Where: 

Waterford, Maine is a small corner of the world where you can disconnect from the virtual and reconnect with the rhythms of nature. A 1-hour journey by car from Portland, ME, you’ll find a 19th century farmhouse situated on a country lane amidst 17 acres in the hills and lakes district of western Maine. Outside, you’ll find rolling terrain, a farm pond, and an old red barn. Inside, you will marvel at hand-hewn beams, wide pine floors, carefully curated rooms and farm to table meals. 

What: 

Over the course of this bespoke four-day fine dining and workshop experience, we’ll cook together for a picnic lunch, knead homemade bread, chop, blend and jar our own take-home condiment pantry, stoke the fire for a traditional Maine seafood feast, and pair the fruits of our laughter-filled labor with tasty beverages that you’ll create with the ingredients you forage, along side a talented forager. Throughout the weekend, we will go on adventures to meet artisans and pick our ingredients, and come away with tips, tricks, and instruction on how to make better things at home. We’ll even board a lobster boat to take home dinner. You’ll go home with a bevy of Georgia-approved tips in the kitchen, a heart warm with new friends, a pile of tasty treasures, a few surprises and more than likely a lot of great stories to tell. Capped at 12-guests, this bespoke three-night, four-day intensive workshop offers the option to include accommodations and breakfast on site in Waterford along with meals, workshops and take-homes.

During this fine-dining experience, Chef Kember Vanderblue‘s mission is to serve homegrown organic food, from seeds that have been planted, harvested and prepared for you, supplemented by hyper-local organic farmers, most within a ten mile radius. There will be homemade bread and crackers, homemade ferments, and ingredients and attention to preparation at the highest quality — more labor intensive, but not something we want to sacrifice. 

Agenda: 

Thursday

Arrive in Portland by 2pm. At 3:30pm we’ll meet Captain Tom and board a 40ft lobster boat in Portland harbor. We will participate in the excitement of hauling up the traps or sit back and relax as we cruise near picturesque lighthouses, historic civil war forts, and the “Seal Rocks.” At 5pm you’ll be driven to your bedroom suite at The Waterford Inne. At 7pm, you’ll make your way to the barn at The Waterford Inne for a sunset dinner of freshly caught lobster with warm smoked butter, new Maine potatoes, a refreshing salad of cucumber, soft herb and homemade yogurt, and other sides from the August garden harvest.

Friday

If you’re staying at The Waterford Inne, you’ll wake up to fresh eggs and farm-to-table breakfast along with locally roasted coffee. We’ll meet at the Barn at The Waterford Inne after breakfast and roll up our sleeves together to cook and prepare for a picnic lunch. You’ll come away with some wonderful recipes and tips to make at home. After lunch we will learn about Maine’s flowers and roll up our sleeves to learn fiber arts. Before dinner, you’ll have a bit of free time to freshen up. In the evening we’ll meet at The Barn at The Waterford Inne and enjoy a sprawling hors’d’oeuvre spread dinner, where artisan cider maker Zack from Absolem will lead us through a cider tasting program. To compliment the tasting, Friday night’s dinner will feature a large selection of Maine’s best cheese and charcuterie, paired with local fruit and jams from Pie Tree Orchard, honey harvested on site, homemade spreads, and homemade sourdough crackers and bread using locally grown grains. Guests are invited to compare and contrast the various cheese from local creameries across the state.

Saturday

After breakfast, we’ll meet at The Barn in the morning for some more hands-on cooking together. In the afternoon, we’ll have a picnic lunch and then we’ll meet up with forager Nikaline Iacono for some ‘forest bathing,’ and take a walking tour in Mother nature for a little sightseeing, birdwatching, and collecting wild edibles. If photography is your thing, bring your camera. After our foraging adventure, we’ll head back to The Barn and Nikaline will lead a beverage making workshop with all of our foraged ingredients. We will take a quick siesta and then reconvene in the evening for a Maine Surf n’ Turf with all the fixins’ in The Barn. Dinner on Saturday will showcase Maine’s seafood paired with the ongoing harvest of August. You can expect Bangs mussels, oysters, and grass fed highland beef from a neighboring farm. All dinners will end with homemade dessert featuring local fruit from the nearby orchard, or homemade herb infused sorbets and ice cream.

Sunday

Easy like Sunday morning. We’ll meet in The Barn after breakfast to learn bread-making. If you’re an early riser you can enjoy a local hike on your own, attend an early service or go on a sunrise drive. After our bread making class we’ll bid you farewell with a grab-and-go lunch filled with some warm crusty bread, and a collection of all the treasures you’ve gathered throughout our time together.