ImageAmber Lambke is President of the Somerset Grist Mill, LLC and its Maine Grains label. She is also Executive Director of the Maine Grain Alliance, a nonprofit geared toward preserving grain traditions from earth to hearth.

Amber is a driving force behind Maine’s sustainable foods movement. She is also helping to bring economic vitality back to Skowhegan, Maine by reviving the region’s centuries-old artisan grain cultivating and processing industry.

In 2009, Amber and artisan brick oven baker Michael Scholz purchased Skowhegan’s old county jail and transformed it into a gristmill, entrepreneurial hub, and community gathering space.

The new space, which began operations in 2012, is now home to the largest mill in Maine using the traditional stone milling process. Working with local farmers, the Somerset Grist Mill processes all-natural and certified organic whole grains and oats on an Austrian stone mill and sells them under the Maine Grains label to retail locations throughout the Northeast, as well as award-winning restaurants and bakeries including the Standard Baking Co. in Portland, Maine and the Gramercy Tavern in New York City.

The former jail is also home to three start-up enterprises and a 21-member, year-round farmers’ market. Amber has worked with the farmers’ market to quadruple its number of vendors and increase sales by more than 400 percent. She also helped launch “The Pickup,” a highly successful, community supported agriculture (CSA) program that supports more than 40 farmers and food producers in the Skowhegan area.

Amber is co-founder of the Kneading Conference, a Maine Grain Alliance event that attracts attendees from across the U.S. and Canada and has spawned other grain and artisan bread celebrations throughout the country. She is also active with Main Street Skowhegan, is a Skowhegan Farmers’ Market board member, chairs the Western Mountains Committee of the Maine Community Foundation, and is advisor to the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences.