Down on the farm, to market he will go
Kennebec Journal - 7/12/2009. By Betty Adams – The newest member of the Winthrop Farmers' Market is also the youngest. Kevin Leavitt, who just turned 18, and is a 2009 graduate of Winthrop High School, is sole proprietor of Farmer Kev's Organic Produce. On Saturday, his "Farmer Kev" stand nestled among five other canopy-covered farm stands at the Winthrop Farmers' Market. Bright blue and green plastic buckets held chard, beets and beet greens, lettuces and other garden greens. Along with onions and lettuces, he planted potatoes, beans and other vegetables. A wooden basket of peas in pods – his first of the season – sat near a scale. |
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Hunger doesn’t take a break
Kennebec Journal - 7/12/2009.Editorial – The tens of thousands of Maine children whose parents can't afford to feed them are given free or reduced-price food at school during the academic year. A federal program subsidizes those meals for children whose families live in poverty, or very close to the poverty line. It's one of the most effective federal programs at fighting hunger. But what happens when school lets out? |
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Organic farmers urge Hood boycott
Bangor Daily News - 7/11/2009.By Sharon Kiley Mack – DEXTER, Maine – A group of organic farmers representing three different producers is calling for a nationwide boycott of all H.P. Hood branded products and Stonyfield Organic Milk, also produced by Hood, because of what they term unfair business practices. |
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When farmers feel despair
Bangor Daily News - 7/11/2009.By Sharon Kiley Mack – Increased suicide among farmers is a national trend and Maine is not exempt. “They don’t call it a depression for nothin’,” one Maine farmer, who asked not to be identified, said recently. Earlier this year, a farmer in southern Maine hanged himself in his barn. Recently, two central Maine farmers in separate communities – one an organic milk producer – shot and killed themselves. |
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