http://www.workingwaterfront.com Sun, 12 Oct 2008 20:54:28 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/images/ww_banner_bg.png http://www.workingwaterfront.com http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Vinalhaven-residents-air-concerns-ideas-for-ferry-service/12665/ Stories about the Maine State Ferry Service (MSFS) have gone high-profile recently, with rate hikes, parking policies, and service coming up for review in a number of local venues. As was the case with some of the other communities using the ferries (Swans, Frenchboro, North Haven), Vinalhaven residents recently had the opportunity to talk with representatives of the ferry service at a meeting hosted by Marjorie Stratton, Vinalhaven's town manager. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Tina Cohen) Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Vinalhaven-residents-air-concerns-ideas-for-ferry-service/12665/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/mail/Gooseberry-column-evokes-childhood-memories/12676/ The September issue kept me clipping: "Sewing group celebrates 150th" to send to friends as an inspiration for their church groups; "Growing food on granite," with the Dominique chicken, for a friend who raises chickens near San Francisco; the story about the beehive art collective in Machias for when I visit there again; and, finally the Cranberry Report by Barbara Fernald, for the section about gooseberries-to save. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (Byrna Porter Weir) Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/mail/Gooseberry-column-evokes-childhood-memories/12676/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/columns/Cranberry-Report/12693/ September is a watchful time of year for people in the Cranberry Isles. Fishermen closely monitor the path of hurricanes, ready to shift lobster traps and boats should heavy weather be coming this way. Caretakers are keeping their eyes on a few sailboats and small power boats, left in the water by summer visitors who hope to return for one last sail or picnic before they are hauled out for the winter. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Barbara Fernald) Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/columns/Cranberry-Report/12693/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Monhegan-latest-island-to-consider-wind-power/12712/ It's Monhegan's turn. Vinalhaven and North Haven approved a wind power project this summer. Swan's Island and Frenchboro are in the second year of a study to figure out if wind power makes sense from them. Now the Monhegan Plantation Power District is exploring the possibility of using wind power for the island's electric needs, but keeping the current system of diesel generators to run when the wind is not blowing. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by David Tyler) Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Monhegan-latest-island-to-consider-wind-power/12712/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/columns/Island-energy-costs-are-a-microcosm-of-Maine/12713/ In the event that it might have escaped your notice, the Public Utility Commission recently approved an emergency rate increase for the Monhegan Power Company to 70 cents per kilowatt-hour-up from 55 cents per kilowatt-hour. Since islanders use an estimated average of 15-17 kilowatt hours per day, this translates to an electric bill of between $350 and $400 per month. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Philip W. Conkling) Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/columns/Island-energy-costs-are-a-microcosm-of-Maine/12713/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Portland-City-Council-to-vote-on-fate-of-proposed-Diamond-Cove-inn/12667/ A decision on the controversial inn proposal for Diamond Cove is set to be made in early October.The Portland City Council decided, after a long hearing on Sept. 3, to move the decision on the project to its Oct. 6 council meeting.This comes after a new group, the Friends of Great Diamond Island, filed a lawsuit in Cumberland County Superior Court to block the proposed development. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by David Tyler) Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Portland-City-Council-to-vote-on-fate-of-proposed-Diamond-Cove-inn/12667/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/online-exclusives/Donors-foundations-ensures-future-of-island-fellowships/12720/ A named Island Fellows endowment is one that ensures, through the generous support of an individual donor or a foundation, the perpetuity of one of the Island Institute's most visible and valued resources to island and working-waterfront communities. To date, the Institute has successfully completed four named Island Fellows endowments: The William Bingham Fellow for Rural Education-funded by the William Bingham Trust. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Staff Writer) Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/online-exclusives/Donors-foundations-ensures-future-of-island-fellowships/12720/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/reviews/Fishermans-Bend/12672/ Greenlaw's latest sea tale a little leaky Let's face it. There are plenty of us who want to read anything Linda Greenlaw decides to write. A friend of this reviewer-an outdoorsy radical terrain ski guy, who's read all Greenlaw's books-confessed that he had even read her cookbook and he likely has zero interest in cooking. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Linda Hedman Beyus) Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/reviews/Fishermans-Bend/12672/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Writers-%98discover-Matinicus-Island-again-and-again-and-again%A6/12700/ "Go out and get me another 'covered bridge'." One of my summer bakery customers, a vacationing editor, told me once that this expression is (or was) common parlance in the offices of at least one major east-coast newspaper. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Eva Murray) Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Writers-%98discover-Matinicus-Island-again-and-again-and-again%A6/12700/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Peaks-Island-photographer-explores-connections-between-dancers-and-dead-fish/12683/ Arthur Fink's pending book of photography might epitomize the two contrasting spheres of Maine's coastline, the artistic and the utilitarian, more sharply than any other book of Maine photography. The book's title, Dancers and Dead Fish, says it all. That title doesn't mean the book by the Peaks Island resident is about choreography involving seafood, but rather contrasting photographs of dancers in motion and fish on ice. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Craig Idlebrook) Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Peaks-Island-photographer-explores-connections-between-dancers-and-dead-fish/12683/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Eight-New-Island-Fellows-start-work/12703/ The Island Institute will send eight new Island Fellows to a variety of projects on islands from Downeast to Casco Bay. They join four returning Fellows in bringing expertise, resources, and their vitally important "extra set of hands" to their hosting communities and organizations. This year's group of Fellows comes from diverse backgrounds. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Kathy Lane) Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Eight-New-Island-Fellows-start-work/12703/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Guns-on-ferries-balancing-safety-security-and-rights/12684/ If you're a hunter who wants to bring your rifle on a Maine ferry, don't worry about it. You may. If you're a passenger worried that other riders might be carrying concealed guns, all you can do is hope they will be as law-abiding as virtually all previous ferry riders have been. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Nancy Griffin) Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Guns-on-ferries-balancing-safety-security-and-rights/12684/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Crops-thrive-but-Chebeague-farms-future-uncertain/12696/ When Chebeague islanders have a piece of the past they'd like to see conserved- an old wooden cook stove, an antique cider press, ancient tools dug from collapsing barns-they often call their neighbor Chuck Varney. Varney, 46, rebuilds broken parts, removes rust and oils the old machines until they come back, gleaming, to life. A ninth-generation Chebeague islander, Varney grew up building lobster traps and picking crab meat. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Bridget Huber) Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Crops-thrive-but-Chebeague-farms-future-uncertain/12696/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/online-exclusives/City-of-Portland-to-vote-in-October-on-fate-of-proposed-Diamond-Cove-inn/12651/ A decision on the controversial inn proposal for Diamond Cove has been postponed until October. The Portland City Council decided, after a long hearing on Sept. 3, to move the decision on the project to its Oct. 6 council meeting. This comes after a new group, the Friends of Great Diamond Island, filed a lawsuit in Cumberland County Superior Court to block the proposed development. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by David Tyler) Tue, 09 Sep 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/online-exclusives/City-of-Portland-to-vote-in-October-on-fate-of-proposed-Diamond-Cove-inn/12651/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Swans-Island-looks-to-the-future-after-library-fire/12602/ A lightning strike during the early morning hours of July 24 is believed to have caused the devastating fire that completely destroyed the Swan's Island Library building. The Swan's Island Educational Society, the organization that oversees the Swan's Island library and historical society, is already hard at work making plans for the future. The Swan's Island Educational Society (S.I.E.S. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Donna Wiegle) Mon, 01 Sep 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Swans-Island-looks-to-the-future-after-library-fire/12602/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Growing-food-on-granite/12622/ The work is hard-physically demanding, requiring long hours spent outdoors no matter what the weather, with no guarantee of how much you'll earn or if you will even make enough to cover your expenses. But you can imagine some contentment from consumers when the product you are harvesting is in kitchens or on a table, ready to eat. A description of lobstering, perhaps? Well, it would seem apt. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Tina Cohen) Mon, 01 Sep 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Growing-food-on-granite/12622/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/A-yarn-about-sheep-Vinalhaven-farm-provides-wool-for-island-fiber-arts-shop/12623/ 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 other livestock, Garner keeps a herd of 68 merino sheep at Long Cove Farm, though she would like to cull the herd down to 40 or 50. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Kris Osgood) Mon, 01 Sep 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/A-yarn-about-sheep-Vinalhaven-farm-provides-wool-for-island-fiber-arts-shop/12623/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/The-fires-out-but-fire-fighters-keep-working/12624/ 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 long for volunteer fire fighters, who know there is no second shift coming to relieve them. Once the flames are out, the fire fighters begin another very important part of the job-waiting. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Donna Wiegle) Mon, 01 Sep 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/The-fires-out-but-fire-fighters-keep-working/12624/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/online-exclusives/With-winter-coming-islanders-plan-heating-help/12631/ The extraordinarily high cost of heating oil will affect everyone in Maine this winter, and islanders are no exception. Their costs, in fact, generally prove to be higher since island oil companies must pay additional transportation costs to deliver the product by ferry.On islands along the coast, various groups are already preparing to help those who might be left in the cold by heating costs that will be much higher than they were last winter. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Nancy Griffin) Mon, 01 Sep 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/online-exclusives/With-winter-coming-islanders-plan-heating-help/12631/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/mail/Takeover-of-Diamond-Cove/12634/ I wanted to thank you and the Island Institute for working to protect the islands, simple as that. It's a shame that what's going on at Diamond Cove amounts to nothing short of a takeover of the place by commercial and investor interests. The idea of a place where people actually live, as opposed to a place where people buy homes and Inn rooms to rent to short term renters, seems so tenuous to hold onto. We've lived at Diamond Cove since it was started. We had two of our children here. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (Danny Briere) Mon, 01 Sep 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/mail/Takeover-of-Diamond-Cove/12634/