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Tucked away in the sleepy Moosehead Lake region of Maine, Northwoods Gourmet Girl has been producing all-natural, elegant pantry staples since 2005; one jar at a time.
Perhaps inspired by the myriad of artificially-flavored, chemically-altered condiments that line the shelves of supermarkets around the nation, chef Abby Freethy set out in 2005 to create a company that specialized in healthy alternatives to common pantry staples. Northwoods Gourmet Girl started with country ketchup produced in Freethy’s own home kitchen, and has expanded to a product line of over 18 items, including relishes, jams, preserves and desert sauces.
“I grew up in a home where the kitchen was constantly filled with the smell of my Ukranian grandmother’s scratch cooking, sheltered from the processed foods that still remain omnipresent in today’s society,” says Freethy. “Northwoods Gourmet Girl is my attempt to bring quality of life back into the kitchen for families throughout New England.”
Northwoods Gourmet Girl has grown from its humble beginnings to a sustainable business with a heavy focus on community enrichment for both children and adults.
“I started this company when I was pregnant with my son, and soon realized that the basis behind all of it lays in my desire to raise awareness amongst both parents and children about the importance adopting a healthy lifestyle,” says Freethy. “At Northwoods Gourmet Girl, we believe that health starts in the kitchen and with proper nutrition, which is none of our products contain preservatives or other artificial ingredients.”
Northwoods Gourmet Girl is a purveyor of gourmet, all-natural, and healthy pantry staples, including a product line of over 18 items, including ketchups, mustard, relishes, jams, preserves and desert sauces. Northwoods Gourmet Girl draws on Abby’s culinary training as a chef, with a goal of using high quality ingredients sans preservatives. In addition to the pantry staples, Northwoods Gourmet Girl launched a branded lifestyle home goods early in 2018, including furniture (kitchen islands, farm tables, chairs, and benches), dinner ware, glasses, pottery, and tea towels. All home goods are designed working with local artisans and crafted with high quality materials by Maine artisans and carpenters. The slow roll out of of the hard goods will be solidified by a brick and mortar store in Abby’s home town of Greenville Maine on beautiful Moosehead Lake.
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Karen Talbot is an award-winning scientific illustrator and fine artist best known for her depiction of fishes. As an avid fly angler, she has firsthand experience with many of her subjects. The tagline of Karen Talbot Art is “Conservation through Appreciation,” and Karen believes art, like angling, can bring much needed attention to important conservation issues.
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KATE SHAFFER
With more than 20 years experience in the food industry at all levels, Kate Shaffer brings a high degree of know-how and stick-to-it-iveness to the production workings of the company.
Armed with a library copy of Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Kate took over the management of her family’s kitchen at the age of 10. Her first after-school job was serving frozen yogurt at a little shop in her hometown. She continued to cook for her family until she left her home state of California at the age of 16. Her unconventional culinary education continued as an exchange student in Turkey, where she developed a passion for exotic spices and flavors and ethnic traditions. In her late teens, she moved back to California, and worked at a busy breakfast and lunch restaurant where she stayed for 10 years, learning every job there was to learn, from the back of the house, to the front. While attending classes in Culinary Arts and Hospitality part-time and working to finish her degree in English Literature from UC Santa Cruz, Kate moonlighted in other restaurants, cooking, baking and learning new ways of working and managing. You could often find her asking for traditional recipes and techniques from her Mexican, Brazilian and Salvadorian co-workers.
In her late twenties and newly married, Kate moved to Maine, where she became the chef and produce buyer at the Keeper’s House Inn on Isle au Haut, a job at which she stayed for five years. During her time there, Kate sourced her ingredients from a dynamic network of local farmers, fishermen and artisan food producers. She gained a reputation as a skilled cook noted for her seasonally inspired menus, her expertly prepared food and her beautiful presentation. During the time that Kate cooked at the Keeper’s House, the inn and its food was featured in Gourmet Magazine, Fodor’s Escape to Northern New England, National Geographic Traveler, the New York Times, and the Boston Globe.
While still working at the Keeper’s House, Kate began a small catering business and ran it successfully for another season after she left the inn. As with her menus at the inn, she focused her efforts on the preparation of unusual, sometimes exotic, dishes, using organic and locally grown and harvested produce, meats, seafood and dairy products.
Kate brings the same passion for fine ingredients, respect for the land and people, love of beauty and spirit of adventure to her chocolates. She has approached the sharp learning curve of professional chocolatiership with the spirit of an adventurer and the careful eye of an artist—and, by much trial and error. Kate augments her experimentation with courses on chocolate making (she holds certificates for both Professional and Maitre Chocolatier from Ecole Chocolat, Vancouver B.C.) and hundreds of hours of research into the subject
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I have been sewing since the age of 5; taught by my mother who stressed to me that the garment I was making ‘has to look as good on the inside as it does on the outside.’ I have sewn everything from clothes to home accessories to boat upholstery.
I will expertly put a beautiful finish to your quilt using my longarm computer guided Gammill quilting machine.
I also create beautiful custom quilts for sale as well as wall hangings, table runners and totes.
All products are made with high quality 100% cotton fabrics and are cold water machine washable, line dry. All bindings are hand stitched.
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Handmade rustic signs & nautical hand painted T-shirts, made with detailed attention and quality craftsmanship. Wood for the signs is purchased from local mills and carefully lettered to perfection. No two signs or t-shirts are the same making them unique, artist signed pieces of art.
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Raised in a yacht building family on the Coast of Maine, Gil Harper spent his early career in yacht building before bringing his maritime craftmanship to Weatherend Estate Furniture thirty years ago. As owner of Weatherend since 1996, Gil has taken the company to a new level with innovative designs, new manufacturing capabilities and a steadfast commitment to exterior expertise.
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Handweaving and designing textiles for clothing and the home has been my joy since 1970. Now, in a studio overlooking hayfields and woodlands in the central Maine highlands, I design, weave, and finish scarves, shawls, clothing and accessories for the home.
With a formal education in art, I have focused my attention on the interplay of colors and patterns in woven fabric.The pieces displayed here are only a portion of my work which includes one of a kind garments, as well as traditional weavings. Marketed under the studio name of Jones Limited, my products can be found across the United States in shops and galleries as well as selected craft shows.
For me, watching yarn transform into fabric before my eyes is exciting. For over 40 years I’ve been handweaving fabrics for clothing, table linens, yardage, rugs and anything I can imagine. Using looms that are easy to work with and yarns that are new and exciting or traditional standards, when the fabric comes off the loom and finished, there is always a sense of accomplishment. Please take time to view some of what I have made in the past and what I am weaving now.
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Julie had a job at a popcorn store about 35 years ago when she was in high school. She never lost her love for flavored popcorn. In 2008 she told her husband, Paul, about her summer job, and they created their business plan together! Julie’s background was as a hairdresser and salon owner, and Paul’s background was in business management. They both believe that there is no better way to learn how to run a business than to run a business! Paul and Julie find inspiration from their co-workers and all the great customers that come into their stores!
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For my 13th birthday I asked for an oil painting set and was lucky enough to receive it; unlike the drum set I requested a few years later. Art instead of music; I can say that was probably a kind twist of fate because now I create objects of beauty instead of who knows what horrors of sound I might have inflicted on others.
I am the first one in my family to obtain a 4 year college degree. I was pre-med, then changed to fine arts, then had to get a job and eventually wound up as a computer programmer until finally landing back here in the arts. I went from Wall Street to Rural Route and have never been happier. I do not regret a thing. Everything I experienced and learned helps me today.
What drives my creativity? Why do I do what I do? Where did I study and what awards have I won? These are the things I’m supposed to tell you in a bio but I probably won’t. I will say that I am largely self taught, that I created many ugly things along the way, that I fail all the time, even after 22 years. Creativity is innate in each of us; sometimes it finds an outlet in cooking, building, singing or in fishing. For me it is in creating with color and light.
Warm glass is an amazing medium to work with; the technology is growing and what was once unobtainable financially is now as easy to get as a toaster. New techniques are unfolding all the time and ancient techniques can be revisited. Glass is an ancient magical material with endless possibilities and dichroic glass is a newish material impossible without 20th century technology.
Nature offers boundless inspiration in form and color. She stills the mind and soothes the soul and if you are lucky will whisper in your ear and play the muse. I look to my garden, the fields and forests for inspiration. The combination of ancient techniques, modern technology and the artistry of nature is where my passion blooms.
