Working Waterfront

The ticks don’t care

In the 1980s and 1990s when I was teaching at Unity College, the outdoor recreation professors drilled a memorable sentence into every generation of student: “The woods don’t care.” It meant that along with being remarkably beautiful, the forest is remarkably dangerous. The oaks and cathedral-like firs do no more… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Weather, The Great War and a homeward bound schooner

Let’s start with the weather. It’s April, that often cruelest of months, as this is being written. In Maine, April is a flirt, flashing a warm, beckoning smile one day, and spitting snow the next. This winter followed the pattern of last year’s, easier on the snow and cold—though in… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Islands on the mind and a beer in hand

Maine and the country have seen amazing growth in the craft brewing business. This evolution began over 25 years ago, and there are now over 80 breweries in Maine. People appreciate a better tasting product and are willing to seek it out. The brewing community is a passionate group that sees… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

‘The real thing’ sets coastal, island agenda

American life faced a confluence of turbulent forces in 1971. The war in Vietnam was raging, with strong opposition that sometimes resorted to domestic terrorism. The women’s rights movement was emerging, while the push for equity for African-Americans was becoming militant. And a deep worry about the state of the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Native wisdom measuring Maine, verse by verse

Booker’s Point by Megan Grumbling. Denton, Texas: University of North Texas Press “Come to a fork, you gotta take/it, they say” When I was growing up on Long Island, New York, my parents hired a local man, Fred Grimshaw, to look after our property. He knew how to do everything—trim hedges,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Island life spiced up by dining opportunities

April’s issue of the North Haven News, our monthly island newspaper, came with a delightful surprise announcement: Cooper’s Landing would be re-opening for the season on April 17. The Landing has been an on-and-off North Haven institution. The slate blue building just across the street from the ferry terminal has… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Eating garbage as the responsible, frugal thing to do

Danish chef Mads Refslund has just written a book called Scraps, Wilt, and Weeds: Turning Wasted Food into Plenty. This is just the most recent evidence of a recent phenomenon of people trying to figure out what to do with food that normally is dumped into the garbage can. Old… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

‘A world of singers’ is siren for Islesford poet

At Bunker Cove. Poems by Ralph Stevens. Westbrook, Maine: Moonpie Press, 2017. 58 pp. Softbound, $14 Born during World War II to a father who was in the Navy, Ralph Stevens moved at least ten times before graduating from Lincoln Academy in Newcastle. He dropped out of college and did… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Safety training is what saves fishermen’s lives

By Xiaoxi Wang If you think the assertion that the most dangerous job in the U.S. can be found in New England sounds… well, a little fishy, you’re right. Commercial fishing has been considered the second most dangerous occupation in the U.S. for decades. In 2014, out of every 100,000… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Nostaglic for one island, learning the life of another

Reflections is a monthly column written by Island Fellows, recent college grads who do community service work on Maine islands and in remote coastal communities through the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront. I’ve been taking lots of walks. Without a vehicle, this is inevitable, but it’s also been a… SEE MORE