September 24

THE MAINE STREAM

Waldo Village Soup - After a 31-year ban on coffee that left many fairgoers scratching their heads or fighting withdrawal, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association has invited two coffee vendors to participate in the 2009 Common Ground Fair. The longtime prohibition goes back to the first Common Ground Fair in 1977 when, according to MOFGA's Web site, there were no reliable sources of organically grown and processed coffee. The equatorial crop didn't jibe with the fair's focus on Maine-made foods either. Over the past decade, the visibility of organic and fair trade coffees has increased dramatically, with most grocery stores offering at least one variety, and some as many as a dozen. Today MOFGA has a working relationship with the coffee-farming families of the Ereguán Coffee Collective in El Salvador, producers of Cafe Juan Chacón coffee.

Sun Journal - Statewide, [community college] enrollment grew by 12 percent over the past year. A total of 16,555 students - the most ever - are now attending Maine's seven community colleges. Since state lawmakers changed Maine's technical colleges to the Maine Community College System seven years ago, enrollment has grown by 84 percent. The idea of creating community colleges was to encourage more Mainers to go to college, beginning with two-year programs and transferring to four-year colleges or universities.