In our environment, daily actions and habits have a powerful impact on our health and quality of life. One’s lifestyle can be the path to wellness or disease.
In other words, our behavior and patterns of living can be the leading factors in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, obesity, dementia, mental health and cancer.
An unhealthy lifestyle can also impair our immune function and increase the risk of infectious diseases.
Diet, physical... Read more
Fall-Winter 2023 Wave Magazine
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Find Lifestyle is Medicine… Living more Lightly… A Man, a Chainsaw and his Art…. Shark Alley, a Tale of Chicken Offal and Fins — The Fall/Winter Wave 2023 explores life on the Midcoast with those who live and make a home here. Plus, find products and services with the fine businesses that advertise in it. Enjoy!
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Shark alley, a tale of chicken offal and fins
The beauty of the waters of Belfast Bay are appreciated by the countless eyes that gaze upon them, though many are unaware of a long ago nickname for the span of water that goes from the Bay into the larger Penobscot Bay: Shark alley. The name became associated with the area due to frequent finned visitors, drawn by the waste of a waterfront business.
The possible presence of sharks in the Midcoast waters is nothing new, but long before summer shark sightings became a part of the Midcoast’s... Read more
Daybreak Growers Alliance offers customizable farmed food boxes
A Farmer’s Box is a bounty of flavors for fall
More than 70 farms in Maine have been growing produce, raising livestock, producing eggs, and making cheese all summer just for you. And now that fall is the most abundant time for harvesting food, you can pick up a pre-set or customizeable box every week if you choose chock full of Maine’s most diverse and nutritious offerings, thanks to the concerted efforts of Daybreak Grower’s Alliance, a farm share business. The service additionally allows for add-ons such as flowers, free-range, eggs,... Read more
Woodworker and chainsaw artist Pasco Grove on his cutting edge technique
Back away slowly: chainsaw artist in action
Two carved wooden benches grace downtown Belfast, both nautical-themed. One is a whale with sailboats and one is a mermaid. Both works of functional art were made by chainsaw artist Pasco Grove, of Winterport. The benches, carved during the All Roads Music Festival as a live event several years ago, now permanently remain.
For Grove, it is no big deal to pick up a chainsaw and begin hacking at a large snag —or a dead, broken tree— and fashion a face or a sculpture out of it.
He works through... Read more
Grieving the loss of a beloved pet
The unconditional love of a pet, whether it’s a dog, cat, horse, rabbit, hedgehog, bird, a little rat or hamster, captures our hearts. Pets are family members and loving and trusting them brings peace and joy into our lives. The human-animal connection is a powerful bond and dynamic relationship.
Sadly, there comes a time when our pets have to say goodbye, and that triggers intense emotions. For many, the grief following the loss of a pet is comparable to the intensity of grief following the... Read more
Maine-grown shiitake mushrooms lend immune system boost
Shiitake mushrooms, mainly found growing in East Asia, have been a traditional Chinese and Japanese food as medicine since the 12th century. Packed with fiber, vital minerals, and unique compounds, shiitake mushrooms activate the immune system, reduce blood pressure, fight cancerous cells, reduce inflammation, and lower cholesterol.
Oyster Creek Mushroom Company, owned by Candice Heydon in Damariscotta, has been growing and selling shiitake as well as other fresh, wild mushroom varieties since... Read more
Three lighthouses. Three photos. Three gorgeous moments in time.
Author and photographer Bob Trapani’s latest coffee table lighthouse book, Gleams and Whispers: Maine’s Lighthouses and Their Allure, examines some of Maine’s 66 lighthouses from angles and perspectives rarely seen.
Trapani sees lighthouses not merely as useful structures, but as watchers, sentinels, and keepers of human life.
“It all starts with light,” he said. “They represent the finest of the human spirit in that they were built to save lives by preventing shipwrecks in the dark, stormy... Read more
Did you hear that? No? Thomaston PD drives down electric avenue and into the future
“That little Mustang out there is an animal,” said Thomaston Police Chief Tim Hoppe.
A year old, and ripened with 14,000 miles of maturity as of Jan. 30, Thomaston PD’s little electric car is great in the snow, according to Hoppe. Based on weight ration, it’s relatively heavy for the battery centers, and it’s an all-wheel drive vehicle.
“I’m not saying it will climb a mountain,” he said, “but I would definitely put it up against some things that would normally get stuck.”
Hinging on the Town... Read more
Tick Lab at UMaine adds testing services for Powassan and Heartland viruses
ORONO — The University of Maine Cooperative Extension Tick Lab is adding two new pathogens to its tick testing panels.
The Tick Lab will now be screening ticks for Powassan virus and Heartland virus in addition to testing for the pathogens that cause Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, ehrlichiosis and tularemia.
Powassan virus is a rare but serious pathogen that can be transmitted by infected deer ticks, woodchuck ticks or squirrel ticks; Heartland virus has... Read more
opinion
Making sense of markets in everchanging times
The economy is in a confusing place right now. There are conflicting narratives about whether we are headed for a recession and mixed signals from different economic indicators. As inflation is broadly falling in developed countries around the world we are also seeing a strong labor market in the U.S.
The overall unemployment rate is at historic lows and this is complicating the direction of the federal reserve. Its dual mandate of low inflation and maximum employment means hiking rates... Read more
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