The Town of South Thomaston is pleased to announce that they were recently awarded a $10,000 ShoreUp Maine grant from the Island Institute. The grant will assist in the engineering of the Town’s Spruce Head Island Causeway road project. The project is intended to improve the road in ways that mitigate potential wash out during heavy weather events, effectively shutting down the island and our working waterfront.

The Island Institute, announced July 1 the launch of the Tom Glenn Community Impact Fund, a new catalyst fund that seeks to build a more diverse coastal economy by providing grants, loans and equity investments for small businesses and municipalities. The fund was made possible through a grant from The Wilbur and Hilda Glenn Family Foundation to honor Tom Glenn II and his lifelong commitment to Maine’s island and coastal communities. The Tom Glenn Community Impact Fund supports the Island Institute’s strategic priority, strengthening community economies, giving preference to projects aligned with the organization’s impact targets for economically critical community infrastructure and the diversification of coastal livelihoods.

It was a sharp, windy March day, but the gray water of Casco Bay glimmered green in the sun. On his lobster boat, the Pull N’ Pray, Justin Papkee scanned the surface of the ocean, searching for his buoys. But he wasn’t looking for lobster traps. Mr. Papkee was farming, not fishing: His crop, clinging to ropes beneath the cold waves, was seaweed, thousands of pounds of brownish kelp undulating under the surface. Growing at a rate of 4 to 6 inches per day for the past six months, it was nearly ready to be harvested and sent to restaurants like Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Estela, Houseman, Saint Julivert Fisherie and Luke’s Lobster in New York, and Honey Paw, Chaval and the Purple House here in Maine. He pulled a blade of kelp from his line and handed me a long, translucent strip. I took a bite, and then another, seawater running down my chin.