SCHOODIC PENINSULA — Most folks are good-natured when caught stealing rocks at Schoodic Peninsula, the mainland section of Acadia National Park. At one beach, park ranger Bill Weidner had a hunch. “The hatch was open on a van, stacks of clean towels in back,” he said. He politely approached the owner. He said to the
Valerie Morton’s ‘canned art’ featured on Vinalhaven
VINALHAVEN — Sweetie, Valerie Morton’s calico cat, is 23 years old. Sweetie’s treat as a dowager has been sardines, and that left Morton with empty cans that needed to be recycled. One day several years ago, as she sorted metal from plastic to take to the dump, she flashed on an image of a
Deer Isle hostel offers insight into homesteading
DEER ISLE — A hostel in Georgia where guests sleep in tree houses inspired a local man to establish the only hostel on the Maine coast. After visiting the Hostel in the Forest in Georgia, Surry native Dennis Carter decided his life’s calling was to open a more traditional type hostel in Maine. Carter was
Lyme cases on Islesboro grew between 2012 and 2013
ISLESBORO — Officials at the island health center report that the number of Lyme disease cases treated on the island rose at an alarming rate between 2012 and 2013. The Islesboro Health Center recorded an almost eight-fold increase in the number of confirmed cases of Lyme treated at the facility. Alison Wood, a physician assistant
The burning island question: ‘Could you put it on the boat?’
The first thing many people assume about living on an island without a bridge is that you can still get here by car. There is no car ferry to the Cranberry Isles, yet we have plenty of cars and trucks and golf carts on both Little and Great Cranberry Islands. “How do they get here?”
Fishing in warmer seas: learning from Tasmania
Tasmania, an Australian island state 150 miles off the southeastern part of the continent, shares some surprising similarities with Maine. It has an important lobster fishery and, like Maine, is categorized as a climate change “hotspot” with waters also warming at a rate well above the global average. The Tasmanian lobster fishery targets the southern
‘Sustain ME’ conference exhorts, focuses entrepreneurs
GREAT CHEBEAGUE ISLAND — The theme that emerged at the all-day Sustain ME conference on Saturday, July 12, was that building businesses in remote settings brings undeniable challenges. But that fact was contrasted with first-person success stories, so entrepreneurs may have left more buoyed and inspired than daunted and down. That was the hope of
New right whale rules put lobster gear at risk
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released in June new regulations designed to protect whales from being entangled in fishing gear by reducing the number of lobster buoys lines (vertical lines) in the water. The rules start to recognize the diversity of the fishery, but they also add to existing regulations, including a requirement
Island organic garden enjoys natural amendments
Editor’s note: This series of blogs was written last year by Anneli Carter-Sundqvist about her and her husband Dennis’ adventures homesteading and running a hostel on Deer Isle. The entire year of blog posts are contained in the book A Homesteader’s Year on Deer Isle (see www.deerislehostel.com). Summer solstice came and went with the typical