Working Waterfront

Considering summer raises questions

After two months of having all of our lives turned upside down from COVID-19, we are peering at summer just over the horizon. No one can quite imagine what it will look like. No matter where we live, we are experiencing the angst of trying to find some semblance of normal.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Peaks Island house a winner for its occupants

As far as Judy Walsh is concerned, the house she and her husband Paul Stenzel share on Peaks Island was a winner the day they moved in. But there was an added accolade—Fine Homebuilding magazine named it the “Best New Home of the Year.” The house is open, airy, full of… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Bringing it all back home

It sure is a different summer in the Cranberry Isles. Some people have chosen not to come to the islands this summer, considering the risk factors of traveling long distances during a pandemic. I missed one summer on Islesford, when I was 20, and I still remember what it felt like.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Not the same, but also good

When it became clear this spring that we weren’t going to kick this pandemic with two weeks of shutdown, the big question for many on (and off) North Haven became “what about summer?” Would summer residents be able to spend time here? What would things look like for restaurants? What… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

It’s a wet and wild world for this old man

I’m having a little trouble with the younger crowd here on the island, particularly boys but some girls too. Some guys my age might be upset by such delinquent behavior, such aggression—and it is aggression; make no mistake about it. It’s as if they get a kick out of harassing… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Let us be thankful for lettuce

‘Tis lettuce season for certain on-island. We are devouring the first planting of lettuce, which has turned into heads of glorious size, while the second planting is sizing up nicely, and the third has just been planted out to the garden from their nursery flats in the hoop house. The… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

From Brazil to Great Cranberry, the food travels well

When he visits Brazil, Cezar Ferreira is partial to moqueca, a stew of flaky white fish, coconut milk, cilantro, peppers, lime juice, peppers, and onion that’s perfectly accompanied by caiperinha, a sugar-cane alcohol and lime juice cocktail. At the food trucks, he enjoys crispy pasties, a type of empanada that goes well… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Frenchboro school sends students home to garden

When I moved to Maine four years ago, I quickly observed that Mainers are resourceful, creative problem-solvers. I have noticed this is particularly true of islanders, who, by necessity, take extra care to think about resources available on-island and how and when they come and go. When COVID-19 made its… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Island images demand answers to deeper questions

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. On a foggy morning in June, a friend and I were down at the dock loading up his lobster boat to… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Dealing with those not-so-new pests

A side effect of working from home from March through the end of May was that I became an even more obsessive gardener. We’ve been in our home, purchased through North Haven Sustainable Housing, since 2008, and I have three pretty well-established vegetable gardens around the house. I’ve managed to… SEE MORE