Summer and fall are great times to indulge in locally-grown food. Below is a list of Maine farms where you can pick your own berries and apples; a family-friendly activity that fosters an even deeper connection to your food. And picking your own fruit is a perfect way to get large amounts for canning and…
By Kurt Johnson WE KNOW THERE are things in our homes that can make us sick. According to the EPA, our #1 environmental threat is indoor air pollution. And the World Health Organization (WHO) and the National Cancer Institute, have reported that 80% of our cancers are caused environmentally. Considering that the average American spends 90% of their time indoors today, flushing our…
Now that warm, gentle breezes have finally settled in to replace those long-forgotten, icy, nose-numbing winds of winter, it’s time to open up our homes to the wonders of the season. Here are a few helpful cleaning tips that can also help you use less energy – and stay more comfortable – inside your home…
By Heather Chandler & Chris Briley There are a lot of loosely defined terms used to describe how “green” a house is. Luckily some professionals in our industry have worked very hard to find ways to quantify this almost intangible quality, and in so doing, have generated new nomenclature that can often sound foreign to those outside the industry. LEED, for example,…
Editor’s Note: The submissions for homes featured in this post came from home owners, builders, architects and renewable energy professionals across the state. We reviewed data for all of the submissions received and selected the five homes that you will see featured in these pages. As you will see, they represent a diversity of size,…
By Avery Yale Kamila Whether a rural homestead or a tiny urban lot, the most attractive gardens and landscapes buzz with bees, butterflies, birds and other pollinators. Creating a landscape inviting to pollinators adds interest and action while providing a much-needed lifeline to critical species struggling to survive. It’s something all of us can do to…
By Avery Yale Kamila While national chain hardware stores are working to phase out certain classes of pesticides from their potted perennials and annuals, two Maine companies are moving more swiftly to supply pollinator-friendly plants. In York, Eldredge Lumber & Hardware is building a second greenhouse in hopes of meeting more of the demand for…
By Tim King They sure don’t build homes like they used to. And, if you speak with a growing number of Maine home builders, designers and architects, that’s a good thing. Blame it on our high fuel costs, cold climate, old housing stock or increasing awareness about the correlation between energy consumption and climate change,…
By Tux Turkel Going solar wasn’t a big stretch for Serena Graham. She grew up in an environmentally-aware family, with a father and two cousins who had solar-electric panels. So when she and her husband bought a 1962-built house in Waterville, they insulated and air-sealed and dumped oil heat fora wood pellet boiler. They replaced power-hungry lights with LEDs, to…
The pace of solar development in Maine, and whether it grows through thousands of rooftop installations or a limited number of utility-scale projects, has been the subject of debate this year in state government. The outcome is important to homeowners, because a key part of the discussion has centered around net metering. Net metering is…