Destination North Haven, Maine, was not immune to the flush of July 4th weekenders on Thursday jamming the lines at the Rockland Ferry Terminal that takes travelers to North Haven or Vinalhaven, the two very distinctive islands along the Fox Island Thoroughfare of Penobscot Bay.

That was my destination to spend time there for the next 10 days and fortunately the North Haven boat, which crosses the bay only 3 times a day (compared to Vinalhaven’s 6 crossings) is much less crowded for travelers and residents to the smaller island.

Setting up a house on an island has its idiosyncrasies, and it’s best not to make assumptions. The local store is fairly well stocked with groceries and food, with frequent deliveries from Beth’s Farm Market in Warren for berries and produce, or meats from Curtis Meats as well as the produce from the island’s Turner Farm. Though the shelves empty out fast by the weekend.

But if you want anything special, bring it. Though increasingly, the island has become much more self-sufficient with a wealth of home-grown crops. Local milk is available from Sparkplug Farm on Vinalhaven and sold at the market store, Calderwood Hall, whose great little shop has produce from the 300-acre saltwater Turner Farm on North Haven, breads from the Nebo Lodge bakers and lots of specialty items like imported olive oil, mustard, local meat, cheese and dairy.

Other island catches include the prized Island lamb from Doug Record’s Sheep Meadow Farm or a quart or two of Doreen Cabot’s duck-egg ice cream at the Foggy Meadows Farm, where sheep and goats are also raised for meat and dairy.

For dinner on Thursday night, we stopped into Calderwood Hall’s pizza emporium, a year-old restaurant and market, the little sister to Nebo Lodge and Turner Farm. It remains open year round and is run by the Pingree family, with Cicely Pingree overseeing the operation.

We had a Greek salad to start and appreciated all of the local ingredients that filled the bowl with cukes, lettuces and tomatoes as well as feta and olives. We ordered the evening’s pizza special, wild mushrooms with onions, cheese and tomato built upon a wonderfully good pizza dough that grew puffy and crusty in the pizza oven.

No need to pass up dessert to enjoy a homemade chocolate chip cookie filled with vanilla ice cream or the chocolate and peanut butter rice krispy Crispy square.

Twelve miles out to sea, North Haven, amazingly beautiful, can be—and is for me—an epicurean delight if you’re aim is to eat local to cook and dine delightfully on island provender. Next up is dinner at Nebo Lodge tonight and Saturday’s island wide July 4th beach bake at Mullins Head Big Beach with local fisherman steaming North Haven mussels for all to enjoy.