A WWOOFer at a farm in Connecticut poses with the bok choy she grew.

Working Waterfront

The world came to me this summer, via WWOOFers

A weeder’s dream vacation is going to a Maine island and staying in someone’s house, getting three squares a day, and all the fresh air you can breathe in exchange for weeding, mulching, planting, thinning, building compost piles, watering and weeding some more. This summer, I discovered that there are… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

God bless the weeds

Islanders are lucky because they have a weed habitat—saltwater shoreline—that inlanders don’t, but no matter, we all have plentiful weedy places on which to graze. Like mainly our gardens. Well, maybe you don’t have a weedy garden but, Lord help me, I do. As luck would have it, the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

What you hear about lobsters, and what’s true

By Sandy Oliver There are oft-told stories that long ago lobsters were food fit only for the poor, that the prisoners at the Maine State Penitentiary (and apprentices in Boston) refused to eat them more than twice a week, and that they were so plentiful and poorly regarded that farmers… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

What you hear about lobsters, and what’s true

There are oft-told stories that long ago lobsters were food fit only for the poor, that the prisoners at the Maine State Penitentiary (and apprentices in Boston) refused to eat them more than twice a week, and that they were so plentiful and poorly regarded that farmers used them for… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

My June ‘to do’ list

By Sandy Oliver Plant more lettuce. Plant more spinach. Pick the blossoms off the rhubarb so it will keep sending up leaves. Thin calendula. Plant out the dahlias, for pity's sake. Snap sprouts off the potatoes still in the cellar. These and more are on my June "to do" list.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A perfectly planned memorial

Judy Coffin perfectly, and cheerfully, planned her memorial service and the reception that followed it. All that we her grieving neighbors, friends and family had to do was follow instructions. As she entered hospice, she announced to her husband Jack, "We are going to be happy," and she set the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Don’t fear the spotted produce… or slimy pork chops

Apparently Seattle is fining people who toss food waste instead of composting it. And in big cities like New York, some chefs are making a point of using up every last bit of broccoli stalk and cucumber butt in order to cut closer to the economic bones of their businesses.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Sharing a cold night with two food writers

The great thing about deep snow and cold temperatures is that I feel no compunction whatever about lingering in bed another hour in the morning to read or even trotting off to bed at night a little earlier than usual to read before sleep. Or even on a quiet day,… SEE MORE