Sharing Food, Sparking Change: ACTT Marks a Decade with a Community Potluck
From Potluck to Powerhouse: A Climate to Thrive Celebrates 10 Years of Local Action
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Choco-Latté Café.
MOUNT DESERT—Ten years ago, A Climate to Thrive (ACTT) began with gatherings. People would come together at potlucks, sharing food, sharing ideas, creating energy to work toward goals meant to create better futures for Mount Desert Island.
Now, the nonprofit is celebrating those ten years and all the actions taken and people met with another potluck at Beech Hill Farm, a celebration which will be open to the entire community.
There definitely should be no barrier in coming, ACTT Executive Director Johannah Blackman said.
That’s because the event’s purpose is about celebration and coming together.
People can share thoughts and dishes and enjoy good food and conversation in a beautiful setting, play lawn games, listen to live music from Mr. DJ, and uplift the power of local climate solutions, the organization said in a press release.
“It’s a celebration, not so much of everything we’ve done, but of everything! Everything!” Blackman laughed. “But more just that it was 10 years ago that a bunch of us were talking more about being really concerned about climate change and frustrated that we felt like there wasn’t so much we could do, right?”
Those individual conversations grew. And the people talking? They wanted to translate those ideas and conversations into hope and action and positive change.
“That was the thing where we’re like, what do we do? And then we’re like, okay, well, let’s have a potluck and talk about what we could do,” Blackman said.
The talk became ideas became energy that became action after action on multiple levels: individual, community, nonprofit, town, and more.
“And so we did that, and then A Climate to Thrive grew out of that. And so, there’s lots of, like, boots on the ground, tangible projects that ACTT has done, and it’s all been focused on how addressing climate change can be beneficial to communities, but for me, perhaps the thing I am most proud of is the way in which it’s brought people together around addressing climate change and had them thinking creatively and making surprise connections across perceived differences,” Blackman said. “And that ebbs and that flows over time, but it’s always been there. And now we do that, you know, in communities across the state.”
The work of the decade-old nonprofit hasn’t just been lauded in the local community. It’s been recognized throughout the state.
That calls for celebration.
THE 100-MILE POTLUCK
Since the nonprofit launched in 2016, its made impacts throughout the community in resilience, connection, awareness, and practical results, working with individuals, organizations, and towns.
One of the aspects of the October potluck that feeds into its mission is that it’s meant to be a hundred-mile potluck.
“Folks are invited to bring a dish that centers ingredients sourced locally.” According to a press release, “Local food potlucks are a way to honor local food systems and the farmers who dedicate their work to feeding the community.”
“We’ve seen people doing these hundred mile potlucks all over the place, basically the concept is to try to source as many of the ingredients when making your dish as possible from within a hundred miles, which is not to say that you have to succeed in sourcing all of them. It’s more about like the endeavor and the experience of trying,” Blackman said.
The potluck, she said, helps people appreciate how much food can be found within 100 miles and also sheds light on where the boundaries of that accessibility are.
Since the early 2000s there’s been a resurgence of talk and writing about 100-mile diets. It’s basically about eating food made or sourced or grown locally and supporting regional farms and harvesters.
It’s much like the localvore movement, which has existed as a movement since the 1930s and the creation of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, but is more directly linked to 1980s and 1990s.
This is where consumers and producers live in the same general area and food consumption directly is meant to create food networks that are self-reliant and resilient and benefit local economies as well.
“There’s the obvious connections between climate and food systems of, or maybe not obvious, but there’s the more talked about connections between climate and food systems, of the emissions associated with having food travel long distances to get to you, but there’s also less clear connections, like the impact of larger scale, like mono-crop farming versus often our local farms are diversified or more regenerative on the land and what it does to a local community to have food accessible nearby, what it means when there are resilience events like bigger storms or roads go down or power goes down or different things like that to have strong local food systems becomes even more important.”
THE CONNECTIONS
“Sharing food within the community nourishes our collaborative connections and forms a foundation for creative action. Now, more than ever, we need creative communities empowered to act! We are excited to come together at this ten-year mark from our founding potlucks to celebrate and cultivate energy for future action,” ACCT writes.
It’s a celebration of food, local food, and food as a climate solution. But it’s also a celebration of connection and nourishment.
“Coming together and connecting around what we can do feels super important right now. There will be some remarks at the event and there will be hopefully some ways in which people can brainstorm in fun ways and participate in, in sharing their ideas in fun, creative ways,” Blackman said.
Ideas, fun, gathering, creativity and action have been pillars of the organization for ten years. This event is no different.
“But mostly we just want to bring people together and get them talking with each other and not us talking to them,” Blackman said, “because that’s how ACTT started and that’s how I think all great ideas start.”
All photos via A Climate to Thrive
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
If you have any questions, please reach out to Wilson at wilson@aclimatetothriveorg!
Live music details! Mr. DJ is Mike Bennett (drums), Ryan Blotnick (guitar), Danny Fisher-Lochhead (saxophone), and Jonathan Henderson (bass). The group formed in 2022 to play music they love, including songs by Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Arthur Russell, Marion Brown, Lucinda Williams, Ray Bryant, Kate Bush, Ernest Tubb, Billy Strayhorn, Kraftwerk, and Rubblebucket.
Resources to help find locally produced ingredients:
171 Beech Hill Rd Mount Desert, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday, June through October
Beech Hill Farm is a MOFGA-certified organic farm. BHF offers a wide variety of their own organically grown fresh, seasonal produce and locally-produced goods. They carry local bread, dairy, meat, honey, jams, gifts and snacks, and offer summer and autumn CSA.
1142 ME-102 Bar Harbor, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Saturdays
Triple Chick Farm is a MOFGA-certified organic family farm offering a variety of vegetables, herbs, flowers, and seedlings along with locally sourced meats, cheeses, and provisions.
Weekly local pick-up at Triple Chick Farm on Wednesdays for orders placed online between Tuesdays and Mondays. Year-round.
MDI Farmdrop offers a wide variety of locally sourced fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses and dairy, baked goods, and more all year round. Select from their options online, ordering between Tuesday and Monday, and pick up your order from Triple Chick Farm on Wednesday!
Bar Harbor’s Eden Farmer’s Market
YMCA Parking Lot in Bar Harbor, Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., May 11th – October 26th
Southwest Harbor Farmer’s Market
315 Main Street, Southwest Harbor, Fridays 9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., Late June through Columbus Day
34 Kennebec Place Bar Harbor, 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Tuesday & Wednesday, 12:00 - 6:00 - p.m. Thursday, 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Friday. Year-round
Bar Harbor Food Pantry’s mission is “building food security to strengthen the greater MDI community.” The pantry features six sections and incorporates locally grown food: produce; dairy and prepared foods; bakery; frozen; packaged dry goods; bulk repackaged dry goods.
115 Gilbert Farm Rd Bar Harbor
Bar Harbor Farm produce is currently primarily providing local produce via wholesale to local businesses.
101 Cottage Street Bar Harbor, 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Monday to Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Sunday, Year-round
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