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THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2011
VOL. 3 NO. 96
PORTLAND, ME
DOWNEAST DUCK & CASCO VARIETY 94 COMMERCIAL STREET, PORTLAND, ME 04101
PORTLAND’S DAILY NEWSPAPER
699-5801
FREE
Growing season off to slow start for market’s regulars BY CASEY CONLEY THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN
According to the record books, spring 2011 has been about average as far as temperature and rain are concerned. But farmers say those stats don’t tell the whole story as extended bouts of cool, wet weather have gotten the growing season off to somewhat of a slow start. “It’s a little slower than normal between the cold, too much rain, LEFT: Sarah Bostick with Meadowood Farm of Yarmouth stands behind rows of basil and parsley at the Monument Square Wednesday farmer's market during a rainy day in May. (DAVID CARKHUFF PHOTO)
“It’s a little slower than normal between the cold, too much rain, not enough rain.” — Sarah Bostick, Meadowood Farm of Yarmouth not enough rain,” said Sarah Bostick, who’s worked for the past six years at Meadowood Farm, a 10-acre tract in Yarmouth. Bostick, who was selling plants and vegetables yesterday at the Portland Farmer’s Market, admits this year isn’t as bad as two years ago, when damp weather lasted for more than a month, causing some crops to rot in the field. “That was hellacious,” she said of summer 2009. “This year is just
Website puts trails on the map in Maine
sort of ... yeah.” Other vendors set up yesterday in the farmer’s market felt more or less the same way. “We’ve got just about everything in the ground, but it’s been slow,” said Mike Farwell, owner of Uncle’s Farm in Hollis. He bemoaned “rain and cold” that’s stuck around much of the spring, including another stretch of sub-60-degree weather that ended yesterday. see FARMERS page 6
Sampson Center open house Holly Valero and Bob Gordon chat during an open house for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) Collection at the Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine, a facility at the University of Southern Maine’s Glickman Library. Wednesday’s open house gave Valero and Gordon a chance to reflect on a publication they both helped produce in the area, called “Our Paper,” and later titled, “The Gay and Lesbian Times.” Published in the 1980s and early 1990s, “Our Paper” was printed in Saco. Gordon, a former Portlander who now lives in San Francisco, recalled that the first issue included a story on AIDS, which at the time had not been widely publicized. “It served an important purpose,” Gordon said of the publication. On Wednesday, the center also announced the winner of the 2011 Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine Catalyst for Change Award. For a story and more photos, see page 7. (DAVID CARKHUFF PHOTO)
BY DAVID CARKHUFF THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN
Trail networks located in Portland and across Maine have been catalogued on Maine Trail Finder, an online “It’s an online trail guide complete trail guide, with landmarks, but it’s a little geographic features and even the more detailed locations of treathan what you sure-hunting style might find in a “geocaches.” book or at other “It’s great to be websites.” — part of a statewide Cartographer communication outreach project like Ken Gross, about that. There have www.mainetrailbeen other attempts finder.com at that kind of thing, but Trail Finder seems to do it so well,” said Portland Trails Executive Director Nan Cumming. Portland Trails produces a paper trail map and guides, but there’s room for an see TRAILS page 6
Camel’s nose under the wheel See Maureen Dowd on page 4
Brunswick show is simply ‘marvelous’ Registered sex offender to serve four years See the theater review by Michael Tobin, page 8
See the story on page 15