Donor provides rent-free spacefor Portland food co-op

An organization that is working to make access to local and organic food more affordable is closer to its goal, after learning that a hedge fund manager and philanthropist who lives in North Haven plans to donate building space in Portland and money for renovations.

The Portland Food Cooperative announced Monday that S. Donald Sussman, who leads Connecticut-based Paloma Partners, will donate a rent-free, five-year lease and $40,000 in cash to the nonprofit organization.

Under the agreement, the co-op will renovate a 4,700-square-foot warehouse at 60 Hampshire St. in Portland for use as a distribution point for its members/owners and eventually as a retail storefront.

Society Notebook: Going … going … GONE

The dining, the bidding, and the time fly by during a fun and fabulous auction fundraiser for Portland Ovations.

Et Cetera: Common Ground Country Fair

Part hippie, all hip: Art, music, exhibits, organic eats and more await fairgoers in Unity this weekend.

Yogathon

Fifteen local studios will offer sessions Sunday in an event to benefit the Preble Street Resource Center.

Natural Foodie: Common Ground fair has uncommonly good eats

Most commercial barbecue sauces come filled with preservatives, artificial colors and the dreaded high-fructose corn syrup. But the scratch-made barbecue sauce slathered on chicken and roast pork that the folks at Tide Mill Organic Farm will sell at this weekend’s Common Ground Country Fair won’t have any of those artificial ingredients. “We’re in the process […]

Society Notebook: Business Models

The Portland Regional Chamber gathers for a night celebrating vision, leadership and volunteerism in the business community this year.

Natural Foodie: Ayurveda means eating and living in harmony with nature

At 10 a.m. the temperature is already well above 80, but Sandra Maguire is calmly sipping hot water, its steam rising into the humid air. “It hydrates and it dilates,” Maguire tells me when I ask why she isn’t drinking ice water on this sweltering day. “Cold water does not hydrate, and cold drinks put […]

Natural Foodie: Backyard garden farm blooms in Cape Elizabeth

Lisa Fernandes samples an Italian pole bean from the vine outside her home, while on the deck nearby a solar oven is slowing converting fresh tomatoes to tomato paste. The process will take about a day and a half in full sun, without the aid of electricity or natural gas. Steps away at the back […]

Society notebook: Heartfelt thanks

SMCC throws a party for business partners helping to ‘bridge the gap’ between demand and the consequences of a down economy.

Natural Foodie: The real cost of the food we eat

The massive recent egg recall reveals how much our food actually costs. As Americans, our food is abundant and the price at the checkout is remarkably cheap. But the costs don’t end there. We pay the full price for our food in doctor visits, environmental clean-ups, antibiotic resistance, loss of farmland to sprawl, dead zones […]