Founded in 2018, A Small Good salumeria is reimagining the craft of cured meats by means of wild fermentation, hard cider, and koji spores. Oliver Perkins and his wife, Kelly, moved to Midcoast Maine from Great Barrington, MA, in 2015. A native of Sydney, Australia, Oliver was a journalist and holds an advanced degree in public history. The couple originally settled in Great Barrington (where Kelly grew up) and Oliver’s passion for creating artisanal charcuterie took hold during his working tenure as manager at a local whole-animal butcher shop—The Meat Market. It was here that he gained experience with on-farm slaughtering and processing, as well as dry curing. The shop had an existing charcuterie program, but Oliver’s special interest and enthusiasm helped to elevate and expand its offerings to include a robust variety of house-made cured meats, pates, fresh sausages, bacon, and confit.
The young couple began to nurture a dream of starting their own farm and salumeria business, but the Berkshires proved to be a challenging location for a small startup. Eventually, they conceded that if they were going to afford to be able to start the business, they would have to relocate. They began looking in Vermont, as well as in Maine (specifically in the Midcoast region, in which they had already spent some time). Ultimately, the allure of living near the ocean in Midcoast, Maine, as well as the wealth of interesting people doing interesting things in the area, sealed the deal. Once situated in Maine, Oliver worked for Maine Street Meats butcher and eatery State of Maine Cheese building at 461 Commercial St. in Rockport for a time, before forging ahead with his farm plan.
Kelly and Oliver’s boutique charcuterie, “A Small Good” made its debut at several local farmers markets in 2017, and retail and restaurant clients also began to emerge. Through their presence at farmers markets and by word-of-mouth networking, the business also began to drum up investor interest. The two began forming relationships with local farmers that could supply the high-quality, whole animals that they wanted to work with.
By working with Maine Farmland Trust and the Maine Farm Finder website, the couple were finally able to locate a suitable parcel: 150 acres of field and forest, 650’ above sea level, on the side of a mountain in Hope, ME. They purchased easements on the property in 2018. Pictured are the beginnings of a 40-acre oak silvopasture, where they began masting mixed heritage breed hogs beneath the bountiful boughs. ‘Silva’ is a Latin term, referring to the trees of a region, while pasture is a parcel of land devoted to livestock grazing. The integration of the two is one of the oldest land-use practices in human history—since Roman times, pigs have been released into beech and oak woodlands to feed on the acorn and beech mast, and into fruit orchards to eat fallen fruit. This practice combines trees, forage (pasture), and livestock on the same land, uniting forestry and grazing into a single, sustainable system that not only boosts ecological diversity, but provides shade for animals, improves soil, reduces erosion, and acts as a major carbon sink—often surpassing other grazing systems in sustainability. Silvopasture is considered an excellent practice for animal welfare because the environment provides natural shelter, drastically reduces heat stress and protects livestock from cold, wind, and rain. It also encourages natural foraging behaviors and offers animals a diverse diet, which all lead to better overall health, lower mortality, and higher productivity, reducing or eliminating the need for antibiotics.
Currently, A Small Good uses only whole animals and primal cuts sourced directly from their own or other local farmers. All animals are humanely raised on living pastures, antibiotic-free, fed vegetarian diets, and animal welfare is a priority. In the processing shop, Oliver practices traditional European “seam butchery,” which is a technique that focuses on pulling out individual muscle groups to reduce waste and allows for a better preparation of salami grinds and whole muscle cures. Curing artisanal meats is a patience job and can take anywhere from four to 12 weeks. The process for creating cured sausages (salami, for example) involves multiple steps, including creating the filling, as well as fermenting and curing the sausage.
In place of standard freeze-dried cultures, A Small Good utilizes wild fermentation, which involves harvesting their own bacteria for the fermentation process from the spent hard cider lees (the sediment that settles at the bottom of a container after fermentation) that they collect from a local hard cidery. Their products are then dry-aged with koji spores, which is a step that builds a complex and deep umami flavor in their products. The company adds their own lacto-brines to build up the vigor before using it to catalyze the fermentation of the salami. They are currently the only USDA facility in the US that is wild fermenting its products. Their clients range from prominent Portland restaurants to numerous artisan markets, wine shops and specialty grocers all along the Maine coast and their business continues to grow. The Blue Hill Co-op is proud to carry A Small Good Proper Bacon in our Meat Department.
A Small Good Proper Bacon (10oz) is one sale now at the Blue Hill Co-op!
For a locally-sourced breakfast-of-champions, serve up some Small Good Proper Bacon with:
Pancake mix from Rusted Rooster Farm (Parkman, ME) from our Bulk department
Local Maple Syrup from Jackman Maple (Jackman, ME)
Scrambled Eggs from Tilth & Timber (Castine, ME)
Pineland Farms Cheddar (New Gloucester, ME)
Follow A Small Good on Instagram or Facebook for updates from the salumeria and farm!
Sources:
Wolfe, Martin S.; Pearce, Bruce D.; Smith, Jo (December 2012). “A European perspective for developing modern multifunctional agroforestry systems for sustainable intensification”. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems.
https://www.climatehubs.usda.gov
