Let’s Earn This Every Single Day!
2012 BONS (Best of North Shore) Magazine Awards For Best Blog Editors Choice and Best Blog Readers Choice
GMG Wins CBS Boston Most Valuable Blogger
LETS DO THIS!
Author: Joey Ciaramitaro
The creator of goodmorninggloucester.org Lover of all things Gloucester and Cape Ann. GMG where we bring you the very best our town has to offer because we love to share all the great news and believe that by promoting others in our community everyone wins.
2012 GMG Downtown Gloucester Holiday Gift Series Bananas
The fourth year of the GMG Downtown Gloucester Holiday Gift Video Series where we walk up and down Main Street and try to capture as many retailers as we can and highlight their best gift ideas one a day every day leading up to Christmas.
2012 GMG Downtown Gloucester Holiday Gift Series Premier Imprints
2012 GMG Downtown Gloucester Holiday Gift Series The Cave
2012 GMG Downtown Gloucester Holiday Gift Series Lone Gull
2012 GMG Downtown Gloucester Holiday Gift Series Kids Unlimited
2012 GMG Downtown Gloucester Holiday Gift Series- Harbor Loop Gifts
2012 Downtown Gloucester Holiday Gift Series- Pleasant Street Tea and Coffee Co
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
New Hampshire Fish and Game Department’s Lobster Tagging Project
The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department in cooperation with the University of New Hampshire is in the process of trying to identify areas in New Hampshire state waters with aggregations of large reproductive female lobsters and track their movements. Though we’ll be looking a variety of other information from this study, this is the major objective. We’ll also be tagging smaller females and possibly some males so that we can compare their movements with the larger animals and identify if they’re undertaking seasonal migrations.
We hope to tag a total of 2400 lobsters by November of 2013. Thus far (November 2012) we’ve tagged 700 lobsters and lobstermen have provided recapture information on approximately 100 lobsters. We really want to spread the word so that fishermen will call us and report tagged lobsters. This information will give us a better understanding of the movements associated with lobsters in the Gulf of Maine. As an incentive for lobstermen to report tagged lobsters there will be a raffle held at the end of 2012, 2013 and 2014, three names will be chosen each year and winners of the raffle will be given a 50 dollar gift certificate to New England Marine Industrial or a Grunden’s hooded sweatshirt.
Though we’re also very interested in finer scale movements within the State, perhaps our most interesting tag returns have come from other states. We’ve had two lobsters that were caught near Portland Maine and had moved over thirty miles. We’ve also had a few reports from fishermen in the Gloucester that have caught tagged lobsters in their traps. Below you’ll find a Google Map showing the movement of a lobster that was tagged on 9/21/2012 near the Isles of Shoals and was recaptured on 11/12/2012 near Gloucester, it was estimated that this lobster moved approximately 22 miles.
If you catch a tagged lobster, we’re interested in the following information:
Date of Capture:
Tag#:
Sex:
Latitude (Loran is fine):
Longitude:
Did Lobster have eggs:
V-Notch:
New Shell or Old Shell:
Please Call New Hampshire Fish and Game at 603-868-1095 and ask for
Joshua Carloni or just e-mail me at joshua.carloni@wildlife.nh.gov.
Thanks for all your help!
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
Community Photos 12/2/12
Summer Nostalgia from Christian Derobert
Christian writes-
When we get the first snow I like to look at pictures from the summer and think "6 months to go"
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
Appleton Farm Cheeses Available Locally!
Stock up on holiday cheeses at Appleton Farms’ Dairy Store…we’ve got farmstead cheddar, triple cream and a variety of herbed rounds! We’re open Mon-Fri 11am-6pm and Sat & Sun 10am-4pm!. See you at the farm!
FROM GRASS TO MILK TO CHEESE TO YOU
Our grass-munching Jersey herd is making history at the farm. Thanks to quality pastures and feed, careful and knowledgable cow-handling and expert cheese making, our dairy store is chock-full of tasty farmstead products, just in time for the holidays. So how does this happen?
FROM GRASS
Appleton Farms’ jersey herd eats about an acre of pasture a day during the growing season (late April to early November). With 80 acres for grazing, the dairy herd is rotational grazed, allowing pasture to rest for three weeks to month between grazings, and providing the cows with the finest in grass. During the winter months, the herd feeds on more than 1,000 round bales and 5,000 square bales hayed at the farm. The fields are carefully managed by the farms field and equipment crew, maintaining a diverse blend of nutrient-rich grasses like orchard grass, timothy grass and clover in wetter fields and alfalfa and orchard in drier fields. In addition the crew spreads the farms compost on the fields two times a year. Its our high quality prime hayland and pastures that really fuels our cows!
TO MILK
It starts at 4am as the morning dairy crew pushes the cows in from pasture. The morning milker preps the machines for while the feeder grains the cows and feeds the heifers and calves. As the milking gets underway at 4:30am, the feeder also tends to a slew of chores throughout the morning, including scraping loafing sheds and fixing fencing. When milking is done, around 6am, the crew pushes the cows out to pasture (or to the loafing shed in winter). The “late” crew arrives at 7am, allowing some overlap for the staff to check-in with a short coffee break. They’ll jump in with chores like bedding barns and making sure all the equipment in and around the barn is working. The morning crew’s day ends around 1pm, and the afternoon schedule of chores and milking and feeding wraps by 5pm. Of course, there’s the evening night check on the heard. And over the course of the year there’s breeding, health checks, calving, setting up pastures, training heifers, staff training, public programs and more. As any farmer will tell you, there’s always work to be done.
Cows eat for about six hours a day, nap on and off for about four hours a day and chew their cud for about eight hours. One dairy cow drinks about a bathtub of water a day and eats approximately 63 pounds of grains, grass and hay. The dairy staff ensures that the cow’s diet is well balanced in order to produce high quality milk and dairy products. One dairy cow produces about 6 gallons or 50 pounds of milk a day. That means the farm has more than 550 gallons of farm-fresh milk a week to sell locally, some in the form of fluid milk and some the form of value-added dairy products, namely cheese and butter (and yogurt coming soon!).
TO CHEESE
Every Monday morning about 250 gallons of milk are pumped from barn to the dairy plant (just yards away in the old bull barn). This batch is used for cheddar. So what happens? The milk is pasteurized and cultures and rennet are added. By 2pm the cheesemakers are elbow-deep in a vat of curd, expelling the whey. Next, the cheese is formed – pressed the old-fashioned way with buckets of water and boards. On Tuesday, the weights are lifted and the wheels are flipped. If they look good, they go to storage – if not, more weight. The two-day process yeilds By the 30 ten-pound wheels of cheese that will age for at least a month or up to a year. The cheesemaking process starts all over again on Thursday and Friday for our soft cheeses and triple cream. The process for the soft cheese is more simple, and the cheese is ready for tasting in just 24 hours.
When the cheese makers aren’t making cheese, or butter, or other specialty seasonal items, they are likely caring for their aging cheeses that must be flipped and rubbed in the aging room every other. Or, they’re doing dishes, and lots of them. A friendly word of advice from our cheesemaker – if you want to be a cheesemaker, you should also want to do dishes.
TO YOU
Appleton Farms’ dairy products don’t travel far to reach you! The store, just on the other side of the veggie fields from the dairy plant, features the farms very own jersey products like, triple cream and cheddar cheese, an assortment of soft cheeses, milk and butter, and seasonal items like crème fraiche and whipped cream as well as Appleton Farms beef. Other locally sourced products for sale include maple syrup and honey and artisan crafts. The store is open daily:
Monday - Friday, 11am – 6pm and Saturday & Sunday, 12noon – 4pm.
Stop by to sample and buy your cheeses for the holiday season, join for a Saturday Meet the Cows program (3pm; meets at the Visitor Center, $4 Trustees members. $5 nonmembers), and stay-tuned for cheesemaking classes at the farm this summer!
HOW TO FIND US
To visit the store, enter the farm off of Route 1A (219 County Road) in Ipswich. For more information call 978.356.3825 (dairy store) or 978.356.5728 (office), or email appletonfarms@ttor.org.
To learn more about the dairy operation visit the website at www.thetrustees.org/dairy or join us on Saturday’s at.
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE !!! In East Gloucester SUNDAY DECEMBER 2nd
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
Community Stuff 12/2/12
The Next Wave @ Flatrocks Gallery
The Next Wave
From the earliest days of fish and stone, Cape Ann has continually redefined itself. We who live here shape and are shaped by how we use this place, what we give to it, what its future will be.
Flatrocks Gallery has assembled a group of younger artists who embody this process of reinvention. In our fall show The Next Wave we see them rethinking the world with whimsy, energy and inventiveness – finding new ways to use traditional media, to transform and be transformed by their surroundings. Above all their work is meant to be
lived with and enjoyed.
Featuring: Brett Dunton, Jenna Powell, Ben MacAdam, Elizabeth Woodward, Nate Longcope, Daniel Semero, Brooks Gibson, Nina Samoiloff, Sean Hurley, Whitney Gibson, Nika Feldman, Jamison Knowlton, Jess Semeraro, Ari Martin.
Through Dec.30th Thu-Sun 12-5pm or by appt.
Artist’s Reception Nov.10th 5-7pm
77 Langsford St. Gloucester MA
978-879-4683
Maritime Gloucester is proud to host Jeff Bolster, historian, UNH professor and professional seafarer on Wednesday, December 5th at 7pm in the Gorton’s Seafoods Gallery. The author will share stories, pictures and data from his new book The Mortal Sea: Fishing the Atlantic in the Age of Sail. Bolster will take the audience through a millennium-long environmental history of our impact on one of the largest ecosystems in the world – the Altantic. Learn more about the book, and gain insight to the topic of his presentation, by taking a look at the short video found here
The presentation starts promptly at 7pm at Maritime Gloucester (23 Harbor Loop). The event is co-sponsored by The Booksore of Gloucester. Signed books will be available for purchase at the event.
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
Live Blogging Terry Weber Engagement At Giuseppes
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
2012 GMG Downtown Gloucester Holiday Gift Series Premier Imprints
The fourth year of the GMG Downtown Gloucester Holiday Gift Video Series where we walk up and down Main Street and try to capture as many retailers as we can and highlight their best gift ideas one a day every day leading up to Christmas.
Click for video with owner Patty Gates-
Click for other Videos In The 2012 GMG Downtown Gloucester Holiday Gift Series –
2012 GMG Downtown Gloucester Holiday Gift Series Lone Gull
2012 GMG Downtown Gloucester Holiday Gift Series Kids Unlimited
2012 GMG Downtown Gloucester Holiday Gift Series- Harbor Loop Gifts
2012 Downtown Gloucester Holiday Gift Series- Pleasant Street Tea and Coffee Co
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
Tuffy Originally Bought This Mining Light For Under The Covers
Now it doubles for early morning boat duty
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
The One Armed Cigarette Smoking Worker
I remember back in the late 80s when the dock was way busier with about 40 dayboats and many lobster boats that used to offload at the dock.
You have to imagine tens of thousands of pounds of fish all stacked up in totes and bushel baskets waiting to be sorted and packed for New York and Boston markets and trying to get it all done before the last trucks would leave Gloucester for the next day’s marketplace.
We had an employee that would smoke or pack lobsters one handed. There was about 6 of us working our asses off trying to get everything done and here’s this big guy handling a fish pick or lobsters one hand at a time.
The guy was twice my skinny size and I’d just look at him til I couldn’t take it any more. “You do realize you’re doing half the work as everyone else, right???? you’ve got two hands, use ‘em.”
Arghhhhh
This scene today at the dock reminded me of that guy back then.
Video-
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
Cat-Friend vs Dog-Friend
Jon Cahill writes-
Joey C.,
Thought you’d like this video my guys Jimmy and Justin did here at McDougall Interactive:
It’s gone viral, which is fun to watch….
I rarely click on stuff people send me but because it was Jon I did and I agree- definitely funny. Especially for cat and dog lovers.
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
Gloucester’s wind turbine being prepared to be lifted into place From Nubar Alexanian
Gloucester’s wind turbine being prepared to be lifted into place
Posted on November 30, 2012 by Nubar
check out the full sized photo at Nubar’s blog here
Each blade is 45 meters long. This is what it looks like before the cone is added and it’s lifted into place. Lost light before it could be lifted into place today.
The photo above is a small representation of the full size photo which you can view on Nubar’s site.
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
Go See Our EJ Today At The Manchester Athletic Club Holiday Fair. 9-1
The day has arrived!! Come get your holiday shopping done at Manchester Athletic Club holiday Fair. 9-1 TODAY!!!
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
Community Photos 12/30/12
Joey
a chilly run on Good Harbor for two friends.
I thought these red berries looked pretty against the blue and white sky.
Best-Janet
Full Moon Setting From Len Burgess
Nature served up this beautiful setting Moon for Breakfast this morning and scrambled in a couple of seagulls.
–Len Burgess
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
Community Stuff 12/01/12
Once again North Shore 104.9 and State Senator Bruce Tarr will hit the road collecting toys for children on the North Shore and broadcasting live all day. This year’s Holiday Toy Drive will take place on Thursday, December 13th from 6:00am to 6:00pm from ten locations on the North Shore. The live broadcast will feature local entertainment, school choirs and bands, great food, interviews with local officials and even Santa Claus will be on the road helping the cause. The Paper Store has partnered once again with Senator Tarr and North Shore 104.9 to present the 17th annual North Shore Holiday Toy Drive broadcast.
“People on the North Shore have powerful spirits of caring and giving, and our toy drive provides an opportunity to those spirits to translate into a real difference for kids in our area during the holidays. I’m honored to partner with North Shore 104.9 to help make that difference, and truly appreciate the station’s ongoing commitment to public service now and throughout the year” said Tarr. This toy drive will be his 17th since being elected into the Massachusetts Senate in 1994.
North Shore 104.9 President Todd Tanger stated, “We are thrilled to be a part of this wonderful event. The North Shore Holiday Toy Drive is such an exciting event that brings holiday joy to deserving children right here in the North Shore. We thank everyone for their overwhelming generosity and kind contributions, especially Bruce Tarr for his continued efforts and energy year after year. We appreciate listeners and clients allowing us to break from normal programming to broadcast this event and hope they help us bring some holiday joy to the lives of children on the North Shore this holiday season.”
The scheduled broadcast locations are as follows (times are subject to change):
6:00am Capitol Diner 431 Union Street, Lynn, MA
Toys being collected for: Toys for Tots- Coordinated by the Lynn English High School R.O.T.C.
7:30am Devereux House, Marblehead 39 Lafayette Street, Marblehead, MA
Toys being collected for: Making Ends Meet
8:15am The Paper Store, Swampscott 435 Paradise Road Swampscott, MA
Toys being collected for: Toys for Local Children (The Paper Store in Swampscott will only collect toys on December 13th.)
9:00am Flint Public Library, Middleton 1 South Main Street, Middleton, MA
Toys being collected for: Neighbors in Need
10:30am Dawson’s True Value Hardware 50 Enon Street, Beverly, MA
Toys being collected for: Beverly Bootstraps
12:00pm First Ipswich Bank 31 Market Street, Ipswich, MA
Toys being collected for: Action Inc./ Ipswich Caring
1:15pm Woodman’s of Essex 121 Main Street, Essex, MA
Toys being collected for: Action Inc.
2:00pm Manchester Athletic Club 8 Atwater Avenue, Manchester, MA
Toys being collected for: Pathways of Gloucester
3:30pm Tuck’s Candy 15 Main Street, Rockport, MA
Toys being collected for: Action Inc.
5:00pm Cape Ann Savings Bank 109 Main Street, Gloucester, MA
Toys being collected for: Action Inc.
New Event at the Gloucester Writers Center
When: 7:30 PM on Saturday, December 8. (12/08/12)
What: The Gloucester Writers Center presents the Poetry Salon series featuring author, poet, musician Damon Krukowski and award winning poet Darcie Dennigan.
Who: Damon Krukowski is the author of Afterimage (Ugly Duckling Presse), The Memory Theater Burned (Turtle Point), and 5000 Musical Terms (Burning Deck). He and his partner, Naomi Yang, run the press Exact Change, which specializes in writings associated with the historical avant-garde. The two are also musicians – performing currently as Damon & Naomi, formerly as 2/3rds of the indie rock band Galaxie 500. Krukowski lives in Cambridge, MA, and works at the Peabody Essex Museum.
Darcie Dennigan’s books are the poetry collections Corrinnna A-Maying the Apocalypse and Madame X, and a poem/play/joke chapbook, The Dept. of Ephebic Dreamery. Her work has received awards from the Poetry Society of America and Discovery/The Nation, and fellowships from the Breadloaf Writers Conference and RI State Council on the Arts. She lives in Providence, RI, and teaches at UConn, Brown Continuing Studies, and Holy Cross. She’s also the cofounder & codirector of Frequency Writers, a Providence-based community writing organization.
Where:
The Gloucester Writers Center is located in the late poet Vincent Ferrini’s historic home, at the Gloucester Writers Center at 126 East Main Street, East Gloucester, MA. The Center was founded to celebrate, preserve, and promote Gloucester’s rich literary legacy and to create space in the community for the voices of people of all ages and backgrounds to be heard through writing, dialogue, and the artistic process. Find out more about the Gloucester Writers Center at gloucesterwriters.org
Sawyer Free Library & Temple Ahavat Achim present the Gloucester Lyceum Author Series "Words Beyond Words: Behind the Page":
Anita Diamant, an award-winning author, has written four novels – three of them set in the past. Her most recent book, Day After Night, takes place in 1945, in the immediate aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust. It tells the stories of four young women who survived with very different stories to tell and meet in an internment camp in Palestine, where they begin to face the uncertain future.
Diamant will discuss the process of writing historical fiction and the theme of human resilience in the wake of unspeakable pain and loss.
Please join us on Thursday, December 13th at 7 pm at the Temple Ahavat Achim (86 Middle Street, Gloucester, MA)!
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
SAT, December 1, 6-8pm :Rocky Neck Winter Show Opening Reception
SAT, December 1, 6-8pm : Winter Show Opening Reception
Marie Sweeney and Tom Nihan, both Rocky Neck Art Colony members, organize art works to be hung for the Winter Show
(photo by Desi Smith, Gloucester Daily Times)
Rocky Neck Hosts Winter show in New Home
(excerpt from article by Gail McCarthy, as seen in the 11/29/12 Gloucester Daily Times)
This December marks the Rocky Neck Art Colony’s eighth annual Winter Show and Sale. But this is the first year colony members will host the show at their home.
The artists now have a year-round place to call their own — the Cultural Center at Rocky Neck on Wonson Street — and will host the show at this location this coming month, instead of at an empty storefront as had been the tradition in the past. More than 100 works, including jewelry and ceramics, by more than 58 artists will be featured.
The Winter Show, which runs from Dec. 1 to 23, will be open Thursday through Sunday each week from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The Rocky Neck Art Colony has four public receptions planned over the four-week run of the Winter Show:
- Opening Reception: Saturday, Dec. 1, from 6 to 8 p.m.
- High Tea Reception: Sunday, Dec. 9, from 2 to 4 p.m
- Happy Hour Reception: Saturday, Dec. 15, from 3 to 5 p.m.
- Winter Solstice Potluck Party: Friday, Dec. 21, from 7 to 10 p.m.
There is free parking on the Neck. Rocky Neck is a peninsula off East Main Street that extends out into Gloucester Harbor.
The Rocky Neck Cultural Center is at 6 Wonson Street in East Gloucester.
See more photos and read full story.
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
2012 GMG Downtown Gloucester Holiday Gift Series The Cave
The fourth year of the GMG Downtown Gloucester Holiday Gift Video Series where we walk up and down Main Street and try to capture as many retailers as we can and highlight their best gift ideas one a day every day leading up to Christmas.
Click for video with owner Laura Cramer-
The Cave Is Located at 44 Main Street for more info- www.thecavegloucester.com
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
First Harbor Lobster Pot Rope Wreath
Got mine thank you very much!
Get yours at the website-
Introducing the
New England Rope Wreath
Traditional nautical rope work with a touch of the Holidays. Proudly hand-crafted in New England with quality American-made materials. A tradition to enjoy for years to come.
"First Harbor" is the name of a small cove nestled between two picturesque islands off the shore of Marblehead, MA. Some of New England’s first fishermen and their families settled here, forging a reputation for independence and hard work that continues today. First Harbor Company is a family owned business that takes pride in this heritage. To ensure the highest quality possible, we produce all our hand-made products in Marblehead using nautical skills passed down through generations.
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
Wellspring House Holiday Store Is A Worthy Cause (Thanks Aaron Bourke for Submitting This)
Aaron Bourke writes in-
Hey Joey,
Hope this finds you well and happy.The other night my wife and I were discussing which local charity to support this Holiday season. We have decided to make Wellspring House our choice. They have this cool program set up to help families purchase gifts and necessities for their children. I would send you the link, but that is somewhat beyond my capabilities at this moment.
Perhaps you could post something about the program if you see it fit. We don’t have children, but the mere thought of one not having something to look forward to really struck us. I can’t imagine the pressure on a parent in need this time of year.
I think The Holiday Store is a GREAT IDEA!!!
Cheers, AB
Wow, thanks Aaron for bringing this to my attention. I had never heard of it before but it really is a worthy cause to donate to. Here are the deets for the Wellspring House website–
Wellspring’s 16th Annual Holiday Store
Saturday, December 8th and Sunday, December 9th
Hear about board member Trish Castraberti’s Holiday Store experience here in Trish’s letter.
Wellspring’s 16th Annual Holiday Store will joyfully open its doors once again this year. The operation of the Holiday Store relies strongly on the contributions of our generous and committed community of supporters. Last year the gifts we collected made it possible for Wellspring to serve more than 225 families and provide gifts for over 500 children. The needs are even greater this year and we aspire make the Christmas Holiday special for even more families.
Please consider brightening the holiday season for those in need by heading up a toy drive on behalf of the families that we serve!
Gifts must be dropped off at Wellspring House by Monday, December 3, 2012 from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Some suggestions……
Young Children:
- Young boys like trucks, Legos and Matchbox cars, dinosaurs, Disney characters and action hero figures. Superhero pajamas are also well-received.
- Young girls are always drawn to baby dolls and tea sets and toy kitchens. “Dress up” items are also fun. Barbie and Disney related toys are popular choices. Stuffed animals (particularly beanie babies and Webkinz) and hoola-hoops are also well-liked.
- Boys and girls both like Play-Doh, toy guitars and keyboards, Disney characters, jump-rope, sidewalk chalk and and Lincoln Logs.
Middle Age and Older Children:
- Boy of all ages tend to gravitate to sports items, whether it be equipment, games, sports shirts or other items. There are some reasonably priced tennis racquets and badminton sets at Target.
- Girls like make up, hair and nail accessories as well as clothing items like shirts, fashion scarves, purses and bags. “Make-your-own” jewelry/arts + crafts kits are enjoyed as well.
Winners For Everyone:
- Art supplies are always well-liked. These can range from crayons and markers to paint/pen sets, and even small canvases. A great resource for these kinds of gifts is A.C. Moore.
- Clothing is always appreciated. The best things to purchase are shoes and shirts as those are easiest to match in terms of fit.
- Books are welcomed and encouraged – we make sure that each child takes home a book from the Holiday Store.
- Boardgames are fun for the whole family. Games like Uno, Monopoly, Apples-to Apples, Clue, Twister make for great gifts.
Please note – all gifts should be new, unwrapped and non-violent.
Good Morning Gloucester 