Besides getting lobster eating lessons at the Saturn dealer, I sat and read a March issue of Oprah's magazine. There was an article about the rise in small family-run farms and creameries that are making artisanal cheeses. One was right here in Westbrook. And I quote, "Less than 15 minutes from downtown Portland, Smiling Hill Farm seems a century away from the city's rush and tumble. The Knight family has been dairy farming here since the 1700s, and since 1996 residents have been lining up at the store for Smiling Hill's fresh-from-the-cow milk sold in glass bottles. The farms 50 Holsteins graze on the sloping pastures just behind the shop. Smiling Hill's trump card, however, is the extraordinary range of cheeses produced by Jennifer Betancourt and sold under the Silvery Moon Creamery label. In 2003 Betancourt began making Camembert in the kitchen of her Portland apartment, using milk from the Smiling Hill herd. She has since taken over the bottling plant at the back of the dairy store, where visitors can drop by to wach as she ladles her creations into molds by hand. She produces about 400 pounds of cheese per week." We found the farm, saw the cows, and bought some brie.
We saw a sign for a campground and decided to go check it out. We may come back and spend a week or so around Portland and see more things in southern Maine. Maine does a great job of posting signs at intersections pointing out businesses, parks, and other places of interest. We found 3 campgrounds that way and did drive-throughs.
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