Lightening Your Laundry’s Load
Laundry lore passes down through generations. My grandmother shared a tip for removing fruit stains that I still use and have taught my children. (If you don’t have this priceless tip in your family’s...
Author: Marina Schauffler
Beating the Heat without AC
It’s been a summer to savor—with an abundance of sunny days, dry air and invigorating breezes. The searing heat waves afflicting other parts of the country and globe can seem like shimmers of a...
Sustainability Certification or Simply Marketing?
Certifying farms for sustainability is an appealing idea. The bureaucrats in Augusta who hatched this plan for Maine undoubtedly envisioned nothing but positive outcomes. A state seal of approval for sound agricultural practices could...
Serving up Wonky Veggies
Who is not amused by a two-legged carrot or an eggplant with a ski-jump nose? Gardeners don’t expect perfection or uniformity, especially when growing organically. Yet supermarkets claim they can sell only flawless produce...
Saving Water without a Drought
Even in a spring dry by Maine standards, it’s hard to envision how parched some places can become. Water scarcity is increasingly coming to define landscapes and lives. By the start of 2015, NASA...
Land Trusts Fostering Food Resilience
Nourishing food should be critical staple in every Maine kitchen, but it is not. One in four Maine children struggles to get enough to eat. The number of Maine residents who cannot consistently afford...
Less Lawn, More Food (and Wildlife)
The lawn at our house is disappearing nearly as fast as delectable desserts do. Our half-moon metal edger has a big appetite. It nibbles back turf to enlarge perennial beds. It carves around the...
Solar a Sound Investment Compared to Fossil Fuels
It was not a morning for sunny-day optimism. Intermittent snow showers pelted down and a raw wind buffeted us as we stood in a long-abandoned pasture. Yet strangely, we felt warmed by a sense...
