A Bangor Daily News story about growing local interest in beekeeping cites the importance of University of Maine Cooperative Extension expertise.

Food Safety Training for Volunteers

Many organizations and community groups rely on volunteers like you for a variety of food events for fundraising, fellowship, food pantries or other service to the community. But cooking for a crowd is tricky! How do you store all that food? When is the food completely cooked? How long can you leave food on the buffet table? Now there is a workshop on Safe Food Handling designed specifically for Volunteers.

This class meets the Good Shepherd Food Bank food safety training requirements.

Why attend?

There’s a lot to learn about safe food preparation and handling. If you don’t do it for a living, you may not be aware of all the special techniques involved in cooking for a large group of people.

It is scary to think about people getting sick from your meal, but it can happen. More than three quarters of the outbreaks are blamed on food eaten outside the home.

While food-borne illness can be as mild as stomach ache, it can be much more serious and sometimes fatal.

Unsafe food can “spoil” your group’s reputation — and its finances. Don’t take a chance. Sign up for the for the “Cooking for Crowds” workshop. Learn to protect yourself and the people you feed.

What you will learn

Learn up-to-date methods for safely preparing, handling and serving food for large group functions such as soup kitchens, church functions, food pantries and community fundraisers.

Workshops cover the following food safety guidelines:

• Planning and Purchasing
• Storing Food Supplies
• Preparing Food
• Transporting, Storing and Serving Cooked Foods
• Handling Leftovers

Materials fee: $15.00/per person. Scholarships are available.

Participants receive

• Cooking for Crowds – A manual specifically designed for volunteer cooks;
• Certificate of Attendance;
• Posters; and
• Instant Read Thermometer.

For more information or to register, e-mail Theresa Tilton at theresa.tilton@maine.edu or call 207.942.7396 or 800.287.1485 (in Maine) or 800.287.8957 (TDD) to register.

To view additional dates and locations for this workshop, visit Cooking for Crowds 2013 Workshop Schedule.

If you are a person with a disability and need an accommodation to participate in this program, please call Theresa Tilton at 207.942.7396 to discuss your needs. Receiving requests for accommodations at least 10 days before the program provides a reasonable amount of time to meet the request, however all requests will be considered.

Seed Starting 101

Free workshop Tuesday, April 16, 2013 from 10am – noon at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Office at 307 Maine Ave., Bangor.

Learn the basics of how to successfully start your own seedlings in this hands-on workshop. Pre-registration is required. Reserve your spot today by calling 207.942.7396 or within Maine 1.800.287.1485 or email Katherine.garland@maine.edu

For more information or to request a disability accommodation, call 207.942.7396.  UMaine Extension programs are open and accessible to all in accordance with program goals.

Topics will include selecting and evaluating a farm enterprise, writing a business plan, record keeping, market research, and much more. The webinar is free. Course texts can be purchased from the UMaine Extension Publications Store.

More information >>

On July 3, a research tour organized by UMaine Extension sustainable agriculture specialist Ellen Mallory is being offered for a group of 35 Danish organic grain and dairy farmers from 8:30 a.m. to noon. The event is part of a weeklong tour of farms in the region, an exchange that resulted from contacts made during a similar 2010 tour in Denmark by Maine and Vermont bread-wheat farmers and millers.

On July 10, Mallory will lead a meeting, “University of Maine Small Grain and Forage Field Day,” from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., to highlight research being conducted as part of the local bread-wheat and organic dairy projects. Topics include variety trials of wheat, spelt and flax, summer forage options, fitting wheat into dairy rotations, and organic bread-wheat fertility. Additional speakers include Richard Kersbergen, Tom Molloy and Aaron Englander. This event is free and open to the public.

On July 25, the “2012 University of Maine Sustainable Agriculture Field Day” will be held from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The focus of this year’s event will be “Advances in Pest Management” and will include talks on integrated pest management for sweet corn, tree fruit, and home gardens, plantings to attract pollinators, crow management in corn, spotted winged drosophila and the Master Gardener program. An optional pest identification session will be held from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Media are welcome to cover all events. For additional information, contact Charlene Herrick in the College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture at (207) 581-3204.

“This workshop is for gardeners who are interested in learning more about what pollinators are, why they are important and what gardeners can include in their home landscape to encourage these valuable insects,” says Kate Garland, Penobscot County Extension Horticulturist.

Kathy Hopkins, Somerset County Extension Educator says that two-thirds of the world’s crops rely on pollination from bees, insects, birds and others to reproduce. Come learn how to manage your landscape to enhance the habitat for our pollinators to support productive crops.

The dates and locations for the programs are:

• April 12, UMaine Extension’s Somerset County office, Skowhegan, 474-9622 or in Maine 1-800-287-1495.
• April 13, UMaine Extension’s Piscataquis County office, Dover-Foxcroft, 564-3301 or in Maine 1-800-287-1491.
• April 24, UMaine Extension’s Penobscot County office, Bangor, 942-7396 or in Maine 1-800-287-1485.
• April 25, UMaine Extension’s Hancock County office, Ellsworth, 667-8212 or in Maine 1-800-287-1479.

UMaine Extension programs are open and accessible to all in accordance with program goal. Any person with a disability who needs accommodations for this program should contact their local county office to discuss their needs at least 10 days in advance.

So You Want to Farm in Maine

Topics will include selecting and evaluating a farm enterprise, writing a business plan, recordkeeping, market research, and much more. Cost is $50.00 per farm with a limited number of partial scholarships available. Sponsored by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Risk Management Agency.

Last year 63 people attended this program and all who attended felt more confident in their ability to create a viable farm business. Ninety-four percent said they would recommend others to attend.

“Before this workshop I felt I would succeed in farming, but through trial and error, now I feel I will succeed based on my new knowledge of farming.” — Participant

For more information contact Donna Coffin at 1-800-287-1491 (in Maine) or Andrew Plant 1-800-287-1469 (in Maine) or visit the website. To pre-register contact Theresa Tilton at 207-942-7396 or 1-800-287-1485 (in Maine) or e-mail theresa.tilton@maine.edu.

“Thanks to everyone’s effort, we have exceeded our goal of 250,000 pounds,” says Extension educator Barbara Murphy in the South Paris Oxford County office. “I am speechless. My heartfelt thanks for all of the terrific work.”

Murphy, who coordinates the program, had announced her gratitude several weeks ago that preliminary results indicated 90 tons — 180,000 pounds — of fresh fruits and vegetables were donated this year. The final figure is now 140 tons, or 280,076 pounds.

Nearly 500 volunteer gardeners in about a dozen counties this year donated produce to 114 food pantries, shelters or charitable organizations around the state. Murphy also revised upwards the value of the produce to $473,328, from $303,713 earlier.

The number of participants more than doubled from 200 in 2010 and the number of organizations benefiting from the gardeners’ generosity more than tripled, from 45 last year.

Contact: Barbara Murphy, 743-6329, 1-800-287-1482 (toll-free in Maine)