Kneading Conference 2024

Join us for a hands on workshop with the one and only Theresa Culletto, also known as The Vineyard Baker, as she walks us through the secrets to crafting exquisite and mouthwatering focaccia bread just in time for harvest season!

Theresa is the talented author behind the new book “Beautiful Breads,” a stunning collection filled with inspiring photos, invaluable baking tips, and detailed instructions for creating bread masterpieces fit for any special occasion. These breads are so beautiful; your loved ones might hesitate to take a bite – but remind them, that’s the best part!
With over 40 years of baking experience under her apron, Teri has graced the screens of shows like Good Morning America, Today’s Show, and Baker’s Dozen as a guest judge. Her culinary expertise has also been featured in renowned publications like the New York Times, Food Network Magazine, Paris Match, Daily Mail, and more. She’s even presented at the prestigious Johnson and Wales Bread Symposium in Charlotte, NC.

Teri is not only a bread artist but also a dedicated grower, cultivating much of the produce used in her bread creations from her humble home garden. She’s a proud member of the Bread Bakers Guild of America and the Maine Grain Alliance, constantly expanding her knowledge in the world of cereal sciences and bread baking.

Theresa’s mission in life is to inspire, educate, and promote a wholesome lifestyle centered around nourishing bread, just like the kind she enjoyed growing up in first-generation European families. She believes that beautiful bread can be mastered by bakers of all levels and seamlessly integrated into any routine, nourishing not just the body but also the mind and soul of your family and friends.

Find Teri on Instagram: vineyardbaker and Facebook: vineyardbaker

Woody will share excerpts from his most recent book, A Call To Farms, exploring the nexus between the food movement and the peace movement.  Wait. . .Is there a peace movement? The underlying issue is, of course, the violence of the modern economy--explicit violence of the military-industrial kind, and insidious harm, social and ecological, done in the name of economic growth and wealth creation. For the past 15 years, the slow money movement has been encouraging locally led, informal community efforts around the country (and, as of two months ago, Israel) to provide below-market, even 0%, loans to small, diversified, organic farms and local food businesses. Slow Money Maine has been one of the leading nodes in this small, beautiful movement. So, it is with great pleasure that I look forward to reconnecting with friends I haven't seen in a number of years and making new ones, celebrating the progress of Maine Grains and the work of all promoting heritage grain, artisanal bread and local food systems. (Space must mean not only cyberspace and going to Mars, but also creating new kinds of economic space in which we can bring money back down to earth, enabling the local, the small and the slow to flourish.)

Pizza can tell a story.
Pizza is universally loved.
Pizza is a canvas for creativity and community-building.
Pizza is a job creator and a forceful economic engine.
Pizza can be a point of entry for a big idea.
And …..pizza can be a vehicle for change when used as a force for good.

Join Heather Kerner, Founder and CEO of The Good Crust for a talk about how her
company is shaping a mission to use pizza dough manufacturing with local grains as a
platform for workforce development for individuals with unique needs. Learn to see
beyond pizza as an end product, and contemplate how an honest mission to use good
food to create good jobs for good people can create a good life no matter where you
live. The presentation will be followed by hands-on pizza making with The Good Crust,
and an opportunity for group reflection on how pizza can be used to create solutions in
your own communities.