I’m Jake Newman. The Portland Logbook is my love letter to this city: the food worth hunting down, the history that refuses to die, the corners you only find if you’re paying attention.

THE WHITE PINE

There’s a white pine at the edge of the Western Promenade that I’ve probably walked past three hundred times. I look at it every single time I’m over there, but the other day I stopped for some reason and just stood there for a minute.

Big trunk. Windswept branches. Looks more like something you’d see on the coast of California than in the middle of Portland.

That tree built this state.

Back in the 1700s, Eastern White Pines were one of the most valuable things in the colonies. Some of them were over 200 feet tall and wide enough that a few people couldn’t wrap their arms around them. The British wanted them badly because they made perfect ship masts. Trees like that were called mast pines.

They wanted them so badly that they literally sent surveyors into the Maine woods, marking the biggest trees with three axe slashes shaped like an arrow so nobody else could touch them.

Basically claiming them for the Crown.

And obviously, people cut them down anyway.

A lot of that timber moved through Portland back when the city was still called Falmouth, before the British burned it in 1775. Ships loaded with white pine left the harbor constantly. The whole economy here revolved around trees for a while. Some people even trace part of the Revolution back to fights over who owned them.

Then we cut almost all of them down.

By the mid-1800s most of the old-growth white pine forests were gone. Maine helped build the country with them. Cities, ships, mills, all of it.

Most of what grew back was spruce and fir. The giant white pines mostly disappeared with the old forests. There are still a few old-growth groves left around Baxter State Park though, and when you see them, it kind of changes how you picture Maine.

That’s probably part of why the white pine still ends up everywhere around here. The old state flag. The state quarter. Town logos. Tattoos.

Maine used to have forests that looked way more like the West Coast than the Maine most of us picture now, and most people don’t even realize it.

Deep Dive on White Pine Broad Arrow

Turns Out I Really Want a CSA Box

I was at the Deering Oaks Farmers Market, grabbing a bunch of rhubarb this weekend, and overheard a couple talking about their CSA box. Something about a flower CSA. I didn’t catch the whole conversation, but I was immediately jealous. Getting vegetables, fruit, and fresh flowers from local farms every week sounds pretty ideal to me.

That was it. I went home and started digging around.

If you’re not familiar, a CSA is a Community Supported Agriculture share. You pay a farm upfront before the season starts, and every week through the summer, you get whatever they grew that week. You don’t pick what’s in it. You get what’s ready. Lettuce when the lettuce is good. Tomatoes, when they finally come in. Twenty cucumbers, because apparently every cucumber plant in existence loses its mind eventually and makes a million cucumbers.

The cool part is you’re not really just a customer. You’re buying into the season before it even happens. The farm gets money upfront when they actually need it, and you get food that was probably in the ground the day before instead of sitting in plastic for a week somewhere on a truck.

There are still a few farms around Portland taking CSA members right now.

Stonecipher Farm up in Bowdoinham figured out something smart. They drop the boxes at restaurants around Portland every Tuesday night, so the farm basically comes to you.

New Spoke Farm does a free-choice setup where you pick from whatever they harvested that week. Portland pickup is at Woodfords Corner Market on Thursdays, and South Portland pickup is Saturdays at Night Moves Bread, which honestly makes the whole thing feel less like an errand and more like something you actually want to go do.

Frith Farm, down in Scarborough, has been practicing no-till organic farming since 2010. They started with 30 CSA families and are now up to around 300. Their vegetable shares are sold out already, but the bread CSA is still open.

Bumbleroot Farm in Windham sold out of their vegetable shares already, but they still have a flower CSA open. Honestly, getting fresh flowers from a local farm every week sounds pretty hard to beat.

Green Spark Farm, Winslow Farm, and Harvest Tide Organics are all still doing shares, too, some with Portland drop-offs.

A lot of these are filling up, so I wouldn’t sit on them too long.

The thing I like most about it is that the box kind of decides dinner for you. You get something you weren’t planning on cooking and have to figure it out. You stop defaulting to whatever’s easiest and start cooking around what’s actually in front of you.

Turns out that’s a lot more fun.

Browse Local CSA Shares

Portside Real Estate Group

Thinking of Moving?

🏡 Hi its me Jake! I write The Portland Logbook, but I also help people buy and sell homes in and around Portland.

If a move is on your mind, I’m always happy to help you think it through.

Lets get a coffee!

THIS WEEKS CONDITIONS
☀️ SUNRISE: 5:19 AM
🌅 SUNSET: 7:56 PM
✨ Local Opening’s: Hei Hey
✨ Local Favorite “Shop” of the Week: Ferdinand’s
✨ Local Artist of the Week: Marigold Ceramics
❤️ Local Job Listings: Dutchman’s Bagels in Brunswick

🐾 Adoptable Buddies of the Week! 🐾

🐶 Mailman – 3 yrs
A playful, smart hound who’s eager to learn and even more eager for treats. Loves other dogs and would make a great hiking buddy. Best in an adult-only home while he builds confidence.

🐶 Raiden – 2 yrs
A sharp, high-energy dog who loves training, puzzles, and staying busy. Thrives with structure and an active lifestyle. Best with teens+ and someone looking for a true adventure companion.

🐱 Sugar – 10 yrs
A calm, dignified older cat with a soft spot for sunny windows, brushing, and quiet company. Affectionate in a gentle, steady way. The kind of cat that makes a home feel calmer.

🐕 Interested? Check them out here

If the link doesn’t open anymore, it means they’ve already been adopted!