Please join us for our February Potluck and an extremely informative and inspiring event in which Cheryl Wixson presents us with the fruits of her research and experience on how Maine can feed itself in the future. This event is being co-sponsored by the UNE Office of Sustainability, Resilient Homes and the Cape Farm Alliance.

The Maine Local 20 are 20 foods that Maine could produce for the citizens of the state to enjoy year round. It is one piece of a research project, Can Maine Feed Itself, that identifies the Maine food pyramid and components of a sustainable food system. In addition to her research project, Wixson will discuss strategies to put food security within our reach.

Here is Campus Map and a Parking Map for the UNE Portland Campus.
$3-5 Suggested Donation at the Door to cover our speaker's travel expenses to come down; No one turned away for lack of funds.

We will begin by sharing a potluck meal at 6:30 followed by the talk starting around 7:00 pm. We should wrap up around 8:30 or 8:45 depending on questions.

Potluck Breakdown
Last Name A-G: Bring a salad or side dish
Last Name H-M: Bring a snack or appetizer-type item
Last Name N-S: Bring bread or a beverage
Last Name T-Z: Bring a dessert

Please remember to bring your own potluck kit (plate/bowl/utensils/cup/napkin)! Please consider bringing your digital camera and posting up a few photos after the event!

Cheryl Wixson grew up on a dairy farm in Winslow, Maine. She is a third generation graduate of the University of Maine, and is the University's first woman agricultural engineer. After 10 years in the pulp and paper and telecommunications industry, Wixson founded a catering company and small restaurant that served international cuisine featuring organic Maine products. The last meal served at her restaurant was a nine-course meal featuring Petunia, Wixson's pig, that achieved international notoriety when code enforcement determined it was residing illegally in the same neighborhood as novelist Stephen King. Cheryl then retired from the restaurant business to bake cookies and raise crops, rabbits and three daughters on her organic, urban farm in Bangor. In 1999, Wixson built a state-of-the art kitchen and educational facility dedicated to teaching people the joys and benefits of healthy eating and cooking utilizing Maine products while supporting a sustainable environment. Cheryl is a food columnist for the Bangor Daily News, consults with restaurants from Maine to California, develops recipes for food manufacturers and hosted two Maine Public Television series, the latest being What's for Suppah?. She has studied food science and human nutrition at the University of Maine, is a master composter, and teaches kindergarten children that food comes from farms. Cheryl is an Organic Marketing Consultant for MOFGA.

Toby Hemenway, author of the acclaimed "Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Homescale Permaculture" will be joining us at the southerly reaches of our membership area in an evening lecture co-sponsored by the newly formed Greater Seacoast Permaculture Group and by the Peace and Social Concerns Committee of Dover Friends Meeting.

This event is free and open to all but RSVP is strongly encouraged as space is limited. Donations will be happily accepted to cover the cost of making this event happen.

In his talk "How Permaculture Can Save Humanity and the Planet, but Not Civilization" Toby will examine the question of whether "Sustainable Agriculture" is an oxymoron. Feeding ourselves is not only central to our culture but central to our survival and this will be a rich look back as well as a look forward at the options and pathways before us. Attendees will gain a solid understanding of basic permaculture concepts as well as the context within which it is experiencing a renewed interest.

Books will be available for sale with proceeds supporting local permaculture education efforts.

This event will be happening in Dover NH, just outside of Portsmouth NH.

There will also be a half-day workshop in York County on Saturday morning on Permaculture & The Sustainability of Towns and Suburbs. Details to be published soon.

Potluck meal to start at 6:30 (bring a dish, snack or beverage to share) with the presentation starting around 7:00 to 7:15. We expect to go until 8:30 or 8:45 depending on the discussion time. Please bring your own potluck kit (plate/bowl/utensils/cup/napkin) to cut down on waste and labor!

More about Toby Hemenway

Toby Hemenway is the author of the first major North American book on permaculture, Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, and an adjunct professor at Portland State University. He is also Scholar in Residence at Pacific University.

After obtaining a degree in biology from Tufts University, Toby worked for many years as a researcher in genetics and immunology, first in academic laboratories including Harvard and the University of Washington in Seattle, and then at Immunex, a major medical biotech company. At about the time he was growing dissatisfied with the direction biotechnology was taking, he discovered permaculture, a design approach based on ecological principles that creates sustainable landscapes, homes, and workplaces. A career change followed, and Toby and his wife spent ten years creating a rural permaculture site in southern Oregon. He was associate editor of Permaculture Activist, a journal of ecological design and sustainable culture, from 1999 to 2004. His current project is developing urban sustainability resources in Portland, Oregon, where he now lives. He teaches permaculture and consults and lectures on ecological design throughout the country. His writing has appeared in magazines such as Whole Earth Review, Natural Home, and Kitchen Gardener. He is available for workshops, lectures, and consulting on a wide variety of topics related to permaculture, ecological design, Peak Oil, local food systems, and other subjects.