Quimby Grant

QUIMBY FAMILY FOUNDATION GRANT
August, 2010: Super news! The Kneading Conference has been awarded a major grant by the Quimby Family Foundation in the amount of $48,000. The letter from Hannah Quimby announcing the Foundation’s generous decision stated that Heart of Maine Resource, Conservation & Development (the fiscal sponsor and bloodline to the Kneading Conference and Maine Artisan Bread Fair) was selected to receive funding because “your goals and mission most closely align with our foundation’s funding goals.  We are truly inspired by the work that you have been doing in the state of Maine.”

The funds will be used to expand the educational programs offered by the Kneading Conference.  With this wonderful gift the steering committee will build a portable baking kitchen and commercial scale portable wood-fired masonry oven.  When not in use, the oven will be housed under its soon-to-be-constructed shelter at the Somerset Grist Mill in Skowhegan where it can be used for fundraisers and community events.  The new portable baking kitchen will afford the Kneading Conference the opportunity to take hands-on bread workshops to Maine’s school children and to communities beyond Somerset County.

Dusty Dowse, director of the Maine Artisan Bread Fair, responded to the news (once he had calmed down) by stating that “the overarching goals of the Kneading Conference and Maine Artisan Bread Fair are to inform and excite people about returning Maine to a grain producing state, a position it enjoyed in the past, and to show the employment possibilities in small grain farming and artisan baking.”

We invite you to watch for the oven rumbling down the road toward your town! Please join in the kneading and help us invigorate new possibilities and old traditions in the communities of Maine.
 If you would like to set up a bread-making demonstration in your school or community, or you would like to become involved as a volunteer, please contact wendy@kneadingconference.com.