Ellsworth Feed and Seed

Well, we are back. Way earlier this year, for several reasons: We pulled in to our driveway on April 18. We watched spring go backwards while we were on the road north, leaving daffodils and cherry blossoms behind in Washington, D. C., almost a month ago. Now here on Deer Isle, daffodils are in full bloom, and cherries and apples have yet to appear. Only a few trees show any signs of green yet.

After we have been in residence a day or two, we always head to Ellsworth and one of our very favorite stops, Ellsworth Feed and Seed, tucked in behind the L. L. Bean Outlet on High Street. We stumbled on it a few years ago, and it is So Cool!

Elllsworth Feed and Seed is not a fancy place, which is part of why we like it so much. Despite it being housed in a sort of newish metal building, it feels like an old fashioned store. It is CRAMMED with stuff for the farm and garden.

So cold it was on the day we were there, as you can see by the mud and puddles in these photos. The last time we visited, there must have been a dozen tractor trailer boxes being used as extra storage for hay, straw and the like. Plus multiple stacks of bags of fertilizer, peat and potting soil.

Inside is a warren of crowded aisles. Most delightful (and terribly hard to resist) are the baby chicks for sale:

Three different kinds were in this display, and a poster beside listed many varieties and when they would be available, including ducks and turkeys. Every once in awhile a man would appear with a cardboard box that cheeped, and he would pour in a dozen or two more of the fluff balls. Another poster featured handmade chicken coops for $500. And as if that weren't enough, you could order a piglet. Or two or three:

The sign says: "Pick up service provided when your pig is ready to be butchered." Now that is service.

We were there for seed potatoes:

There were plenty of varieties to choose from. We got some of the old fashioned ones that I recognized from my Aroostook County past: Kennebecs, Green Mountains, and Cobblers.



Then to the bird seed department, which had mixtures so tasty looking that you could put out for hors d'oeuvres. 

Then to the cash out, not so bad a hit as other places that are a lot more expensive, but you have to pay in cash or check. I always forget that they do not take credit cards. And then see if you can make it out the door without buying more, like these strawberries:

In pursuit of real cider

I admit it. I was culturally deprived child. Hard not to be, when you grew up in Presque Isle, waaaay up north in Maine.

It's true: I never had real cider until I well into adulthood. At least as far as I can remember.

The cider of my childhood was the Bessy's Cider my grandmother served children at family gatherings, which came in gallon jugs, crystal clear, probably pasteurized,  and was indistinguishable from apple juice.

Real cider, I found out, is unfiltered, unpasteurized, untreated, with no added preservatives. It is cloudy, a rich golden brown, a tad thick, and absolutely delicious. What passes for real cider in the supermarkets these days has sodium benzoate added as a preservative. Not good.

The first Real Cider that I remember was from the Lollypop Shop, midway between Bangor and Bucksport. The Lollypop Shop was a modest place that carried bolts of yard goods, catering to women who sewed, but had the good fortune of being located in an apple orchard. So in the fall, the Lollypop Shop sold the most wonderful cider, the bench mark for all cider since. Ice cold from the fridge, just the right mixture of sweet and tart, no one could drive off before uncapping the gallon jug and taking a big swig. Or two.

The Lollypop Shop disappeared years ago, so I had to switch to Merrill Farms, on the road from Bangor to Ellsworth. I can still smell the store, cold inside with bags of several varieties of apples, cheddar cheese, and a fridge full of cider. Then, Merrill Farms got sold in 2001 and the orchard disappeared. Lloyd Capen's orchard and cider press here on Deer Isle substituted for a couple of years, then Lloyd's age got in the way (he died in 2008), and no more cider.

I noticed in the Island Ad-Vantages that the historical society here was hosting a cider pressing a couple of weeks ago, so we went. Here is the process:

 Cut up the apples, then grind them (That's Drew working the crank):

Then pour the crushed pulp into the cider press:

Crank away at the press:

And out comes cider:

Magic!

But this was just a demo. Where can we buy the stuff locally?

Presto!

On route 175 north of Brooklin, and sort of half way between Blue Hill Falls and the Flye Point Road, you'll find 5 Star Nursery and Orchard. We bought some super fruit trees here last spring and got a quick tour of their cider pressing operation. And they are pressing. Here is the result:

Yummy cider, and we hear the aged cider vinegar is fabulous. Plus peaches and cherry tomatoes.

But we went for the cider!

P. S. We are going to Maine Apple Day later this month. Stay tuned for a report.

P. P. S. I forgot. My college roommate was from Union, in the heart of Maine apple country. She went home every weekend and brought back a gallon of real cider. We kept it cold on the window sill, and by Thursday, it was hard. Talk about good...

Mushrooms, mushrooms everywhere!

Drew and I have been doing shrooms -- not the psychedelic kind that get you high, but the ordinary kinds that anyone can find when walking around in the forest. Some edible (we only trust ourselves with a few species), some highly poisonous, and a lot we don't know.

We went on a couple of mushroom walks last week, one in Surry sponsored by the Blue Hill Heritage Trust and the other on Deer Isle by Island Heritage Trust, both led by David Porter, a local expert on mushrooms who retired several years ago from the University of Georgia at Athens. David knows his shrooms.

David said you can't go five feet without seeing plenty of mushrooms, and with about fifty sets of eyes helping out, he was right. The "walk" was more like "take a few steps and then stand around looking at what people found." It was great fun.

I seemed to have an eye for yellow -- here's what turned out to be yellow earth tongues:

And an unknown one:

Here's David with a clump of honey mushrooms, a new variety for me, edible, and Drew and I found plenty of them on our own land later:

And I found "the catch of the day" on the Deer Isle walk, a lovely patch of chanterelles. As David said, "Now we are talking!" Chanterelles are edible and choice. This was the biggest and best one I had ever found, and I got to take it home. We had it with pasta that night for dinner:

I found out about these walks in the Island Ad-Vantages, in the "Coming Events" section. It can be a nuisance to read through all the notices, but that's where the best info is. I also found out, via the "Coming Events" section, about a cider pressing that I will write about in the next post ... stay tuned!

Homage to Maine Drive In Restaurants

It's hard to imagine, but life used to exist before McDonald's. The precursor to the golden arches were the drive-in hamburger and hot dog stands. In Presque Isle, where I grew up, Keegan's was THE place to be. Never mind that it was essentially the ONLY place to be for young people. If you had a few dollars, you could go there and get something yummy (i. e. full of sugar, salt, and fat) for a reasonable price. Maybe you would see your friends. "Lights on for service" meant you didn't even need to get out of your car.

If you didn't have any money, or even a car to drive around in, you were in rough shape. The other activity was "tooling Main Street," which meant driving from one end to the other, turning around, and then doing it again. Yeesh. No wonder I was desperate to get out.

Keegan's closed years ago, but the other favorite was Winnie's which I loved because of their great onion rings:

Sadly, according to the web, Winnie's has closed in the past year, but not before the owner made a bundle with her lobster stew recipe. (How hard is lobster stew, anyway? Maybe I can make a bundle too...)

Back in 1967 when I was dating my first husband, he took me to the Mcdonalds on Broadway in Bangor, one of the first in Maine and certainly the first I had ever been to. I could not believe how fast he was in and out with a bag of fifteen cent hamburgers, and the fries and milkshakes that set the standard from then on, probably for not much more than a dollar or two for us both.

Thank goodness that the drive in restaurant is alive and well here in Hancock County. Maybe because we haven't got the population to support a Mcdonalds or Burger King, though the appearance of a Dunkin' Donut in Blue Hill this summer is sobering.

So here are the three drive-in treasures on the Blue Hill Peninsula: The Bagaduce Lunch, the Fish Net, and Madeline's. Both the Bagaduce and the Fish Net have been around for years.

Bagaduce Lunch gets the "Stunning Location" award hands down. Located right beside the reversing falls of the Bagaduce, in good weather, chomping down on a fish sandwich at the Bagduce Lunch's picnic tables cannot be beat. And how many times will you dine at a place that won an American Classic James Beard Award (2008)? Click here to see a video about the Bagaduce and their award.

The Bagaduce is pure business, closing ASAP right after Labor Day. Whew.

The Fish Net in Blue Hill is lowest on the totem pole location-wise (on the inside corner of where the very busy Maine Street heads up a steep steep hill), but it fits perfectly with menu and style. Here's the Fish Net's menu, posted outside, which could be for each of these three fine establishments:

The Fish Net closes around October 1.

Madeline's on Deer Isle popped up a few years ago. Madeline's is not on the water, but has a woodsy location on the main road north of the village and the High School that the owners have spruced up with picnic tables and a play area. Old timers on Deer Isle remember another Madeline's across the road, the remains of which are still visible. The new Madeline's is really Madeline's 2.

For us, Madeline's wins out, unless we are in Blue Hill and hungry, or want to make a special trip to the Bagaduce. Even though the Bagaduce has the reputation (I mean, James Beard must know what he is talking about, right? -- Yeah, I know, he is dead...), the food at the three places is pretty much the same. Hamburgers, crab and lobster rolls, fried clams or scallops, french fries and onion rings. And ice cream.  Who could ask for more?

Madline's closed for the season the last week of September. Now there is no place to go on a sunny day for a greasy hamburger, until next spring. Sigh.

Closed for the Season?

A couple of weeks ago was my favorite day of the year here on Deer Isle: The day after Labor Day. This is the first Day-after-Labor-Day that I have been here since I moved away in 1992, and it was just as wonderful as I remembered. Why has it become my favorite? Because that's the time the year 'rounders "take back the island." The summer traffic drops precipitously and suddenly there are social invitations from people who have been so busy working or entertaining visitors or both that you haven't seen or heard from them in months. You can actually make it through the Burnt Cove Market without stumbling over crates of food waiting to be shelved or addled looking summer people looking for their favorite city food. And the weather? Oh my. Cool, clear and crisp. Think colored leaves, apples and cider.

(One Friday morning just before Labor Day, the Burnt Cove Market was strangely quiet and I whipped through my shopping list. The cashier said "Farmers' Market Day" -- that's where everyone was, getting their croissants from Tinderhearth, their Mason jar of 44 coffee, and their organic meats and cheeses. Not to be found at Burnt Cove, for sure.)

What I hadn't remembered, at least with such a sense of finality, was how fast things closed down for the season, or maybe for good. Just a few days later, I headed off to Blue Hill with the goal of trying out Seas the Day, a breakfast and lunch place across from Tradewinds I had heard good things about. Seas the Day had the unfortunate bad luck of opening the same summer as the new turn-about construction in their front yard that halted traffic for sometimes as much as a half-hour, and as if that wasn't bad enough, a Dunkin' Donuts opened right next door. (Dunkin' Donuts in Blue Hill??? That in itself seemed an abomination.)

Well, poor Seas the Day. Here's what I was greeted with:

That sign in front of the ramp/door says: "Closed Thank You," and outside the picture frame on the left is a "For Sale" sign. Only open a couple of months, and the round-about just got finished so traffic is moving just fine. I guess they couldn't take the reduction in the summer traffic.

Drew and I went to the Bagaduce Lunch for a fish sandwich and the sign in the window said they were closing on Saturday September 7th. (Did you know that the Bagaduce won the James Beard Award as an American Classic?) Madeline's on Deer Isle closes for the season on September 29.

Then my friend Christine invited me to a fancy tea at the lovely Pentagoet in Castine -- but the day of it, she called and said it was cancelled -- we were the only ones to sign up!

Sigh.

And in the Island AdVantages last week, there was an article that THREE businesses in Deer Isle village will be closing after this season: Neva Beck of the The Periwinkle is retiring (47 years in business);The Lester Gallery; and (maybe) Harbor Ice Cream. Since there are only about six business IN Deer Isle village, these closings will certainly have an impact.

Even the summer people who have stayed past Labor Day mostly seem to be leaving in September or in early October.

But then, I have been getting notices from the Opera House about the Winter AtlMovie Series. They are trying to get 90 folks to sign up at $45 each to make the series a "go." We'd do it, but will only be here for two of the seven scheduled films (we are heading south in early November). I heard they were within 15 of the goal. We've been to two movies there in the last week, first-run films and well attended. I see a notice for an eight week swing and waltz lessons in Blue Hill. Colloquy Downeast has ardent fans. And the Ukulele School is gearing up. I just heard about an active crafts group that meets Tuesday mornings in Brooklin. Book groups florish.

And summer people ask "What do you do here in the winter?"  Stick around past Labor Day to find out.

Strong Beer for Strong Men ... and Women

A few weeks ago, I noticed a classified ad in the Island Advantages that was sure to capture Drew's interest: a beer tasting at a fledgeling brewery in Sedgwick. We had no idea where we were headed, but typed the address into our trusty GPS and set off. Imagine our surprise when we ended up directly across from the stop sign at the end of the Mines Road (Route 15 from Blue Hill, where you take a left towards Deer Isle): set back from the road is a chicken and duck pen, then a modest raised ranch house. In the last week, a rather swank sign has popped up:

Al and Mia Strong moved to Maine from New Jersey, largely drawn and inspired by the growing micro brewery activity here. The Strongs are starting what they call a nanobrewery, in their basement garage.

Tiny and modest though it is, Strong Brewing has a real professional flair. The tiny garage cum brewery is tidy and spotless. I've been in a few, so I know.

Al and Mia have worked this past year or so to raise money to get the brewery going. According to Kickstarter, they raised $8,385 by April 16, 2013, and continued their fundraising efforts using a model called Community Supported Brewing, similar to the more familiar Community Supported Agriculture, where people buy shares in a farm's produce, to come later in the season. Same with CSB: you buy a share or half share that then entitles you to fill a 32 or 64 oz. growler a certain number of times (48 or 24 -- see the Strong Brewing website for details).

Drew has been waiting anxiously for the word from Strong Brewery that all was in place (they had recently gotten licensed by the State of Maine), the necessary plumbing needed completing, and the first big batches brewed and ready for dispensing. The word came last week: It was a "Go!" and Strong Brewery was hosting Open House tastings over the weekend. We visited Saturday when  music and food would add to the delights.

Red hot dogs! My father loved them, and the beer would have put him in seventh heaven.

Brewmaster Al mixed with the guests and talked about his favorite topics, Beer and Strong Brewery:

Mia was in the tap room, dispensing the day's four varieties:

And Drew finally got to take home his growlers of Strong Brewery beer:

Here's what Strong Brewery had on tap:

We tend to be dark beer fans, and the Soulpatch Porter was decidedly yummy. The Localmotive, with a bright, clear taste, was a very nice summery beer. The Blue Barren, a lovely pink with a light frothy head, was fruity without being sweet -- flavored with blueberries, of course. They are looking for help peeling peaches this weekend, so sounds like a peach beer is coming down the pike.

Strong Brewery is definitely a home-grown effort, similar to Tinderhearth and Millcreek, with a rustic appearance and appeal. All are putting out a quality product at a fair price, with no golden arches or big corporations backing them up. Let's support them, and buy local! And, btw, eat and drink fabulously.

Great scene, greater pizza!

First, you need to plan ahead.

Tinderhearth in Brooksville only makes their delish wood fired pizzas on Tuesday and Friday nights. You have to order early in the day, after they post the varieties they are making that night on their Facebook page. When you call to order, don't bother leaving a message, because they won't call back. Keep calling until you get a live person.

Then, ask what time slots are available for your pizza: they will tell you, to the minute, when yours should be done. Ours was 6:38pm.

Next, pack picnicking gear (silverware, paper plates, napkins/paper towels) and drinks and maybe a salad. We saw folks with beer and/or wine. And head on over. Depending where you live on the peninsula, it can be a bit of a drive. From our house in Sunset, it was a little over a half hour.

The cars parked along the road were the first sign (beyond the GPS lady's instructions) that we had arrived, in front of a rambling, unassuming farmhouse. We ventured in through an open door to a maelstrom of activity -- these photos actually seem much more serene than the actual event:

The sort of host guy in the gold sequined sun visor gave us the ETA of our pizza, told us to look for a place at a table out back, and let him know if we could not find a place to sit: "We'll make it work, bring out more tables," he said.

Just outside the back door were picnic tables, with more hidden further out in the orchard. Folks were already there (pizza making starts at 5pm, so many probably had come and gone), and the scene was down home, old hippies and the newer generations, and so pleasant.

Then the wait as fabulous looking pizzas came out one and two at a time from the same back door that we came through. It wasn't too long before ours arrived:
 

That's my hand reaching for one. It was HUGE, and I thought for sure we would have left-overs. But it was so good, and the crust so thin and crispy, that we ate all but one slice.

Rumor has it that sometimes there is entertainment on Fridays (a ukelele band?). On Tuesdays, there are movies in the barn just down the road at David's Folly. Talk about home-grown entertainment!