Nezinscot Farm Retailer, a farm stand and gourmand store, in rural Turner, Maine was awarded a James … [+] Beard Basic Award.
Courtesy of Nezinscot Farm Retailer
Most James Beard Basic Awards are given to chi-chi eating places on the Higher East Facet of Manhattan or farm-to-table eateries in San Francisco, however hardly ever to locations reminiscent of Nezinscot Farm Retailer, situated in rural Turner, Maine, a city of 5,817 individuals, about an hour’s north of Portland, Maine.
It was, in reality, the primary time a farm stand has obtained this accolade. And Gloria Varney, who co-owns Nezinscot together with her husband Greg, was equally shocked. When Gloria was first contacted by the James Beard Basis about profitable, her first response was “they’d made a mistake. Was this actual?” Greg thought it was a prank. Now that it has settled in, Gloria stated, “she feels honored.”
Advertisement
Furthermore, for the reason that award was bestowed, her café enterprise has spiked by about 70%, which she attributes to the publicity.
Because the couple took over the farm 27 years in the past in 1986 from Greg’s dad and mom, they maintain increasing it. It now features a gourmand meals store, café, espresso store, bakery, fromagerie, charcuterie and yarn and fiber retailer. That each one occurred (no pun supposed) organically.
A rural farm that become a multi-faceted farm stand and café Nezinscot Farm Retailer has been rising its enterprise, profitable awards and seeing it income rise.
Actually, since they took over the reins, Nezinscot Farm has reworked from “wholesale to retail, and now entails a dozen value-added merchandise together with yogurts and cheddar-cheese,” she said.
Advertisement
And that produces diversified income streams. It boils right down to 41% of income from its bakery and café, 10% creamery, 8% boucherie,8% fiber studio, and 33% from retailer gross sales of bulk baking objects reminiscent of pasta, rice, herbs and spices.
The a number of income streams “create the success of what we’re doing,” Varney asserted. “If we simply had a fiber studio that limits my site visitors. Individuals come for one cause after which get uncovered to the six different avenues of the farm and are extra apt to purchase.”
Gloria Varney describes Nezinscot Farm Retailer as a “diversified natural dairy, whose finish aim is to teach on the significance of realizing the place your meals comes from, how it’s created and caring about native economics and its significance in wholesome communities.”
It was the primary natural dairy to be licensed in Maine. What makes it natural, Varney revealed, is that “We don’t use any chemical substances, fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides, to manage pests. If you happen to’re elevating animals, you possibly can’t use antibiotics, hormones or medication to extend manufacturing.”
Its farm produces a wide range of objects together with, “retail meat from our sheep, beef, pork, hen, turkey, duck, goose and goats, and cheese from each goat and cow’s milk from our herd,” she defined. Then it additionally produces canned items, jams and jellies from their produce and fruit. And at last it yields intensive fiber merchandise from its wool yarns from its flock of sheep, angora goats, rabbits and alpacas.
Advertisement
The eggs which can be served within the café have been hatched, often the day earlier than, which ensures freshness, or after they say straight from the farm, they imply it.
“The café and farm,” she notes, “serves because the hub that permits individuals to come back by and style all that we have now to supply.”
That permits them to maintain seven full-time staff, which is boosted by two or three extra full-timers in summer season, which produces about 70% of their annual income.
In addition they generate some wholesale income through promoting uncooked milk to Natural Valley, a Wisconsin farmer’s cooperative and bread and eggs to a number of shops in Maine, inside a radius of an hour. It doesn’t become involved in any ecommerce.
It has two divergent seasons. Within the winter, it “caters principally to locals and folks heading to the mountains whereas the summer season guests embody numerous vacationers who trip inside a ten to 20-mile radius or have summer season properties on lakes and ponds within the surrounding areas,” she famous.
Advertisement
Greg manages the dairy and farming and all issues mechanical, and Gloria is the baker and cheesemaker and manages the workers.
Why is farming so vital? Varney replied, ”Since you want two main issues to outlive: meals and water. And realizing the place your meals is coming from is essential. We’ve got to assist native and regional techniques that produce meals and water.”
Requested in regards to the future, Varney stated she “envisions persevering with to do what I’m doing and using some extra individuals in key areas of development within the creamery and café.”
Because the couple took over Nezinscot Farm Retailer 27 years in the past in 1986 from Greg’s dad and mom, they maintain increasing it. It now features a gourmand meals store, café, espresso store, bakery, fromagerie, charcuterie and yarn and fiber retailer.
People sun themselves and a few people swim in the water at a significantly less crowded Old Orchard Beach on Sept. 6. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
Maine saw about 9% fewer tourists this summer compared to 2023, in part because of less available housing and fewer visitors staying with friends and family or in second homes.
The state’s tourism office released its summer visitor tracking report and found that while there were fewer tourists this past summer, they spent more. People staying in paid accommodations spent more than usual, resulting in only a slight decrease in overall spending compared to last year.
The total direct spending for summer 2024 was $5,152,155,100.
Advertisement
Tourists also spent less time in Maine. The total number of visitor days dropped 15.5%, largely because not as many people stayed for long periods of time in second homes or with friends and family, according to the report.
« Previous
Report finds that America is catching and eating a little less fish
For most Maine deer hunters, a fantasy buck is in their mind’s eye. This is the trophy buck that will tip the tagging station scale in excess of 200 pounds.
We have all seen him in our daydreams, a big-racked, thick-necked bruiser of a deer ghosting his way through a tangled cedar bog as the morning mist mixes with his frosty breath.
Some of us are not die-hard trophy deer hunters. Oh, we’d love to have this fantasy buck in our crosshairs, but a doe or a young deer in the freezer will often do.
After more than 60 years of deer hunting, and after having hung a few on the game pole, I have a perfect record of never having tagged one weighing more than 200 pounds, and I may never.
Advertisement
But this November, I am still skulking about in the deer woods.
For a number of years now, some hunters have lobbied hard for the state to impose antler restrictions in an effort to bring about a more plentiful age class of older, larger bucks. There are some downsides to antler restrictions, and Maine deer biologists as a rule do not support the policy.
There may be another way to grow larger bucks in Maine. It’s simple really: let the young ones grow.
This week the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife issued a press release encouraging deer hunters this fall to take a doe for the freezer and let the young bucks go. The department cited the new permit system that allows licensed hunters to have up to three antlerless deer permits. Filling your freezer with does will let young bucks mature into big bucks.
The MDIF&W pointed out that its biological data show the average yearling buck has three or four antler points, while a 2-year-old buck has six or seven. There’s a difference in weight, too. A yearling averages a dressed weight of 122.5 pounds, while a 2-year-old buck will dress out to about 148.6 pounds.
Advertisement
“While the most significant antler development takes place between the yearling and 2-year-old age classes, it’s not until around year 5 that our Maine bucks begin to approach their peak antler growth potential,” the department said. That’s the age they reach peak weight too, approaching 200 pounds.
There is some deer harvest data to suggest that we may not need antler restrictions to cultivate larger bucks in our whitetail population.
According to MDIF&W, there has been a discernible decline in the harvesting of yearling bucks. It was most pronounced in last fall’s deer harvest data.
It may well be that the deer hunter’s new two-deer option — a buck and a doe — may work to produce larger deer as hunters put a doe in the freezer and then hold out for that buck of a lifetime.
V. Paul Reynolds is of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide and host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network.
The average costs of heating fuels have stayed steady since October, Maine sellers report.
Price surveys of companies selling firewood, heating oil, kerosene and propane are published by the state Governor’s Energy Office every other week during the heating season. So far, averages are almost the same as last month, the lowest November cost since 2021.
That’s a change from the previous two Novembers, when prices spiked around this time, causing anxiety and uncertainty for some homeowners. Prices sometimes rose later in the winter before 2021, so there’s still a chance they will climb again.
The average price for heating oil across the state is $3.37 as of Tuesday, two cents less than last month. It’s a few cents less in central, northern and Down East Maine, and a few more in the southern part of the state.
Advertisement
Seasoned firewood remains around an average of $350 per cord, including delivery charges. An average house could use five or six cords per winter.
Kerosene averages $4.23 a unit and propane $3.27, within 10 cents of last month’s prices; costs are also higher in the southern part of the state and lower elsewhere for these fuels.
Among traditional heat sources, firewood is the most efficient, the governor’s office has said. At $350 per cord, firewood costs $15.91 per million Btu, the cheapest option except for the lowest end of natural gas costs.
Next most efficient are wood pellets, at $22.12 per million Btu, followed by heating oil at $24.30, kerosene at $31.33 and propane at $35.80. Electric heat pumps range from $24.03 to $28.99 depending on the unit’s efficiency, according to the office.
For people struggling to afford firewood, some regions are setting up “wood banks,” which offer free wood, like a food pantry for heating supplies. Volunteers hope to have more of them set up across the state in future years.
Advertisement
There’s also still time to apply for state heating aid if you haven’t yet. Local nonprofits or your town office may have aid programs for weatherizing your home or helping with fuel costs, too.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25742142/Aqara_Valve_Controller_T1.jpg "Aqara’s new DIY-ready smart water shutoff works in more smart homes with Matter")
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25724877/Super_Nintendo_World.png "The next Nintendo Direct is all about Super Nintendo World’s Donkey Kong Country")
