Transcription of Food Co-operation #178
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Dr. Lisa Belisle is a physician trained in family and preventative medicine, acupuncture, and public health. She offers medical care and acupuncture at Brunswick Family Medicine. Read more about her integrative approach to wellness in Maine Magazine.
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Now here are a few highlights from this week’s program.
Anne: I think to have really secure local food access, it can’t just be owned by 1 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 5 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 58, 100, 200 people, who knows taking that ownership and making sure that this access still exists and continues to grow.
Kevin: 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. They actually deliberately came to Maine or perhaps they came back to Maine and launch a farming career. 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. You see a light in their eye about in what they do and why they do it and that’s a beautiful thing.
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Lisa: 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 8, 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 and 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 from the next town over from my hometown but now finds herself living all the way up is Eastport. It’s quite a privilege for us to have Anne Hopkins, who is the manager of the Eat Local Eastport Cooperative and to talk with us on Love Maine Radio.
Thanks so much for coming in.
Anne: Thanks for having me.
Lisa: Anne, I’m 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 a way the heck up there now in Eastport, which is a beautiful part of the world.
Anne: Yes.
Lisa: Every reason to be there, but what are those reasons?
Anne: I had 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. Whether I graduated from high school in Freeport, I actually traveled down to Brooklyn, New York and I lived there for 7 years. I got my BFA in graphic design; never used this, started working in kitchens and started getting really interested in getting away from the standard American diet and I was doing lots of cleanses and raw food and things like that.
Then every summer I was really missing Maine and I started going out to my family’s camp, which I’d been going to since I was really young which is across the bay from Eastport, a territory called [Treskat 04:23], which is right in from Lubec and the [inaudible 04:30]. I thought I was going to go become a hermit in the woods up there
Then I started getting involved … I started making friends who were local farmers. Aaron Bell and Carly DelSignore at Tide Mill Organic Farm became very good friends of mine and Rachel Bell who runs Ted Mill Creamery. I started meeting all these people and through them ended up meeting my husband and then it’s all history from there. That’s what brought me to wonderful Eastport. That’s where he went to high school.
Lisa: Maine Magazine did an article on Tide Mill Farms and we’ve really been interested in how we are able to eat locally and sustainably in a state that has relatively short outdoor growing season. This is something that we have been doing in this state for generations and generations. We are a farming state so we have that availability. It’s just not the way that we think about it in California, USA.
Anne: Certainly.
Lisa: Tell me about your experience with this. First of all, let me start with you started working in kitchens in Brooklyn.
Anne: Yes.
Lisa: Why that? Why food? Why did that appeal to you while you were getting your BFA?
Anne: It’s actually after Hurricane Katrina, I ended up going down and doing disaster relief for about 6 months. At that time, the greatest way I could plug in was working in the kitchens there because I just have that ability. 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.
Food is a way to be creative with minimal waste. 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 moved to Washington County, the supporting-myself conversation changes drastically where a county living in poverty the population of Eastport year round in 1,300. There are less than 10 kids in each grade in the school, small population and the economics there are really challenging.
I started to start compensating myself. I have lots of time and so I started working for Carly at Tide Mill. I started organizing her office and then she would pay me in food that ended up being a great situation, so I was running barter. At that time, my partner he did web design work for Carly as well and so he received barter, too. Here we were living financially very frugal lifestyle but we were eating like kings. We always say, “I feel so rich,” when my freezer is filled with meat or produce in our refrigerator is full.
You asked the question about year round growing season and how do we … that always makes me think like how do we get people to understand how much is available year round and to start thinking about eating with the seasons. I feel that’s become a lot of … that education piece is a lot of the work in local food distribution in patients.
Lisa: Will you describe this organizational component and the inventorying process? It seems that is what we used to do. It used to be that you 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 eat the rest of the year. 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: Certainly. I see a chef in 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 4 years. Before that, it’s a pre-order buying club and there’s 3 pre-order buying clubs in Washington County; one of them in Machias, one in Eastport, and one in Calais.
They were all started at the same time by Tide Mill Farm to have an access point for year-round distribution, because the only market at that 7 years ago was farmer’s market, which were open about 2 months out of the year. Carly was sitting there with plenty of milk, plenty of meat and she needed to figure out a way to get that out. We started just sending out emails as this what the availability is, send us an order. Then it started with home deliveries and then people started coming to my house.
Then 2 years ago, we move into a space right in downtown Eastport. Then the focus of this past year has been incorporating as a co-op and we’re a high-breed co-op. We’re on by bolder producers and our consumers. We currently have 58 members, which is actually pretty remarkable in our little town. I’m very, very pleased. It’s an amazing process to go from this idea that I have that I wanted to create a co-op so that to really strengthen the conversation about our local food distribution.
My thought had been with that ownership and that investment and that buying by the community. They would start getting really … The consumer 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 like, “This is a bumper crop for onions. We don’t have tomatoes this year. Let’s look at using those onions,” and really working with what we have there.
Lisa: Describe this pre-order buying.
Anne: The pre-order buying club is a great option for 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. I send out an email. It links to a website that has our full availability and each of the producers supply me with that.
Then my consumers have roughly 48 years to submit an order and then I calibrate all of those and I get it back to the producers and then they deliver to 1 location, which is our location. We break down the orders on how people totals. They basically come in and there’s a box waiting for them filled with their produce or meat or dairy or croutes or honey.
We just have a coffee roaster that started in Machias. We’ve been having coffee which is pretty fun. We also order from Crown of Maine. There’s a lot that’s available. It’s like a CSA in that you say, “I want this,” and this comes but it’s specific. You can express exactly what you want. You can come in and get half a gallon of milk for the week or you can come and get 150 dollars worth of groceries for the week. I have consumers who do both things.
Lisa: Just a little different from a CSA or community-sponsored agriculture in that at least my experience has been … Do 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 like more onions, then that’s not necessarily available but it sounds you can be more specific with the buying club.
Anne: 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 area 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. If you want to get recycled toilet paper, you’re not going to be able to get that unless you go to the health food store in Machias.
We really have a lack of access where we are, which is one of the amazing things about living where we wed. 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.
The buying clubs are something that are used countywide to really provide access to these kinds of things. In long term where we grow and grow and grow our consumership and our knowledge and then all of a sudden, we’re a full-pledged 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-convenient shopping that we all are accustomed to as Americans but currently, we have to plan a little of that.
Lisa: The co-op piece, describe that. The evolution has been from buying club to co-op and you said that you now have a place where people can come. This makes it more officially a co-op? Describe to me what the difference between a buying club and a co-op.
Anne: We’re still a buying club in the services that we offer. Before we were operating, I was just the sole proprietor. 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.
Lisa: Can you describe it as being both … It’s a high-breed co-op and then you have people who are producers and you have people who are consumers and there’s equal ownership on that?
Anne: Yes. The business structure being a co-op and a high-breed 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. You can see there’s a discrepancy there. We as a steering committee and now board; I’m not on the board, I’m the manager; thought that it was really important that does 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.
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. I’ve been working with some of these farmers for 4 years. They’ve been involved in the buying club even before that. We’re really lucky to have their dedication.
We have equal membership. Everybody has 1 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. One of the goals is that that will really create an active conversation by 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 the room. They’re very, very busy.
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 1 room together.
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Lisa: When you say that people have … each have a vote, what are the things do you vote on? What does the conversation entail?
Anne: The biggest part of the member-owner voice will be electing the board. The board will make the majority of the decisions for the co-op and oversee the manager and the workers. However, there were a time where currently we offer all Maine-produced foods. Except for the peaches that Crown of Maine gets from Massachusetts every summer, I think everything else comes from Maine.
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 we’re going to have GMO products in our shop, whether we’re going to be using Maine … 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.
Lisa: 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: Recently, I was on a panel discussion at the University of Maine in Machias with Carly DelSignore and Jim Gerritsen from Wood Prairie Farm. The conversation was about organic food versus local food; basically, that’s what it boiled down to. One of the things that Jim was really talking about is that when I go to the store, when I’m purchasing my food, I ask myself a few questions, “Does it come from a family farm? Is it certified organic?” Those pieces came together for me at that moment and I was thinking … It’s a funny conversation.
Currently, my family eats a lot of popcorn. I’ve got a 1-year-old and a 4-year-old. Currently, I can get Maine-grown popcorn but it’s conventionally grown or I can 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 Maine-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?”
That’s such a big conversation that we have to have. It keeps rolling around. Supporting the family farm is so important. We all hear this and see this and it 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.
Lisa: This work that you’re doing is very important to you, eating local, buying local. Obviously, professionally you’re working on this but it’s a part of what you do. You also have 2 small children. You have already a BFA but you’re spending time at the Maine Culture of Art and you’re doing work in bookbinding. I think it just illustrates for me that local food and food choices are a part of a much bigger picture in people’s lives.
Anne: Yes, absolutely. I feel like I’m doing local food work currently. I’m an artist. I’ve always been an artist. Of course, then I had … I became a mother and that was I took over my life a little bit. One of the things that my husband Raffy 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, at the end of the day for us is that.
At the same time, this access to local food if somebody is not working very hard on it in Washington County, it’s not happening. Locally, there’s lots of people working really hard on it in Washington County and statewide, of course, we see this. 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. I didn’t think that that was really actually … I want to use the word appropriate.
I think to have really secure local food access, it can’t just be owned by 1 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 5 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 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.
Lisa: Where do you think that’s going to be?
Anne: I love to have a textile design studio, but we’ll see where we go.
Lisa: 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 to raise your children there that this is a conversation that 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. 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: The great thing is as the local food economy grows, it’s creating jobs. I went from just doing this as one of the many things that I do in my life specifically while I was having babies, too. 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 earning some income. As of these farms start to grow, it’s creating jobs. I have many, many of my friends work specifically for Tide Mill Farm just because it’s such the largest farm in Washington County. Of course, they have their new chicken-processing facility that’s happening. The plan is that it’s going to be USDA certified so the chicken will be able to go across [inaudible 28:45]. They’re planning to be able to process 20,000 pasteurized organic chickens a year, which is a huge number of chickens but that’s creating jobs. It’s important.
Lisa: 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 we always had chicken processing in Maine for many years but I’m assuming this is going to be done in a more humane way and more sustainable way.
Anne: Currently, 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 Ted Mill 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.
One of the hard parts of local food meat specifically is that it’s often frozen. That’s not what I grew up, going to Shop ‘n Save and I wasn’t getting frozen meat. We were getting fresh meat and having more access to fresh meat it’s huge for our customers, huge for our consumers.
Lisa: We have grain that’s locally milled in Maine. It’s nice that Washington County, which was once know basically for blueberries, is now becoming again this really amazing resource of locally ground other things, chickens and other things that Tide Mill produces.
Anne: Totally and so many other peers there’s just so much room still. There’s so much room and that’s one of the things … We have our Washington County producers. Most of my producers do vegetables, not much storage crops at this point, that’s starting to shift a little bit.
The Crown of Maine has been a really wonderful access point because it shows us … It supports the Washington County producers because we’re filling in the gaps statewide from our Washington County production, but that creates the market so that our local producers can come in and start filling in so we can get carrots more year rounds that are grown even closer or whatever it is. Of course, grain is amazing.
Lisa: That’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 Co-op?
Anne: I think the simplest way is to just do a Google search for Eat Local Eastport that will bring you to our online ordering system, which is called harvest to market. Then we also have a Facebook page, Eat Local Eastport.
Lisa: I appreciate your coming in and speaking with us today. We’ve been talking with Anne Hopkins who is the manager of the Eat Local Eastport Cooperative and also artist and mother of 2. Keep up the good work. It’s really good that you’re making this food, this nourishment available not only to your family but hope you make it available to the people who live in your community. Thank you.
Anne: Thanks, Lisa. I appreciate your time.
Lisa: As a physician and small business owner, I rely on Marci 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 Marci.
Marci: When was the last time you took a break from what you were doing, from the work that was piled up on your desk and just looked up? I know that during the course of my days, I often forget to take a moment or 2 to just breathe, look up at the sky, and dream. Terrible that I have to remind myself to breathe, but when I do, I feel energized because in those moments I’m able to let go of the daily grind and think more about what I want to accomplish, how I want my business to grow.
Sometimes those are the aha moments. If we all took a few moments out each day to stop what we were doing and dream a little about our business futures, not only would we feel a great sense of calm but we may come to realize that these dreams can in fact come true.
I’m Marci Booth. Let’s talk about the changes you need; boothmaine.com.
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Lisa: 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 and perhaps even happier to report that the genetic testing I chose to have performed was negative. My 2 daughters and 4 sisters are not apparently more at risk than the general population. This is an indescribable relief.
As we are recording this, it is exactly 2 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 were no 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 4 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 Maine Island on which I live. This is one of the most healing practices I could possibly engage in. I’m 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 emails, social media, texts 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 breast that God gave me, but I know that I’m 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 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 Good Tern Co-op in Rockland and he also worked at Rising Tide Co-op in Damariscotta.
Thanks so much for coming in and talking to us, Kevin.
Kevin: Thank you very much.
Lisa: 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 straight-path occupation from what I’ve seen. How did you get to be doing this?
Kevin: I’ve been in the natural foods industry for roughly 20 years, started in college, worked at a 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 it was partly yours and you took identity with it. There’s something to be said about that, especially when you couple that food. 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 it creates something really beautiful that people take identity with.
Being in a food business, I had the opportunity to manage different places. I started small businesses. I came up to Maine a few years ago. My wife is originally from Maine and we’d been living in the Boston area for roughly 14 years. With 3 kids entail, we felt we needed to change and so we thought Maine might be a good place to raise our kids.
We came to Maine and there was an opportunity at the time to purchase a privately-owned natural food store. I went to work for them. Didn’t work out as far as acquiring the business but from there, since we move 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 off until, 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.
Through various connections with friends and so forth, a good friend of our at the time I was working in Rising Tide Damariscotta at the co-op there and another friend of ours told us about an opportunity in Rockland at the co-op there and said, “They’re looking for a general manager.” 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. We were just on the cost of heading back to Massachusetts and we said, “Let’s give it a shot. Let’s try the Rockland thing and see what happens.”
I sent my resume and ended up as a general manager there in Rockland. The experience there was amazing. The Good Tern Co-op has been around from 30 years. 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.
I think the first year we grew at the rate of about 25 percent over the previous year. We were able to hire 5 more people during the time that I was there. 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 Maine producers. 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.
Lisa: You’re originally from elsewhere?
Kevin: I was born and raised in the Philadelphia area, went to school in Michigan and then again ended up in the Boston area for number of years.
Lisa: What was it about the natural food seem that attracted you initially when you were going to school in Michigan as a college student? That’s not something that every college student ends up being interested in.
Kevin: At the time, I was philosophy and religion major and so there was lots of questions about life and existence and on and on. During that timeframe, I had contracted Lyme disease, extremely debilitating. This is back in ’92, ’93. In fact, I had contracted living on a farm in Pennsylvania. 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 became bedridden pretty much, totally debilitating. I was in bed for at least 3 weeks. I could hardly eat. I could not walk. I could not … Literally, I could not move. I was laid down. Doctors had no idea what was happening with me.
Finally, I caught an uncle of mine. He was in Philadelphia and I explained the symptoms of what was happening to me. Immediately, he said, “It sounds like you have Lyme disease.” I flew back to Philadelphia, got treated for Lyme disease, went on these heavy-duty antibiotics.
A good friend of mine, they’re family … They were old hippies and herbalist and naturalist, organic food and everything. When they heard what 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 the works. 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.
I know many people that 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. That’s what launched my passion for food and food is medicine, really.
Lisa: I agree and I also agree that 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 a homeopathic remedies or whatever that is. It’s also interesting to me that this idea of the co-op is 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, food.
Kevin: 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 in the world and why we exist and how does food fit into that picture.
Many of the folks I had 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. They actually deliberately came to Maine or perhaps they came back to Maine and launch a farming career.
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. You see a light in their eye about in what they do and why they do it and that’s a beautiful thing.
Lisa: It is a beautiful thing because food is not just about its physical constituents. It’s about the energy that’s put into, it’s for action. Really to know that you’re eating something that somebody really cared enough about to do it in a high-quality way and in a mindful way, I think that that actually is healing in and of itself.
Kevin: I totally agree. We have the opportunity to know in Portland, we are literally adding new product weekly if not daily from Maine producers whether it’s, like I said, much in the few things but cheese, yogurts, raw milk.
Somebody came in with a beautifully packaged organic cracker the other day and it wasn’t just a cracker. It was full of all kinds of Maine goodness. There was beauty in the packaging and the person was great to talk to. That’s probably one of the most satisfying things about this is to see this emerging food culture happening.
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. They were looking for … Actually, at the time we went through an interior renovation up there in Rockland. We got only shelving, the refrigeration and so forth and we had stored all of our old equipment in a warehouse.
Some of the folks that were starting the Portland Food Co-op had heard about our storehouse and equipment and inquired about it. I met with them and we ended up donating all of the old shelvings and old refrigeration and old produce case and so forth to the Portland Food Co-op at the time to help them get going. 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.
At that time, I had no intention of even thinking about becoming the general manager of the Portland Food Co-op. 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 I will need to do this. One thing led to another and I signed up, send my resume and I was accepted as the general manager and started in May in 2014. It’s been an amazing process to get this place going.
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Lisa: What you’re describing is 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 works that I do.” It sounds the feedback that you get when you put that positive out there is also very positive. It must make it a nice place to work.
Kevin: It’s a great place to work. 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 coworkers where I give them freedom to do their job; I’m not a micromanager. I certainly have oversight but what I communicate and in fact I communicated throughout the interview process when we would interview people. We’ll ask them, “What is your ideal workplace and what is your ideal work ethic and how do you view managements,” so forth.
When trust is given to other people, I think it empowers them. When more responsibility is added to people and you step back and let them do they’re job even if they mistakes, it’s all part of it. 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. I speak to that because I speak of that work culture and how rewarding it is. When I said it’s a great place to work, I think that’s all part of it that ability to extend that to other people.
Lisa: 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 while those came into town, the Whole Grocer went away and I’m wondering if there haven’t been people who have been silently waiting to see what would happen next. We do have a great large team natural food store, but there is something very different about the smaller places.
Kevin: 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 and say, “Oh, it reminds me of the Whole Grocer.” In fact, we interviewed several people during the interview process that had worked at Whole Grocer and a few in particular who would work 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. We at least have 1 employee that went through that whole series of events.
I say this not to criticize any other entity at all but to say that there is something special that the smaller, more intimate space that people identify with. It’s not too overwhelming. It’s warm. It’s inviting. You can find each other with this. There’s a real social aspects on it. We are all there together in this little space.
Lisa: I also think that when you are in a smaller space if there something that you have a particular interest in, you can share that knowledge. What I’ve noticed … I live closer to Royal Rive Natural Foods and when I go into Royal River there’s a person that seems to have quite 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. I think to feel as though what you have experienced taking your life matters. I think that’s big.
Kevin: I think so, too. 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. How do often do you go in and have a conversation with somebody in the dairy aisle about this craft in yogurt or kefir that’s on the shelf and who made it and where it came from and who the farmer’s names are and things like these. It’s very special people.
Lisa: You have 3 children?
Kevin: I do.
Lisa: You’re married to a woman from Maine?
Kevin: Yes.
Lisa: It seems as though in order to do the job that you do, you would have needed significant first of all family support and when you needed to have a life who said, “Yes, go take this next job. We’ll be there.” Also I would think that you would … the work that you do it fused your family environment, the love of food for example or the importance of cooperation. Has this become a lifestyle thing for you and your family?
Kevin: It has, absolutely. In fact, I’ve been very fortunate to have worked in the environments that I had over the years to be able to bring my children into that environment. You often find my son David working with me on Sundays at the co-op. He loves it and all 3 of them. I have 2 girls and a boy in the middle. All 3 of them, they long for the day when they come to work with me and be a part of that.
I think they, too. They feel the 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. There’s a real sense of belongingness I think even for them. It’s a beautiful thing.
Lisa: How old are your kids now?
Kevin: 14, 11, and 7.
Lisa: This is your 11-year-old that likes to go in the store. That’s an interesting thing for an 11-year-old boy to be interested in working at a food co-op.
Kevin: Exactly. I know it. He is a super athlete too and you think he just want to go off and play ball and things like this. When I’m getting ready to go to work and this is on the weekend and he’s home, he begs to go with me. I feel privileged for that.
Lisa: 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: We got [quite wealthy 56:54] information on our website, www.portlandfood.coop. Also they can send us an email at [email protected]. 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.
Lisa: I will plan to go back again myself. I’ve been there one time. It’s up on the hill, is it not?
Kevin: Correct. We are at 290 Congress Street in the [Rite Aid Plaza 57:22].
Lisa: I really appreciate you coming in and talking to us today about the co-op and about the work that you’ve done. 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. For people who would like more information, please feel free to visit their website or to visit their store up on …
Kevin: 290 Congress Street.
Lisa: … 290 Congress Street. Thanks so much for coming in, Kevin.
Kevin: Thank you.
Lisa: You have been listening to Love Maine Radio, show number 178, Food Cooperation. Our guests have included Anne Hopkins and Kevin Gadsby.
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