A guest essay by South Berwick resident Amy Miller

I had a particularly nice day last week when I bought a pound of ground round and some almonds at the new independent market in the village of South Berwick.

First I bumped into my babysitter, who works the checkout line Wednesday afternoons. It was like running into a family member. My daughter stood there gazing in awe at her teenage mentor, while I wandered in search of cilantro.

Then I ran into a mother and boy from my son’s school and suddenly the two five-year-olds were hugging in the aisle. At the same time, the woman working the deli counter committed a new leather coat to an auction I am running for a mutual friend with cancer, while the store owner immediately agreed to donate wine to the auction.

The wine vendor just happened to be available in the “nail room,” named after the items sold there when this building housed a hardware store. He walked me through the wine selection, explaining that this one is organic while that one is simply made from organic grapes. At checkout, the cashier didn’t even double-check that the owner had donated the bottles. (more…)

A new self-guided walking tour brochure leads South Berwick residents and visitors down streets, past shops, houses, and other nineteenth-century sites prominent in the life of author Sarah Orne Jewett.

The public is invited to a free reception celebrating the release of the brochure at the Counting House Museum on Sunday, April 20, at 3:00 p.m. Garden historian Nancy Wetzel will read from Jewett’s “Looking Back on Girlhood,” an account of life in South Berwick in the 1850s. Refreshments will be served.

Written by the Jewett-Eastman Memorial Committee, a citizens’ group that maintains and manages Jewett’s 1854 home as the South Berwick Public Library, the brochure welcomes and informs visitors and seeks to draw local citizens downtown. It is available free at local businesses and municipal buildings.

“The tour invites visitors to stroll through this river town, as Jewett beckoned readers up its elm-lined streets in her fiction. We wanted to encourage walking traffic in the historic center at a time when South Berwick is working to revitalize,” said JEM member Nina Maurer. (more…)

Deb Knowlton has been promoted to Lead Designer & Production Manager for The Little Hat Company.

Just shy of her first anniversary of working with The Little Hat Company, Deb Knowlton South Berwick resident of twenty years was named Lead Designer & Production Manager. Deb began stitching for The Little Hat Company during the spring of 2007. She had first contacted Jennifer Houghton in January about sewing for the new company. The Little Hat Company was just not big enough yet to support an in house production team. Since then, demand for the made in Maine Stroller and Loope Lids has grown enough to support a team of 6 part-time stitchers. Deb is proud of her new recent designs that will launch on The Little Hat Company’s website next month: The Strawberry Patch Lid & My New Little Preemie Lid.

Deb recently left her full time position in order to pursue her life long dream of sewing for a living. The demand for Stroller Lids across the country has grown to a point that it has become her main focus outside of her family. In addition to coming up with new ideas for Lids, Deb heads up the production team in South Berwick. She works with women who have a wealth of sewing experience as well as first timers who have been welcomed to the team. The team is currently made up of all stay at home moms. It was a great opportunity for the moms to reenter the workplace while still being able to put their family’s schedules and needs first.
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I was having friends for dinner and wanted a special dessert. I went to Monkey Business Bakery and told Nicole that my friends love chocolate and birds. The result: an incredible cake that satisfied every kind of chocolate need and was beautifully decorated with a delicate tree with tiny birds perched among the branches.

Monkey Business Bakery is located at 440 Main St. in South Berwick. I suggest that you get your sweet tooth over there and check it out yourself.

If you were driving through downtown Friday afternoon, you may have noticed a lot of activity in front of Little Hat Company. They were doing a photo shoot for an article for Country Woman, a nationally distributed magazine. They are also set to be featured in Yankee Magazine’s Summer Travel issue. Congratulations to Little Hat entrepreneurs Jen Houghton and Susan Page for launching this local company and steering it toward national success.

Read more about Little Hat Company.

Meet Richard Rodgers, Produce Manager at Nature’s Way Market. He’s the man responsible for the great selection of fruits and vegetables at the market. From standbys like potatoes and green beans to more exotic fare like mangoes and pomegranate juice he has built a produce department that I’ve come to count on for everyday needs and for those special treats.

Richard is happy to share information about the produce and will help with cooking and serving ideas. This day he was talking root vegetables: yams, rutabagas and parsnips; baked, roasted, and sautéed in butter. He also pointed out some pears that had just arrived that proved to be sweet and juicy. He is looking forward to the growing season when the market will carry locally grown produce.

Nature’s Way Market is at 271 Main St. in South Berwick, ME.

Monkey Business Bakery, one of South Berwick’s newest businesses opened this week on lower Main Street. Dover residents Jake and Nicole Bouchard rented the space vacated by Hot Dog Heaven in October and spent months fitting up the baking kitchen and the showroom.

Jake and Nicole both grew up in central Maine. Nicole learned her craft at the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont. They knew they wanted to locate their bakery in a small town and when they found the space in South Berwick they decided to go for it. Jake explains the name, “We both have a thing for monkeys and Nicole had to do a business plan as an assignment when she was at the Culinary Institute and used the name in that. We liked it so decided to use it here.”

The bakery offers cakes, cheesecakes, breakfast pastries, tarts and cookies, all made from scratch using simple high quality ingredients. Nicole’s passion is cakes and the bakery will always have a selection on hand. Special orders are available with advanced notice. Nicole loves to make fancy sculpted art cakes and plans to offer them once the business gets more established.

I didn’t get to try a cake yet but I did get some cookies and brownies for tonight’s dessert. I couldn’t wait for dessert though and tried a double chocolate cookie this afternoon. It was perfect, tender and crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside with a beautiful balance of high quality chocolate, butter, and fresh flour with just the right touch of sweetness. If the cookie is any indication, I expect the cakes to be sublime.

Monkey Business Bakery also serves coffee and has a couple of tables for eating in. The are open Tuesday through Friday from 7 AM to 4 PM, Saturday 8 AM to 4 PM, and Sunday 9 AM until 2 PM. They are located at 440 Main St. in South Berwick, across from Fogarty’s.

The Little Hat Company is a fun place to go. It is full of colorful toys, books, fuzzy puppets, and the very sweet and unique hats that are the core of its business. But that’s only part of the story; the other part is that the Little Hat Company is a company on the move, adding daily to the economic vitality of South Berwick.

On the day I visited, Jennifer Houghton and her son were putting up new shelves to showcase the hats. A designer had just dropped off the prototype for a strawberry hat that Jen expects will be a big hit at the Strawberry Festival, and Jen shared the news that Little Hat Company will be featured in Yankee Magazine’s summer travel issue.

The growth of Little Hat Company has been an exciting journey for South Berwick resident Jen Houghton. It all started when she sewed a hat for her own child. Soon friends and then retailers were requesting hats and Jen was trying to figure out production processes and working late into the night to fulfill orders. Over the next two years the business grew quickly and reached several milestones: joining with business partner, Susan Page, incorporating as an LLC, opening the retail store in South Berwick, expanding retail sales to include toys and gifts, internet sales, the first catalog, a second location in Cape Neddick, and now the business is getting ready to launch a new website with a new more professional look.
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The new windows at 4 Portland St., the new home of South Berwick Yoga look great! It’s amazing how a relatively small improvement can spruce up the look of downtown.

South Berwick Yoga is having an open house on Saturday March 8th 1-4 pm and on Sunday March 9th 1-4pm. You can see their new space and on Saturday from 1-4 pm PB&J unplugged will be performing. They will also have giveaways.

South Berwick Yoga offers yoga classes in a variety of styles including Ashtanga Flow, Vinyasa Flow, Hatha, Restorative, Pilates and Yoga for your Core. They also offer children’s classes through ChildLight Yoga. They will be offering Workshops and beginners series each month.

They are at 4 Portland St. in South Berwick. More information can be found at their web site.

Today South Berwick Town Manager Jeff Grossman gave the236diner.com an update on the progress of the St. Michael’s Parish purchase. The 90 day option to buy is due to expire on April 6, 2008. Mr. Grossman reports that the process is moving forward on time and gave a summary of the progress:

• Appraisal of the property is in process. There have been no further negotiations about price.
• Wetlands Evaluation has been done and the town is awaiting the written report

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It was one of those gray midwinter days, all dull skies, murky fog, and muddy, slushy puddles. The only reasonable thing to do was head to the brightest spot in town, Abby Chic. Owner and floral designer, Abby Mifflin goes to the flower market three times a week to stock the shop with a variety of fresh flowers. Today’s selection included romantic long stem roses, exotic orchids, extravagant lilies, and sunny daffodils. I selected tulips in assorted colors. Abby wrapped them beautifully. The attention to detail by a floral designer sets a bouquet apart from those pre-wrapped flowers from big box stores. Flowers are always nice; when they are beautifully presented and the freshest of fresh, they are wonderful.

Valentine’s Day is only nine days away and Abby Chic can help you treat your valentine to just the right flowers. Order now for the best selection.

If winter is getting you down, I suggest you stop in at Abby Chic and treat yourself. My tulips are on my kitchen table and every time I walk by, they whisper that spring is on the way!

Abby Chic is at 200 Main St. in South Berwick.

SoBo Book & Bean is a friendly little oasis in the heart of South Berwick. The patina of the wood floors, the book lined walls, and the homey furniture create a cozy ambiance for enjoying a coffee or a meal, conversing with friends, browsing the books, watching the world go by out the window, or a little of each. Co-owners Jenna and Tim are friendly, accommodating hosts who make SoBo a comfortable place to linger. This is one of the places that makes up the soul of South Berwick, don’t miss it.

Sobo Book & Bean is located at 241 Main St. in South Berwick and opens at 7 am during the week and 8 am on Saturday.

I’m a super fan of Nature’s Way Market. It offers a fine selection of real food but it’s also enhanced my quality of life in unexpected ways. I save gas and time by not having to schlep off to other towns to get basic foodstuffs. We waste less food because it’s easy to shop frequently. Instead of our old way of overbuying at a super store to stock up “just in case,” we get what we need for one or two meals. It seems counter intuitive, but we eat a greater variety of food even though the Market is at least ten times smaller than where we used to shop. The human scale of the Market makes it a pleasure to browse and see what’s new or looks tasty. I feel more connected to South Berwick because I go downtown more often than ever before, and it’s rare when I don’t run into someone I know when I’m there.

And did I mention the food? This night it was the Market’s freshly prepared crab cakes as an appetizer, followed by haddock baked in lemon and garlic, roasted rutabaga, and broccoli, served with a glass of pinot grigio from the wine room. See you at the Market!

Ray Oldenburg, an urban sociologist writes about the importance of “third places” for healthy functioning of communities. He describes third places as

“informal public gathering places. The phrase “third places” derives from considering our homes to be the “first” places in our lives, and our work places the “second.”

Americans long enjoyed third places in the form of the inns and ordinaries of colonial society, then as the saloons and general stores springing up with westward expansion. Later came the candy stores, soda fountains, coffee shops, diners, etc. which, along with the local post office, were conveniently located and provided the social anchors of community life.

“Third places” also suggest the stability of the tripod in contrast to the relative instability of the bipod. Life without community has produced, for many, a life style consisting mainly of a home-to-work-and-back-again shuttle.”

 

From Our Vanishing “Third Places” by Ray Oldenburg

As South Berwick explores the feasibility of using the St. Michael’s property as a library or other use we have the opportunity to create a new kind of civic place in our downtown.
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There’s nothing better than a warm place on a cold night. Everything about Pepperland Cafe is warm, from the yellow ochre exterior to the deep red walls and the friendly owner and staff inside. Tonight it was squash and fennel (a very under appreciated vegetable) soup with a lovely touch of spiciness. Then a green salad with goat cheese, artichoke hearts and tomatoes and very crabby crabcakes. We left with a warm glow.

The town council held a special meeting on January 7, 2008 for voting whether to appropriate $20,000 from the Library Reserve Fund for an option payment for the purchase of the St. Michael’s Parish complex at 29 Young St.

The turnout was high with well over 100 in attendance. Town Councilors first presented their rationale for recommending the vote. Here’s a synopsis:

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Nature’s Way Market is a great addition to South Berwick. Tonight I took a quick trip downtown to get food for dinner. It took all of twenty minutes to drive downtown, shop, and even visit with a few friends who I ran into on Main Street. What a contrast with B. M. (before market) when getting food for dinner meant going to York or Dover and never took less than an hour. Tonight for dinner it’s a “big salad” with organic feta cheese and pine nuts and multi-grain bread. All bought right here in South Berwick!