Lincoln County is blessed with an abundance of local restaurants and food-related businesses. From familiar favorites to newer arrivals, these eateries cater to different tastes and highlight different industries. Supporting these local businesses provides numerous economic and environmental benefits to the area.

Soon after we moved to our house in Midcoast Maine, a neighbor and I had a conversation about gardens and what we both hoped to grow in our gardens that summer. Upon hearing the word “zucchini,” she could not resist the old joke: “Don’t leave your car windows open in a parking lot, or you might find someone dumping their baseball bat-sized zucchini in your back seat.” Poor zucchini, they get no respect!

There is a new king in town and his throne is on the dock at the town landing. Someone put quite a bit of time into the making of a special chair reading “Take a load off Frankie.” We all know that Frankie Poland works from dawn till dusk and can probably use a little down time after hauling all day. Enjoy your throne, Frankie! And kudos to whoever put it there.

As I have become busier, I have found myself adding to my list of employees. With the busier list of dates I need to be gone, the two awesome ladies who work for me sometimes take on jobs that I would be happy to do myself, but don’t have the availability in my schedule for.

In 2018, an estimated 10 million American households had chickens. During the pandemic, that number likely grew as more Americans decided to join the local food movement. The benefits of keeping backyard chickens are obvious. From fresh eggs to a newfound pet, chickens are highly entertaining and engaging creatures. I would know. I currently have eight.

Newcastle has been blessed with pictures. Besides the many thousands of photos taken by Ivan Flye and the old pictures of the area he bought at his Pictorial Studio in center Newcastle from about 1945 to 1985 there are the more than 3000 glass negatives of this area that were taken by E. Joseph Leighton between 1900 and 1930.

Well folks, another Fourth of July in the books so to speak. As we look back and think about our Independence Day here in America, we need to be grateful for our freedoms.

It’s been a while but summer in Whitefield seems as good a time as any to contribute a column, particularly with the return of the Fourth of July parade. In all honesty, with how things are going lately it didn’t feel like a time for celebrating but it’s been two years since Whitefield had their parade and I was curious to see what it was like.