way that you lived your life?

Amanda Beal:

Oh, boy, that's a tough question. I don't remember ever not really caring about food. I love food. I mean, I grew up on a dairy farm, and then I have another portion of my family who are lobstermen and fishermen. And so I've always had good food around. Even as a kid, our family celebrations were always about food. And so I think I'm just really excited that I've found a way to work on issues that I feel so passionate about. And you know, I get to have a delicious meal on a pretty regular basis too. But yeah, I'm really committed to buying locally and supporting local farmers. That's, you know, I think because I come from a farm family, it's so important and real to me. I really, I really do feel a connection to the food producer when I'm making that effort to support local food.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

As far as the Maine Farmland Trust, what is your sort of highest hope?

Amanda Beal:

My highest hope, it's an incredible organization. I, I've been in this position now for five months and it's been a really fast five months, I have to say. But the staff are incredible. And my highest hope for this organization is that we keep doing what we're doing for a long time into the future because we've at this point protected 55,000 acres of farmland. We do a lot of one on one work with farm families and I think that that's going to be needed for a long time, that kind of work. And I should say the other piece that I haven't talked about is that we have a really robust outreach program as well and that includes an art gallery and we're working to really find creative ways to tell stories about why agriculture is so important in the state and to really help people who maybe haven't made the connection yet make it in a new way and want to support the work that's being done by a number of different organizations around the state who are really changing our food system and I think for the better.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, I appreciate the work that you are doing and I've enjoyed our conversation. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to come have a conversation with me today. I've been speaking with Amanda Beal who is the president and CEO of the Maine Farmland Trust, a member powered statewide organization that protects farmland, supports farmers and advances the future of farming. Thank you so much for coming in today.

Amanda Beal:

Thank you.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Heidi Powell, who is the owner and operator of Dirigo Wholesale, a wholesale distribution company specializing in local and away produce, grocery and specialty ingredients. Thanks for coming in.

Heidi Powell:

Thank you for having me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Heidi, you grew up in Wiscasset.

Heidi Powell:

I did.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So when you were growing up in Wiscasset, did you think you'd be doing this sort of work?

Heidi Powell:

Definitely not. I ran away to New York because I wanted to be an artist and, you know, that doesn't work out so well usually the first time around. So I came back, ran away to Boston, came back, and it was just that food industry. I guess that's where my creative energy ended up going. So this is the perfect place for that.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So tell me what Dirigo Wholesale does.

Heidi Powell:

I source local NOA produce and distribute it to local businesses, mostly local restaurants and small markets, usually in the summertime. Most of my produce is local and that's what I want to push, obviously. But, you know, we can't have lemons and limes and avocados from Maine, unfortunately. So those sorts of things come from elsewhere, which I get from Boston, but I also purchased those from a distributor that goes down there, a local distributor that goes down there and grabs stuff for me. So still keeping it in the main.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

A lot of people are interested in

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

the food industry, but your take on it is different, doing the wholesale side?

Heidi Powell:

Yeah. Well, I worked in restaurant kitchens before, so I know that side of it in a sense of. I know how people go about sourcing things. So I feel like the conversations that I have between restaurants and between farmers, I can kind of translate those different languages back and forth to, you know, whether it be the farmer or the producer. So.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So when you were growing up, what were your interests? What was it like growing up in Wiscasset?

Heidi Powell:

It was. Wiscasset's a strange little town. I mean, they've been in the news lately, but it was very different when I was there. It was a really lovely place. But, you know, it wasn't a place where there was a lot of food, there weren't a lot of restaurants. It wasn't something that wasn't something that was a main concern, you know, to me in school or what have you. But my Mother was a crazy gardener. So, you know, those were my. Those were my interests. Then with family, was like in the summer you gardened and spent time outside. And then, you know, what I. What I wanted to do was to be an artist. Honestly, that was what I wanted to do as a kid. I don't. I don't know. I don't know how I ended up with food, but I think it was, you know, you go to art school and you work in a restaurant.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What was your art?

Heidi Powell:

Photography.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And do you still do that?

Heidi Powell:

No, I don't really do that. My iPhone does that for me, though.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, so you still do it? You just don't use this? You don't use a camera per se?

Heidi Powell:

No.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So is there anything about food itself that I guess called to you in some way? Just the visual of it, the sensual nature?

Heidi Powell:

Yeah, definitely. That was it. You know, I ended up working in a restaurant because that was the easiest thing to do. And then I realized, oh, this is actually a really creative environment to be in, you know, plating things. I'm just creating different recipes and things like that. But the actual plating of things was definitely the. Probably the draw visually for me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So did you start working in restaurants when you were in Maine or when you moved to New York?

Heidi Powell:

In Maine. In Maine, I worked at the Porthole years and years and years ago. And then I worked at Sunny's, and then I worked at Figo when Figo was open. That was a lot of fun. I mean, I always had fun. I worked in those places because I had a nice time.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So it does seem like there's a kind of a parallel between people who are artists and people who work in

Heidi Powell:

the food industry, for sure.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And for a while it seemed like, well, maybe it's just the flexibility, maybe it's the money. Not really sure. But it really seems like there are people who continue to make conscious decisions to both be artists and work in the food industry for a long, long time.

Heidi Powell:

Oh, definitely. I mean, I think that's how Los Angeles actually runs in general. You know, if you didn't have all of those actors and actresses, then the restaurants probably wouldn't run either.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, that's true. And I'm also thinking of, you know, our audio producer, Spencer, who's obviously, he's a musician. And he also has links to the food, obviously, and has links to the food industry and has been working within it for quite some time. But it seems like if it's something that if you didn't like doing it,

Heidi Powell:

you would just stop yeah, well, they work. They do work well together. And it's fun here. I mean, we all know each other here, too. It is such a small city. The community is wonderful. I mean, the amount of connections. I wouldn't be sitting here if it wasn't for Spencer. I mean, and I've known Spencer through restaurants and all those things for years and years, so.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So as part of Dirrago Wholesale, I would imagine that a lot of what you're doing is creating and maintaining relationships with both producers and buyers of product.

Heidi Powell:

Definitely.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And you've been doing this now, although you began your organization back in November, you did this for two years prior to that with Rosemont.

Heidi Powell:

Yep, I did. It was. It's. It's. That's the part of it that's so wonderful is being able to have those relationships and communicate with those people back and forth and, you know, I wouldn't have been able to do what I'm doing right now if I hadn't done it with Rosemont and created those relationships. And I feel like they're really solid because of that.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So what are some of the things that you see as interesting opportunities for both producers and buyers right now in the state of Maine?

Heidi Powell:

You know, we're trying to get product from farther up north and move it down, like, actually really try and help sustain those farms up there. The transportation issue is. Is an issue. The transportation problem is an issue like moving everything around the state is on my radar and something that I really want to try to focus on in the next couple years. If we can do that, you know, just moving product around the state and making it available to so many more people is. Would be. Would be awesome. It would be incredible. It would be so great for even those small restaurants that, you know, try to keep costs down so they buy things from. Away from Boston, you know, but if it's more readily available, the cost can be less and it can be local. And if we can make those things available to the smaller mom and pop diners and things like that, there's no reason why we all can't be using main product.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So how can we keep costs down for people? It seems as though some of the larger distribution organizations have done as well as they have because they're able to offer things in bulk. If you're a smaller organization, then how can you kind of, I guess, equalize that?

Heidi Powell:

That's something that I'm definitely working on. I feel like there doesn't necessarily need to be a, you know, a big warehouse holding all of those things. We need to just be helping each other move product around. So if I go, if I go pick up 100 pounds of potatoes, maybe those hundred pounds of potatoes go directly to who they need to go to that day. And there's no, there's no middleman, there's no sitting in a warehouse overnight or things like that. You know, cutting down on transportation and, you know, keeping things for a long period of time are going to cut down on costs too. So if they can just go to where they're going and have there be some sort of organization in that transportation, then I think that would keep things down. I mean, there's so many producers right now, there's so many young farmers. Everything is available to us at this point in the summertime.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So are you working, you're currently working on systems that would enable you to more efficiently get something from point A to point B without any middle place.

Heidi Powell:

That's top priority really at this point.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So tell me about that.

Heidi Powell:

I wish that I had more to tell you about it. It's something that is like. I think I've kind of figured it out some days and then I realized there's like a whole other aspect to it that I need to consider. And I think really what it's going to take eventually is many people working together, doing the same thing in different parts of the state. Kind of like an umbrella, you know, just moving quantities from here to there from person to person who. We're all kind of doing the same thing in different areas. So that would be, that's what I've come up with so far. You know, I want to try to work with smaller farmers to just help them move product themselves because they don't need to be delivering as often as they do. I want them to be farming and producing and you know, taking care of their crops and such. And I'm happy to be there to move their product around for them.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So it's really kind of identifying who's best able to play whatever roles are needed.

Heidi Powell:

Oh, for sure, for sure. Definitely. It's gonna be certainly gonna be a game of delegation, if you will.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So it sounds like maybe some of the stuff that you're learning is stuff that you didn't kind of realize was gonna be the case when you started.

Heidi Powell:

Definitely. I thought I was gonna be, you know, moving 25 pound bags of carrots to restaurants here and there, but it's such a, it's a huge issue. It's so much bigger than that. The state is big. You forget how big it is until you get to drive around it and pick up 25 pound bags of carrots. But you know, people who are working on a tight budget, they need some help and definitely up in the county and such.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, yeah, if you're talking about driving from say the Portland area up to Fort Kent, you're talking about, you know, a six hour drive and you have to have somebody who's willing to, to do that and do that whenever the product is available.

Heidi Powell:

Yep. And that's the schedule is the really the big issue. That's the part that seems up in the air.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So there's a networking piece, there's a scheduling piece. It sounds very logistical.

Heidi Powell:

Yeah, it will be, you know, just talking to everybody about those things. Now that all by itself, you know, setting up those meetings to talk to those people that could help you. That all by itself is a crazy logistical nightmare sometimes, especially with so much snow. But. So I can't imagine it's going to be. It's going to be great when we can work it out, but it's definitely going to be quite a job.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

One of the things that I've noticed is that there are more and more products that I wouldn't have thought

Amanda Beal:

we

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

could actually maybe grow in our state are now being grown in our state.

Heidi Powell:

Yeah, definitely.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I mean there's now main grown grain that wasn't being produced a decade ago.

Heidi Powell:

Yeah. I think they didn't they just get a grant too. Main grains just got that great grant. So hopefully that can. But takes them far. They were, I know they were getting busier and busier and couldn't really keep up with it. So hopefully that helps. But yeah, like there are people doing local ginger and turmeric and like all. It's just, you know, the need for those. The fact that there's a need for those things is the great part, I guess.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah. That is actually interesting because if you think about it, for example, ginger that, that was something that was mostly from the far east.

Heidi Powell:

Yeah. In Hawaii we used to bring in a lot of Hawaiian ginger.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So even the idea that we would think, oh let's try growing this here, which is a completely different climate. Yeah, that's kind of fascinating.

Heidi Powell:

Yeah. And the ginger that the people that I'm thinking of are growing is so delicious. So good. It's fresh and like it's really good.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Are you seeing more people doing stuff with greenhouses?

Heidi Powell:

Yeah, actually. And you know the greenhouses like hoop, big hoop houses and aquaponics, all the aquaponic like spring works and you know they do all the greens at this point are all, you know, all year round, which is awesome. Fresh greens all year round. That's a cool thing.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah. Especially not where we used to have to truck things in from California. By the time we got these greens, how fresh could they actually be?

Heidi Powell:

Not so fresh. I was doing a. My partner works at Peaks island and they're focusing on. At the elementary school and they're focusing on doing food systems. They're teaching their kids food systems. And she asked me, you know, what. What is available locally? And she made up this tiny little list, like potatoes and onions, like what's available right now. And I went back through and looked at the availability list for me right now. And it's so long. Like you can get. You can get so much right now. Still local.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, run through that for me.

Heidi Powell:

I wish I had the list in front of me. I mean, it's crazy. Daikon, radishes, you know, obviously potatoes, onions, greens, tomatoes, cucumbers. Like, I just. I wish I had the list. Beets. Gosh. I mean, you can get those grains, main grains all year round. What am I forgetting? Sunchokes. So many things. So many things.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And do you find that people are more accepting of trying to eat within the season than they once were?

Heidi Powell:

Yeah, I mean, I don't know if my answer is a reasonable answer. You know, the people that I'm selling to are people who push those kinds of things anyway. You know, that's kind of their thing is that they're selling local whenever they can. So I would have to say yes. And the people that I know, they certainly do. But I'm not sure that would be an interesting statistic to find out.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So who are your main clients? Who do you work with?

Heidi Powell:

Mostly the small restaurants downtown here. I have Bluespoon, Hugo's, Eventide, Honeypaw, Eastender, the Juice bars, Blake Orchard, Flying Fox, Drifter's Wife. Like the small. The people. The people who buy smaller quantities of things, not necessarily large cases of things, but, you know, they buy what they need like every day or every other day.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So how does that work? Do you let people know what is available? And they say, yeah, I'll take so many of these or so many of these. Or do they come to you and say, we're looking for this?

Heidi Powell:

A little bit of both. I have an availability list that I try to keep updated and that includes local and away items. And I, you know, I also definitely search things out for people if they need something specific.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So I'm seeing when I'm out and about Eating. I'm seeing that there's generally a set menu that people will offer, and they'll offer it for a long time. But then the ones that I really enjoy going to a lot, the restaurants are people that will create these very interesting seasonal specials or even daily specials that will. They'll bring in something that I didn't know, like maybe a sun choke this time of year. But that requires some flexibility, and it requires a little bit of trust on the part of the restaurant goer, because if you don't know what a sunchoke is, then you're probably not gonna want to have that special.

Heidi Powell:

Sure, sure. I, you know, I think that I'm lucky to work with the people that I do because they have a specific clientele that is a little more daring, perhaps. Yeah. I think that those are the places that I generally work with. They want to try some new things.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And are you able to say, so I have this, whatever it is, Jerusalem artichoke. And I think that you could use this in this way. Are you able to help make that translation for them?

Heidi Powell:

I don't even. Most of the places I work for, I wouldn't even need to say the last part of that. All I would have to say is, hey, I got these really beautiful purple sunchooks in from Ironwood Farm. Do you want to try some out? And most of the time, everybody will say, yes, definitely. Even if it's just a pound or two.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Does it make a difference when you say they're from such and such a

Amanda Beal:

farm

Heidi Powell:

at this point? I don't think it does. I mean, most of the farmers that are working in Maine or in this area at this point are all, you know, they all have pretty good reputations and are nice people. There's so many young people that are farming, too, which is really cool.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I've also found that interesting because it seems like it would be kind of a hard job to jump into farming, and yet the willingness to go out there and do this. And many of them, they have young families and they work a lot of hours. Yep.

Heidi Powell:

And there's. It's not just, you know, men farming anymore either. There are so many women that are just. Just. They're all about it right now, really out there doing a lot of the hard work, which is cool to see, too, especially now.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah. We had people for a piece that we wrote for the Eat Guide from Six River Farm in Bodenham. And this is a couple. It's a man and a woman and their child. I don't think the Child's doing a ton of farming right now, but it's a very, was a very. Seemed like a very equal partnership. They both did things that they were good at and they both worked very hard. And they had this great relationship with Royal River Natural Foods and there was a place for their produce to go. And it worked. It was very symbiotic.

Heidi Powell:

Bodenham too, there's so many great places up in Bodenham. It's a big young farming town.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah, there's something about the soil up there and the rivers that all come in.

Heidi Powell:

Exactly.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah.

Heidi Powell:

They're all in that general little area.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Maine used to be one of the breadbaskets. And from what I understand, Bethel specifically used to be kind of a bread basket, I believe, during the Civil War. And I'm kind of surprised by that because it seems cold. So, you know, we're bringing, we're bringing people who are able to create enough food to send elsewhere. But we're not a warm state.

Heidi Powell:

Yeah, no we're not. There's so many ways around that though. You know, greenhouses and digging down into the earth and building your hoop houses that way. I mean there's, there's a million different ways that I guess everybody was getting around it for years before we were around.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So yeah, they didn't have all this technology, but somehow they were still, they still knew how to have winter kale.

Heidi Powell:

There's still people living in Maine. Yeah, that's right.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We've always had people who have decided to brave the cold.

Heidi Powell:

We weren't wiped out.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Is there something about the healthiness of the produce that you're offering to people that. Or not even just produce, but whatever products that appeals to you, this idea that it's so fresh, it's so just came from the farm that you're somehow impacting their health and well being?

Heidi Powell:

Oh, for sure. I mean, doing something that you love is great. Doing something that you love that can positively impact other people is. Feels so good, for sure. And you know that I try to keep everything on a really quick turnaround. So if I purchase something from someone, I try to send it out that day, if not within the next day or two. So it is, it's like it comes from who it comes from and then it goes to where it's supposed to go.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So what do you personally like to make for food when you are not delivering all these, all of these nice items to the restaurants?

Heidi Powell:

We make a lot of kind of noodley Asian inspired vegetarian dishes at our house. Also the farm fresh meat that's available to us here is like nothing I've ever tasted anywhere else. It's so good. So, you know, I feel like if you want a steak, buy it in Maine, those sorts of things. But

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

given that you have been an artist and probably at heart still are an artist, but you're now in wholesale distribution, if there are other people who are listening to this conversation who are thinking about themselves, hmm, what's something interesting that I could do with my life? What kind of advice would you give them?

Heidi Powell:

You know, I think that I definitely. I realized that the creativity in me was something that I have to, you know, I have to honor and I have to always do. But I think that the only advice that I could give anybody else would be to actually pay attention to what you're actually doing at the time. So if you're working in retail or if you're working in a restaurant and you're doing that out of necessity, if there's something, what is it about that that you like? What is it? Just be present and know what you're. Pay attention to what you're enjoying, even if you're doing something out of necessity. And I don't think I would have ever known that this was something that I wanted to do. If I didn't do that. Why was I enjoying myself so much selling vegetables? Because I love vegetables. I really love vegetables. That's it.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, I've enjoyed this conversation and I encourage people to, well, I guess go to eat at those restaurants that you talked about so they can.

Heidi Powell:

There's so many more too. I'm sorry, I didn't say all of

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

them, but I encourage people to, as they're eating at some of these little local restaurants that you've talked about or really any local restaurant, to think about sort of how the food got from there to here and what it is that they're putting, what we're all putting in our mouths. And this idea of food systems, it's kind of an interesting one. I'm glad that you're part of this, Heidi.

Amanda Beal:

Thank you.

Heidi Powell:

Thank you. It's a good time.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I've been speaking with Heidi Powell, who is the owner and operator of D' Errago Wholesale, a wholesale distribution company specializing in local and away produce, grocery store and specialty ingredients. Good luck with figuring out that whole network thing. I bet you'll do it.

Heidi Powell:

Thank you. I need it, love.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

With summer now upon us, I invite

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

you to join us at the kennebunkport Festival. Five days of celebrations centered around food, food, wine, art, music and of course, community. This year's festival is June 5th through 10th and we're especially excited to note that Love Maine Radio's producer Spencer Albee and his band are headlining the Maine Craft Music festival with special guests the Ghosts of Paul Revere. For tickets to the Maine Craft Music festival and details about all the good

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

times waiting for you at the Festival,

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

go to kennybunkportfestival.com all of us at Maine Media Collective look forward to seeing you there. You've been listening to Love Maine radio show number 296, farms and food. Our guests have included Amanda Beale and Heidi Powell. We love to hear from you, so please let us know what you think of lovemain Radio. We welcome your suggestions for future shows. Also let our sponsors know that you have heard about them here. We are privileged that they enable us to bring Love Maine Radio to you each week. This is Dr. Lisa Belisle. I hope that you have enjoyed our Farms and Food show. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your day. May you have a bountiful life.

[Unidentified voice]:

I quiet on the western prom. I hear the ground beneath my feet scrape and crackle as I move along. There ain't nobody here but me. But in a couple days they'll open up the gates and the streets of blood with the thousand ways of evil victory. Some helpless on their knees Some wonder aimlessly throughout their days. For now it's quiet as I walk around over the hill into the east. They drink the coffee sharing what went down. I shake my head and stir my tea but in a couple days they'll open it of the games and the streets of blood with a thousand ways of evil victories. Some helpless on their knees Some wander aimlessly throughout their days. Sam. Streets of blood with a thousand way people victories and helpless on their knees on wander aimlessly throughout their days. Sa.