En Route

I had a great trip to Boston on the bus. From Portland I shared a seat with Wendy Hebb, a documentary filmmaker who lives in Damariscotta. She and her partner Michael Richard are working on a film about the rise of sustainable agriculture in America.

“Back to the Garden is as much about the “culture” in agriculture as it is about growing wholesome food. Interviewing farmers, chefs, activists, scientists, and writers around the country has made us aware of the new and important relationships between organic farmers and their land, animals, neighbors, and patrons. Their work and insights shape the heart and soul of sustainable farming and are increasingly becoming the building blocks of profoundly robust communities. In this vein, farmers’ markets have been called the new “town squares” because neighbors stop to chat, politics and local issues are traded along with produce and recipes, and a feeling reins that, at least on market day, we are all in this together.”

Not only a filmmaker, Wendy is also the Conference Coordinator for The Kneading Conference, a summer event in Skowhegan Maine, which :

” brings together farmers, novice and professional bakers, and earth oven enthusiasts to explore the art and science of growing and milling grains and baking artisan breads. The purpose is to revive the practice of locally cultivated whole grain bread, from seed to loaf.”

July 29 & 30 the with a free “Bread Fair” on the 31st.

On the flight I had a window seat, slept most of the time, but woke up in time for our stunning approach to Miami, zooming over the beaches and glittering skyscrapers, like the intro to CSIMiami. We made it in record time, a half and hour early.

Mom wasn’t so lucky, her flight delayed for an hour due to “technical difficulties” the thing we hate most. In Miami it was hard to find out any information regarding Arrivals, until I exited to the ugly baggage claim area, brightly lit with screeching florescent lighting. I sat out the 2 hour wait here, venturing out so I could take a picture of palm trees in the dog walking area, between parking lot hell.