Bowdoinham SPROUTS in the news

BOWDOINHAM — There is still plenty of room available at the Sprouts table at the Bowdoinham Farmers' Market for any aspiring young entrepreneurs lurking in Bowdoinham.

Sprouts is a youth entrepreneur program for Bowdoinham kids age 8 to 16 to sell homegrown items at the Bowdoinham Farmers' Market, which will continue this season until Nov. 1.

Sprouts are required to have an adult with them at their table, competitively price their items and answer questions related to their items. They also must have the ingredients displayed for consumers. Application forms can be found at the town office.

Kathy Savoie, who works for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension's Cumberland County office, lives in Bowdoinham. The Sprouts program was her idea.

"The concept is really to help kids from Bowdoinham continue to learn about Maine foods because we do have a kids cooking and gardening program at the school," Savoie said. The Food Freaks group meets Wednesday mornings from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.

There have been nine Sprouts involved so far, four of whom have been involved in the Food Freaks.

It was a farmer who suggested that the Sprouts be required to price their goods competatively, Savoie said. "They wanted kids to really understand the market; that it is a business," she said.

And the kids certainly seem to understand.

Savoie's own daughter, Libby Ouellette, 11, is a baker. She's made blueberry pies with berries she picked in Bowdoinham, cranberry walnut cake, blueberry lemon cake, buckwheat pancake mix and rhubard lemonade. With pets in mind, she also sells liver dog bones. She said she learned her way around an oven from her neighbor, grandmother and mother.

She usually makes 13 little pies and four big ones to bring to market, and prices them by adding up the ingredients to see how much it costs to make.

"I like to cook," she said. "The first time I made stuff, I made the blueberry pies, and I learned I liked to do that because I entered a pie into the Topsham Fair and I got first place," out of about nine pies. That was a couple years ago, she said.

"Something that I want to do when I grow up (is) make wedding cakes and make all the decorations and everything," she said.

Ouellette has been putting her money in the bank, though not for anything in particular. To other Bowdoinham kids who may be thinking about Sprouts, she's said, "Try to pick something that wouldn't cost a lot of money to make, but that you'd still make a lot of money off."

Producing 'Grownola'
Nine-year-old Haven Cutko makes granola and calls his operation "Grownola."

Why granola?

"My mom suggested it because it sounded easy, unlike making pies," he said. He uses Bowdoinham-produced honey for his Grownola because "the honey makes them very sweet," he said.

He doesn't hide his motive to get involved with Sprouts.

"I wanted money for video games," he said. His parents told him if he wanted new PlayStation games, he'd have to earn money to buy them.

Making Grownola is a good business, Cutko said, and "anybody who's willing to make a good product and make good money — it would be perfect for them."

"I'm a one-man show," the nine-year-old explained. "I'm a natural at it. I don't want to start anything else. It's a perfect product."

Brothers in business
Two other young businessmen, the Stride brothers, Sam, 8, and Liam, 11, found that an early attempt to sell lettuce wasn't as successful as they had hoped.

"We decided to do baked goods and stuck with that because people really liked that," Liam said. They found the Friday afternoon markets tend to be better for their more "sugary" treats like tarts and brownies. On Saturday morning, "we usually sell out of muffins very quickly, because people are starting to wake up and are like, 'I'm hungry.'" But he noted that on Saturdays, business doesn't really pick up until around 10 a.m.

Future plans might include blackberry muffins or crisp. They've also made strawberry muffins, lemon poppy seed muffins, mini chocolate muffins, brownies and cookies. One usually does the wet ingredients and one does the dry when in the kitchen, and they split the profits, once making a total of $84 for their baked goods.

As to whether he preferred any one of the products he's made, Liam had a confession.

"Given the choice, I'd eat it all," he said. "I have a hard time parting with some of those brownies, just watching them fly by on that Friday afternoon."

Cutko summed up Sprouts in three words: "Sell, sell sell."

Applications for Sprouts are available at the town office or by calling Kathy Savoie at 666-8182 or Tony Cox at 666-5531. There is a rotating schudule for Sprouts throughout the farmers market season. The Merrymeeting Grange Hall at 27 Main St.

Acceptable food items include cakes, cookies, muffins, candy, bread, fruit pies that contain some Maine grown or produced ingredients.

Markets are Fridays, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturdays, 8 a.m. to noon.