Last night was the monthly Greendrinks gathering. In the past, we Greendrinkers have hob-nobbed it up at a business on the peninsula. But last night we went much further afield. Actually, I'm not even sure we were still in Portland.

All 110 of us hopped a charted boat and cruised out to Cow Island, home of Rippleffect. The night's festivities were co-sponsored by the organizers of the Kindle Bioneers conference coming to USM Portland in October. (The connection comes from Kindle organizer Ted Regan, who is one of the original founders of Rippleffect.)

The first order of business was to divide us up into five groups for a tour around the island. This turned out to be more difficult than you'd think. I took this shot right after the group leaders (in the center) proposed that we count off by five to split into groups. Boy, was that an unpopular suggestion! The reaction may have seemed a little odd, considering the fact that Greendrinks is a social networking group, but I think it had more to do with us urbanites finding ourselves on a very rustic island and not wanting to abandon the time honored code of the buddy system. (Motto: No friend left behind.)

Our group had the good fortune of being led by singer/songwriter Emilia Dahlin, who happens to be Rippleffect's Duchess of Discovery for Fort Lyon. (Note to self: I really need to get a better title!) Here she is showing off the new composting toilets.

And here are the older composting toilets. I admit I didn't try them out, but I heard that they were quite nice. The newer toilets have a solar array that powers a fan to ward off any smells.

Located next to Great Diamond Island and Long Island, the 26 acre Cow Island is the home of Fort Lyons, which was built in 1907. The hub of the island is located here, where the former officer barracks are being fixed up for re-use. Isn't it amazing what a little lime green paint, a string of Tibetan prayer flags and some potted plants can do for an abandoned building? This section of the island also features a brand new commercial kitchen. Other green highlights here include:

A rainwater collection system

A solar panel to power the kitchen and a few lights

And an artsy cobb oven

Rippleffect has plans for many of the old fort structures that are hidden across the island under the fast-growing bittersweet. Here's a little bunker which will someday be the Cow Island library. This inspired my friends Kate and Shannon to strike a proper bibliophile pose.

Our tour ended at an old watch tower with a stellar view. This shot shows Great Diamond Island and Peaks Island, in the distance.

After hiking across the island, we were ready for some Peak Organic beer, organic wine from Rosemont Market & Bakery and food donated by Flatbread, Amato's and Norm's.

Instead of our typical citified networking, we got to mingle under the wide open skies.

All too soon it was time to board the boat and head back to Portland. As you may be able to tell from my crazy grin, I've had a few glasses of wine at this point. It probably didn't help that the boat's liquor license rules forced me and a bunch of other people to chug our drinks dockside (good thing I took that course in college). Because everything was organic, I didn't wake up with a hangover this morning. Thanks Greendrinks for an organic good time!