Herring Gut Learning Center is teaming up with Port Clyde Fresh Catch and Bittersweet Farms to host a Community Market every Thursday from 10-3 throughout the summer at the Port Clyde Fresh Catch processing facility and retail store on Lobster Pound Road in Port Clyde.  Community members are encouraged to stop by the market to purchase fresh fish, handmade cheeses, and student-grown vegetables in one convenient location.  Students will also be available on Thursdays to provide free public tours of Herring Gut’s campus to those interested in learning more about aquaponics.

Herring Gut’s First Work Experience students will be selling the fresh vegetables and herbs they grow throughout the summer.  The First Work program is a summer work opportunity for 13-15 year olds in R.S.U. #13.  This program, in partnership with the K-2 Foundation, aims to provide mid-coast Maine with a new generation of capable and responsible employees by developing critical employment skills in young teens that will enable them to secure jobs as they get older.  Other supporters of the program include the Davis Family Foundation, Owl’s Head Garden Club, and Granite Gardens.

Bittersweet Heritage Farm is a Maine State Certified Dairy offering fresh made goat’s milk and cheeses from its American Dairy Goat Association registered herd.  Bittersweet is a startup sustainable farm located on the St. George peninsula that is dedicated to the preservation of a farming heritage through best farming practices, conservation and common sense animal husbandry.

Port Clyde Fresh Catch sells fresh fish, harvested using environmentally sustainable fishing methods that reduce by-catch, habitat impact, and fossil-fuel consumption.  PCFC guarantees customers receive the freshest seafood available by tracing its products from harvest through packaging at its Port Clyde-based, HAACP-certified processing facility.

Herring Gut Learning Center is a non-profit education center in Port Clyde, partnering with public schools to present hands-on classes in aquaculture and marine science to engage students, provide teacher training and offer a summer first work experience for young teens.

For more information about the Community Market, please contact Alexandria Brasili at (207) 372-8677 or abrasili@herringgut.org.