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Maine, Start Dreaming In Blue, Green.

Boats Floating Along The Maine Coast In The Lincolnville Beach Area.

Maine offers the natural setting folks bombarded with negativity, too much bad news need.

A steady diet of expensive city living coupled with non stop crime news, grid lock traffic makes you numb. It’s not healthy. It’s not like that in Maine.

But the reality is eight out of ten people live in a city, urban area. With all the development, all those wall to wall people, forget enjoying 2500 lakes and ponds. You find that in Maine, but it is sadly missing in population centers.

People need hope, faith and the despair, hectic and dangerous living in the bright lights, big city are not where you foster, find that.

Simple living demands one by one removal of the barriers that keep you from achieving it.

And to make sure nothing is added to your life no matter what age you find yourself at that will distract or threaten that simple by choice lifestyle.

This week I made the annual pilgrimage to the state Maine REALTOR convention. The venue this year in Rockland at the Samoset. The drive down US Rt 1 in early fall offers a part of Maine tied to the ocean. Fishing, lumber, farming and tourism are the big mainstays to the Maine economy.

Stopping to capture an image overlooking ocean water in Lincolnville Maine to share on this blog post made me appreciate living in Vacationland. Everything you need is in this state, so many areas to explore. So many neat folks to meet, share experiences with in Maine.

Thought I would swing in to Bangor Maine to sample a sandwich from Gambino’s on Hammond Street and asked for a Nightmare sub. The clerk smiled and said “you haven’t been here for awhile have you?” I told him at least once a year I do the same request but am remembering when the same eatery was Napoli Pizza and Sub. They called it a Nightmare and the clerk perked up. Said “oh you mean a Godfather, number 22”. That’s what they call it now, number 22 on the wall.

Learned a lot at the REALTOR seminar in Rockland Maine and networked with old friends in the same profession, industry. But glad to be home.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
207.532.6573
info@mooersrealty.com

October 7, 2011
Maine Hunting, Fishing, You Could Not Find A Better State.

Can’t A Maine Moose Take A Bath In Private? Geeesh!

With Maine 91 percent wooded, if you were a white tail deer, a black bear, moose, game bird wouldn’t you want to live here?

Maine wildlife talk, words gets around. Like people, animals compare notes on where to live. Maine woods are full of varied terrains in a state as big as Vacationland.

There are many pick up truck “heater hunters” that troll the thousands of miles of unorganized township roads in “T” this, “R” that. Still just as many in the group of Maine hunters who just like to get away to camp. To spend time in the woods, in a cabin with a privvy out back.

Maine hunters don’t wear orange all the time. Fisherman take off hats loaded with hand tied lures, bait at woods camp.

There are other things you do at deer, bear, moose in the Maine woods. Or when angling for fish. Casting fly fishing lines in to pools of brooks, streams, rivers in Maine. Maybe heading out on to the water of one of Maine’s many lakes, ponds.

The routine, past times at a Maine lake involve more than toting a rifle, bow and arrow, a fishing rod. To play cribbage. Deal out countless card games on rainy hunting or fishing days with the same annual returning group of sporting friends. To eat big spreads of home made food from home or whipped up by the culinary talented one in your hunting, fishing party. Twelve alarm chili, baked beans, venison. Time spent comparing notes on how each others family’s are doing in camp or in the outdoor.

Catching up on the life course of others in the Maine hunting, fishing party. How are the kids, the job, wife or girlfriend discussed. The new addition on the Maine, or out of state house. Questions about kids, cousins. And lots of remembering past Maine hunting, fishing trips to the same patch of woods being tramped again this year. This sporting season is familiar. A continuation of the last time you checked out of work and headed to the deep Maine woods. To your special place to hunt and fish in Maine.

Are there some in the Maine hunting fishing party who just come for the comradery, the fellowship, the vittles.

Bonding with a common interest in Maine hunting, fishing time at woods camp

. Or using the same Maine log cabin in the woods for snowsledding, ice fishing, variations on outdoor sports. Depending on the Maine four season under review.

Any excuse to head to Maine camp. To catch up and compare notes on how your life if going. How those you know, trust and play with in the Maine woods, on the waterways of Vacationland are doing. How the day to day back home, away from the one room Maine hunting, fishing camp with the built in home made bunks is going. Talked about with a crackling wood stove cranking out heat. Gas light.

Trips to retrieve wood or blow down trees you and the sporting buddies processed, chopped up, stacked. Treks to the outhouse privvy out back behind the Maine hunting, fishing camp with the last year’s exact week edition of Uncle Henry’s Sell Swap Trade Guide in it.

Maine has a very talented bunch in the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife group, the ME Wardens service to police, guide the hunting, fishing acticities, other sports. Moses offers Maine hunting fishing licenses are available any time day or night on line from the comfort of your home.

Maine, any excuse to spend more time in her vast outdoors, any season. Hunting and fishing in Maine are just a few of the many options you have in Vacationland.

I’m Maine Real Estate Broker Andrew Mooers, ME REALTOR
207.532.6573
info@mooersrealty.com
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September 27, 2011
Maine, Don’t Need To Join The Gym.

Maine, Full Of Wildlife, You See, Share The Woods With.

Walking, hiking, cross country and down hill swish swish with the skis, Maine is four seasons of recreation.

Maine is lots of never ending outdoor excercise. Exploring, working the land, in the woods. So the idea of joining a gym to get more excercise, any work out routine to get in shape always strikes me strange.

I spent the afternoon following the blazed property lines around a 166 acres of Maine land with a waterfalls in Moro Plantation, not far from Mt Katahdin, Baxter Park.

Five hours up and down, exploring the Maine woods, lay of the land, condition of the timber stand.

In places, the drop to one corner line was over 100 feet on the Maine woodlot.

Startled a couple game birds, saw signs of Maine deer and moose. Enjoyed a water falls of a river. And thought how lucky I am to live in Maine. Stumbled on to a Maine moose pictured above. Don’t need a stairmaster, treadmill. The scenery in the woods, on the Maine river is way way more exciting than the four walls of the inside a gym.

Working the land, splitting heating wood, Maine is an excercise routine. A lifestyle where you don’t hire it out, you do it yourself. It is secondary gain in everything we do. Joy in getting the job done right. Yourself.

The work is done complete with the satisfaction from the effort that’s our own.

Hiring out in Maine is not the norm. Being a jack of all trades is. Just the way it works in Vacationland.

Self sufficient, being capable and developing new skills is what survival in a rural state like Maine is all about. Being empowered, hands on, on the front lines. Maine, is it like that where you live now?

Here in Maine it is not about the money.

Living in Maine is about the experiences. White water rafting the Penobscot, Dead, Kennebec Rivers. Down hill skiing Sugarloaf, Sunday River, other smaller snow covered mountains. Maine, get here quick as you can.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
207.532.6573
info@mooersrealty.com

September 25, 2011
Maine Is Farming, Wood Harvesting, Fishing, Tourism.

Working Hard To Help The Area Maine Potato Farmer During Fall Harvest.

A rural state like Maine has four regularly played face cards that keep Vacationland industrious, humming.

The basics… raising food, harvesting timber in our 91 percent wooded lands, fishing off the sea coast and promoting our four season recreational tourism options.

This time of year getting up before 5AM has been a ritural for the Northern Maine potato harvest. All the planting, cultivating and hoeing, and now harvest of the golden spuds to get them in to winter storage happens in Aroostook County. My four children all took part in the harvest operations and learned much from the experience in the fields, in the potato house and on the harvesters. Manual labor, hard work, aware of the outdoors, the weather changes. Living off grid, raising your own Maine food, being self sufficient is a lifestyle for many too.

A bulk body truck filled to the brim with new, freshly dug Maine potatoes squeaks by me in my real job as a real estate broker.

I wonder who’s truck that is, which farming operation it is hauling from field to storage facility.

The older farm trucks with less than 7000 miles on them even though they are 1972 and earlier. Because they only get used for three weeks of the year. Only go a few miles in each direction from the machine shed to the fields, to the potato house and back small triangle.

I grew up on a Northern Maine potato farm and remember my Mom counting tickets. The supper dishes cleared, newspapers put down on the kitchen table to tally up the dusty cans of tickets representing the number of the picker. And how well they did today on their field sections in the four baskets to a barrel operation.

When you work the Northern Maine potato harvest as a child on up, this time of year feels special. Like returning to a familiar place and knowing the area Maine potato farmer needs your help.

It makes kids responsible, feel part of the harvest where area schools go in early, then recess to help the farmer harvest the latest Maine potato crop.

The same ritual, outdoor experience happens as other Maine crops like blueberries get raked, harvested. Or apples picked right on time when the annual season rolls around again like clock work.

Come north to see a Maine potato farm operation, visit the Southern Aroostook Agricultural Museum on Rt 1 in Littleton ME. The spud harvest is part of the Maine heritage that makes the state great. That creates, shapes the work ethic Mainers are known for as they join, then excel through the ranks of the employed inside, outside Vacationland. Maine, thirsty, hungry for more? Get here quick as you can.

I’m Maine Real Estate Broker Andrew Mooers
207.532.6573
info@mooersrealty.com

September 21, 2011
Maine Backyards Get Used, Not Neglected.

Small Maine Towns Are Big Hearted, The Local Volunteers Make Them Special.

Outdoor living in Maine means back yards are not just for show and get used, enjoyed.

This weekend an apple cider press was working hard to create some liquid nectar. Oldest son Alex borrowed the press from a friend’s mom who said it was left at their home when they puchased it.

Over the years this apple cider press has been put in to action to raise money for worthy local causes. And for just pure refreshment with home grown, healthy local fruit free for the picking. Lots of apples from trees planted by Alex’s grandparents were part of the press ingredients. But a neighbor’s tree behind our home got in on the act too.

Filling the apple press hopper and grinding the apples in to mash first, then pressing to squeeze the juice means many hands make light work. Talking while you are working. And right on schedule, making apple cider pressing part of an early fall ritual.

Living in Maine means being outdoors all four seasons.

Enjoying the bounty, the harvest of fruits, local vegetables we raise in gardens, on local Maine farms.

The food, beverages you enjoy, do you know where they come from? What is in the substances you munch on, sip? We do in Maine.

Maine is a local food basket of nutritious food stuffs. It is easy to forget how lucky we are to be able to eat out of our productive gardens. To tap in to pantries of canned, preserved food that were created with our own hands, as families all contributing to the operation.

Food, it is pretty addictive.

About three times a day at least, we all need fuel for the body.

Do you raise your own and enjoy knowing it is all natural, all local? This time of year as Maine potato farmers kick in to harvest mode, the winter’s supply of spuds is only a field away. Harvesters cover a lot of potato ground, but leave many golden spuds in the field free for gleaning.

Potato field foraging is part of the a fall habit in Maine. And when you have three barrels of potatoes stored in a cooler root cellar setting, those spuds help out the family food budget. Plus you know where they came from, what you are eating, who grew it for you.

Simple living, back to basics. Do you hear Maine calling your name? It starts out in a whisper and then cranks louder to get your attention of what is missing where you live now in the city, urban areas.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
207.532.6573
info@mooersrealty.com

September 19, 2011
Maine Blueberries, Harder Harvesting Than Potatoes.

Maine Blueberry Raking, More Lucreative For Work Than Picking Potatoes.

Anyone in Vacationland that has picked Maine potatoes knows the value of a fall harvest dollar.

Everything they buy with the hard earned money is equated with how many barrels it took to purchase it. And if the scales of effort “in” to product or service “out” is not even steven, the purchase is not made. No exchange of dead Presidents is made.

I watched six kids all pick Maine potatoes and no, it was not child abuse, signs of a “snap the whip” cruel parenting style.

It was a valuable experience to make a crystal clear illustration of what entry level, manual labor feels like. In full, memorable living color. Providing work ethic, “in the field” so to speak lessons that last a lifetime.

Aroostook County potato harvesting jobs happen in the fall in Maine.

But what about bragging rights between a Mainer from another part of the state, say Downeast in Washington or Hancock Counties if they claim blueberry raking is harder?

Here’s what I found out.

Have oldest son Alexander who can speak from both migrant worker field camps on the subject of Maine potatoes picking and blueberry raking. Last month he took three weeks, same length as the Maine potato harvest to head to Centerville camps near Cherryfield Maine, Downeast. To stay in a cabin, rake blueberries for Northeast Blueberry, owned by the Passamaquoddy Tribe who sells to Wyman, one big Maine distributor of the purple blue fruit.

In Maine, Aroostook County potato picking, the compensation of sixty cents is four baskets that equal a 165 pound barrel.

In Maine blueberry raking, you are paid $2.50 a box.

A good blueberry raker who is on his feet all day, not able to drop to his knees and drag the potato basket along, can fill 100 boxes. An amazing, all conditions perfect black belt Maine blueberry raker can fill 200 boxes between sunrise, sundown.

The Maine blueberry barrens are an every other year option. Burned, start fresh process. Maine potatoes are an every other year operation too as crop rotation with a grain, cover crop needs to happen. To give the ground a break, rest.

It is hotter harvesting Maine blueberries as the season happens before potatoes, before apple picking in another venue. Alex said you make lines with strings to create blueberry lanes. Like potato picking, there is a temptation to reach over, comb the rake when the blueberries are extra heavy, saturated and dense the other side of that string.

Anyone that has made a Maine potato field section, marked off picking from here, to here whenever the digger squeaks by knows the markers have legs.

Lazy pickers next door, on the next potato section tend to move the marker, usually a potato barrel or a water jug, dinner bucket, shed sweatshirt layer toward the center of their section.

On both ends.

Or the section marker can mysteriously move toward you if they are ambitious, took too small a section or suddenly are picking hard for something they saw showcased in the Sears Christmas catalog that comes out right about potato harvest time. When Northern Maine schools are out for the harvest break to help area spud growers.

The verdict is in. Alex says from experience he would say Maine bluberry raking is harder than Maine potato harvest work, but more lucrative.

It helps if you get between say two Hondurans blueberry rakers that are skilled and NASCAR fast, not missing a beat, wasting a step.

He said you can “draft” and move right along, getting caught in the blueberry raking draft for more boxes per hour.

Seeing another part of Maine that is a pretty big state, while working to make a living after graduation from college. And before heading out to Colorado for a job waiting at a ski area is his plan for this winter. Watch a Maine potato picking harvest video.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
207.532.6573
info@mooersrealty.com

September 15, 2011