The Island Institute’s 3rd Community for Rural Education, Stewardship, and Technology (CREST) Summer Institute was bigger and better than ever! CREST doubled in size this year to include 96 6th -12th grade students and 55 teachers from 16 island and isolated coastal schools. The schools that sent students included Deer Isle Stonington Elementary and High
Cranberry Report
In the Cranberry Isles, August and September are great months for harvesting things that grow in the wild. Mushrooms and berries reach maturity and people are eager to pick. Chanterelle mushrooms, with their slightly smoky apricot flavor, grow in a number of places on the islands. Not everyone is adventurous enough to gather wild mushrooms,
Final groundfish management measures upcoming
In early August 2008, officials, industry and interest groups met at NOAA’s Northeast Fishery Science Center in Woods Hole, Mass. to hear the preliminary results of the third Groundfish Assessment Review Meeting. The assessment review, known as GARM III, has the goal of setting benchmark assessments for 19 groundfish stocks (including cod, haddock, flounder, hake,
Visiting students learn about Maine through lobsters
In late July I was invited to speak on some aspect of U.S. culture to a group of Latin American university student leaders. I chose to speak on the lobstering industry in Maine. As a summer resident of Friendship for the past 47 years, I know something about lobstering, especially since my husband Jim and
Venturing
In Maine, I’m afraid, it’s too easy to forget that working waterfronts exist all over the world, in all sorts of places that don’t have lobsters, big tides or even salt water. Take Duluth, Minnesota, at the western end of Lake Superior. Duluth got its start as a port in the 1850s (a false start,
The fire’s out, but fire fighters keep working
What really happens when the fire is out? What started on Swan’s Island with the emergency pager rousting fire fighters out of bed at 3:30 a.m. on July 24 to fight the library fire did not end until 7:30 p.m., 16 long hours later. That would be a long day on any job, but especially
Celebrating 60 years, Farnsworth looks to the future
In August, the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland officially celebrated its 60th anniversary, but the museum employees don’t seem to be in the mood to linger on the past. They’re too busy shaping its future. “It’s not about the past 60 years, it’s about the next 40,” said David Trope, marketing coordinator for the museum.
Parallel 44
The past two months have been quiet ones at Portland’s International Marine Terminal, the state’s only container port. Operations at the city-owned facility were suspended June 29, shortly after the paper mill in Old Town shut down pending bankruptcy negotiations. The suspension, which forced the port’s other clients to seek alternate shipping routes, demonstrated a
A yarn about sheep: Vinalhaven farm provides wool for island fiber arts shop
Do you know how much wool sheep produce? Wanatha Garner does. Garner is the owner of Long Cove Farm on Vinalhaven, and this question was the impetus for the creation of Long Cove Wool, yarn made from the wool of her sheep and sold at Island Home, a new fiber arts shop on Vinalhaven. Among
North Haven excited by opening of new school
On September 8, 2008 North Haven will open its new school for the academic year. With a population of 67 students and 14 full-time teachers, the North Haven Community School is the smallest public K-12 school in the state. As I walked around the campus recently with long-time principal Barney Hallowell, the finishing touches were