For decades in the Gulf of Maine, Damien Parkington has seen lobsters follow the same migration pattern in the spring and early summer, coming in from deeper waters to find a more shallow spot to release their eggs.

"The first migration of lobsters is generally egg-bearing females that are searching habitat to go lay their eggs," he explained.

Seventeen-year-old Isaiah Peters is worried about local herring.

"I went to get some herring, I got like around like 15 of them and I was gutting them and then I realized halfway through that most of them, their roe, their eggs were just mis-colored and polluted."

The roe was a pasty grayish pink color—not the vibrant range of whites, oranges, or reds that Peters had seen in healthy fish.

When people talk about reasons to buy local fruits and veggies, they often bring up flavor. A tomato from the grocery store doesn’t taste anything like a tomato fresh from the garden. But Francie Randolph of Sustainable Cape says there’s a big health difference, too.

For the past two weeks on the Local Food Report, I’ve been airing pieces from an interview I did this winter with apple expert John Bunker. The Maine gardeners I grew up with spoke of Bunker’s apple knowledge with awe and reverence, and when I finally met him, I understood why. Bunker—founder of the mail order nursery Fedco Trees—grows an estimated 450 varieties of apples on his farm outside Augusta, Maine. When I asked him if he had any favorites, he named two—and added in a little history. Here are Bunker’s favorites, in his own words.