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Homes

This Little House

Steve Thomas, former host of PBS’s "This Old House" and Discovery’s "Renovation Nation," and his wife, Evy Blum, have renovated a 1,300-square-foot home built in 1905 by a fisherman in Port Clyde.

Artist of the Outdoors

Inspired by a love of Maine and the outdoors, painter Jessica Ives records outdoor experiences—swimmers cutting across the water, a surfer bearing his board toward the waves, snowboarders resting on the slopes, a man casting a fly over a river.

Pouring Sweetness

Cooks in the past were comfortable about adapting recipes to ingredients at hand, including finding sweet substitutes for white sugar such as maple sugar, molasses, and even thickened apple cider.

From Awkward Spaces to Glorious Vistas

Artists Fred and Hope Angier use murals and other painted touches to add life to otherwise empty spaces.

From Boats to Art

Artist Dan West has taken skills he learned as a boatbuilder to make whimsical and timeless sculptures.

Aliens Among Us

Non-native plants such as burning bush may look pretty but they can cause problems by pushing out native stock. We take a look at a few invasives in Maine.

Bohemian Princess

A mystical gypsy caravan, built as a garden folly, features fine boatbuilding touches and is perfect for parties or afternoon naps.

Maine Course — Not My Mother’s Fish

Conservationists want us to eat so-called “trash” fish, such as skate, as a way to help save overfished species. Cookbook author Nancy Harmon Jenkins explains that skate is actually delicious and quite easy to cook.

Saltwater Foodways: That Old Rhubarb

Rhubarb is a tough perennial; along with some humans, deer and woodchucks don’t eat it. It is one of the first edibles to appear in May, with long red stalks ready for use in desserts and, increasingly, in the 21st century, in savory dishes, too.

Playing By Heart

In an era of YouTube music videos and dwindling public school arts budgets, Farmington, Maine, teenagers are lining up — and auditioning — to play the jigs and reels heard at 19th century barn dances. Part of the credit goes to a rural tradition of family and friends playing music together. The catalyst, though, is Steve Muise, the orchestra teacher at Mt. Blue High School.

Tollef Runquist: A Painter Follows His Bliss

Painter Tollef Runquist’s colorful canvases draw on place and experience. Recently he has been inspired by his son’s playthings.

The Pull of an Island

It took some time, but eventually Great Gott became the heart of an island-based business for Claire and Carly Weinberg. Their company, Dulse & Rugosa, uses seaweed and botanicals grown on the island to make skin care products, and has allowed them to make a living in the one place that has always felt like home.

Dancing Around

The growing community of Maine’s tango dancers travel to Portland to attend milongas, and to Thomaston for a seaside summer tango retreat.

Rhubarb Musings

Rhubarb had a place in the China trade and the tart treat was served aboard vessels in the mid-1800s and featured in a letter to Queen Victoria.

Maine’s First Summer Home

Built for a Louisiana hotelier and his wife, the jaw-dropping rooms of Portland’s Victoria Mansion constitute the first and only extant interior by 19th-century design star Gustave Herter. Today, more than 150 years after it was built, the mansion retains 90 percent of its original furnishings and grants a rare look at 19th-century design.