BRUNSWICK

Just imagine sitting down to a plate of shiny red tomatoes sliced in half, filled with an almond cashew spread and sprouts, and topped with a basil leaf and served with watermelon.

Or to drink, an iced chaga tea, made of a mushroom that steeped all night — a refreshing alternative to a sugary soda or juice.

These are just some of the healthy choices that can be found at the new Farm Fresh Cafe run by Faith Crooker, who is a nurse. She owns Therapia, a wellness clinic located under the same roof, with her business partner, who is a nurse practitioner. They care for patients with Lyme Disease and chronic illnesses with an eye toward homeopathic treatments.

Many of these people need to change their diets, but don’t know where to start.

Thus, the mission of the new cafe.

Crooker said if they didn’t teach patients how to eat, they’d be doing a disservice. So she’s working to educate them and the community about how to eat cleanly, striving for better health.

“(But) you don’t have to be sick to like what you get here,” she said.

Open now nearly a month in the Omega Wellness building on Industrial Parkway in Brunswick, the stillevolving cafe allows people to experience and learn a new and healthy way to eat. She’ll share any of her recipes too.

“I think we’re multi-sensory, so I demonstrate,” Crooker said. “There’s nothing I’m trying to keep. I want you to go home and do it, and if you can’t, come back and I’ll show you again.”

Her next scheduled demonstration is Thursday, July 6 at 6 p.m., when Crooker will show people how to make chaga tea and vanilla chia pudding. The events are free; Crooker only asks that people bring a non-perishable item for the local food bank.

She spends many Sundays at the cafe doing prep work for the week and welcomes people to watch the process.

It’s not an endeavor she’s taken on to make money. She has five grandsons and thinks about what she wants to leave behind and the kind of life she wants them to have, and her community.

“One thing you can do for them is give them some foods they can take with them, make life changes and feel better,” Crooker said. “This is not a cure-all. It’s not going to stop people from necessarily dying, but it’s going to give you a better quality of life.”

She added, “At the end of the day, I like to teach.”

She’s not expecting folks to make a complete switch to clean eating, but hopes they’ll learn to incorporate some clean eating into their current lifestyle.

Farm Fresh Cafe uses fresh local produce as well as organic heirloom tomatoes. They are grown year-round at an organic tomato farm Crooker owns with her husband in Hadley, Massachusetts. Many customers keep coming just for the tomatoes.

Everything at Farm Fresh Cafe is organic and gluten free. There are raw energy bars, vanilla chia pudding, cinnamon crisps, fresh fruit, artisan soups, salad bowls, specials and for dessert, Crooker makes an assortment of ice cream. With the strawberry harvest underway, there will soon be a lot of items on the menu featuring strawberries.

Crooker also makes sure she has some grab and go meals people can take home or pick up for lunch. The cafe makes it own hummus and she makes a new soup every day.

While many who eat a healthy diet have converted from a more mainstream one, Crooker grew up eating this kind of food.

Sitting in the small cafe decorated with antiques, charming silverware and china she’s picked up at flea markets, fresh flowers on every table and classical music playing softly, Crooker said she wants to show people the food she makes is simple.

In fact, the cafe doesn’t even have an oven. Her main tools are a VitaClay cooker, food processor and a really good knife.

The raw cereal made with buckwheat groats, and crackers made with ground natural ingredients, are dried in a dehydrator with a heat that doesn’t cook the food. It is easy on the body, leaving it feeling fed because it provides the nutrients the body calls for when ingredients are closer to their natural state.

When it comes to choosing those healthy foods, “Eat what’s available right now,” she said. “Just start there.”

Farm Fresh Cafe

Location: 12 Industrial Parkway, Brunswick
Hours: Monday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Menu: Call for daily updates/ordering
Phone: (207) 844-2045
Online: farmcafemaine.com