Why did chicken cross road? To get to winning coop

Think you’ve got a prize-winning chicken coop in your backyard? Then enter it in the 2013 Maine Poultry Coop Contest.

Sponsored by the Maine Poultry Growers Association and the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, the contest offers prizes of $200, $100 and $50 to the top three entrants. The fourth- and fifth-place entries win a subscription to Backyard Poultry magazine.

Coops will be judged on design, purpose, space, construction materials, safety, cost and unique features.

To enter, submit between one and three photos of your coop along with an entry form by Dec. 31. Visit tinyurl.com/b2rxkdk to download entry forms. Completed submissions can be mailed or hand-delivered to Poultry Coop Contest, University of Maine Cooperative Extension, 75 Clearwater Drive, Suite 104, Falmouth 04105 or emailed to andrea.herr@maine.edu.

Winners will be announced Jan. 9 at the Maine Agricultural Trades Show at the Augusta Civic Center.

PORTLAND

Beer bloggers plan Maine foray from conference

Beer bloggers from around the country may be coming to Portland next summer to check out what’s brewing in the city’s growing craft beer scene.

The 2013 Beer Bloggers Conference, organized by Montana-based Zephyr Adventures, will be meeting in Boston the weekend of July 26 to 28, and there are plans for a pre-conference excursion to Portland. The visit is still in the works, but the idea is for the bloggers to have dinner somewhere in Portland Thursday night, followed by some kind of beer-related evening event. They’ll go back to Boston on Friday, with a stop for lunch in Portsmouth.

In Boston, the bloggers will be having dinner at the Boston Beer Company and Harpoon Brewing.

The cost of the conference is $95 for citizen beer bloggers or writers, $195 for industry beer bloggers, and $295 for non-blogger participants.

For more information, go to the 2013 Beer Bloggers Conference website: bit.ly/TDEfRj. 

Feb. 10 Permaculture Trading Post to focus on seeds

The Portland Permaculture Meetup group hosts a monthly Trading Post event where members can swap home goods and gently used items with other members without any cash changing hands.

On Feb. 10, the Trading Post will highlight seeds, seedlings and plants. In addition to a seed swap, the event will feature skill-sharing stations on how to make seed-starting mixes, start seeds and save seeds.

The event takes place at 4 p.m. at the Portland Food Coop, 56 Hampshire St. To take part, go to meetup.com/portlandpermaculture to join the group and then RSVP for the February Trading Post.

CAPE ELIZABETH

Winter hours at Jordan’s, Alewives Brook stands

In response to customer demand, Jordan’s Farm Stand plans to open every other Thursday through the winter, including from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday. Look for winter squash, cabbage, beets, carrots, potatoes and radishes on the store shelves. The stand is located at 21 Wells Road. For more information, visit jordansfarm.com.

The Alewives Brook Farm stand is open every day through the winter (with the exception of Christmas) from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The stand features carrots, beets, potatoes, sweet squash and cabbage. It also carries tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce from the greenhouses of Olivia’s Garden in New Gloucester. In addition, it is offering frozen turkeys raised in Cape Elizabeth and fresh lobster.

Find the farm at 83 Old Ocean House Road. For more information, visit alewivesbrookfarm.com.

– Compiled by Meredith Goad and Avery Yale Kamila,

Staff Writers