1. INSIDE
WHAT’S WET CLEANING? | 2
SAFER CYCLING | 2
NEW PLANTS FOR 2015 | 5
RECIPE: BLACK SEA BASS | 6
PROJECTS BEING CONSIDERED OR UNDERWAY
M
y weekly trips to my local
farmers markets in Brunswick
and Topsham became more
fraught this winter, after I learned I
was pregnant with our second (and
last!) child, another boy, due just
before the fall equinox in September.
At the market, I load up on the fresh
greens, root vegetables, lean grass-
fed meats, choline-rich farm eggs
and even Omega 3-rich fish (smelts)
recommended during pregnancy
– and Lola’s A.B.C. (avocado, bean
and-cheese) burritos. But I also find
myself tempted by delicacies most
health care providers tell pregnant
women to avoid (or consume in
moderation): fresh raw milk, gooey
raw-milk cheeses, micro-brewed
beer, mead, cider and freshly roasted
coffee.
Let’s just say I’m eating with a bit
more abandon this second preg-
nancy, guided by intuition, though
my rational, cautious economist
husband stays on my case when I
get lackadaisical about such risks.
Maybe I’m hewing to the guidelines
less because I don’t feel as by-the-
book pregnant this time. And with
listeria bacteria contaminating
everything from cantaloupe to Blue
Bell ice cream to Sabra hummus –
and salmonella in eggs from indus-
trial hen houses and even in those
packaged pine nuts recently recalled
by Hannaford – somehow small-
batch foods from my local farmers
and purveyors feel safer.
I’m fatigued, gaining weight more
rapidly (15 pounds by 16 weeks) and
struggling to feel the magic this
second time around. Brunswick/
Bath-area massage therapist Kate
Nicholson reassured me and other
students in the prenatal yoga class
she leads that mine is a normal
feeling. Fortunately, I’m less fraught
with anxiety than I was when preg-
nant with Theo, who is now almost
4. With him, impending motherhood
felt like leaping off an unknown cliff.
I’ve craved salty chips, gummy
candy and licoric and all tropical,
citrus and tangy dried fruits. The
now-bleached, spent halves of
grapefruit I threw in the backyard
when snowdrifts blocked my path to
the compost bin testify to my craving
most mornings this winter. I admit to
indulging in more imported pro-
duce than usual: whole ripe, golden
pineapples; papayas; shriveled pas-
sionfruit; and creamy, but still often
green-tinged and unripe, Ataulfo
mangoes.
And, of course, sour pickles (not
with ice cream), preferably wild-fer-
mented, garlicky dills. I guzzle the
tangy leftover juice straight from the
Bubbie’s pickle jar. I just cracked
open dilly beans I pickled from Crys-
tal Spring Farm, with garlic from my
own garden, and plan to pickle local
asparagus, which I last canned 30
minutes before going into labor with
Theo.
I’ve accessed a Tao of nutrition
more this pregnancy, craving
balanced meals without obsessing
about their nutrients. By the second
trimester, our bodies start to demand
the foods we need. As we divided
up the bulk foods ordered quarterly
by our Merrymeeting Buying Club,
Brunswick mom Eli Arlen told me
that during her son Micah’s ges-
tation, she swooned over iron-rich
grass-fed hamburgers at dinnertime,
then found herself downing half a
quart of calcium-fortified yogurt in
front of the fridge when 3 a.m. hun-
Locavore credo – and cravings – guide pregnancy nutrition
THE FARM-TO-TABLE FAMILY
By MEREDITH GOAD
Staff Writer
More local foods on patients’ and students’ plates. A public orchard
where any passerby can pick and eat apples, pears or peaches. A big
urban farm that could supply food to Portland’s schools, hospitals and
other institutions. And goat mowing.
Yes, goat mowing.
Those are some of the more visible projects being worked on by
a wide-ranging group of Portlanders who have joined the Mayor’s
Initiative for a Healthy and Sustainable Food System. Mayor Michael Brennan formed the
initiative in 2012 after participants in a casual community food forum expressed a desire
for a council that could work on the city’s food policy and on increasing residents’ access to
local foods.
Portland is not alone. Nationally, cities from Burlington, Vermont, to Baltimore are spon-
soring food policy initiatives, whether it be through the U.S. Conference of Mayors Food
Policy Task Force or the more informal food policy council movement.
In Portland, six subcommittees meet regularly to work on diverse projects that meet the
initiative’s lofty goals: to produce as much food as possible in the city, to make healthier
food “the easier choice” for residents, and to create economic opportunity and inspire
Please see FAMILY, Page S3
Please see FOOD, Page S4
LAURA McCANDLISH
URCESO
EST.
1862
Maine Press Association’s Newspaper OF THE YEAR
EATING AND LIVING SUSTAINABLY IN MAINE
SUNDAY, April 26, 2015
GOAT
HERDERThe city of Portland,
interested in usinggoats to keep thelandscape trimmedand weed-free, seeks
a qualified goat herder
for a pilot project that
could begin as early as
summer.
BIG IDEA?
What’s the
In Portland, it’s everything from goat mowing to more community gardens
and a public orchard, as city dwellers sink their teeth into projects for
the Mayor’s Initiative for a Healthy and Sustainable Food System.
n MAINTAINING and further developing the
public Mt. Joy Orchard, where anyone can pick
the apples, peaches and pears planted there.
n SERVING more local food – including Maine
seafood – at schools and hospitals in the city.
n REVAMPING or writing new city ordinances
governing beekeeping, and the raising of sheep,
pigs and goats in an urban setting.
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