In 1999, artist Jamie Wyeth painted a portrait of a young Monhegan boy standing in front of a sign that said "Kyle's Dead Cat Museum." Wearing a cape and beckoning tourists to see mummified cats, Kyle Murdoch had an entrepreneurial spirit (albeit a slightly macabre one) from an early age. Now 23, Murdoch has left the dead cat market and the cape behind but kept his enthusiasm for interesting business ventures.

The Yankee Crafty B*tch teaches you how to spruce up that old New England bureau in need of some love.

Martha Stewart lives a dream Maine life and isn't shy about sharing it with her millions of fans. From her sixty-acre property, Skylands, that overlooks Seal Harbor on Mount Desert Island, Stewart has been blogging extensively about her Maine adventures in the last few weeks. If you want to experience Martha's Maine (and who doesn't?) you can live vicariously through her as she....

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!