Food Co-operation #178

Anne Hopkins:

I think to have really secure local food access, it can't just be owned by one person. People have to get involved on a greater level. And that was why I decided to become a co op ultimately, so that in five years, 10 years, I can make a ch about where we're going. And it won't just be me holding everything up. It will be 58, 100, 200 people. Who knows, taking that ownership and making sure that this access still exists and continues to grow.

Kevin Gadsby:

These farmers are passionate about what they do. They actually believe in it. It's not just an occupation. Some of them did not grow up in a farming family, but they've come from elsewhere and they actually deliberately came to Maine, or perhaps they came back to Maine and launched a farming care. And it's a beautiful thing when these farmers come in and these food producers where they bring in their yogurt or their meat or their fresh vegetables and you have these amazing conversations with them and you see a light in their eye about what they do and why they do it. And that's a beautiful thing.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This is Dr. Lisa Belisle and you are listening to Love Maine radio show number 178, Food Cooperation. Airing for the first time on Sunday, February 8th, 2015. Food Co ops are a once radical idea whose time has come. Again. Building on people's desire for nourishing edibles that are locally and sustainably sourced, food co ops offer an increasingly desirable alternative. Today we speak with Anne Hopkins of the Eastport Food Co Op and Kevin Gadsby of the Portland Food Co Op about their experiences as part of this exciting movement in Maine. Thank you for joining us. Today I have the opportunity to speak with somebody who actually was raised right in the next town over from my hometown, but now finds herself living all the way up in Eastport. So it's quite a privilege for us to have Anne Hopkins, who is the manager of the Eat Local Eastport Cooperative, in to talk with us on Love Maine Radio. Thanks so much for coming in.

Anne Hopkins:

Thanks for having me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Now, Ann, I'm kind of fascinated on many levels about your backstory, because I know I live in Yarmouth. I was raised in Yarmouth. You were raised in Freeport, but you are way the heck up there now in Eastport, which is a beautiful part of the world.

Anne Hopkins:

Yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And every reason to be there. But what are those reasons?

Anne Hopkins:

I have to say, the biggest reason that I love the Washington county community is there's an emphasis on family. There's an emphasis on knowing your neighbor. When I graduated from high school in Freeport, I actually traveled down to Brooklyn, New York, and I lived there for seven years. I got my BFA in graphic design. Never used it. Started working in kitchens and started getting really interested in getting away from the standard American diet and was doing lots of cleanses and raw food and things like that. And then every summer, I was really missing Maine, and I started going up to my family's camp, which I had been going to since I was really young, which is across the bay from Eastport and territory called Truscott, which is right in from Lubeck and cabin off the Grid. I thought I was going to sort of go become a hermit in the woods up there. And then I started getting involved. I started making friends who were local farmers, Carly and Aaron, Aaron Bell and Carly Dal, Signor at tidemill Organic Farm, became very good friends of mine and Rachel Bel, who runs tidemill Creamery. I started meeting all these people, and through them, I ended up meeting my husband. And then it's all history from there. And that's what brought me to wonderful Esport. That's where he went to high school.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Maine Magazine did an article on tidemill Farms. And we've really been interested in how we are able to eat locally and sustainably in a state that has a relatively short outdoor growing season. But this is something that we have been doing in this state for generations and generations, people. We are a farming state, so we have that availability. It's just not the way that we think about it in California, say.

Anne Hopkins:

Mm, certainly.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So tell me about your experience with this. First of all, let me start with. You started working in kitchens in Brooklyn.

Anne Hopkins:

Yeah.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And why that? Why food? Why did that appeal to you while you were getting your bfa?

Anne Hopkins:

Well, it was actually after Hurricane Katrina. I ended up going down and doing disaster relief for about six months. And at that time, the greatest way I could plug in was working in the kitchens there because I just have that ability. And within that I started learning about organizing inventory and caring for all of the other components, which feeds into the work that I do currently as a manager of the co op. But food is a way to be creative without with minimal waste. You know, I found that the creativity that food could provide me was really nice. It also gave me a paycheck where being an artist did not give me a paycheck and I could sustain myself that way. Of course, when I move to Washington county, the supporting myself conversation changes drastically. We're a county living in poverty. The population of Eastport year round is 1300. There are less than 10 kids in each grade in the school. Small population and the economics there are really challenging. And so I started to start compensating myself. I had lots of time and so I started working for Carly at tidemill. I started organizing her office and then she would pay me in food and it ended up being a great situation. So I was running barter and at that time my partner, he did web design work for Carly as well. And so he received barter too. So here we were living a financially very frugal lifestyle, but we were eating like kings. We always say, you know, I feel so rich when my freezer's filled with meat or produce and our refrigerator is full. You asked a question about sort of that year round growing season and how do we. That always makes me think like, well, how do we get people to understand how much is available year round and to start thinking about eating with the seasons. And I feel like that's become a lot of that education piece is a lot of the work in local food distribution and patients.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, you described this organizational component and the inventory process. It seems like that is what we used to do. It used to be that we would have food actually growing at one time of the year. We would can it or we would somehow store it and that's how we ate the rest of the year. Yeah, maybe this is something that we've needed to start reincorporating into our lives a little bit more if we want to actually eat locally.

Anne Hopkins:

Yeah, certainly. I mean, I see a shift in my own, my own population that I serve. So I run Eat local Eastport Co op. I'm the manager there. I was the owner of it for four years before that. It's a pre order buying Club and there's three pre order buying clubs in Washington county, one in Machias, one in Eastport and one in Calais. And they were all started at the same time by Tidemill Farm to have an access point for year round distribution. Because the only market at that seven years ago was farmers markets which were open about two months out of the year. And Carly was sitting there with milk, plenty of milk, plenty of meat, and she needed to figure out a way to get that out. So we started just sending out emails. This is what the availability is. Send us an order. And then it started with home deliveries and then people started coming to my house. And then two years ago we moved into a space in downtown Eastport. And then the focus of this past year has been incorporating as a co op and we're a hybrid co op. So we're owned by both our producers and our consumers. We currently have 58 members, which is actually pretty remarkable in our little town. I'm very, very pleased and it's an amazing process to go from this. This was kind of an idea that I had that I wanted to create a co op to really strengthen the conversation about our local food distribution. And my thought had been that with that ownership and that investment and that buy in by the community, they would start getting really, the consumers specifically would get more engaged in talking about production, talking about their needs, talking about how do we help these producers and do that to eat with the seasons and understand that this is a bumper crop for onions, but we don't have tomatoes this year. Let's look at using those onions and really working with what we have there.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Describe this pre order buying situation.

Anne Hopkins:

Right, okay. The pre order buying club is a great, it's a great option for a rural community because it provides access. I currently provide access to depending on the time of year, over the course of the year, about 20 different producers. But I stock minimal inventory. So we have, I send out an email, it links to a website that has our full availability and each of the producers supply me with that. And then my consumers have roughly 48 hours to create, to submit an order. And then I calibrate all of those and I get it back to the producers and then they distribute, they deliver to one location, which is our location. And we break down the orders and have people's total basically come in and there's a box waiting for them filled with their produce or meat or dairy or Krauts or honey. And we just have a coffee roaster that started in Machia. So we've been having coffee which is pretty fun. And we also order from Crown of Maine. So there's a lot that's available. So it's kind of like a CSA in that you say I want this and this comes, but it's specific. You can express exactly what you want and you can come in and get half a gallon of milk for the week or you can come and get $150 worth of groceries for the week. And I have consumers who do both things.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So it is a little different from a CSA or community sponsored agriculture in that it's at least my experience has been that you pay and they give you what there is and there's not really. If you don't eat rutabagas, then you just end up with rutabagas. If you would like more onions, then that's not necessarily available. But. So it sounds like you can be more specific with a buying club.

Anne Hopkins:

Exactly. It's like you have access to the whole grocery store, but you just have to plan ahead. For those listeners who haven't been to Washington county, we are a food desert. The town of Eastport has an iga. It's right across the street from my house. It's a great grocery store, but you can't get local produce there particularly. And there is minimal organic food options. You know, if you want to get natural recycled toilet paper, you're not going to be able to get that unless you go to the health food store in Machia. So we really have a lack of access where we are, which is one of the amazing things about living where we live. The consumer piece of my life is far less. There's no real option to go to the store and buy much of anything. You really have to plan ahead. So the buying clubs are something that are used countywide to really provide access to these kinds of things. And long term, you know, we grow and grow and grow our consumership and our knowledge. And then all of a sudden, you know, we're a full fledged business. We're co op now and we're going to be able to hopefully open a store eventually and really offer this walk in convenience shopping that we all are accustomed to as Americans. But currently we have to plan a little bit.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So the co op piece, describe that. So the evolution has been from buying club to co op. And you said that you now have a place where people can come and this is, this makes it more officially a co op. Or describe to me what the difference between a buying club and a co op.

Anne Hopkins:

We're still a buying club in the services that we offer. Before we were operating, I was just the sole proprietor. And in this past year, we met with many, many people and made many plans and have incorporated similar to what the Portland Food Co Op has done this year.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And you described it as being both. It's a hybrid co op in that you have people who are producers and you have people who are consumers. And there's an equal ownership on that.

Anne Hopkins:

Yeah, so we. So the business structure being a co op and a hybrid co op, as I said, which means that it's owned by both producers and consumers. We have 10 producer members and we have 48 consumer members. So you can see there's a discrepancy there. But we as a steering committee and now board. Well, I'm not on the board, I'm the manager. But thought that it was really important that this not just become about the consumer conversation. Of course, most of this will be consumer driven because that's the majority of the people using it. But the Eat Local Eastport started as an access point for producers. I started doing this work both to feed my family, but also to facilitate my local agriculture, Washington county local agriculture, and to support my farmers. You know, I've been working with some of these farmers, you know, for four years. They've been involved in the buying club even before that. So we're really lucky to have their dedication. We have equal membership. Everybody has one vote. It's not like the producers own half of the co op and the consumers own half of the co op. We all own it collaboratively and together. And one of the goals is that that will really create an active conversation about production every winter. So the producers will be in the room and the consumers will all be in the room, which is a challenge to get producers in a room. They're very, very busy. And I think that the co op model will really help facilitate a conversation. And I'm very excited about that. It's not just me communicating. Oh, the consumers want this. Oh, the producers only have this. It's great that people will be able to be in one room together.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

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Dr. Lisa Belisle:

so when you say that people each have a vote, what types of things do you vote on? What does the conversation entail?

Anne Hopkins:

Will the the biggest part of the member owner voice will be electing the board and the board will make the majority of the decisions for the co op and oversee the manager and the workers. However, if there were a time where currently we only we offer all Maine produced foods, we don't really. Well, except for the peaches that crown of Maine gets from Massachusetts every summer, I think everything else comes from Maine. And so at some point there may be a conversation co op wide about whether we want to introduce more natural foods, we want to have deodorant, toothpaste, I don't know those sorts of things. There may be conversations about our product quality, whether we want to work with only certified organic producers, whether you know, whether we're going to have GMO products in our shop, whether we're going to be using main grow, you know, we know our producer, we know what their growing practices are but they're not certified organic, whether it's conventional, all of these things looking at making those decisions and those are really complicated decisions, you know.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well that is something that as you're talking I'm thinking about that we would love to all of us, I think who are aware would love to have foods that are local, sustainable, certified organic, GMO free, all of the really great things that we know Food could ideally be, but most foods aren't all of those things. This is a hard thing to acknowledge, but it's true.

Anne Hopkins:

Yeah. Recently I was on a panel discussion at the University of Maine in Machias with Carly Delsignor and Jim Garrettson from Wood Prairie Farm. And the conversation was about organic food versus local food. Basically, that's what it boiled down to. And one of the things that Jim was really talking about, he's like, when I go to the store or, you know, when I'm purchasing my food, I ask myself a few questions. Does it come from a family farm? Is it certified organic? And those pieces kind of came together for me at that moment. And I was thinking because. Because it is. It's a funny conversation. You know, currently, you know, my family eats a lot of popcorn, right? I've got a one year old and a four year old. And currently, you know, I can get main grown popcorn, but it's conventionally grown. Or I can, you know, order or purchase organic popcorn. And I get really stuck on it. I still can't answer it. I go, is it better for me to be supporting the main grown popcorn that has been grown with pesticides, or is it better for me to be feeding my kids this organic popcorn? And I don't know where it was grown? And that's such a big conversation that we have to have. It just, it keeps rolling around. And supporting the family farm is so important. I mean, we all hear this and see this and it kind of comes back again and again that the family farm is so important. And the small scale family farm especially, or even the medium scale family farm.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Ann, this work that you're doing is very important to you. Eating local, buying local. Obviously you professionally are working on this, but it's a part of what you do. You also have two small children. You also have already a bfa, but you're spending time at the Maine College of art and you're doing work in bookbinding. So I think this is. It just illustrates for me that local food and food choices are a part of a much bigger picture in people's lives.

Anne Hopkins:

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I feel like I'm doing local food work currently. I mean, I'm an artist. I've always been an artist. Of course, then I had. I became a mother and that was sort of. That took over my life a little bit. And one of the things that my husband Rafi and I love about living in where we do is that we've really both made a choice to be home with our Children, we both work part time. The other half of the time we both spend with our kids, they're always with one of us. And that's the most important thing right at the end of the day for us is that. But at the same time, like this, this access to local food, you know, if somebody is not working very hard on it in Washington county, it's not happening. And luckily, there's lots of people working really hard on it in Washington County. And so statewide, of course, we see this. But, yeah, it is just a piece of it. And that's part of the reason that I really pushed forward with the co op this year is that Eat Local Eastport was just me before this, and I didn't think that that was really. Actually, I want to use the word appropriate, but I think to have really secure local food access, it can't just be owned by one person. People have to get involved on a greater level. And that was why I decided to become a co op ultimately, so that in five years, 10 years, I can make a choice about where we're going. And it won't just be me holding everything up. It will be, you know, 58, 100, 200 people. Who knows? Taking that ownership and making sure that this access still exists and continues to grow and allowing me to maybe pursue wherever the arts take me, hopefully.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Where do you think that's going to be?

Anne Hopkins:

Well, I'd love to have a textile design studio, but we'll see where we go.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

One of the reasons why I think this is such an important conversation is because if you want to have a textile design studio, but it's also really important to you that you live in Eastport, where your husband's family is from, and for you to raise your children there, that this is a conversation that kind of needs to be held in many different parts of Maine, because there's a lot of rural Maine and there are a lot of very creative people. So in order for people to really exist in a sustainable way, the food conversation needs to be taking place just as much as the employment conversation or the arts conversation in a bigger manner.

Anne Hopkins:

Yeah. And I mean, the great thing is, as the local food economy grows, it's creating jobs. I went from just sort of doing this as one of the many things that I do in my life, specifically while I was having babies, to now I'm an employee now, and that's created a job, and it will continue to create jobs. We have trucks that get driven up and down the road. Those are jobs. Of course, all of our producers have jobs and as they are earning some income, but as some of these farms start to grow, it's creating jobs. I have many, many of my friends work specifically for tidemill Farm just because it's such a large. It's the largest farm in Washington county. And of course they have their new chicken processing facility that's happening. The plan is it's going to be USDA certified, so the chicken will be able to go across state lines. And they're planning to be able to process 20,000 pasture raised organic chickens a year, which is a huge number of chickens. But that's creating jobs. You know, it's really, it's important.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah, it's exciting to think about this because you already mentioned that now you have access to coffee which is locally roasted and you're talking about chickens which are going to be. I'm assuming that we've always had chicken processing in Maine or for many years, but I'm assuming this is going to be done in a more humane way, more sustainable way.

Anne Hopkins:

Yeah, well, currently, you know, you can go into the Portland Food Co Op, you can go into the Belfast Food Co Op, you can go up and down the coast and you can get tidemill organic chicken. They're being processed in a pretty small trailer right now. This facility will mean really much better work environments for the workers specifically. It also means they're going to be able to process year round, which creates a huge amount of access to fresh chicken. I feel like one of the hard parts of local food, meat specifically, is that it's often frozen. And that's not what, you know, that, that's not what I grew up, you know, going to shop and save and I wasn't getting frozen meat. You know, we were getting fresh meat. And having more access to fresh meat is a huge, is huge for our customers, huge for our consumers.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And now we also have, we have grain that's locally milled. So it's nice that Washington county, which was once known basically for blueberries, is now becoming again this really amazing resource of locally grown other things, chickens and other things that tidemill produces totally.

Anne Hopkins:

And so many other producers. And there's just so much room still. There's so much rum. And that's one of the things, you know, we have our Washington county producers who, you know, most of my producers do vegetables. Not much storage crops at this point. That's starting to shift a little bit. And the Crown of Maine has been a really wonderful access point because it shows us it supports the Washington county producers because, you know, we're filling in the gaps from statewide from our Washington honey production, but that creates the market so that our local producers can come in and fill, start filling in so we can get carrots more year round that are grown even closer, you know, or whatever it is. Yeah. And of course grain is amazing.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And it's been very interesting to hear about the process that you've personally been able to be involved in in making local food more available to the people in your community. How can people find out about Eat Local Eastport?

Anne Hopkins:

I think the simplest way is to just do a Google search for Eat Local Eastport that will bring you to

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

our

Anne Hopkins:

online ordering system, which is called Harvest to Market. And then we also have a Facebook page, Eat Local Eastport.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, I appreciate your coming in and speaking with us today. We've been talking with Ann Hopkins, who is the manager of the Eat Local Eastport Cooperative and also artist and mother of two. Keep up the good work. It's really good that you're making this food, this nourishment available not only to your family, but helping make it available to the people who live in your community.

Anne Hopkins:

Thank you. Thanks, Lisa. I appreciate your time.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

As a physician and small business owner, I rely on Marcy Booth from Booth, Maine to help me with my own business and to help me live my own life fully. Here are a few thoughts from Marcy.

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Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Before we move to our next guest, I thought you might be interested to hear an update on my situation. Several weeks ago I revealed to you that I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I'm happy to report that my surgery was successful and they were able to remove all of the cancer. I'm perhaps even happier to report that the genetic testing I chose to have performed was negative, so my two daughters and four sisters are not apparently more at risk than the general population. This is an indescribable relief as we are recording this. It is exactly two weeks to the day that I had a bilateral mastectomy with lymph node biopsy. The beginning of my breast reconstruction began that day as well. Those of you who have had this procedure or know someone who has understand that this is significant surgery impacting not only the chest wall but also the arms. Yesterday I was told that I can now lift up to four pounds, the equivalent of a half gallon. This is a vast improvement. I'm still not able to drive nor have I been able to return to my medical practice. I won't be cleared to run for several weeks, but I've been walking miles around the small main island on which I live. This is one of the most healing practices I could possibly engage in. I am also able to use my voice and thus I was able to return to record the radio show and interview the wonderful guests who become part of our radio family. To have a job I love and work with people I love is a great gift. Equally wonderful is the chance to connect with each one of you. Thank you for listening to our show each week and for being part of our story. We at Love Maine Radio and Maine Magazine know that we could not do what we do without you. In particular, thank you for being part of my personal story. Your kind messages through email, social media, text and letters have been greatly appreciated. I have felt loved and supported throughout this most interesting breast cancer journey. You are each a part of that. I may no longer have the breasts that God gave me, but I know that I am cancer free and more importantly, I am surrounded by love. Thank you my friends for sharing your light with me. Here on Love Maine Radio. Food is a topic that comes up for us quite a lot as we know that nourishing ourselves is an important, important aspect of health and wellness. Today we have with us Kevin Gadsby. Kevin is the General Manager of the recently opened Portland Food Co Op. Previously he was General Manager of Goodturn Co Op in Rockland and he also worked at Rising Tide Co Op in Damascata. Thanks so much for coming in and talking to us today.

Kevin Gadsby:

Thank you very much.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So the food co op is an idea that's been around for a long time and you've been working in various food co ops a good part of your life. It's not a usual sort of straight path occupation from what I've seen. How did you get to be doing this?

Kevin Gadsby:

Right? Well, I've been in the natural foods industry for roughly 20 years. Started in college, worked at the local health food store. I was actually a member of the local co op in town. And there was really a sense of community in a sense, especially at the co op, you felt like it was partly yours and you took identity with it. And there's something to be said about that, especially when you couple that with food. Because to me, what I often talk about is that the essence of food is community. It's bringing people together, it's sharing, it's cultivation, it's all these things and creates something really beautiful that people take identity with. And so being in the natural foods business, I had the opportunity to manage different places. I started small businesses and I came up to Maine a few years ago. My wife is originally from Maine and we had been living in the Boston area for roughly 14 years with three kids in tow. We felt like we needed to change and so we thought Maine might be a good place to raise our kids. So we came up to Maine and there was an opportunity at the time to purchase a privately owned natural food store and I went to work for them. Didn't work out as far as acquiring the business, but from there, since we moved to Maine, we've met some pretty amazing folks, very talented, very creative people, people who often tell the story, or we've heard the story often told, I guess I should say, from several of the folks that we've met that they came to Maine, didn't know if they were going to stay, but then couldn't leave. And that's where we find ourselves. So through various connections with friends and so forth, a good friend of ours at the time, I was working in Rising Tide, Damar Scotta at the co op there. And another friend of ours told us of an opportunity in Rockland at the co op there and said, you know, they're looking for a general manager. And at the time, actually I should say we were deliberating as to whether we were going to stay in Maine or whether we should head back to Massachusetts. And we were just on the cusp of heading back to Massachusetts and we said, okay, let's Give it a shot. Let's try the Rockland thing and see what happens. And so sent my resume and ended up as the general manager there in Rockland. And the experience there was amazing. The good turn co op has been around for 30 years and they've been doing well, small co op. But when I got there, I give my full heart to whatever I do. So I got there and I started immediately seeing ways that we could grow and expand. And it happened. We grew. I think the first year we grew at the rate of about 25% over the previous year. We were able to hire five more people during the time that I was there. And the most exciting part of that for me is we were able to grow in our little place, the local food economy, as much as we could by bringing in product made by Vame producers. And I think that's the most exciting part of it for me is not only being able to create a work environment that empowers people to grow and excel and do their job well, but also there's something really special going on in Maine right now with food.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You're originally from elsewhere.

Kevin Gadsby:

I was born and raised in the Philadelphia area, went to school in Michigan, and then again ended up in the Boston area for a number of years.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What was it about the natural food scene that attracted you initially when you were going to school in Michigan as a college student?

Kevin Gadsby:

Right.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

That's not something that every college student ends up being interested in.

Kevin Gadsby:

Sure, yeah. Well, at the time, I was a philosophy and religion major, and so there was lots of questions about life and existence and, you know, on and on. And during that time frame, I had contracted Lyme disease. Extremely debilitating. This was back in like 92, 93. And in fact, I had contracted living on a farm in Pennsylvania. And I think at the time, Lyme disease was not nearly as prevalent as it is today. Lived on this beautiful farm, rolling hills. I would walk down through these fields and to the creek and deer were everywhere. And I thought nothing of it. Ended up in Vermont subsequent to that and was became bedridden, pretty much totally debilitating. I was in bed for at least three weeks. I could hardly eat. I could not walk. I could not. I mean, I literally could not move. I was laid out. Doctors had no idea what was happening with me. Finally, I called an uncle of mine who was in Philadelphia and I explained the symptoms of what was happening to me. And immediately he said, it sounds like you have Lyme disease. So I flew back home to Philadelphia, got treated for Lyme Disease went on these heavy duty antibiotics. And a good friend of mine, their family, they were old hippies and herbalists and naturalists and I mean organic food and everything. And so when they heard what had happened to me, and especially that I had to go on pretty intensive antibiotic treatment immediately got me on homeopathics, cleansing, probiotics, organic food, juicing and you know, the works. And I really do believe both with the care that was extended to me through them and the wholesome food that they were feeding me, that I don't have any repercussions from Lyme disease. As actually, I know many people that have had Lyme disease over the years and several people just can't quite kick it. They can't get over it. And I actually am a firm believer that it was through the dietary choices and the lifestyle choices that I made back then that I don't have any ill effects from Lyme disease these days. So that's kind of what launched my passion for food. And food is medicine, really.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, I agree. And I also agree that it's to be offered in such a loving and nurturing way is very important. So equally important to the idea that food is medicine, is the person that's giving it to you, cares about you, or is making suggestions for homeopathic remedies or whatever that is. And that's what is also interesting to me, that this idea of a co op, it's not just you go in and you buy something, you're a consumer, it's this idea that you're with a group of like minded individuals who also feel like this is an important thing to them.

Anne Hopkins:

Food.

Kevin Gadsby:

Right. And I've certainly experienced that with many of our relationships with food producers and farmers and so forth, because we deal with them not just as business folks in a business relationship, but you actually get to know them, you actually become friends with them. You talk about life and the world and why we exist and how does food fit into that picture. And so many of the folks I've met in Maine in particular these farmers, are passionate about what they do. They actually believe in it. It's not just an occupation. Some of them did not grow up in a farming family, but they've come from elsewhere and they actually deliberately came to Maine, or perhaps they came back to Maine and launched a farming career. And it's a beautiful thing when these farmers come in and these food producers where they bring in their yogurt or their meat or their fresh vegetables and so forth, and you have these amazing conversations with them. And you see a light in their eye about what they do and why they do it. And that's a beautiful thing.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It is a beautiful thing because it's not just. Food is not just about its physical constituents. It's about the energy that's put into its production. So really, to know that you're eating something that somebody really cared enough about about to do it in a high quality way, in a mindful way, I think that that actually is healing in and of itself.

Kevin Gadsby:

I totally agree. Yeah. Yeah. And we have the opportunity. So now in Portland, we are literally adding new product weekly, if not daily from main producers. Whether it's like I said, I mean, I've mentioned a few things, but cheese, yogurts, raw milk. Somebody came in with a beautifully packaged organic cracker the other day, and it was just. It wasn't just a cracker. It was full of all kinds of Maine goodness, but there was beauty in the packaging and the person was great to talk to. And so that's probably one of the most satisfying things about it is to see this emerging food culture happening. And that's really what drew me to Portland from Rockland, because things were actually going quite well in Rockland. At the co op there. We were doing well. We had a great staff, great devoted team of people there. And the opportunity came. In fact, I'll tell you how it happened. As the general manager there, I caught wind that Portland was putting together a food co op and they were looking for. Well, actually at the time, we went through an interior renovation up there in Rockland, Portland. We got all new shelving, new refrigeration and so forth. And we had stored all of our old equipment in a warehouse. And some of the folks that were starting up the Portland Food Co Op had heard about our storehouse of equipment and inquired about it. And I met with them, and we ended up donating all of the old shelving, some old refrigeration, an old produce case and so forth to the Portland Food Co Op at the time to help them get going. And that equipment was able to be used as collateral for a major loan that the Portland Food Co Op obtained from an entity called the Cooperative Fund of New England, which was a huge jumpstart for them. And at that time, I had no intention of even thinking about becoming the general manager of the Portland Food Co Op. And it wasn't until months later that I saw the posting for general manager at Portland Food Co Op. And again, it was the same kind of situation. I said to my wife, I don't know if I should do this. Things are going well in Rockland. Why do I need to do this? One thing led to another and I signed up, sent my resume and was accepted as the general manager and started in May in 2014 and it's been an amazing process to get this place going.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

what you're describing is a very kind of a network of positive feedback which I really like because I think that it would be easy for you to have said I had Lyme disease. My life is built around my Lyme disease. You could have gone in a very negative direction with that and instead you're like, I had Lyme disease. This was the direction my life took and it really was a positive thing and I'm better for this experience. And now I'm going to bring this positive outlook on life to the work that I do. And it sounds like the kind of feedback that you get when you put that positive out there is also very positive. I mean it must make it a nice place to work.

Kevin Gadsby:

It's a great place to work, yeah. And I think part of that is I've learned to, especially having served in management positions over the years, to really instill an attitude of trust to my employees or my co workers where I give them freedom to do their job. I'm not a micromanager. I certainly have oversight. But what I communicate, in fact I communicate it throughout the interview process. When we would interview people, we'd ask them, so what is your ideal workplace and what is your ideal work ethic and how do you view management and so forth. But when trust is given to other people, I think it empowers them. And when more responsibility is added to people and you step back and let them do their job, even if they make mistakes, that's. It's all part of it. But that ability to trust and extend trust and be trusted is so valuable and so important, and it's so rewarding to be able to do that. So I speak to that because I speak of that work culture and how rewarding it is. So when I said it's a great place to work, I think that's all part of it. It's that ability to extend that to other people.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

There was also at one point, a very rich natural food scene in Portland. I know that the Good Day Market at one point existed also. The whole grocer at one point existed. Then when Wild Oats came into town, the Good day, I mean, the whole grocer went away. And I'm wondering if there haven't been people who have been kind of silently waiting to see what would happen next, because we do have a great large chain natural food store. But there is something very different about the smaller places, right?

Kevin Gadsby:

In fact, we have probably daily people come in and reminisce about the Whole Grocer in particular. That seemed to be the community market for years. And we often get. People come in and say, oh, it reminds me of the whole Grocer. And in fact, we interviewed several people during the interview process that had worked at Whole Grocer and a few in particular who had worked for Whole Grocer. And then through that transition with Whole Grocer and Whole Foods and Wild Oats, they went from Whole Grocer to Wild Oats to Whole Foods and Full Circle now back to the Portland Food Co Op. And so we at least have one employee that went through that whole series of events. And, you know, I say this not to criticize any other entity at all, but to say that there is something special about the smaller, more intimate space that people identify with. It's not too overwhelming. It's warm, it's inviting. You know, you can find each other with ease. You can. There's a real social aspect of it where you're all there together in this little space.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And yeah, I also think that when you are in a smaller space, if there's something that you have a particular interest in, you can share that knowledge. What I've noticed, I live closer to Royal River Natural Foods, and when I go into Royal river, there's a person that seems to. To have quite an extensive Background in, for example, supplements. I think that's really worthwhile to know that what you have, what you can bring to the table is valued. Whether it's about supplements, whether it's about, I don't know, grains in the bulk section, or whether it's about fruits and vegetables and how to cook them. And I think to feel as though what you have experienced in your life matters, I think that's big.

Kevin Gadsby:

Yeah, yeah, I think so too. And I know the staff that we have now, they're passionate about what they do, they're passionate about food, and they extend that passion to the folks that come in. And it means something to people. I mean, how often do you go in and have a conversation with somebody in the dairy aisle about this crafted yogurt or kefir that's on the shelf and who makes made it and where it came from, and who the farmers names are and things like this. It's very special to people.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You have three children?

Kevin Gadsby:

I do.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And you're married to a woman from Maine?

Kevin Gadsby:

Yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It seems as though in order to do the job that you do, you would have needed significant, first of all, family support. I mean, you needed to have a wife who said, yes, go take this next job, we'll be there. But also, I would think that you would. The work that you do would sort of suffuse your family environment. The love of food, for example, or the importance of cooperation. Has this become kind of a lifestyle thing for you and your family?

Kevin Gadsby:

It has, absolutely. And in fact, I've been very fortunate to have worked in the environments that I have over the years to be able to bring my children into that environment. And you'll often find my son David working with me on Sundays at the the co op. He loves it. I mean, and all three of them, I have two girls and a boy in the middle, so. But all three of them, they long for the day when they can come to work with me and be a part of that. Because I think they too, they feel this sense of community. It's not just what dad does, but they go there and they jump right in with the other folks that work there. And there's a real sense of belongingness, I think, even for them. Yeah, it's a beautiful thing.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And how old are your kids now?

Kevin Gadsby:

14, 11 and 7.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So this is your 11 year old that likes to go in the store. That's kind of an interesting thing for an 11 year old boy to be interested in working at a food co op, right?

Kevin Gadsby:

Exactly. I know it. And he's a super athlete too, and you'd think he'd just want to go off and play ball and things like this. But he actually when I'm getting ready to go to work and if it's on the weekend and he's home, he begs to go with me. So I feel privileged for that.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

For people who are interested in the Portland Food Co Op and would like to perhaps become a member or maybe stop by where would you direct them for more information?

Kevin Gadsby:

Sure. Well, we've got quite a wealth of information on our website, www.portlandfood.co op. Also, they can send us an email at infooortlandfood.com you can join right on the website or you can stop in. And of course we're open to everyone, not just member owners as well.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I will plan to go back again myself. I've been there one time. It's up on the Hill, is it not correct?

Kevin Gadsby:

We are at 290 Congress Street. Yes, in the Rite Egg Plaza.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I really appreciate your coming in and talking to us today about the co op and about the work that you've done. And I agree with you that food is medicine. So I would highly recommend anybody that's looking to enrich that part of their lives to look into the Portland Food Co Op. We've been speaking with Kevin Gadsby, who is the general manager of the recently opened Portland Food Co Op. And for people who would like more information, please feel free to visit their website or to visit their store up

Kevin Gadsby:

on 290 Congress Street.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

290 Congress Street. Thanks so much for coming in, Kevin.

Kevin Gadsby:

Thank you.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You have been listening to Love Maine radio show number 178, food cooperation. Our guests have included Anne Hopkins and Kevin Gadsby. Follow me on Twitter and see my running travel, food and wellness photos as bountiful1 on Instagram. We love to hear from you, so please let us know what you think of Love Maine 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 Food Cooperation show. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your day. May you have a bountiful life.