Richard is perhaps the historical epitome of what we like to feel Maine people are made of—people who have made their living with hard work, no nonsense, and a healthy dose of ingenuity.

Here’s a link to part 1 in August, and part 2 in the September issue. It’s a good read about what it’s like to make your living with your hands in this century or any other – clamdigging hasn’t changed all that much. I did a post about Rat’s presence on our road, including his sign,  last year. This year the sign is bigger and better and I’m hoping it’s a trend.

I plant the lettuces very thickly to discourage weeds and keep the roots shaded. The picture above features Red Salad Bowl (very aptly named, in the bowl), Fedco’s mesclun mix in the front of the raised bed and Bull’s Blood beet greens in the back. My dooryard can be hot on a sunny afternoon, so the bed below is shaded by a young “Good Barn” sambucus.

Greens also make a good cover for larger and slower-maturing plants like these King Siegfried leeks. We have harvested quite a few heads of “Flashy Green” lettuce from this bed and I plan to replant this weekend with seedlings from the hoop house. I try to start a new batch every week to keep the rotation going.

While I often stop and consider whether growing my own produce is cost efficient, lettuce is always a no-brainer. One eighty cent “A” sized package from Fedco produces a season of nutrition with very little effort on the part of the gardener. Five packets of different varieties extend the season to the absolute limit with types that will grow (under mulch) until Thanksgiving and flavors to please everyone in the family.  Go green!

]]> http://amy.pollien.com/2010/06/30/the-green-season/feed/ 0 http://amy.pollien.com/2009/11/23/social-capital-the-business-model/ http://amy.pollien.com/2009/11/23/social-capital-the-business-model/#comments Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:58:34 +0000 admin http://amy.pollien.com/?p=688 I was down in the village last Saturday, doing errands and enjoying the relative peace and quiet now that most of the folks from away are well, away. It occurred to me that two of my favorite businesses in town are right next to each other, on a cul-de-sac off Cottage Street.

Cadillac Avenue is a short, narrow, heavily rutted dead end that opens up into a dirt lot facing the backs of other buildings on three sides.  Not a promising piece of real estate, but very expensive nonetheless, just by being located in down town Bar Harbor. To one side of the dirt lot sits The Bagel Factory, where Agnes S. makes bagels. Agnes makes the best bagels in the world, but she does not tolerate stupidity, arrogance, sloth or bad manners. You may be able to get a bagel – or a salmon and mozzarella pizza, or a tempeh and goat cheese sandwich with ripe pears – or you may get kicked to the curb. Agnes is one of the finest human beings you will ever have a chance to meet – don’t screw up.

Just to the left of The Bagel Factory is Ahlblad’s Picture Framing or, as the sign says, “hlblad’s”. Nobody cares about the sign. All of Raymond Strout’s customers find their way by word of mouth and are willing to wait unspecified amounts of time for a frame and treatment of Raymond’s choosing. Martha Stewart deals with Raymond when she’s in town and so do countless collectors of old maps, antique prints and fragile photographs. His skill with molding is matched by his taste, and his memory for every piece of visual art and every customer that has ever passed through his door is perfect – an infinitely accommodating human database of art. Which must help him find what he needs amid the epic clutter of his shop.

But no one finds Raymond or Agnes through their web presence – they don’t have any. These stores barely have phone numbers, only appear on Google maps if you already know how to spell “(A)hlblad”, and are only open on the kind of schedule that needs to be memorized after long familiarity. You have to know someone who knows someone – someone on a budget who used to live in Paris and has a thing for reading Antonin Artaud over a bagel and a cup of hot cider, and therefore knows Agnes. Even then, you might arrive and find that the bagels are sold out and Raymond isn’t answering the bell. If you know a place like this, you’ll just shake your head and vow to come earlier next time.

And the clams have to drive slowly, too.

Yum.

Tonight we’ll have a central Asian rice stew (because I have everything on hand, including two cups of cooked rice from last night’s curry), with Poverty Cake for dessert.  Poverty Cake was a staple of my mother’s family during The War and was too good to let go when times got just marginally better in the fifties and sixties. I remember this cake sitting on the counter at the house on Tunxis Avenue, the dark brown of the cake showing through the brilliant white frosting on one slice – because my mother liked her’s plain.

This recipe is for the dark, rather chocolately version that includes cocoa. You can skip the cocoa and up the spices a little bit and it will still be very good. Some people prefer it this way. My family used Crisco, but my uncles preferred it sans cocoa and with bacon fat or lard for the shortening.  My own variation is to add chocolate chips, and I’ve made it that way for decades so that’s how my family expects it.  Obviously this recipe is a blank canvas on which to paint your wildest cake dreams, or something. It also packs well in a lunchbox.

Poverty Cake (from a recipe card in my mother’s handwriting)

Boil together for 5 minutes: 1 C water, 1 C sugar, 1 C seeded raisins (can you buy non-seeded raisins nowadays?), 1 heaping Tbsp shortening (whatever), 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp cloves, 3 Tbsp cocoa (optional) 1 tsp salt. Cool. (The cooling part is important. If you’re in a hurry go out and put the pan in a snowbank or something like I’m going to in a minute. If the mixture is still hot when you put in the flour and baking soda you’ll end up with little white sour clumps in the finished cake.)

Add 1 3/4 C flour, 1 tsp baking soda (mix lightly with a fork), 1 tsp vanilla and about a cup of chocolate chips (optional). Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes, or until firm and glossy.

Frosting: A heap of confectioners sugar (about half a bag), add 3 Tbs softened butter (I cheat and just melt it, why stir?) and enough milk to make it spreadable. I like to add multicolored nonpareils – who wouldn’t?