Every year our BLAST Interns go on a Dig In, during which they travel around New England and learn about many different parts of our food system. This entry recounts part of this year’s trip.

After our close encounter of the bovine kind at Two Loon’s Dairy Farm, we made our way to Super Chilly Farm in Palermo, Maine. Our gracious host, John Bunker, welcomed us into his Eden-like abode, lush with fresh vegetables and bursting fruit trees. But the most fascinating component of the agricultural haven was his own unique variety of “super chile”, the namesake of the farm. He dubbed his one-of-a-kind chile peppers the “matchbox” variety, in respect to its curiously strong and fiery taste.

As we arrived at the farm late in the evening, the only work we had to do for the night was to help prepare and eat a delicious vegetarian meal, loaded with freshly picked vegetables and some fluffy basmati rice. Personally, being a fan of meat, I was a little apprehensive about engaging in a meal that lacked such an important part of the eating experience [for me]. However, much to my surprise, dinner at John’s one of the most satisfying and fulfilling meals I’ve ever had, amid soft candlelight in a cozy outdoor gazebo, surrounded by good friends. After that it was time to say goodnight, and get ready for the day ahead of us.

The gardens on the premises were immaculate and bountiful, so it came as no shock to us that our work for the day did not entail weeding or similar maintenance work. Rather, we were put to work hauling and loading armful after armful of wood, to be used for the upcoming winter:

After a few solid hours of work and more than a few sore muscles, John gave us the grand tour of his land. However, the most memorable part of the tour was his quick and efficient tutorial about grafting fruit trees. Unfortunately, after the tour it was time to bid John and Super Chilly Farm adieu so we could head to our next stop, the Sand Hill Strawberry Farm.

As we rolled up in our stylish mini-van into the driveway at the organic strawberry farm, our two hosts, Shaun Keenan and Benji Knisley ran up to meet us. Little did we know that our two personable hosts were not just kind members of the farm’s staff, but the entire staff! All of us who visited were a bit awestruck that Shaun and Benji could be so committed and efficient that they master the 400 and 600-foot rows and still produce some of the most delicious strawberries in existence. After exchanging introductions, our hosts gave us the choice of hard work first and easy work later, or vice versa. After knocking heads together, we decided to get the hard work out of the way. So we hopped into Shaun’s trusty 1985 Ford F150 and chugged our way to a particularly weedy portion of the seven-acre farm.

We worked on a few half rows for a few hours, sharing amusing anecdotes in hopes that the hard work might fly by if we made it as fun as possible. Eventually, after weeding a significant portion of the rows, Shaun and Benji uncovered the true meaning of “easy work” to us. We would actually get to pick and eat some of their prized strawberries! We eagerly made fast to some of the ripened rows and filled pint after pint of strawberries, eating our fair share along the way. Those little ruby colored treasures gave me an explosion of euphoric flavor the likes of which I have never tasted. Keep up the fantastic work Sand Hill!

That about sums up our Tuesday evening and Wednesday experiences. The BLAST interns keep raving about how well we ate on the Dig-In trip, and Super Chilly Farm and Sand Hill Strawberry Farm represent some of the finest cuisine we sampled.