Working Waterfront

A whole lot of canning going on

By Sandy Oliver There is a whole lot of canning going on out on Islesboro. Probably no one in Maine with a garden or access to plentiful vegetables is exempt from pickling, canning, freezing, drying, storing away. It is September, which is “Putting Food By” month… well, not officially, merely… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A catastrophe in which no beauty can be found

By Dana Wilde Long ago, before realizing I was unfit to write poetry, I set myself a project I thought might become my life’s work. My childhood was still fresh and glistening with pain, and one of the more frightening disturbances had been the Cuban Missile Crisis, when I was… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The embrace of island life is like no other

Reflections is written by Island Fellows, recent college grads who do community service work on Maine islands and in coastal communities through the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront. By Stevie Kowalczyk Sometimes I hate living on Swan’s Island. Really hate it. The island can be nosey. Everyone knows everything… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Women on the working waterfront, and on our pages

By Tom Groening If newspaper readers could be proverbial flies on the wall during meetings at which editors plan news coverage, most conspiracy theories about bias and political agendas would fade away. I’m reminded (yet again) of a Jerry Seinfeld comedy bit, in which he notes, “It's amazing that the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

An eye that sees an island sharply, wryly

As the Crow Flies By Phil Crossman Review by Tina Cohen A new collection of essays by Vinalhaven’s Phil Crossman features on its cover a bird’s eye view of the island’s Carver’s Harbor, with a bird whose eye is appropriately airborne. That bird is a crow, and not incidentally, the nickname… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

My summer of trying new things

By Courtney Naliboff At 38, it’s easy to get into a comfortable routine. Work, music, parenting, swimming, gardening, writing—these are all solidly in my comfort zone, and completely enjoyable. Not that they’re always easy or straightforward, but I can confront those challenges without anxiety because they’re well known to me.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Summer on a Maine island creates ‘fomo’

By Barbara Fernald It is 10 a.m. on Aug. 1. The temperature is 78 degrees with 54 percent humidity. A gorgeous summer day on the coast of Maine. No wonder people want to be here. I hear it’s crowded in Acadia and I see that’s true by the many cars… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Making my political values official

By Phil CrossmanIn 1958, my grandfather, Ted Maddox, then our representative to the Maine Legislature, brought Sen. Edmund Muskie to Vinalhaven to attend the Fourth of July celebrations. Grampa escorted the senator up onto the speaker’s platform. I was loitering in the alley across the street because a mischievous uncle… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Lemonade from lemons, or tasty seafood from invasive crabs

By Kate Tagai Thousands flock to the Maine coast each summer to crack open the boiled red shells of lobster, drench the contents in butter, and toss it down the hatch. Fishermen catch more than 119 million pounds annually for consumers, but Gabriela Bradt from the University of New Hampshire… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

It’s pie season in Maine

By Sandy Oliver It’s pie season on the island. The succession of pie-filling ingredients growing in our gardens and ready for gathering in fields, one after another from rhubarb to strawberries, cherries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, peaches, and then apples and at last pumpkins, makes a huge plenty for a range… SEE MORE