Ellen Sabina, Outreach Director // Belfast, Maine
Ellen Sabina has been at MFT for a little over three years. As the Outreach Director her job is to raise public awareness about the work MFT does and how it connects to the broader food and farm landscape. She oversees MFT’s communications and all public-facing activities, including events, membership, press and social media.
Ellen grew up in Sheepscot Village in Newcastle, Maine, and now lives in Belfast. She loves being in this part of the Midcoast. “It’s so easy to get some perspective in the hills and mountains of Camden or Acadia, zip out to the islands of Penobscot Bay, or to the rolling farmland just a little inland.” Ellen is an expert picnic-er and a wannabe flower farmer. She also loves a good dance party.
Q: Why do you work for MFT?
A: For a while I thought I wanted to be a farmer, but at some point decided that maybe I could affect more positive change by working for businesses and organizations that supported farms and the local food movement. That decision led to all kinds of jobs, like running a food bank farm, slinging cider for a start-up cidery, doing development work for a farm incubator, and finally back to Maine and to MFT. I feel very fortunate to be in the place I love, doing work I wholeheartedly believe in, though I sometimes still think about starting that farm…
Q: Projects you’re most excited about right now?
A: This time of year I’m really focused on the next issue of our annual journal, Maine Farms. We’re busy brainstorming and gathering content. I love thinking through how best to tell the stories of Maine farms, and seeing it all come together through writing, photography, design, and lots of editing. The most exciting (but also one of the hardest) parts of deciding on content for the journal is that there are so many stories to share — every year we are only just scratching the surface.
Q: Biggest challenge you look forward to working on?
A: The perennial challenge with outreach is that you can always do more. We’re trying to cultivate a passionate, informed community of people who care deeply about farms and food through every vehicle we can think of — instagram, events, education, publications, stories, and even producing films. It’s a tall order, and totally essential to tipping the scale in favor of the good food movement, but I’m not sure we’ll ever reach a point where we say, “ok, our work here is done.””
