Down East will be featuring contributors from all walks of Maine Life on DE Daily. Kathryn and Dash, the women behind the Yankee Crafty B*tch blog, will be bringing you the best in the world of crafts, food, sewing and gardens — all on the resourceful Yankee budget. So kick back, check out their posts, and get your craft on. If you're interested in contributing to DE Daily, send an e-mail to online@downeast.com and tell us your ideas. 

The Great Falls Balloon Fest. Photo by Arlene McConnell.

The sea goddess of the Maine Lobster Festival has been crowned, and the lobster floats may not return to Rockland's Main Street for another year, but festival season is still in full swing in Maine. Whether you love balloons, blueberries, antiques, Acadian culture, or boats, there's something for you in the upcoming weeks. Have fun!  

Lobsters aren't the only thing we have in abundance in Maine this summer. Wild blueberry growers are expecting the biggest harvest in a decade — 90 to 95 million pounds.

If you're looking for a place to take a swim this August head inland. Yes, Maine has 3,500 miles of coastline, but we also have 2,500 lakes and ponds that are better (and warmer) for a casual swim. Here are 12 of Maine's best lake beaches:

Damariscotta Lake, Jefferson

The soft-shell lobster glut that is threatening Maine lobstermen's ability to make a living is now being felt in Connecticut and New Brunswick.

Buttermilk, the adorable Nigerian dwarf goat from Houlton last seen doing 360 degree Parkour-style back flips off her goat friends, now has her own Facebook page and has been making the talk show circuit. If you haven't seen the video of Buttermilk that over a week has racked up nearly 3,000,000 views and earned a spot on The Today Show, we'll wait for you to watch and then finish smiling uncontrollably:

As lobstermen, dealers, scientists, and others in Maine's lobster industry worry about the overabundance of lobsters, we are reminded of the oft-repeated stories that lobster was so plentiful in the 17th and 18th centuries that it was considered a junk food. Indeed, these stories go, colonial Massachusetts even passed a law forbidding the serving of lobsters to servants and prisoners more than twice a week — that would be cruel!

Eleanor Logan of Boothbay, Maine was one of eight members of the United States rowing team to capture (spoiler alert!) the gold medal in the women's eight. The Boothbay resident is a part of a rowing team that has dominated for seven years. They haven't lost a competitive race since winning the world title in 2006, and won gold in Beijing in 2008. Logan was part of that team as well.

Fifty Shades of Grey, that steamy erotic novel series that seemingly everyone in the country is reading awkwardly in public, it turns out is being made in East Millinocket. To be precise, 3,000 tons of it are being made in Millinocket.

 

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As many head to Freeport this July 4th to celebrate Independence Day and L.L.Beans 100th birthday we wanted to share some recent Down East magazine material to assist you over the holiday.

For those traveling along Route 1, be sure to check out our April Issue when senior writer Virginia M. Wright drove all 527 miles and reported on the people and places along road that connects the coast. Discover the route's history, how it changes across Maine's regions, and exactly how many McDonald's you'll pass.