HOULTON, Maine — Local fresh food advocate Roxanne Bruce served cricket powder muffins to students in Easton on Thursday, but she’s saving her only edible scorpion for a special food challenge choice: Eat cooked carrots or eat the bug.
Bruce, who lives in Ludlow, is on a farm-to-table mission that’s taking her around Aroostook and northern Washington counties to link farmers, kids, schools and community members to fresh local foods.
Her eventual goal is to promote healthy eating, increase food security and keep small farms alive. It’s part of a larger effort to address food insecurity in Maine, in the wake of recent funding cuts by the Trump administration that have made it harder to buy from local growers.
Nearly 25% of kids in Aroostook County are food insecure, and in Washington County 27% do not have enough to eat, according to the USDA. But Bruce and other groups aim to change that, she said.
“Since we started Northern Maine FarmDrop in June we brought in $8,000 and in the last two weeks we sold $4,000 from individuals and schools ordering on FarmDrop,” she said. “There is no reason that the money should not be staying in Aroostook County.”
Getting kids to eat the fresh grown foods is part of the challenge and in northern Maine, Bruce often starts with taste testing food challenges: Taste the edible bugs, like ants, crickets or mealworms or taste the vegetables.
“About 50% try both, 25% try just the vegetable and 25% pick the bug,” she said. “At East Grand School a pre-K teacher tried the bug.”
While at East Grand, Bruce made Italian seasoned carrots. Several students and teachers who said they definitely did not like cooked carrots ate everything on their plate.
Bruce, who has a doctorate in business administration focused on agricultural marketing, wears other “good food” hats. She is on the Aroostook County Food Council, is the regional local foods project coordinator for the Maine Department of Education and manages the northern Maine FarmDrop hub.
Through all of them, Bruce teaches farmers how to market differently, helps school nutrition directors buy and use locally grown foods and brings healthy eating to the community. She has also linked a growing number of small, organic farms to area schools and FarmDrop.
Her underlying mantra comes from Hannah Semler, Maine FarmDrop CEO, who said, “It’s giving back your ability to choose what you eat and how you eat it.”
The efforts are expanding. Next week, Presque Isle High School will launch a project in which Bruce will teach students how to grow hydroponically. The project will spread from kindergarten to 12th grade with students eventually having their own grow towers, she said.
“From kindergarten on up they are learning how to grow their own food,” she said. “And at graduation they can take their tower with them.”
East Grand students are already growing zucchini, leafy greens, onions and tomatoes.
Part of the focus is to grow foods for cafeteria use, especially because leafy greens are so expensive. And the kids are excited to see the carrots they grew on the salad bar, Bruce said.
National charities are stepping up to support such fresh food efforts.
A recent American Cancer Society two-year grant to the Aroostook County Action Program, in partnership with Northern Maine FarmDrop, is providing fresh local fruits and vegetables to County families.
The grant allowed ACAP to open registration for 250 families to receive a $100 coupon for fresh locally grown fruit and vegetable boxes that come in $25, $50 or $100 sizes, said Bruce, who just finished packing the boxes with local farmers for this week’s pick-up.
“There are about 9 to 10 pounds of food in a $25 box,” she said. “Some boxes go north to Fort Kent, some stay in Presque Isle, and some come down to Houlton.”
Bruce encouraged people to consider creating a FarmDrop account and making an order to support local farmers.
People shop and pay entirely online, with a Tuesday pick-up in several locations, including Houlton, Linneus, Ludlow, Presque Isle and Fort Kent. Foods include local meats, cheeses, breads, eggs, vegetables, fruits, maple syrup and even handmade laundry soap and lotions.
“We are building the connections to grow the local food movement like spiders building a web,” Bruce said. “Once the connections are in place, we can all work together more smoothly and let our community grow.”
