Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon

Alisa Smith is a freelance writer based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Her articles have been printed in U.S. and Canadian publications from Reader's Digest to Utne. The books Liberalized (New Star, 2005) and Way Out There (Greystone, 2006) also feature her work. Smith has a Master's degree in history and has taught magazine writing. She has been a member of the Cypress Community Garden for five years, and hopes someday to successfully grow an eggplant.

James (J.B.) MacKinnon is the author of Dead Man in Paradise (Douglas & McIntyre), which won the 2006 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-fiction. His work as a journalist has earned two national magazine awards, and he is a senior contributing editor to Explore Magazine. A past editor of Adbusters, MacKinnon speaks regularly on writing and the politics of consumerism. After a year on the 100-Mile Diet, he will never again eat store-bought sauerkraut.

Sam Hayward was born in Ohio and raised in the Deep South and the Finger Lakes district of upstate New York. He migrated to the Deep North in 1974 to become the chef of the Shoals Marine Laboratory on Appledore Island in the Gulf of Maine. After working in kitchens in New Orleans and New York City, he returned to Maine in 1977, cooking in a succession of kitchens before purchasing his first restaurant, Twenty-two Lincoln, in Brunswick, in 1981. In 1991 Sam became Executive Chef of the Harraseeket Inn in Freeport. In 1996, Sam opened Fore Street with his partner Dana Street. In 2001 Fore Street was named number sixteen among America's Fifty Best Restaurants by Gourmet Magazine. In 2004, Sam was named Best Chef-Northeast by the James Beard Foundation. Sam considers himself an advocate for Maine's foodways and products. In October 2006 Sam will be a delegate to Slow Food's Terra Madre in Turin, Italy. Sam frequently participates in panels and conferences relating to sustainable foods and eating from foods produced close to home. Sam latest forays into television included the Beard Fountation Award-winning series Chefs A'Field, demonstrating the raising and preparation of the distinctive lambs raised according to ancient traditions on Maine's offshore islands. Sam lives in rural Bowdoinham with his wife Jan.

Troy Mains For the past six years, Troy Mains, Chef de Cuisine at Georgetown, Maine's acclaimed, five-star Robinhood Free Meetinghouse restaurant, has been earning a growing number of accolades for his innovative take on traditional, seasonal New England ingredients. Mains, known for his creative use of locally grown, specialty produce as well as of Maine seafood fresh off the boat, has managed to hone his culinary specialties by creating a wide variety of dishes at the Meetinghouse which highlight styles of cuisine ranging from Asian to Cajun.

Robinhood Free Meetinghouse is all the better for it, having earned praise from prominent outlets including The New York Times, The Boston Globe and Down East magazine during the talented young chef's tenure.

Prior to joining the Robinhood team, Mains headed the kitchen team at Bath, Maine's popular Beale Street Barbeque Restaurant. Mains also staged at renowned Restaurant August in New Orleans under James Beard award-winning Chef John Besh, and cooked in the busy kitchen brigade at Georgetown, Maine's The Osprey Restaurant. It was during these latter years that Mains began to sharpen and perfect his food preparation assembly, sauces and techniques, as well as to function in his first Sous Chef role.

In addition to his chef roles in the kitchen, the Maine born-and-bred chef also has worked as a chef-consultant and is currently seated on the Native Maine advisory board. He also continues to play key roles at major industry dinner events such as those held by the prestigious Maine Organic Farmers and Growers Association (MOFGA), and by New York's revered James Beard House. Further, Mains has won several culinary contests and competitions, including the WBACH jambalaya cook-off in Portland, Maine.

Michael Jubinsky For somewhere pretty close to 40 years, Michael Jubinsky has taught various aspects of baking, specializing in yeast breads. (Time certainly flies when you're doing something you love!) He was Senior Spokesman for the King Arthur Flour Company based in Norwich, Vermont for over 25 years, and recently filmed two bread baking videos for King Arthur Flour, on Sweet Holiday Bread and Artisan Bread. He has also made numerous radio and television appearances and was featured in articles in Modern Maturity Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine and USA Today. Phew!

Michael has been a Culinary Arts instructor in the Connecticut vocational school system, was a licensed retail baker and a staff instructor for the Connecticut Culinary Institute. He has been a guest instructor at the Silo, in New Milford, Connecticut and at Sur La Table in Virginia. Michael and Sandy were co-founders of Mystic Cooking School in Mystic, Connecticut. Michael is also an instructor for the National Restaurant Association and teaches Food Safety in Maine and Connecticut.

In 1993, Sandy Jubinsky, the distaff part of this powerhouse cooking team, graduated from the post-graduate Culinary Arts program at Ella T. Grasso Southeastern Regional Vocational-Technical School, where she attended classes with the general high school population. She received the "Chef's Award" for guts, stamina and a wicked good sense of humor. Sandy was the manager of the bakeshop at Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Connecticut and also worked as a Pastry Chef at Lulu's Steakhouse in Niantic, Connecticut. (She was definitely not the reason Lulu's went out of business!) Sandy was also certified as a professional "Food Taster" – (really and truly!) for both Pfizer and Cultor Industries in their respective food technology programs. Sandy is an accomplished artist, specializing in painted porcelain. (Mike made me say that!)

Michael and Sandy wrote features and a monthly food column for "The Day" newspaper in New London, Connecticut for over 20 years and also did restaurant reviews for 5 years. Memories of leaving this last job still sends them into spasms of grief.

Since moving to Maine, Michael has worked with the baking team at Borealis Breads in Wells, Maine, has been a guest instructor with York County Community College and has offered baking classes in his home.

Now Michael and Sandy have opened the doors of their new Stone Turtle Baking Center. This state-of-the-art facility, located on 20 acres of paradise in southwest Maine, offers a broad range of both cooking and baking classes and features a "le Panyol" wood fired oven from France.

Vince Maniaci, Co-Owner of The Cheese Iron, has been in the Specialty Foods Industry for 15 years and has worked in some of the worlds' finest food establishments. Currently he is the co- owner of The Cheese Iron in Scarborough, ME. His past experience comes from Whole Foods Market in Austin, TX., Harry's Farmers Market in Atlanta, GA., Dean and Deluca in New York, NY., Fahey and Formaggio on Nantucket Island, MA., Neal's Yard Dairy, London England and Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge, MA. His positions included Team Leader, Regional Coordinator, Cheese Buyer and Merchandiser. His responsibilities ranged from maintaining profitability through margin analysis, inventory ordering and accuracy, effective merchandising and marketing, and Team Member management.

Amanda Beal has served on the MOFGA Board since 2000 and is currently Board President. In her professional work, she is a Healthy Maine Partnership director for the Communities Promoting Health Coalition, a program of the non-profit People's Regional Opportunity Program (PROP) in Portland. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Cultivating Community, who she has worked in partnership with to establish school garden programs in 3 school districts. Amanda is a co-creator of the annual Maine Harvest Lunch event, which began in Gorham Schools in 2003 and expanded to a statewide effort in 2007, providing students with an all local foods menu through their school lunch program.

Amanda studied medicinal herbalism for over a decade, and operated a private herbal consultation practice in Freeport for 4 years. She has taught classes on many herb and nutrition related topics throughout the state. Prior to working at PROP, Amanda spent 9 years working at and then managing Royal River Natural Foods in her hometown of Freeport, and before that she lived, worked and played amidst the mountains in Yosemite National Park for 2 and a half years.

David Buchanan's design experience includes several years of consulting on city parks, multi-use trails, public design charrettes, invasive plant control and wetland restoration, as well as gardens and agricultural sites. Past projects include a master plan for the trail system at the 4000-acre former Fort Devens; a master plan for the Morris Farm education center; design and construction management for an urban "farm" in downtown Portland; and redevelopment of 25 city parks in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

In addition to design work, he has several years experience working on farms and for nurseries, and currently maintain over 1/4 acre of heritage food trial gardens.

David's very active in the Slow Food movement, organizing events in southern Maine and leading the local convivium.

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