Working Waterfront

The kitchen in summer

There is always some darn pile of vegetables or other in the kitchen in summer. Of course, that is the whole point of a garden, to grow vegetables for immediate and delayed consumption, either by the household or neighbors and friends. Wouldn’t it be handy if the piles accumulated after… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Calm reflection on Hurricane Island

Between the end of the school year and the needle drop on summer, I found myself on a very fast boat headed to Hurricane Island. The boat was piloted by a guy I’ve known, through various cosmic-level coincidences, since he was 8-years old, and who’s now the facilities manager for… SEE MORE

Students were eager to enter the reopened Longfellow School on Great Cranberry Island last September.

Working Waterfront

Small island schools better with TLC

Think back to 2008: summer Olympics in Beijing; signs of the Great Recession start to show; Barack Obama is elected president; Celtics beat the Lakers in the NBA finals. On Maine’s outer islands, teachers work tirelessly to maintain their one-room schools. Tirelessly and separately. Each school has a teacher and… SEE MORE

Lindsey Beverage has been hired to oversee North Haven’s eldercare facility.

Working Waterfront

North Haven’s eldercare vision coming to fruition

On eight acres of meadow overlooking Southern Harbor, North Haven’s eldercare facility is coming into focus. As the walls come down in the original structure, donated by Mary White, and six bedrooms, community spaces, kitchen and dining room take form, Southern Harbor Eldercare Services, the facility’s governing body, has taken… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

New Islesboro pre-school facility opens this summer

The reasons for providing daycare and preschool services on an island are many, and they are compelling. But the new Islesboro Pre-School facility came to fruition because island leaders asked for help and got it. First, the reasons. Bruce Claflin, who led the fundraising efforts for the facility, says the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Remembering that first day on Frenchboro

Reflections is a monthly column written by Island Fellows, recent college grads who do community service work on Maine islands and in remote coastal communities through the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront. I can’t believe two years have already passed since beginning my fellowship on Frenchboro. I remember leaving… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Beverly Ross Johnson is Chebeague’s volunteer extraordinaire

There is an old saying that you can’t keep a secret on an island, but that was disproven at Chebeague Island’s town meeting on June 10, when Beverly Ross Johnson was presented a legislative sentiment by Rep. Janice Cooper. The sentiment recognized Johnson’s 53 years contributing her time and talents… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

We’re not that much like Baffin Island

We were attending the safety seminar and enjoying the company at a small Midcoast fly-in a few months ago, largely because good cooking had been promised. Before the chili and such was served up, though, Jeremy, the Penobscot Island Air pilot with whom I flew to the event, approached me… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Readers respond to Stonington, Matinicus photos

We asked for reader with information about old photographs we published in the May and June issues of The Working Waterfront, and you did not disappoint. First, the Matinicus photo, which depicted a woman playing an accordion-like instrument. Across the sepia-tone image, the date was hand-written. Several readers correctly pointed… SEE MORE

A boat shed on the eastern shore of Islesboro.

Working Waterfront

It’s a pretty good life

Maine is where many people, famously Scott and Helen Nearing, found the good life. I’m old enough to understand that the “good life” is a pretty subjective term, and can apply to widely divergent ways of living. I’ve been blessed with food, clothing, shelter, and decent health all my life,… SEE MORE