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fall 2016 • vol. 19, no. 3
the pallet shop random acts of activism form & function eye on the sky
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editor’s note At the beginning of each season, a Ross Express truck backs down my gravel driveway with a delivery of the latest issue of Lake Living. After nearly twenty years of quarterly deliveries, it’s still exciting, but not for the obvious reason. My driveway dips down in front of the garage and is bordered by a rocklined embankment on the other side, making it necessary for the driver to perch the cab on a rise. This causes the lift gate to hover over the garage opening at a somewhat alarming angle. Each time the driver muscles a pallet of magazines onto the lift gate, I step well out of the way and hold my breath while he maneuvers it into position and scrambles to apply the brake before the entire pallet careens over the edge. Given that each weighs around 2,000 pounds and each delivery consists of three to four pallets, you can imagine my excitement. Surprisingly, there has been only one pallet that actually fell off the lift. My reason for sharing this detail of my publishing path ultimately lies with the pallet. Not only have I racked up an impressive number of them over the years, many of which have been reduced to kindling, but I’ve come to appreciate the strength and resilience of this relatively low-tech transport structure. So, when Leigh Macmillen Hayes told me she wanted to write an article about a woman who makes first-rate furniture out of reclaimed pallets, I was all for it. Of course, now I’m thinking of all the potential furniture I’ve either hauled to the transfer station or burned in the woodstove. Laurie LaMountain Editor & Publisher Laurie LaMountain Staff Writers Leigh Macmillen Hayes, Perri Black Contributing Photographers Leigh Macmillen Hayes, Amy Keene and S. Peter Lewis Graphic Designer Dianne Lewis Proofreader/Copy Editor Leigh Macmillen Hayes Lake Living is published quarterly by Almanac Graphics, Inc., 625 Rocky Knoll Rd, Denmark, ME 04022 207-452-8005. www.lakelivingmaine.com e-mail: lakeliving@fairpoint.net ©2016. All rights reserved. Contents of this magazine may not be reproduced in any manner without written consent from the publisher. Annual subscriptions are available by sending check or money order for $20 to the above address.
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fall 2016 • vol. 19, no. 3
6 giving reclaimed
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pallets a second chance by leigh macmillen hayes
10 random acts of activism
by laurie lamountain
12 what’s your treehouse
by leigh macmillen hayes
14 form & function
by laurie lamountain
16 fall finds 18 russian radiance
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by laurie lamountain
20 pillow talk
by laurie lamountain
22 a serving of nostalgia
by perri black
24 eye on the sky
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by leigh macmillen hayes
The Place to Shop for the Season Ahead!
A wonderful mix of women’s clothing and accessories, both for every day and special occasions. You’ll also find tasteful homewares and decor, including lovely “Made in Maine” items. Fashionable jewelry and accessories, bargain books, an array of affordable and fun finds—so perfect for holiday gifting!
CRAFTWORKS
main street, bridgton • open seven days • 207.647.5436
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Her environmentally-conscious mind winced at the thought of this natural resource being discarded. “There’s some nice wood,” she said. “I’m trying to turn junk into treasures. Plus I can screw up many times, because it’s free, until I get it right.”
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Giving Reclaimed Pallets a Second Chance by leigh macmillen hayes
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eet Amy Keene, who does just that at her business aptly named The Pallet Shop. After reading a brief blurb about Amy in a quarterly magazine produced by Keene State College, I asked about featuring her work in our spring “At Home” edition, but we’d already stuffed the magazine with interesting articles and Amy was expecting to give birth to twins, so the timing wasn’t right on both ends. Four months later, the boys are full of smiles and coos and Amy is back at work—but only on Fridays. While many first time moms find it hard to break away from their babes for even one day, she’s all grins because she loves going to her studio. Amy’s undergraduate and graduate work were in environmental science. Working with wood was in her blood because her parents are woodworkers. She knew she didn’t want to follow in their exact footsteps, but started building her own furniture on the side, all the while working full time for a design firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Her first creations were a headboard and end tables. It was Amy’s mother-in-law who encouraged her to sell similar items on Etsy and that was the beginning of a new journey for this talented woman. Eventually, she found herself working a 9-5 job with a 1.5 hour drive to and fro, plus working about the same number of hours on furniture. At one point, she built forty tables for the Commonwealth Restaurant in Cambridge. The Pallet Shop is located in a unique place called The Open Bench Project along the Fore River at Thompson’s Point in Portland. Amy actually began her business from home when she lived in New Hampshire. Two years ago, she and her family moved to Maine and she discovered The Bench on Craig’s List. Working at The Bench has allowed her much more flexibility. She rents studio space and pays a membership fee. In return, she has a 10x10’ area, about the size of a one-car garage, where she stores pallet slats, tools, prototypes and other items related to her endeavor. The best part is that while she works on a project, she can
explode into the common space at the front of the building, an open area where she and others can set up workbenches to complete bigger projects. Behind the studios, she also has a variety of workshop space and tools available to her from welding to sandblasting. And even a paint booth/polyurethane room that she said is the only heated space in the winter. The day I visited, the garage doors to the 7,000-square-foot warehouse were wide open and several people quietly went about their work. One of the benefits of this community makerspace is that collaboration takes place and, since giving birth to the boys, Amy is thankful for that opportunity. She showed me a bed that she and a fellow carpenter have built for a client. The headboard is constructed of mostly oak and maple pallet slats, while the frame was built by her colleague David, owner of Hopkinton Family Furniture. So why pallets? “It’s junk,” said Amy, “and an important resource of wood.” Her environmentally-conscious mind winced at the thought of this natural resource being discarded. “There’s some nice wood,” she said. “I’m trying to turn junk into treasures. Plus I can screw up many times, because it’s free, until I get it right.” Knowing that reclaimed objects are popular, she’s become a self-described pallet connoisseur. On a drive-by, she’s learned to tell which ones to take and which to avoid, especially those that are splintered. One of the things that’s important to her is that the pallet slats not be chemically treated and she can tell that by whether or not they are painted. The type of wood doesn’t matter, but she prefers to find and use a mix of hard and softwoods in her projects. Amy does have several reliable sources that she chooses not to leak. Each pallet has a brand, so it’s easy for her to determine its point of origin and know how it was dried. She’d rather work with wood that was heat treated or kiln dried. Even the finish is of a natural nature in keeping with her attempts to be environmenlakelivingmaine .com
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tally conscious—she uses shellac for most items since it’s a natural product made from a secretion from the female lac bug combined with a solvent such as alcohol. Once dried and hardened, it provides a safe coating. Because pallets are left outside, she tries to gather some ahead of time to take apart and let dry. In the welding shop, she created a pallet buster, which she uses to leverage the pallets and wrench them apart. I suggested she patent it. She smiled and shook her head back and forth. Through many hours of labor—some of it painstaking and downright sweaty— especially those spent stacking pallets into and out of her truck’s bed and taking them apart, she transforms these bases that were meant to support freight into beautiful, functional works of art. Though she enjoys making standard items, such as the headboards and night stands, it’s the custom jobs that really get her juices flowing. When I first walked into The Bench, I noticed a table-topped dolly. For someone who likes the industrial look, Amy transformed a vintage Fairbanks wooden dolly by laying it down and topping it with a salvaged wood surface. It’s a low table meant to go with a low-riding sofa. And sometimes, it isn’t just pallets. With the slats of a whisky barrel, she’s built a bar stool that she hopes a local meadery will purchase to accompany the 55-foot pallet bar she constructed for their new tasting room. What about the rings on the barrel? They’ve been incorporated into the design to add support and rigidity. One challenge has been to develop a way to ship items to customers. At first, Amy delivered her creations pre-assembled. She’d drive all around New England and charge the customers for gas. Knowing the condition of the item when it arrived was important to her. It still is, but after trying various ways to box a piece with legs that will be easy for the customer to assemble, she’s hit on a magic formula and ships via FedEx. What else does she build? When I asked this question, her eyes focused upward and she thought for a second. Turns out she went on a mental journey through her home—desks, kitchen tables, night stands, coffee tables, media consoles, bookcases, pet feeding station. But, her favorite projects—something new. “I like custom projects,” said Amy. Each item features her wood-burned logo sizzled onto it. She waved the electric branding iron in front of me and I commented,
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“Those twins had better be well behaved.” At the end of the day, Amy is thankful for the pallet journey that presented itself. “I was doing the rat race. The career thing. Long drive. Good salary. Good benefits. Too much. Some people are too busy earning a
living to make a life. I’d rather make my life.” And she’d be happy to make something for your life by giving a pallet a second chance. R The Pallet Shop, Amy Keene, owner www.etsy.com/shop/thepalletshop www.thepalletshop.me
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random acts of activism leigh macmillen hayes
Q&A with Hannah Rousey interviewed by laurie lamountain
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mages of organized protests and demonstrations may spring to mind when you hear the word activism, but a Fryeburg Academy student recently proved that one person can politely voice their opposition to a controversial issue in a randomly powerful way. In June of this year, Hannah Rousey was awarded a $1,000 scholarship by Poland Spring Bottling Company. Hannah was one of three Fryeburg Academy students, and among twenty-four high school seniors statewide, to be awarded the “Good Science” scholarship to high school seniors planning to major in science, engineering or the environment. When Hannah wrote to Poland Spring Bottling Company to politely decline the scholarship, which many view as ‘bluewashing’ on Poland Spring’s part, she made it clear why: “I am grateful for the scholarship I have been awarded, but I cannot in good faith accept money from a company that does not exhibit sustainable and ethical practices. I am attending Sterling College in the fall and will be majoring in sustainable agriculture and environmental protection law and policy. For me to accept your scholarship would be hypocritical.” The resounding response from the public made it clear they supported Hannah’s
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refusal to be bought out. An article in The Conway Daily Sun that included quotes from her letter led to interview requests from other newspapers and Web sites. A GoFundMe campaign was created on her behalf and $7,195 had been raised by midAugust. Among the many comments added by contributors, this one stood out for me: “While the drought continues, Poland Springs takes lots of water. I’m glad our next generation of leaders cares about integrity and our planet. Thank you, Hannah, for your courage to stand up for what is right.” However you feel about the Internet, it can’t be denied that it has given voice to millions of people and provides a vast forum to fight political and social injustice. Of course, it still takes conviction and courage to make a statement, but social media gives statements like Hannah’s the power to reach millions and, hopefully, to make a difference. When news of Hannah’s quiet act of activism went viral, which included a Skype interview with RT America for an episode of “Watching the Hawks,” she was “like, what is happening?” A couple of months after Hannah made national news, and just weeks away for her impending departure for college, I called to ask if I could interview her. She agreed to
meet with me at the end of her workday as summer intern for Greater Lovell Land Trust. The well-spoken young woman who met me at Spice & Grain in Fryeburg to answer my questions left me with a sense of optimism. If Hannah Rousey is any indication of who will be determining our future, we’re in good hands. LL: How much has your plan to study sustainable agriculture and environmental protection law been influenced by your objection to Poland Springs’ business practices? HR: I had already been accepted [at Sterling] and I’d already picked environmental policy and sustainable agriculture classes, so I thought it would be very hypocritical of me to take money from something that is completely opposite of what I’m going there to study. I was struck by a statement made by Nestlé’s chairman that was borrowed from the Nestle.com site for inclusion in the article “Fryeburg Senior Turns Down $1,000 Scholarship from Poland Spring (The Conway Daily Sun, June 13): “Mr. Brabeck has always argued that everyone should have free access to the water they need for drinking and sanitation, wherever they are in the world,” states Nestle.com. “However, he does not believe it is fair that more than
two billion people worldwide lack even a simple toilet, and more than one billion have no access to any kind of improved drinking source of water, while in other parts of the world people can use excess amounts of this precious and increasingly scarce resource for non-essential purposes, without bearing a cost for its infrastructure.” I’m curious as to your take on Mr. BrabeckLetmathe’s ironic defense of his industry. This makes me so angry and I’ll tell you why. First off, in Maine we do have an abundant amount of this finite resource, which is amazing. The reason I had an issue with [Poland Spring] coming into our town and taking it is because they’re not doing it in a sustainable fashion. They’re here to take it for as long as they can and then leave, and they have done that in other areas. I agree that when we live in a beautiful place and we can help others with their water problems, we should, but we should go about it in a different way than what Poland Spring is doing. Because they are not doing it for humanitarian reasons or to help others; they’re doing it for profit and that has been their goal ever since the beginning. Poland Spring is a subsidiary of Nestlé, and Nestlé is the biggest food and beverage company in the entire world. It dominates that sector and that need that people have. So, I do agree that we should help, but I do not think it should be at all connected with how Poland Spring is doing it . . . and we have yet to find a good way because profit and money and that greed alway gets in the way, and Nestlé is a very greedy company. We live in a beautiful place, but if we continue to allow and be OK with how they are taking water from us it won’t be . . . I mean, we’re in a drought right now! If they were doing it in a sustainable way, they would be cutting back what they take from our aquifer, but they’re not. They’re taking more. They should be reacting to that in a sustainable manner by taking less. I think they feel like we’re ignorant. There are very basic facts about what they’re doing that can’t be accepted as OK. Science says they’re not OK. And I think they’re betting, and it seems to have worked for a while because a lot of people don’t know about it or don’t want to know about it, that people won’t guess things. That’s another problem globally. People don’t question what’s happening. They’re blindly following companies that continue to do business in ways that are not going to work for much longer.
People need to start questioning things. How do you suggest that come about? Just being an educated consumer. Knowing how that jacket came to be, how that food is treated with pesticides. Just knowing what your money is going towards, because that’s what runs the world is money. And as soon as you stop supporting these companies, they’re going to fall. The only thing they have on us is the fact that we’re giving them money to make more things. I’m guessing the better part of your seventeen years on Earth have been influenced by the press around Poland Spring’s presence in our region since 2005. How has that informed your young life so far? We’ve always been conscious about our carbon footprint and the impact we have with our actions on the natural world. I noticed in Part I of your article on water [volume 18, no. 2] things like, turn off the faucet when you’re brushing your teeth, bring your water bottle to school so you do not have to have bottled water from the cafeteria.
really have a dream job. I just have a dream lifestyle. During May term [at Fryeburg Academy], I took an Inch by Inch class with Mr. Longdale and Mrs. Manning. We planted tomatoes and zucchini and checked
I’ve been brought up to be respectful of something that does not need us, but we will forever need it. I’ve always had a passion for just knowing how important and amazing this earth is, so when I found out that I got a scholarship from them, I didn’t want anything to do with it. I also didn’t want to be financially connected to them because I do plan to be very active in my community and on a global scale of activism, social justice and environmental protection. Essentially, you couldn’t take it. No. I knew exactly what I needed to do. And my family has been very supportive because they all think the same way. It’s just an everyday thing. It’s just a way of living. And that’s what it is. It’s not one big act that you do and you broadcast it everywhere. It’s just something that you can do so simply everyday that does make a difference. In that sense we’re all activists. Yeah, exactly! As soon as you choose to fill up your water bottle for work instead of stopping at the gas station and grabbing a Poland Spring water bottle, you’re making a difference. Because your money, everything that your dollar goes to, is essentially supporting what that company is doing. What do you see yourself doing in an ideal, post-graduate world? I think I will end up falling in love with Vermont. That area is just beautiful. I don’t
up on the apple trees that we planted previously behind the headmaster’s house. We watched a documentary called “Dirt.” That’s why I fell in love with farming. It was actually kind of shocking to me because I was planning since I was little to go to school for acting, so it was a like a 180˚ from wanting to go to an art school in New York City to going to Sterling, which is old farm buildings and just being out with the animals. I can make a living from farming, but it can also be my lifestyle. When I make food for my family, it’s something that I grew myself and they helped me. I know what’s in my food, I know how it was watered . . . That idea really makes me happy. Everyone needs money, that’s sadly how the world works, you have to have it. But I plan on making my profit be something that I believe in. R lakelivingmaine .com
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S. Peter Lewis
What’s Your Treehouse? by leigh macmillen hayes
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the host had never been done before and added yet another layer to the complexity of this project. Peter said that though he also intended to only use hand tools, about an hour after the lumber was delivered and he’d lugged it into the field beside his barn, he returned home looking for an extension cord. Besides purchasing lumber and hardware locally (he blames my husband for his part in perpetuating his little addiction), most items were either donated or found. Light flows in through 23 windows and he’s proud to say that he didn’t pay for any of them. Some he discovered in his barn while others were finds along the road. On his way to work one day (Karen reminds him that he worked two jobs while this little project was underway), he passed by two 8-over-8 windows marked with a “free” sign. Peter’s intention was to grab them on his way home, only to discover that someone else had beat him to it. The following day, when he mentioned the windows to a co-worker, his friend said, “Oh I know. We got them for you.” Those windows enhance the second floor. Though he never intended it to be a play place for children, he and Jeremiah did channel their inner youthfulness as they problem solved. The inspiration
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hen I was a kid we didn’t actually build a treehouse, but in our backyard we had the perfect climbing tree on which to play. My two playmates and I even named it—Treetonic. (I have no idea how we came up with that name.) We each had a chosen branch that served as our home. Mine was the lowest–I was the more cautious of the three. Years later and almost all grown up, I visited a small commune located in the western mountains of Maine where simple treehouses were constructed around and among living trees—incorporating the tree into the structure. These were weekend getaways. Places to escape to. Because isn’t that really what a treehouse is? A place where you can get away from it all. From the burdens of life. And work. And as adults, what could be more comforting than returning to those moments we cherished as kids. Those moments when we were in charge of the world. With that in mind, I recently visited a few treehouses and their builders, and listened to their stories. One lake region backyard graced with a treehouse is that of Peter and Karen Lewis in Bridgton. The house was the fulfillment of an adult dreamer—Peter. Whenever asked
about it, Karen replies, “I tolerated it.” Peter’s dream began with a sketch of a fort attached to a tree. He intended it to be a simple structure and the final result he blames on his son, Jeremiah. When Peter showed his son a drawing of a small fort-like house, Jeremiah dismissed it completely. He told his dad it should encircle the tree and feature two floors. A two-piece plywood/two weekend job turned into a 350-square-foot treehouse that encircled a white pine located 21 feet off the ground. It took four years to build with lots of family and friend power. The real challenge was to build the house in such a way that the tree would be a passive bystander. Suspending a house in a tree without putting a single hole into
Instead, it became a place to take naps. That’s okay, too, because it served as a place to escape and rejuvenate. Eventually, however, the novelty wore off for Peter and he’s barely used it in the last five years. Instead, the squirrels have taken up residence as he wavers between fixing the treehouse or tearing it down. Karen not so secretly hopes for a bolt of lightning to strike. In the end, spending so much time working on the treehouse with his son and friends was well worth it and fun, but if Peter were to undertake such a project again, he says he’d build it on the ground. That being said, another family decided to take advantage of people’s desire to escape to the treehouse of their dreams. On the 56-acre mountainside in East Stoneham, the three-generation Ring family carved out a disc golf course and built three treehouses, with a fourth in
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for a draw bridge came from Jeremiah when Peter considered chopping down a smaller pine beside the tree of choice. Instead, his son saw the possibility for a clockwise spiral staircase and the smaller pine would be necessary. When Peter asked why, his son replied that most people are right-handed and if you have to defend your fort from knights, you need to have your right hand free. Unfortunately, the drawbridge could only be operated from the ground, so the knights could easily make an ascent. Of course, these days Peter admits that the chances of being attacked by knights are fairly low, but a bear did once climb the stairs and leave a pile of scat, for which he’s thankful he wasn’t in the treehouse at the time. As we chatted on the back deck of the Lewises’ home, Peter gazed up at the towering white pine. “I spent an awful lot of time in that tree,” he reminisced. “The tree is still healthy. It doesn’t seem to notice that I did it.” Once the building was completed and hoisted twelve years ago, which in itself was an act of God, Peter’s intention was to use it as a writing retreat. By trade he is a writer and publisher and if you haven’t read his award-winning book, Treehouse Chronicles, which tells the entire story of this not so simple construction with humor and insight, you should pick up a copy at Bridgton Books. The writer’s retreat sadly never occurred and I, for one, am sorry to learn that. I’ve long held envious visions of him finding his muse while aloft, but alas, it wasn’t so.
the works. Each treehouse offers a different feel at Timberstone Adventures. The largest, at 1,200 square feet, is the Taj Mahal of them all. It sleeps eight and the interior is beautifully appointed, mostly with wood harvested and milled on site. What catches my eye first is the cordwood, or debarked tree cuts, visible on the walls throughout the downstairs. The kitchen cabinets are enhanced with birch bark, while the treads on the spiral staircase leading to the second floor were created from an oak tree on the property. Behind the first is an 800-square-foot house that is a bit more primitive. The smaller they get, the more treehousey they feel. Though fully equipped, but not as elaborate, this one sleeps four and has an upstairs loft. Further up the mountain sits the most primitive by far. No indoor plumbing. No electricity. No kitchen. Instead, there’s a futon couch in the downstairs space and two mattresses in the loft above. The night before my visit, Cindy Ring, her daughter and friends had enjoyed a girls’ night out in this particular treehouse. She commented, “We’d much rather get away in our own backyard.” After visiting both treehouse enthusiasts, I’m reminded of my backyard retreat, a children’s playhouse that I won in a Harvest Hills benefit raffle at the Fryeburg Fair. I haven’t used it much in the last few years, but the inspiration for it as a writer’s retreat came from reading Treehouse Chronicles. I always feel like my adult self disappears as I bend low to enter. How about you? What’s your treehouse? R lakelivingmaine .com
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FORM & FUNCTION by laurie lamountain
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“I started relieving the place where my sitting bones were feeling pressure by carving it out with a bench grinder. I was amazed at how much I had to remove; how far those ischial tuberosities protrude. Before I knew it, I had two holes in the seat.” Geoffrey Warner
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u r i ng a n end- of- d ay phone conversation with Lake Living designer Dianne Lewis this past April, I happened to mention that my back was bothering me from too much time seated in front of the computer. Well aware of the complete lack of ergonomic benefit from the chair I was then using, she said I should look into getting an Owl Stool. Intrigued, I brought up the Web site and within minutes made the bold move of ordering one. The fact that I’d put off buying a proper chair for years because I wanted to fully research it was blown away with one quick click of the submit button. My mate will tell you that I’m the only person he knows who put more research into buying a toaster than most people invest in buying a car. And while it’s true that it took me a while to find a toaster
that, a) wasn’t manufactured in China and, b) would look good on the counter, I bought my current car on a routine trip to the dealership to have the previous one serviced. I like to think that my impulse buys are guided by my good instincts, which are in turn guided by a strong belief in the marriage of form and function. It was guided by a similar commitment to form and function, in his case one strongly influenced by Scandinavian and Japanese design, that Geoffrey Warner designed the first Owl Stool at his custom design furniture studio in Stonington, Maine. Warner studied with Danish-born woodworker, educator and author Tage Frid at the Rhode Island School of Design and then spent the better part of the next three decades honing his skills as a designer and custom craftsman of high-end furni-
concluded that the hole spacing in the Owl Stool is the perfect average for both male and female subjects. With the study to back it, the Classic Owl Stool line grew to include the Rolling Owl®, the Pro Owl® and Pro Owl Perch, all of which are mounted on a sturdy cast aluminum base with a gas cylinder allowing for variable height settings. Three- and four-legged kitchen, bar, musician and meditation stools are also available. The most recent addition to the line is the Owl Standing Desk. Current research supports a combination of sitting and movement and the adjustable desk allows easy transition from sitting to standing. Over the course of its nearly eight year development, the Owl Stool has changed Warner’s awareness. He speaks of a philosophy of sitting correctly and references Thomas Myers’ book Anatomy Trains: Myofascial Meridians for Manual and Movement Therapists. He explains that when we sit in a traditional seat for a long time, we tip the pelvis back to relieve pressure on our sitting bones. In other words, we slouch, which in turn causes strain and eventually pain in the lumbar spine. With room for your sitting bones to “seat” themselves, the spine stays naturally aligned. “I’ve talked with thousands of people over the past seven and half years about how they sit and I’m amazed by what I’ve learned but also by what I’ve seen . . . the amount of people who come into our booth with back pain, and it’s usually down here,” Warner says as he places his hand on his lower back. “There’s so many who have that because they have not been taught [to sit properly]. I’ve become really aware by watching people with their hurt backs. Furniture, when designed conscientiously, can be considered an extension of one’s body, thus helping us work through daily tasks with ease and mobility.” After decades of sitting in traditional
chairs (here’s where I confess that I’d been using an early-1900s press back Larkin), it took some getting used to my new Pro Owl Stool. For one, I got a bit carried away with the fact that it’s height adjustable and I no longer had to look up at my computer screen, which is too high, and I overextended the base. Secondly, it wouldn’t accommodate my accumulated bad habits, namely, crossing my legs. Despite my initial attraction to its form, I was beginning to wonder if I’d been impulsive with regard to function. I called Geoffrey and told him about my reservations; how my left leg was bothering me at the end of the day. He patiently stayed on the line with me as I measured the height to which I’d adjusted my stool, asked me my height and suggested that I lower the seat. I adjusted it to his recommendation and have been in love with my Owl Stool ever since. Like so many things made in Maine, the Owl Stool combines craftsmanship with commonsense. It can add a unique design element to your decor or tuck tidily under a desk if you’re interested in saving space. The seat is beautifully crafted in cherry, maple or walnut wood with a durable tung oil finish. The base is available in five branded design colors. But make no mistake, the Owl Stool is not just another pretty piece of furniture. It will get you to sit up straight. R
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ture. When the recession hit in 2009, he began brainstorming ways to weather it by designing a production piece of furniture that was more affordable and equally, if not more, comfortable than the rest of his custom line. He landed on a three-legged stool and began by using the seat for his Stonington Continuous Armchair as a model for the seat, but discovered that without the supporting back of the armchair he was conscious of pressure being exerted on his ischial tuberosities, more commonly known as sitting bones. “I wasn’t really aware of healthy sitting at that point. I was probably slouching like everybody else does in our culture,” says Warner. “I started relieving the place where my sitting bones were feeling pressure by carving it out with a bench grinder. I was amazed at how much I had to remove; how far those ischial tuberosities protrude. Before I knew it, I had two holes in the seat. I worked on the shaping of it and the comfort until I had sort of a mock-up. A guy I had working for me at the time, Steve, looked at it and said, ‘Geoff, it looks just like an owl’s face.’ Hence the name.” Warner brought the completed prototype to the local farmers’ market and had people try it. Based on their feedback, he continued to hone the design until he felt he had the perfect ergonomic stool. He sent it to a CAD designer, who scanned it and machined the first batch of ten seats. Warner then fitted the legs and finishsanded and oiled the stools. As a final step, he brought a completed stool to his chiropractor, who recommended angling the seat slightly forward for optimal spinal alignment. The enthusiastic response to the stool at the farmers’ market led to shows, and before long Warner realized he had successfully designed the production piece of furniture he conceived of in 2009. That home-grown environment also gave birth to the idea for workshops that would give people the opportunity to make their own Owl Stool and take it home with them at the end of the day. On his own, Warner worked with specialists to substantiate the science behind the seat. In 2012, a Maine Technology Institute grant was awarded for an ergonomic study on the Owl Stool. Pressure map results showed that “the Owl seat designs were very effective at reducing the peak pressure concentrations at the ischial tuberosities. The ability for sitting in an attentive posture is increased.” It further
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Fall Finds In selecting a handful of unique home decor for our Fall Finds page, we took our cue from the rich colors of the season. After the cool, emerald pallet of summer, autumn offers up a blaze of oranges, reds and golds that, when added to the decor of your home, will cheer you and keep you warm during the white winter that lies ahead. Whether you choose to paint a room in one of several Benjamin Moore colors that reflect the season or invest in a piece of colorful art, it’s a way to celebrate fall.
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Clockwise from top left: 1. Jewel-Toned Glassware Various prices at Craftworks in Bridgton 2. 12” Raku Vase $90 at Hole in the Wall Studioworks
in Raymond 3. Perpetual Autumn #13 in Copper Relief $125 at Full Circle Artisan’s Gallery in Cornish 4. Benjamin Moore Paint in Autumn Orange 2156-10 and Maple Leaf Red 2084-20 at Hayes True Value Hardware in Bridgton 5. Wall Bar $329 at J. Decor in Bridgton 6. Spalted Maple Wood Tray $85 and Argentinian Nandubay Wood Bowl $350 at Gallery 302 in Bridgton
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Russian Radiance by laurie lamountain
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nyone who has lost a home to fire knows that safety becomes an absolute requirement when it comes time to rebuild. In January of 2014, the Lyons family lost their home to fire due to an electrical malfunction, but they still weren’t about to take chances when it came to their choice of a secondary heat source. While researching options, Steve and Cathy found the Masonry Wood Heaters Association of North America Web site, which provided a list of certified masonry heater designer/ builders. The nearest to them in Bridgton was Tony DaSilva of Maine Masonry Craft in Damariscotta. There are several versions of masonry heaters, but the Russian stove Tony designed and built for the Lyonses operates on the Free Gas Movement Theory developed in Russia during the early 20th century. Unlike a Finnish contraflow stove that forces the gases through channels, the Russian stove is designed to allow gases to move freely, relying on the force of gravity alone to circulate the gases within the stove’s heat exchange system. In this way, only the cooler portion of the gases is exhausted, leaving most of the heat inside. Instead of channels, the double bell firebox design of
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the Russian stove has chambers that allow the introduction of secondary air into the firing chamber. The result is a heater that burns cleaner and is 80% plus efficient. When I spoke with Tony to get a better understanding of how the Russian stove works and why he prefers its design, he told me of his association with Alex Chernov whom he met at the North American Masonry Heater Conference in 2008. Alex had been using digital equipment to experiment with double bell heater construction and had made great strides in increasing the firebox design and efficiency. There are many heaters in Russia that are over 200 years old and still in use today, but they don’t have the Alex advantage of modern technology to improve their performance. “One of my clients built a 1,200-squarefoot home with R60 ceiling and R24 walls and he heats his home 100% with a masonry heater using two cords for the entire heating season,” says Tony. The way it works is that the stove is top-down loaded in the morning, in other words, wood on the bottom, then kindling and newspaper on top. Instead of the few pieces of wood you would normally use with a wood stove or fireplace, the masonry
heater holds an armload or two of seasoned wood. Once lit, the masonry heater fires to over 950˚F, the threshold for burning all of the gases for a very clean combustion, until it burns out in a few hours. After the fire goes out and the dampers are adjusted, there’s nothing more to be done. No wood to load and no ash to sweep. Just 20,000 to 25,000 BTUs per hour of heat stored in the masonry thermal mass that slowly radiates into your house for the next 18 to 24 hours. The Lyons had only had their heater in use for about six weeks this past winter before they no longer needed it. During that period they did several small burns to “season” the system. That gave Cathy an opportunity to experiment with the bake oven. She and her youngest son, Nik, who is autistic, spend a lot of quality time together cooking, so the bake oven in the Russian stove was a definite selling point for her. For Nik, it’s an opportunity to try out the new skills he acquired while attending a culinary program at the vocational center. During their six-week test drive they had a few successes and a couple of failures. Eventually, they plan to bake all of their own bread in the oven. “I’m on the quest to find the perfect pizza and bread. So far Otto’s is the best,” says Cathy. Of course, if she and Nick have their way, Otto’s will have to take a back seat. One thing they’ve determined since then is to invest in an enameled cast iron casserole and an infrared temperature gun for the oven.
Because they’re hand built, no two stoves are alike. The core is always constructed of fire bricks but the exterior can be brick with stone inlay, as with the Lyons’s, or stone, stucco or tile. Cathy compares the selection of materials and their placement to making a pizza. She points out that a Russian stove wouldn’t be for everyone. For one thing, it’s a sizable investment. In their case, they opted to do away with or postpone some things in order to accommodate the masonry heater in their building budget. “It’s our garage,” she jokes. She also points out that it’s much easier, and affordable, to design and construct the heater in a new home than to add it to an existing structure, especially since their contractor, Kurt Christensen, worked so well with Tony and his crew at Maine Masonry Craft. As an added savings, the Lyonses opted for a stainless steel chimney, which was considerably less expensive than a traditional brick chimney and came with a lifetime warranty. While the upfront cost of their stove was significant, the savings are as well. The Lyons’s other heat source is a propane-fired boiler and the goal is to keep their fuel costs to a minimum, while burning only a cord or two of wood. Then there’s the added savings of not having to sweep the chimney each year. The high heat creates a very clean combustion. Tony pointed out that he’s been burning his masonry heater for seven years and has never had to sweep his chimney. He does, however, recommend the heater be inspected and vacuumed once a year for fly ash that has made its way through the system—a fairly simple task that can be done by the homeowner with a shop vac. Then there’s the fact that no matter how many years of savings you accrue with a masonry heater, it holds its value. Should you decide to sell your home, the high efficiency and savings will surely appeal to a buyer, as will the aesthetic. “He’s as much an artist as he is a mason,” says Cathy about Tony’s stonework. It’s true that he has artfully capped the heater and crowned the bake oven. Decorative details have been added to the side facing the front entrance. I’m drawn to the stove not only for its aesthetic but more for the idea of it being the radiant heart of the house. A blue stone bench on the side is where I’d probably spend a lot of my time on a cold, winter day. It would be a great spot to read Anna Karenina one more time. R
Stone Turtle Baking and cooking school Pizza Dough In order to get great flavor and a thin crust with open bubbles around the rim, a wetter dough is the only way to go. Poolish 1-1/2 c unbleached all-purpose flour 1/4 c whole wheat flour 1 c water (cool tap water 60˚F) Pinch of instant dissolving yeast Final Dough All of the poolish 1-1/4 c water (lukewarm—75˚) 1 Tbsp olive oil 1/2 tsp instant dissolving yeast 1 Tbsp kosher or sea salt 4-5-1/2 c all-purpose flour (wetter is better) Semolina for dusting In a large bowl, combine all of the poolish ingredients about 12 - 16 hours before you plan to make the dough. If temperatures in your house are around 70˚ F plan on 14 – 16 hours. If the temperature is warmer the poolish will mature faster but should take 12 hours minimum. For the Dough: Add water to the poolish
and mix gently but well. Add the oil and salt and mix. Add 2 cups of flour and the yeast and mix well. Add remaining flour, one cup at a time, and mix until the ingredients are combined. Knead 4 to 6 minutes or until the dough becomes smooth and elastic (use a scraper, if needed, to help in kneading the wet dough). Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm (75˚) place for about 30 minutes. Turn dough out on to a lightly floured surface, pat into a rectangle and divide into 6 or 8 ounce pieces for small pizzas. Form pieces into balls and place on a covered tray to proof, in the refrigerator, for at least 2 hours to overnight. Ensure that the baking surface is throughly pre-heated to 675-725˚ F Take dough out of refrigerator about an hour before using. Gently stretch, roll or toss into a thin disk, but retain a rim around the edge. Place dough onto a peel that has been liberally coated with semolina to prevent sticking. Dress with simple toppings (less is more) and bake on a pre-heated stone with the bake oven at about 675 - 725˚ F). Pizza should bake in about 3 minutes. Watch it carefully. lakelivingmaine .com
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Pillow Talk by laurie lamountain
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nspired by a buckwheat pillow she’d bought on a trip to Germany, Heidi Fogarty determined in 1993 to make a similar product for the American market. Using organic buckwheat hulls as fill, she launched a line of pillows that sold successfully worldwide. When it came time for her to retire in 2005, she made the unorthodox decision to donate the business to a non-profit 501(c)3 organization that might benefit from the proceeds. The Bridges Foundation was just getting underway and looking for opportunities that would provide their developmentally disabled clients employment, as well as a sense of self-sufficiency and independence. It was a perfect match. Many of the clients at the Bridges Foundation suffer from energetic sensitivity, learning, emotional and/or developmental challenges, and it so happens that L-OMA pillows are very effective in providing relief
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to most of them. Perhaps even more effective, though, is the sense of purpose and selfsufficiency clients derive from being engaged in all aspects of production, including packaging and shipping, to produce a therapeutic product that helps others. Mondays and Wednesdays are pillow production days at 35 Ossipee Trail in Standish, with a total of sixteen people employed in the second-floor space (the first floor is dedicated to Bridges Foundation activities). Gregg Alexis, who with his wife, Diana, founded the Bridges Foundation in 2004 and acquired L-OMA the following year, points out that they started out with four clients and, while they could continue to have very steady, part-time work for a few, they’ve opted instead to spread the work among many. “Today we had seven people working. It can get crowded, but at the same time it’s a community thing. It’s an activity for
them as much as anything else and they all get that sense of contributing,” says Gregg, who has worked in human services for over thirty-five years. “Right from the beginning we used [LOMA] as a means of empowering folks we were benefitting with work therapy,” says Gregg. “[Clients] see the myriad ways in which they directly benefit from the work they’re doing here. There are all of these different reinforcers to make clear to them: this is why we do what we’re doing. It’s knowing they’ve made something that somebody else really benefits from. When they pack up an order to ship out to Oregon or Puerto Rico, they feel really good about it. ‘This person thousands of miles away is going to have my pillow.’ How cool is that?” L-OMA currently accounts for about half of the Bridges Foundation’s operations, with 100% of pillow profits going directly back into funding the other half—activities and services. Every day that a client works for LOMA, they submit a work sheet and receive a check in return. On this day, a Wednesday, Gregg interrupts our interview to write checks for Nick, Toni, Tom, Roger and Davy, who have just finished their shifts. We chat about their specialties. Tom takes particular pride in the fact that he has a steady enough touch to fill the neck pillows by hand. “You have to take pride of your work,” says Tom, totally unprompted. Davy, who has been making pillows since 2007, is known for putting his own brand of “Davy Love” into every pillow he makes. As a final touch to the production, the clients secure each package with a ribbon to which they’ve attached a tag with their handwritten name. The pillows, which include standard bed, neck, eye and travel pillows, are mostly sold through the Web site, but are also sold inhouse and at conferences and fairs. L-OMA is partnered with the Maine Organic Farmers and Growers Association (MOFGA) and the Common Ground Fair is their biggest offsite event. “We get a lot of people who come there looking for high-end, organic, natural products that are therapeutic, and they tend to really be drawn to the whole story of what the pillows are,” Gregg elaborates. They are most likely also influenced by the fact that the buckwheat hulls in L-OMA
“It’s knowing they’ve made something that somebody else really benefits from. When they pack up an order to ship out to Oregon or Puerto Rico, they feel really good about it. ‘This person thousands of miles away is going to have my pillow.’ How cool is that?”
pillows are high-quality, 100% organic and hypoallergenic. Unlike millet or other grain-based fillers, buckwheat is naturally pest-resistant so L-OMA organic buckwheat is never fumigated. Other benefits of buckwheat are that it’s not a good conductor of heat, so the pillows themselves stay cooler than down or foam. The hulls, which are pretty much indestructible, ensure that a LOMA pillow will last for many years. They also provide more support by conforming to the contours of the head and neck. Users often report waking up in the same position in which they fell asleep. At the end of our visit, I purchase a pillow for my mother and one for me. I spring for the bag of lavender/balsam potpourri on the side. It’s been a few weeks since we both started using our pillows and I’ve become rather attached. On a weekend trip up the coast, I considered bringing my pillow along but in the end decided that was a little too Linus van Pelt of me. My mother, who frequently suffers from congestion in the morning, tells me she hasn’t been. I wonder if all the time she’d attributed her congestion to lying prone, it wasn’t in fact a hypoallergenic issue. I’ve since ordered a pillow for my nephew, who experiences disrupted sleep patterns that cause him daytime fatigue. Other L-OMA pillow users claim to have found relief from tension, muscle spasms, cramps, headaches, stress, snoring and problems associated with sleep apnea. In addition to pillows, L-OMA offers weighted blankets and vests, which they originally found to be very therapeutic for people with autism, but have since found to be effective for people with Alzheimers, cerebral palsy, restless leg syndrome and anxiety. “Every year has been better than the previous year. We have never fallen back, which is pretty extraordinary,” says Gregg. “We get a lot of return customers, which is really awesome. It means we have a satisfied base. They tell their friends and neighbors and we grow from that. It’s been a very grassroots kind of process.” R Order L-OMA Organic Buckwheat Pillows on-line at www.l-oma.com, by phone at 207.595.8106 or visit them at 35 Ossipee Trail (Route 25) in Standish. For more information on The Bridges Foundation, or to donate or volunteer, visit www.thebridgesfoundation.org. lakelivingmaine .com
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have a clue about cooking. My mother remembers him bringing a whole bunch of beets, dirt still clinging to them, into the kitchen just as Leone was putting dinner on the table, and saying, “Here! These will be good to have for dinner!” I’m sure Leone didn’t serve those beets for that meal but I think she would have enjoyed the following recipe for another dinner using Ernie’s fresh produce. C o n t r a r y t o m y g r a n d f a t h e r ’s assumption, beets take a while to cook and can be either roasted, steamed or pressure cooked, with the latter method being the quickest. Roasting, which will take an hour or more depending on the size of the beets, will lend a richer taste to this dish.
beets and greens gratin
A Serving of Nostalgia by perri black
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very year, sometime around the middle of August, I awake to a certain slant of light filtering through my window and I know the season has turned. The shift is very subtle, almost imperceptible. Warm weather and summer people are still here, but shadows fall earlier in the evening and chirping crickets harbinger autumn. During this pre-autumnal lull, gardens offer up their bounty for the final harvests and my mind turns to cooking and preserving the abundance in preparation for the long slide into winter. I also start to think about good, simple, basic food like that made by my Midwestern paternal grandmother, Leone. Autumn is a time of nostalgia and nothing is more nostalgic than comfort food. Of course, one of the ultimate comfort foods is tomato soup, preferably accompanied by a grilled cheese sandwich. My dad says that in 1956, during his ROTC summer training on board ship, he was seasick for the first couple of days and all he could think about that didn’t make him sicker was a bowl of creamy tomato soup. He probably meant the kind from a can, but it is better (and not difficult) if you make it from scratch. I freeze the overabundant cherry tomatoes from the garden in quantities for this recipe so I always have them on hand.
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tomato soup
Vegetarian Planet by Didi Emmons serves 6 3 Tbsp butter 2 c chopped onions 3 cloves garlic, minced 3 Tbsp flour 1/4 c Madeira or Marsala wine 7 c (2 28-oz cans) peeled plum tomatoes; drained and juice reserved Pinch of cayenne Salt and pepper to taste 1/2 tsp sugar (to taste, if necessary) 1/4 - 1/2 c light cream (optional) Melt butter over medium heat in a heavy pot. Add onions and cook for five minutes, stirring frequently, until they have softened. Add garlic and cook another minute or two. Add flour and cook another minute, stirring constantly. Whisk in wine, then slowly add juice from tomatoes. Continue stirring so lumps won’t form. Add tomatoes and continue to stir until soup comes to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Purée soup in a blender or with a hand-held blender (in batches if necessary). Add cayenne, salt and pepper. Blend in as much cream as you like (if any) and serve hot. My grandfather, Ernie (Leone’s husband), was an excellent gardener, producing glorious vegetables in season. He also didn’t
(based on a recipe from The Kitchen Ecosystem by Eugenia Bone) Serves 4 1 lb fresh beets, cooked and diced into 1/4” cubes 1 lb beet greens, washed thoroughly 1/2 c heavy cream 1/2 - 3/4 c grated Gruyere cheese (or other melting cheese, like cheddar, or a combination) Salt and pepper 1/2 c breadcrumbs or dry stuffing 2 Tbsp butter Preheat oven to 400˚F. Butter a 7” x 10” shallow baking dish. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (I use a steamer for this). Add beet greens and cook until water returns to a boil (or steam for a couple of minutes). Drain the greens and allow to cool, then chop into bite-sized pieces. In a large bowl, combine greens, beets, cream and cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Spread mixture in baking dish. Melt butter in small pan, add breadcrumbs and stir until coated. Sprinkle breadcrumbs on top of greens mixture. Bake for 10 minutes until golden brown and bubbling. I don’t think Ernie ever grew zucchini. It probably seemed too exotic for Rockford, Illinois, in the 1940s and ‘50s. Everyone I know, however, now grows zucchini in their gardens and they usually have an overload when the plants start producing. I always accept the gift of giant zucchinis that seem to appear in the garden overnight, no matter how carefully you pick over the patch each day. I grate and freeze them in quantities required for soups, zucchini bread, and these delicious, easy fritters Lake Living graphic designer Dianne Lewis shared with me.
zucchini feta pancakes
Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen This recipe makes enough to comfortably fill four average-sized persons. 4 c packed, coarsely grated zucchini 4 eggs, separated 1 heaping cup finely crumbled feta cheese (or other hard, crumbly cheese) 1/2 cup minced scallions 3/4 tsp dried mint (fresh works, too, but you’ll want to use more) Salt and black pepper 1/3 cup flour Butter for frying Sour cream or yogurt for topping Place the grated zucchini in a colander in a bowl, salt it lightly and let it stand 15 minutes. Rinse it and squeeze out all excess water. Combine zucchini, egg yolks, feta, scallions, flour and spices. Mix well. Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Fold into first mixture. Fry in butter, on both sides, until golden and crisp. Serve topped with sour cream or yogurt. Another way to use up a giant zucchini, and also have something to enter into the county fair, is this easy, tasty zucchini relish that my friend, Pat, remembers her uncle making. You need to be in a bit of a “zen mood” to handle all the chopping but the results are worth it. The relish also tastes great with grilled cheese sandwiches that go with your tomato soup!
zucchini relish
Yield: 6 pints 12 c diced zucchini 4 c chopped onion 2 c chopped bell peppers (1 c green, 1 c red) Put all the above in a large bowl. Top with ice cubes and sprinkle with 6 Tablespoons salt and let sit 4-6 hours.
Comfort food is food which provides a nostalgic or sentimental value to the consumer. The nostalgia may be specific to either the individual or a particular culture. wikipedia Nothing conjures up family tradition and comfort food like the holidays, and nothing says the holidays quite like pumpkin pie. Here is the best pumpkin pie recipe ever, just as it appears on the index card my mother taped it to in the early 1960s after cutting it from the label on a can of Carnation Evaporated milk. I have made this pie every Thanksgiving for decades and there are never any leftovers. My only alteration is that I use skim evaporated milk, which I’ve found doesn’t affect the taste or texture of the pie. Oh, and of course the pumpkin I use comes from the Black family garden.
I hope these recipes stir some of your own food memories of autumn. I know the smell of apples stored in bushel baskets in a shed always reminds me of Ernie and the fruit he picked from his trees (he was a big fan of red delicious). I also remember Leone’s talent for peeling an apple in one long, spiral and then making a fragrant pie with the flesh. I wish I had been able to spend more time with my grandparents, especially when I became interested in cooking. However, to keep them with me in kitchen spirit, I have my memories and Leone’s handwritten recipes—and that truly gives me comfort. R
carnation’s famous pumpkin pie
1 c granulated sugar 1/2 tsp salt 1-1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon ginger 1/2 tsp allspice 1/2 tsp cloves 1-1/2 c canned pumpkin 1-2/3 c (large can) undiluted Carnation Evaporated Milk 2 eggs 9-inch single crust unbaked pie shell Mix filling ingredients until smooth. Pour filling into unbaked pie shell. Bake in hot oven (425˚F) for 15 minutes. Lower temperature to moderate (350˚) and continue baking about 35 mintes or until custard is firm.
Pick-Your-Own Apples 9am-4pm Daily September & October Farmstand Open 7 Days 9am-5pm Now through November 2016 Winter Hours Starting December 2016 Open Fri., Sat. & Sun., weather permitting Call to ensure we are open! 803 Waterford Road Sweden, ME 04040 (207) 647-9419
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Brine: 2 -1/2 cider vinegar 5 sugar 1 Tbsp each dry mustard and ground nutmeg 2 Tbsp cornstarch 1 tsp turmeric 1-1/2 tsp celery seed 1/2 tsp black pepper Heat brine ingredients until thickened and sugar is dissolved. Add vegetables, stir well, cook 30 minutes. Pour into hot, sterilized jars. Seal lids and process in a hot water bath 10-15 minutes.
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t’s autumn. And the perfect time to turn our eyes heavenward. With less ambient light and humidity, stars and the constellations they form take our breath away. We don’t even need binoculars or a telescope to gaze at the velvet black sky on a moonless night and see the display before us. So, throw on your coat and head out the door after darkness has settled in. Remember, unlike nocturnal mammals, it takes time for our eyes to adjust to lower light levels. As you move away from any street or houselights, you’ll warm up your body plus give your eyes time to get used to the dark. Before I look up, I like to orient myself. With outstretched arms, (I suppose you don’t need to stretch them out, but it’s more fun that way) my right hand points toward sunrise and my left toward sunset—thus I face north with the east to my right and west to my left. South is directly behind me. (Stating the obvious as my sons would say.) To view the constellations, we need to step into our youthful souls where imagina-
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Eye on the Sky by leigh macmillen hayes
tion reigns. You might see like the ancient Greeks and Romans, who drew elaborate pictures of the sky in their minds that represented the things they knew. Native Americans also used the stars in their stories of creation, as well as guides for compass points, weather and life lessons. As an amateur astronomer, I can’t always see all the details the ancients saw, but I can connect the stars as a youngster would connect dots. I wish I could take claim for making these connections, but H.A. Rey, the author of Curious George, is the one who introduced me to this concept. Mr. Rey also wrote The Stars: A New Way to See Them, which guides us amateurs in how to look at the constellations in a graphic way that shows the shapes implied by the name. Almost everyone recognizes the Big Dipper, the seven stars that form a large scoop—or dipper. The curved handle is created by three stars while four others form the bowl. Though we may think of the Big Dipper as a constellation, it is actually an asterism or group of stars within a constellation. In this case, the
asterism is within Ursa Major, the Great Bear constellation. Being fall, the dipper performs its own fall action and quickly heads for its den below the horizon. The tip of the dipper’s handle serves as the Great Bear’s nose and the bowl forms part of his back—like a bicycle saddle bag. Since it’s so low right now, you may not see the entire outline of the bear’s body as Rey portrays it. But you can draw an invisible line through the two stars, Dubhe and Merak (aka Pointer stars), on the outer side of the dipper’s bowl. The line should head away from the horizon and end at the nearest moderately bright star. You’ve landed on Polaris, which is located almost exactly north and is therefore known as the North Star. The Pointer stars always point to Polaris, no matter how the Big Dipper stands in the sky. Polaris provides a good jumping off point to locate other stars. The North Star serves as the tip of the handle for the Little Dipper, which is part of Ursa Minor or Little Bear. Again, this is a seven star formation with three representing the handle and four creating the bowl. Depending on how you look at it, you may see the Little Dipper pouring something into the Big Dipper. Both are circumpolar stars, meaning they always circle the North Star. To the Ancient Greeks, a tale about Zeus, the king of the gods, evolved around Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. According to one rendition, Zeus fell in love with a beautiful woman, named Callisto. His wife, Hera, was furious and turned Callisto into a great, shaggy bear. Callisto’s son, Arcas, spotted the bear while hunting and didn’t realize it was his mother so he took aim and was about to shoot. As legend would have it, Zeus was watching. To prevent this tragedy, Zeus turned Arcas into a bear. To keep both bears safe, he grabbed them by their tails and swung them into the heavens above. One North American tribe, the Algonquins, saw the bowl of the Big Dipper as a bear. The three handle stars were hunters that chased the bear across the sky. Come autumn, when the Big Dipper was low on the horizon, the hunters wounded the bear. The wounded bear spilled a few drops of blood onto the Earth, which in turned changed the color of leaves from green to bright reds and oranges. Continuing along the same invisible line
from the Pointers through Polaris, your next stop is the tip of a hat. The hat is triangular in shape and perhaps a more accurate description would be to call it a crown for it stands atop the head of King Cepheus. Some see this constellation as a house, complete with a triangular roof atop a square base. If you prefer to see the square as a face, you’ll note the king has a nose, mouth, eye and short pigtail at the back of his head. Cepheus was the king of Ethiopia and husband of Cassiopeia. Turn about 45˚ eastward and locate the five stars of her crown shaped like a W or M. This is one of my favorite night sights, besides the dippers, (and Orion in the winter sky) because she’s so easy to recognize. Even if you can’t find Cepheus, Cassiopeia always sits opposite the Big Dipper. She’s not large, but she is bright. This legendary queen made the mistake of boasting that she was more beautiful than all the sea nymphs. Her fate was doomed and her punishment—to circle the north pole forever, always upside down. If you have an unobstructed view of the southern horizon, in autumn you should see the star Fomalhaut (FOAM-a-lot) located in the constellation Piscis Austrinus, the Southern Fishes. Some refer to it as the “Lonely Star of Autumn” because it’s the only bright star in this part of the sky. Once you’ve located these stars and constellations, you are well on your way. There’s even more to see in the winter sky, including Andromeda, the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia, and their future son-in-law, the hero Perseus, plus Pegasus, the flying horse. And Orion the hunter and Gemini the twins. And . . . and . . . and. While there are a variety of star guides and apps, I have two favorites and both are available at Bridgton Books. The first I already referred to—The Stars by H.A. Rey. I also like the Klutz guide: Backyard STARS: A guide for Home and the Road. It’s a laminated, accordion-fold guide measuring 5x11 inches. Plus it’s waterproof, easily fits into a backpack and includes four star maps, one for each season. The creator also used a connect-the-dot format, though I prefer Rey’s pictures. Of course, you can hold your phone up to the sky and with the right app you’ll automatically know what you are looking at, but that takes the fun out of it. So . . . not only is autumn a time to enjoy the color blast that embraces our days, but it is also a time to turn an eye on the sky. R
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