Peek into the Pantry with Maine Homestead

Krista Gagne Goes from the Garden to a Growing Business

What began as a single shopping bag of cucumbers from her grandfather’s garden has grown into one of Maine’s most recognizable food brands. For Krista Gagne, founder and owner of Maine Homestead, preserving food has always been about more than gleaming jars on a shelf. It’s about honoring the abundance of the garden—and not letting good things go to waste. 

In 2011, when Gagne unexpectedly found herself with more cucumbers than she could possibly eat, she made a batch of bread-and-butter pickles, her grandparents’ favorite. The result was delicious. And it was just the beginning. Soon, she was preserving everything she could get her hands on: raspberries from the property, surplus produce, experimental batches of jams, jellies and pickles filling every available shelf in her home. “I liked making things more than I was eating them,” she recalls with a smile.

That enthusiasm found an unexpected outlet when her former high school announced a craft fair fundraiser. Gagne rented a table, brought her excess jars and enjoyed selling and connecting with the community. More importantly, she discovered there was a real appetite for thoughtfully made, small-batch food. By early 2012, she had secured her commercial food producer’s license and officially launched Maine Homestead, working out of the school’s shared kitchen before outgrowing it within months.

Farmers markets came next—lots of them. At one point, Maine Homestead was selling at up to 16 markets a week across the region. Friends and family pitched in, helping run booths and build the brand jar by jar. That intense period of face-to-face selling helped Gagne refine her products and build relationships with farmers, fellow makers and retailers. Over time, wholesale became the company’s focus, allowing Maine Homestead to scale while staying rooted in its values.

Today, Maine Homestead produces a wide lineup of pantry favorites, including crisp pickles, zucchini relish, hot dill carrots, blueberry pancake and waffle mix, and its best-selling Maine Wild Blueberry Jam. (A true nod to the state’s bounty, as Maine is the largest producer of wild blueberries in the world.) The company now employs around 15 people and supplies more than 850 retailers nationwide—growth Gagne admits she never imagined in those early days.

Housed in a renovated historic building in Lyman, Maine Homestead Market reflects Gagne’s commitment to community as much as commerce. Alongside Maine Homestead’s own products, the shelves are filled with goods from other Maine and New England food producers—turkey pot pies from Harris Turkey Farm, small-batch salsas, dark chocolate and more. “It’s been really fun to be able to highlight other makers and to see what’s out there,” says Gagne. “There are a lot of natural resources available to us, and everyone’s using them differently.” The market has become a go-to stop for thoughtful Maine-made goods and gifts and an incubator of sorts for small producers looking for visibility and support. 

That collaborative spirit now extends into small-scale co-packing, helping farmers and makers turn their own ingredients into value-added products without having to invest in full-production infrastructure. For Gagne, it’s a natural evolution of the business—and a way to give back to the ecosystem that helped her grow. “I want to be here for a long time,” she says. “I want to be a focal point and a cornerstone in our local community.”

Despite its national reach, Maine Homestead remains grounded in traditional methods and quality ingredients. Every jar tells a story of Maine’s resources, its small-business culture and the relationships that sustain it.