Artisan vegetables: Sparkplug Farm at the Vinalhaven Farmers Market.

Working Waterfront

Vinalhaven’s Sparkplug Farm seeks new operator

A bright October sun had me squinting at the landscape—almost a mirage with its fields of flourishing vegetation. Like summer, I was thinking. But to farmers John Wright and Sara Hodges, joining me in a long row of arugula, it was perfect weather for harvesting greens at Sparkplug Farm, situated… SEE MORE

Fallen leaves pile up between two cottages in Bayside

Working Waterfront

It’s time to share our little secret

Ask Mainers about their favorite season, and most would probably say it’s autumn. One of the reasons for that choice, some might say, is that most of the tourists have gone home and so traveling along Route 1 is easier, as is stepping out for a meal or a beer.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Bar Harbor ponders second cruise ship terminal

People in Bar Harbor are in the grip of a fundamental tension. The downtown and waterfront are swarmed by visitors arriving by land and cruise ship every year. Crowds spill into Acadia National Park, where visitation was up 17 percent year-to-date by the end of August, making for the third… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Telecommuting lets transplants be ‘Eastported’

Coleman Brice, an information technology consultant in New Jersey, visited a friend in Eastport a dozen or so years ago. “I was blown away by the intellectual climate, the creative arts culture, the working waterfront, and the beauty and natural ruggedness,” he remembers. Five years ago, Brice and his wife… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

National monument process rankles fishermen

A land map of the United States reveals a patchwork of federally protected areas, while a map of the Atlantic Ocean, until recently, had no protected areas. That changed in September when President Barack Obama set aside an ecologically rich swath of waters southeast of Cape Cod for a new… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Saving coastal general stores: High property values, taxes hamper profitability

Will the small community general store go the way of the village blacksmith? Time will tell, but an analysis of the forces at work on the Maine coast offers a clear view of the challenges and some examples of how success might be found. The report, completed by Merritt T.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Maine and the Arctic: Opening waters emblem of environmental disaster, economic opportunity

Sen. Angus King’s analogy succinctly set the scene. “It’s like the sudden discovery of the Mediterranean Sea,” King said, an early speaker in a day-long forum devoted to the Arctic at Portland’s University of Southern Maine on Oct. 3. Though the Arctic region has been extensively explored, the rapid melting… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Fisheries advocate Alden named White House ‘champion’

Robin Alden, a former commissioner of the state’s Department of Marine Resources (DMR) and current director of the Stonington-based Penobscot East Resource Center (PERC), has been named a White House champion of change for her work on sustainable seafood issues. The honor was bestowed in a ceremony on Friday, Oct. 7.… SEE MORE

Pedalers on the foot-powered Maine Baycycle enjoy their beverages.

Working Waterfront

Going footloose on Casco Bay

PHOTO STORY BY KATIE JOHNSON There’s a new boat in town, and a new way to get out on the waters of Casco Bay. Maine Baycycle, run by captain and Peaks Island native Neil Kinner, provides a 90-minute pedal powered cruise of Portland’s waterfront that’s different from anything else out… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Financial hacks for fishermen

A version of this column first appeared in Landings, the newsletter of the Maine Lobstermen’s Community Alliance and is reprinted here with permission. Thinking about a new boat? Knowing how to pay for it is important. To help fishermen better understand financial management, the Vinalhaven Coop brought some experts from… SEE MORE