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“As Is Where Is And If It Is To Be It Is Up To Me

“As is, where is” and if it is to be it is up to me.

Your approach to day to simple living in Maine is different in rural parts of the Pine Tree state. When you are raised working hard for what you have and respecting other people’s personal property too. Life becomes crystal clear.

Using What You Have That’s More Than Enough In Small Town Maine Living.

Your appreciation for what you have and what is really important in life starts early in small town Maine.

Independence, a skill set to not just survive life but to glean lots of enjoyment from it means hands on training. Shaping the right attitude and take away from life events now playing around you. How dependent are you on others? Even say replacing the inside toilet valve with a new one when even jiggling the handle won’t stop the run run run of supply water to the tank.

Or shingling the garage or porch roof when it needs it before it leaks. You climb the ladder, strip the shingles to prepare the roof for a new protective layer. The lawn work is done by members of the family not hired out each week. Our exercise is win win because it’s not at a gym on a tread mill boring. There are line items on the chore list accomplished at the same time. But saving money that maybe you just don’t have… That does not stop you from tackling a DIY project like the low cost Maine home for sale with 4 acres of land below.

The video for that one to sneak a peek and check out for $27,500 if you are ambitious and full of fire in your belly to bring it back to life.

Do you know how or can you round up friends who exchange the bartering help to perform the task?

Or are you highly trained in one discipline and pretty much helpless in all the rest so you have to stop everything. And wait, and wait some more for a someone hired to do the simplest of jobs?

Survival Skills Living Up In Small Town Rural Maine. Locals Have A Larger Skill Set. And A Better Approach Daily Attitude To What Life Brings Their Way.

I grew up on a small Maine family farm and all the household members pitched in and had important roles.

Working together to perform tasks also meant more time for conversations to learn about the family. To have the older family members teach the younger ones what they learned to save time and do tasks correctly around the four farm seasons.

Had a fellow from the Windham Maine area come into the real estate office lobby this past week.

He shared with me how he learned to sheet rock. He was young, a teenager and his uncle was low to the ground short but tall in reputation for hanging sheet rock. This uncle known for his expertise at applying just the right amount of joint compound mud after lift after life of sheet rock was skillfully put into place. With just a couple men in the crew, an entire single family Maine home was sheet rocked in a day.

Moving on like gypsies to do it again and again as the work week progressed in southern Maine hanging sheet rock to prepare the place for the first home owner.

Living In A Small Maine Town Like Say Patten ME. Kids Learn Skills, To Pitch In And Everything Not Handed To Them.

How did you learn when starting out green I asked this jack of all trades seasoned Maine carpenter?

Quickly was his answer. It was like sink or swim or no time to fuss or coddle. What does coddle mean? The word definition …

Coddle is an old word. Originally, it meant to cook gently in water that is near boiling, as in coddling an egg. It most likely gained its association with pampering and taking care of someone via a drink made for invalids that was prepared by coddling. “Mollycoddle,” a synonym for coddle, originally meant a person who coddles himself, or an effeminate man.

This fellow says his uncle had no doubt whatsoever that the nephew was going to be a quick study and a true asset to the sheet rock hanging crew. There was little time for pampering or “there there counseling” in the early on trial and error A – A indoctrination. To develop valuable skills in how best to hang to tape to mud and sand sheet rock placed on the walls and ceilings of his uncle’s job assignments.

Big State, Small Town Values, That’s Maine’s Approach To Simple Living.

Knowing that confidence comes from within not outside forces.

As you yourself figure out if it is to be, it is up to me approach that works best. The nephew says he watched the hanging, the finishing process in action all around him. As he lifted on one end of the sheet rock board to deliver it room by room to where needed.

Seeing, listening and watching any task performed in action is lots better than just reading about it. Before the first day on the job was done, the uncle moved the nephew into the closet. No no, not for punishment or attitude adjustment for misdeeds like a time out corner after a melt down occurs.

Why moved to the home under construction closet?

To sheet rock where it shows the least behind all the clothes and in the darker regions of the house. To begin the building confidence and developing the skills that would stick with him for life. Then after the six or so closets in a typical 5-3-1 ranch style home, to move on out into the ceiling and wall work through out the house.

Outdoor Simple Living In Maine. Is Lack Of Space And Too Many People Sapping Your Quality Of Life?

Too much attention and too few boundaries back when a child is being raised. Spoiling a child does not just mean giving them everything and the Sun without working for a thing. The approach behind the eyes and between the ears in simple living rural Maine is to be grateful for what you have that you worked hard to obtain.

As a child growing up in a small Maine community, you know in the family you are loved conditionally but that life comes with rules.

It is not all about you. You have to pitch in. It’s about others. You don’t want to be known as lazy or self centered.

Being tough skinned but tender hearted helps not to take things personal. And instead of any delay looking around for someone to wait on you or for help or coddling, a Maine youngstercan quickly moves forward. No fuss, more get the job done and do a good it like you were taught. The self satisfaction feeling just opens the door to learn more if a parent will not deprive the child of chores and the skills needed to do them.

You Hear What Time It Is In Small Maine Towns. The Circles Are Smaller, The Connections Tighter Around You.

Feeling good about yourself starts way back in childhood and avoiding over indulgence. Meg and I had the privilege of taking care of a two year old granddaughter last night. I am proud of the parents who are teaching this hair of gold one of three grandchildren to be responsible. To gently remind her to pick up toys when play is done, that the household has structure and routines without being militant about it. They practice what they preach in a playful but firm consistent way.

Please and thank go a long way in creating an atmosphere of healthy appreciation in a household.

Instant gratification does not mirror real life either. And sticking with it, you can do it encouragement helps the child clear the life hurdles with too much parental intervention.

Fast forward to buying a Maine home and the buyers and sellers I deal with today.

It is no secret the Maine real estate market listing inventory is selling faster than the supply replenishes. There are shortages of all types of real estate categories and bidding wars are not uncommon.

Home Grown, Local Everything DIY In The Small Maine Town Living Approach. The Quality Of Life Is Pot Lunch Rich And Satisfying.

To win the bid to get the price, the house or land or lakefront property in Maine.

The buyer must put on their big girl and big boy pants if they hope to be selected by a Maine real estate seller. In this hot seller’s market, the property owner does not have to agree to much other than conveying with a clear title.

The last Maine REALTOR’s state convention before the COVID pandemic arrived, legal beagle Linda Gifford who shepherded our group for many decades told the large room at Sunday River in Newry she had to counsel her own kids. On just how to approach buying or selling a home in Maine.

Her kids were making an offer on a property and loading up the wish list of what they expected the seller to do in their contract property pitch. Linda reminded them think like a seller. Would you accept a heavily loaded up Christmas tree list of pork barrel purchase and sale agreement items if presented that way?

Living On A Maine Lake, Who Wouldn’t Want To Experience That Maine Waterfront Real Estate Setting?

To win the bid and expect success negotiation the real estate sale. Up the size of the deposit, do the top to bottom inspection rounding up your family members you trust in the trades to know what you are buying without the home inspection contingency. Keep it simple, even pay over the listed price “as is where is” and roll up your sleeves. To ‘if it is to be, it is up to me” thinking on your approach to buying a house, anything in life. To make your offer stand out from all the rest and to help the seller in the pick me, pick me please.

Expect more from yourself, less from others and you won’t be disappointed.

Pull the focus off the outside World by working instead to a shift from within. As Dale Carnegie reminds “it isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what are doing that makes your happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.

Lake House Of Glass In Maine. Listed, On The Maine Real Estate Market A Matter Of Days. Watch The Listing Video.

No place for “stinking thinking” especially during this time of high school and college graduations as a new crop of students enter the workforce.

I think growing up in small town Maine really prepares an individual for the wild blue yonder. Life skills come from experiences and being taught how to do it yourself with confidence. Never giving up but being patient and realistic is just common sense right?

As is, where is and if it is to be it is up to me approach to each new day. Hope you have a great week Me In Maine blog post readers.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

May 23, 2021
Maine Small Towns Are Really Just Big Families

Maine small towns are really just big families.

You know the feeling when you crowd into a large, noisy expensive restaurant. Now, compare that experience with what happens when just a few people dine around you. The mom and pop owners go out of their way with home cooked food and personal service.

Maine Small Towns, More Like One Big Family Then Just A Community.

Their Maine small town establishment with the owner in the store is not a franchise outlet like all the rest across the land.

No no, one of a kind and personal, intimate, connected, genuine. No cheesy smiles or poor attempts to act like they were born to serve you. Plus you don’t have to sell a duplicate organ to pay the tab. You don’t just darken the eateries door when it’s your wedding anniversary or birthday celebration. You also leave full and content. Not thinking of hitting a drive through restaurant on the way home. Or peering into the refrigerator to track down a snack. Because your stomach feels short changed from tiny portions and high prices that made your skip considering anything from the dine out dessert menu.

Sharing The Bounty And Feeling Grateful For Where You Live In Maine.

The Maine small town business owner lives where you do and knows your struggles.

Shares the same goals for their small well knit Maine community. The circles we travel in small Maine towns are smaller and bumping into each other happens a lot. During the week you and the owners who put in long hours for lower pay are ready to serve. Their reward is the appreciation they feel by your continued patronage. The time and money they put into outside the business that benefits the entire community. In all the local productions of any type, it takes the village to pull them off. You don’t pay to just attend an event. Usually you have a hand working behind the scenes at whatever is going on in your Maine small town.

Small Maine Town Productions, Everyone Pitches In With Talent To Stretch The Budget.

Maine small towns, where everything done is not paid for with green currency.

Often you don’t know who dropped off the extra garden vegetables. Or the hot out of the oven fruit pie that someone knows just happens to be your favorite flavor. The local Amish settlement in Smyrna Maine makes Thursday “Community Day’. Each week, you leave your farmstead and band together at someone else’s spread. To get their barn raised, the leaking house roof shingled, their crop harvested, whatever is needed. You return the favor the next Thursday when someone else in the community gets a visit where many hands make light work.

“Rotary Auction, What Item You Looking At, To Bid On Tonight?”

When you live in a Maine small town, everyone bands together.

Sure, something that happens years ago might have ruffle your feathers. But the eye is on the bigger prize of what happens when we all work together. Because it won’t get done unless everyone steps up to do their part. The big thing is all of us are works in progress. No one is perfect and we all have flaws and lifelong struggles that shape and define us. Attack the problem, the need and not the person is discussed around the family dinner table at meal time.

Your Local Small Towns People, Family And Friends In The Local 4th Of July Celebration Parades.

In Maine small towns you really get to know the community members working on area projects of all kinds.

Everyone invests time, money, creative energy because of their fierce love of their community. When you hear at the corner convenience store picking up a pizza that one of your community members is in the hospital, what to do to show you care and to help out today. That’s what gets kicked into action as if a community air raid siren sounds and you kick into gear. Your neighbor down the road plows out the in need’s winter driveway and shovels the walk way and steps without being asked.

Barns In Maine, Some Store Bought From Sears And Roebuck. Others Hand Hewn Post And Beam Created On Site. With Help From Your Neighbors To Put Them Up And Keep Them Sturdy.

Others join in to share the same task to give you a break after a few days when a long illness or recovery is underway.

Everyone is busy but not too busy to extend a hand and show they care. Chances are they know the feeling of the ground swell of generosity personally or witnessed it extended to a family member or neighbor. All the small rural Maine community members think hard about what’s needed to create the slack for your small town member who is struggling. A benefit supper is organized to raise much needed funds.

Covered dishes are delivered like clockwork to free up the meal time planning. Because calls to doctors, setting up appointments and working the logistics of how to get the kids to school while away all needs to be coordinated. You don’t feel alone and everyone is needed in a Maine small town. We all treasure the natural beauty and unspoiled land and water in this place called Maine.

Preserving History, Protecting Maine Small Town Country Living Makes The Local Connection Strong.

The Maine small town community member probably is related to you somehow.

None of us wants to be a burden on others or put them out or ask for help. But when you and your family are on the receiving end of the much needed aid, you never forget the feeling that my Maine small town cares about me So step up and do your part for others when it is your turn to do a good deed or two. Less people makes the connection stronger in under populated Maine. You and others in the small Maine community attended most of the same weddings, funerals, graduation, church services or community events in some capacity. You vote together at the rec center, cheer for the same home team up in the bleachers.

The Watson Settlement Covered Bridge Spans The Meduxnekeag River In Littleton Maine

A church member or neighbor brings you breakfast and a sympathetic ear while you convalescence from surgery or to heal from a loss.

Three community members had a hand in creating a lap robe quilt so you won’t be chilly until you gain the strength to get up and move around like your old self. Someone from the local fish and game or snowmobile club stops in to see if you need anything or helps bank your house or to finish cutting, splitting, getting your winter wood in to the shed or basement. They quickly swing in and mow your lawn, pick up a prescription or deliver the local newspaper, a quart of milk and whatever you ran out of today.

The target of the attention squirms from the hubbub fuss. Feels there must be someone else more deserving and is just not used to being a recipient of the communal help when they need it most.

But stay tuned. They will be up and at ’em before you know it. Back on the chain gang to assist others which is the comfort of having a chance for pay back. Turn, turn, turn, it all comes around full circle.

Eating Outdoors, Not Jammed Between Four Walls Inside. Maine Is Outdoor Dining, Exploring, Everything.

You never feel alone in Maine small towns.

Too much to do and for years you have been part of the events that happen in your community. Many tasks handed down from other older family members who can not longer do them. Playing in the community band, helping decorate a float for a 4th of July parade entry. Raising money for project graduation by cash or food item donations of say home made pan of scotcheroo squares or a big pot of baked beans or loaf of just made bread. Everyone has a trademark talent.

Maybe it’s making cribbage boards out of local wood. The donator’s ability to weld and braze a specially designed trailer for say the local soap box derby race. Or to create a routered sign, to get your car running. Maybe talented at sewing a play or dance costume or knitting a pair of wool mittens.

Outdoors, Year Round. That’s Maine Four Seasons Simple Living.

When you see Maine small town members industriously pouring lots of effort into a task, there is no way to stay on the sidelines.

Pitching in and volunteering is a big part of the Maine small town experience. Planting and tending a vegetable garden way bigger than you need so you can share Nature’s bounty. Delivering extra eggs from hens to those who need them most. It is a take what you need and pass on the rest approach to everyday living in rural Maine. Easy does it. Tread lightly, respect and give what you are entrusted with to the next community or family member in as good or hopefully better condition. Think good thoughts and avoid stinking thinking as my Mom called it that does no good for anyone in a Maine small town living experience.

Living Off The Land, Simple Living In Maine. Our Population Is Low And Scattered. The Community Spirit Tight And Well Connected.

You don’t just live in a Maine small town, you are really a part of the big family of residents who create the community experience.

Everyone likes a helper, when they see you take on a duty that benefits the town without wanting any recognition. Advice for anyone moving to a Maine small town? Pitch in, work hard and help out to share skill set and your special talents. Since COVID gripped the globe, folks in crowded impersonal city population centers intensified the search for their plan “B”. Putting a lot of thought into where would I move and relocate to if the pressure becomes too much. For when quality of life is missed and it’s time for a new address like “up in Maine”.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

May 12, 2021
Real Estate Market In Maine

Real estate market in Maine.

Since COVID came into our day to day living, what’s happening post pandemic in the Maine real estate market? Like most news reports about a hot topic, what you read and hear does not always tell the whole story. Hard to sum up in a few words or learn much from a quick headline or clever sound bite. And the news article from a half a year ago or more deserves a return feature update to be current and factual information.

More Wildlife Than People. Lots Of Space To Be Naturally Socially Distant During COVID And Beyond In Maine.

Let’s face it. Buying and selling real estate in Maine is big deal in any market. It’s the largest single investment most of us ever make, real estate. The buying and selling of Maine real estate is affected by supply and demand, the local economy where the property listings are located. And the push from out of state real estate buyers to buy a piece of Maine when COVID locked down city living.

This blog post takes a snapshot look at the real estate market in Maine post COVID pandemic.

Just how buyers and sellers are adapting to the COVID pandemic, and how does the Maine real estate property listings come in to play. To begin with, the small town local Mainers approach to day to day living is loaded with common sense and practicality. Early on in life, our children are taught valuable skills on just how to make and manage their own money. Saving for dips in the road and those rainy days means to expect setbacks and delays. So we never go that far out on the limb and saw it off without a lot of thought before hand.

For Many, The Real Estate In Maine Search Starts With Land. Just Land.

Mainers are used to economizing and have pretty good impulse control on the spending. Taught early on to work hard, take care of whatever is purchased and don’t spend money like a fish drinks water. A simple approach to living with emphasis on not living in excess and more independent, self sufficient and a solid piece of the local small town fabric.

In January of 2020, the state off Maine had a total house listing inventory of slightly over 13,000 units.

This past January 2021 the supply number was not much over 3,000 units. As kids, we all played musical chairs and know what happens when where to sit in a hurry is at a premium.

Other than a handful of cities, Maine’s vast number of small town communities had an ample supply of affordable housing before COVID hit. The absorption rate of that low cost Maine housing supply is causing bidding wars. I recently sold a modest country Maine log home with nine real estate contracts of sale. The seller took her pick and ended up with $20,600 more than the listed price of $64,500. Lose out a number of times bidding until it hurt when you need a Maine home causes stress.

Maine Looks Pretty Affordable, The Simple Life Style Approach Highly Attractive.

The buyers can be demanding, edgy and expecting quick easy real estate closings.

When the local Maine bank mortgage lenders and lawyers doing the title work are pushed to the max like a MASH unit field hospital, a line for services grows longer. Take a number, have a seat.

A cash buyer able to close quickly trumps the home buyer bogged down by the bank loan process.

Cash is still king. And as real estate in Maine inventory shrinks and nine months supply becomes three and dropping, desperation sets in.

The Maine home is affordably priced but needs a new heating system, exterior paint, a new roof to replace the one now leaking. But banks selling the mortgage paper to secondary market investors do not want to finance homes with large job jars attached.

The deficiencies to a place are why the property is in the low price bracket it is.

The buyer who wants to take his time fixing a place up is sadden to learn lending on no or low down program picky loan programs don’t work that way. Repairs, a visit from the real estate appraiser to make sure the loose ends are tied up take money and time for the corrections. All needed before a real estate closing can take place.

Home sellers in Maine don’t have to wait and many other buyers are in the wings flush with cash to take over where a bogged down bank mortgage home buyer leaves off when no more contract extensions is announced.

In the real estate market pre-COVID pandemic, many Maine property buyers with just enough money for the down payment and closing costs are stuck.

They looked to the seller to help out and save the day but in today’s real estate market in Maine boom, the property owner does not have to for tickets to a closing. So many buyers leaving expensive city living loaded with money, many with cash and ready, willing and able to close on cheaper Maine homes.

It makes it hard for local home buyers with meager savings to buy the house they can afford that is not up to par to pass muster with bank lending mortgage underwriting standards. Some are lucky to have support but many lack parents to help the offspring obtain their own nest competing with COVID caused migration into Maine from outside cash buyers.

Maine Farms Are Bought By Many During The COVID Pandemic Move To Vacationland. Where Your Family’s Food Comes From Is Very Important Right?

Just go out and build if you can not find an existing Maine house for sale to call home you say?

Well, whoa, hold up and hot so fast. At the same time that existing affordable housing supply inventory is hammered hard post COVID pandemic, the cost of construction materials to build your home Maine home spiked thirty percent and higher. Plus try to get a carpenter, plumber, electrician and the guys and gals pushing the Earth moving machine levers to create a building site with all the amenities. Those tradesmen are all right out straight and it never let up like it typically does over a Maine winter lull to catch your breath thanks to the post COVID real estate market in Maine.

The Maine real estate market before the COVID headlines started was already a healthy, robust one.

The virus just threw the conveyor belt into warp factor five speeds. Like someone hit the nitrous blue button in the center console of a fast and furious car movie. Bidding wars, like the multiple offer situation shared above is very common. They used to only happen around Maine waterfront properties that are never in large enough supply. The real estate market in Maine is always anemic in the number of listings bordered by water. But that same faster than most buyers need for time to buy a new to the market home listing is just not there.

The new listing appearing for sale this morning is gone by sunset.

Off market and waiting for a closing, wearing a sale pending, under contract sign rider.

Farming Yesteryear Style! Staying Small On Your Patch Of Maine Farm Dirt. I Have Two Farmalls And Red Tractors Are A Weakness Using Them Growing Up.

Low interest rates, the affordable housing in Maine combined with our simple outdoor approach to four seasons living.

It is not hard in a rural state as vast and unspoiled as Maine to keep your six feet apart CDC directive. The COVID numbers are low, the Maine population is way ahead in vaccine inoculation compared to our Canadian cousins across the International border. In Maine, we already were socially distant and love the peace and quiet of space out on the water paddling a kayak. Biking a trail at Acadia or hiking on on Mount Katahdin. All that was found in real estate online Internet searches about how lucky we are to live in Maine. Maine, the way life should be right? If you are going to be stuck in a state during COVID, Maine is pretty hard to beat for no or low cost outdoor recreation.

Folks already working from home remotely thanks to the COVID pandemic restrictions in a city saw a chance to make a run for it.

But where? Hey, I heard good things about Maine. Liked it on vacation and why not Maine? Cash in and sell for big dollars whatever you own in a hot urban high priced real estate market. And then take your same online job to Maine to telecommute and buy a property outright for cash to avoid the strings attached and time delay caused by a home mortgage. That is what I see happening over and over in current Maine real estate market sales scenarios post COVID pandemic. Many in the audience are retiring early, opting to take the watch and the golden parachute benefits package to high tail head to Maine. Police offices in groves are retiring as early as possible or looking for safer places to protect and serve.

Where You Buy Real Estate In Maine, Expect A Wide Price Fluctuation. Head North, Further Inland Away From Population For Lower Cost Maine Real Estate.

Maine already had a pretty good reputation for vacations, for raising a family in wholesome fashion and where the village has a hand shaping the individuals in a good way.

No one spoiled, everyone pitches in for the common good and has a vital role living in small town Maine. There is a good work ethic and favorable discrimination when someone from Maine gets picked over someone that is not in a job interview. Our connection is stronger, people travel smaller circles and get to know each other deeplyin small Maine towns. The telecomute to Maine with your online job means keep pushing that last mile of Internet.

Populations of small Maine towns will increase if a job you already had out of state can follow you to your new small town community.

The new home buyer likes the sounds of 4th lowest for crime, no gangs, no violence or crowded highways in this northern most New England state of Maine. Less restrictive living and lower cost real estate in Maine are all in the mix to where to move.

But what happens if the supply of affordable Maine homes dwindles, if the cost to build new ones to sell with reasonable price tags can’t happen due to high priced building materials?

Enter the new generation hybrid homesteaders. The micro farmer and folks that used to have one primary job skill and hired everything out beyond that. They are being forced out of their comfort zone in society. If you own everything around you, life is not so scary. The passion, if what excites you is no cost, not a latest model gadget that soon is outdated and loses its artificial luster. When being outdoors in Maine is possible without the long drive over the big green bridge. Control of your finances, empowered to be more hands on and involved in your day to day destiny. Neighbors helping each other, bartering skills takes place on a regular basis. Money is not so important or valuable when removed from the daily living up here in rural Maine.

Skiing, Outdoor Fun Is Low Cost Like The Real Estate In Maine.

Small town living in Maine makes a person feel worthwhile and a part of the community because they truly are.

Those people and all their individual talents and willingness to pitch in to improve the area are the community. Not the empty buildings on Main Street or the map rows of streets and road. The community needs people who want to be here. Especially after living in a high cost city landscape. Those folks appreciate Maine even more than a local who has lived here most or all their life. Many out of state home buyers are from Maine but left for higher paying job opportunities. COVID just sharpened the focus of everyone that did the soul searching. Asking the question of where am I best off living? Maine?

Even though there is a say Connecticut blue vehicle plate, this Maine real estate broker often learns this is a native returning home.

And they always intended to when they left but some returning to help elderly parents early. Or because of COVID or to just retire early because the Maine economy is much cheaper to stretch the fixed income.

For Maine real estate buyers it starts with find a piece of land for low cost camping vacations and then in time, much more.

Hard work but self inflicted by choice to reduce, reuse, make a smaller carbon footprint up in Maine. Winter can be sobering. But with global warming, that time around the end and beginning of the calendar is way gentler than I remember as a kid. Winter in Maine is easy when prepared and expecting it, embracing it. Mainers are year round happiest outdoors creatures. Just with a change in wardrobe and the number of clothing layers worn or not.

The real estate market in Maine is strong coming out the other side of the pandemic.

Because people feel safe, worthwhile, hands on in Vacationland. COVID, the election, lots of factors make Maine popular for a popular real estate buying state these days. Multi-generation Maine real estate buyers are on the increase too.

I just listed a 1434 acres Kingdom lot that would be ideal for even the largest multi generation family planting roots in Maine.

Do it yourself. If it is to be, it is up to me thinking.

Maine Has So Many Facets, So Much To Explore In Your Lifetime. Thought Of Living Full Time In MaineSince The Pandemic Hit? You Are Not Alone According To Real Estate In Maine Sales Statistics.

Hardships experienced early in life temper a person, broaden their resiliency and deepen their passion.

Kids raised in that simple rural environment learn what is important in life. Not what is the result of highly effective marketing to create the carrot to attract the masses. Since COVID, the Maine real estate market has flourished. Local schools, businesses, community members embraced the challenge to not let COVID negatively effect their life. They did not have time to whine and complain or sink into pits of despair. Like most obstacles in life, with a little patience and lots of creative experience to draw from their upbringing. True Mainers come out the other side happy and grateful.

Many who owned seasonal properties in Maine have been like spider monkeys converting them to year round real estate use.

That’s why the best thing Maine leaders can do is invest in Internet. Tap into all the available funding out there to hammer away at that last mile of fiber or copper. Or boost those wireless tower signals to make the connection long and strong. Thank you for following our Me In Maine blog posts and hope this inside look at the local real estate market was a worthwhile read.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

May 4, 2021
Small Town Office Managers In Maine

Small town office managers in Maine.

These one man or woman municipal rural Maine offices look after their small communities. You could get a call from Marge who reminds you the vehicle registration on your snow plow truck expired this week. But not to worry, because she’ll be in the local town office Saturday morning and will have all the paperwork ready for you. Or I’ve seen a small town office manager make a call that was overheard while I was studying tax maps or gleaning property information. Fran told the taxpayer on the other end of the phone that she would drop off the fishing hunting combination license on her way home tonight. That’s door to door service neighbor to neighbor grass roots style.

Farms, Horses, Barns In Maine. They Go Together For The Simple Small Town Rural Lifestyle.

Like a mother hen that keeps the chicks in line. Or a border collie who shepherds the lambs on a small Maine farmstead. The small town managers in Maine are a special breed. Fiercely dedicated to their small township that is just a dot on the Maine map. These unsung heroes single handedly struggle to keep up with the heavy paperwork load of new regulations. To keep it all straight and coach the revolving door of selectmen who step up to take their turn in community service.

Small Towns Make Their Own Music! Local Bands Entertain At Close To Home Events!

Small town office managers in Maine, some of them opt to raise and wave the white flag.

To surrender and come out into the daylight from small patched together office with raised hands in the air. Too much expense, too little revenue to keep the small Maine town identity alive and vibrant. More on deorganization of small Maine towns.

Small Towns In Maine Where The Locals Are The Entertainment! You Know The Musicians In Maine Communities.

If the small town in Maine can’t keep the municipality structure held together, instead of deorganization, joining forces with a larger community happens.

For example, take the small township of Hersey and Moro Plantation in Aroostook County. The communities hire the services of Patten Maine who is already open for business. And two more property taxation books get A to Z set up and any expenditures for raising or spending money are handled through the town of Patten.

The small Maine communities don’t lose their identity and duplication of municipal services costs are avoiding linking up in a regional approach to town government.

I remember Anna Schools, one neat small town office manager in Maine, in the community of Littleton. With Millie the cat soaking up the sun while napping, Anna with her hair in curlers and watering the Christmas cactus says hello. As I dropped by for a tax card copy or to check up on a building permit from the Littleton ME planning board. Often there was no need to look up an address for a property owner. Because Anna would smile, clear her throat and recite the address from her keen memory.

Trailside Dining In Small Maine Towns. Local Home Made Food Tastes Best At Church Suppers Or Local Eateries.

Single handedly, Anna kept the books, collected the real estate property taxes.

Wrote out the checks for school tuition, filling potholes and to keep the winter roads clear of snow. Bids put out for town services were handled by Anna and during weekend selectmen board meetings.

A discount on your property taxes for early payment was figured by Anna too.

To avoid tax anticipation loans taken out to keep things financially afloat. Small town office managers in Maine, Anna went asked when are you going to get a computer. Her pause, then clearing of her throat before speaking with a smile response? “I am the computer”. She was like the Mother Goose for entire six by six mile Maine township.

In Drew Plantation, one man, in his 80’s makes that community hum.

But Drew Plantation is one heart beat away from deorgnization. When all the towns around you are too small or already gone the deorgination route, you feel pretty much on your own with few options. Bancroft next door to Drew Plantation already let’s the County government run the numbers and bid out the services.

Drew Plantation has a population of around 45 souls last head count. So not exactly a long line of public servant community minded folks to pass the baton to and carry on town government traditions. Small Maine towns are your best sized communities to invest in, for the intimate connection and no disconnect.

The small town office managers in Maine.

There are over 400 of them and dwindling numbers of Maine town office. The town manager of Drew Plantation, the head selectmen keeps the home fires going… literally build a wood stove blaze to prepare for the office use. But most of what happens is right in a corner of his living room. His wife helps too and like a big family, the duties are shared. The animal control office is at this number if you spot a dog at large chasing a white tail deer.

You need a fire permit to get rid of that brush pile that is getting taller behind your home?

Call Snapper at this number but remember. All these auxiliary town leaders have full time jobs doing something else forty or more hours a week. Much of what happens in a small town in Maine is “managed” at night or on weekends. On the fly with quick calls, text messages or emails. Sent to wherever they have their real source of household income to pay the bills, their own small Maine town property taxed homesteads.

More Wildlife Than People In Small Rural Maine Towns. More Outdoors Happens.

In a city, you pay to attend an event. Small Maine towns are different because you step up to volunteer to put on the yearly event.

Everything is home grown and covered dish pot luck public supper like approached because money to hire it all done is just not an option. Plus it is so much more rewarding to be personally involved in a community happening. You miss all the fun planning and improving the event and you get the kids involved, the shut ins are not forgotten either in small rural Maine towns. The collective creative juices get poured into what’s going on through out the year. From the spring canoe race or the 4th of July celebration to the annual Christmas caroling.

Maine License Plates Tell The Story! How The Driver Feels About Living In Maine Is Obvious.

Often the small Maine town event is handled by several who wear many hats. The local churches all have a part and so do the school children, the little league team coach. Retired folks especially with the lifetime experience who may be seasonal snow birds but that have time to pitch in to add to the community events. In the small town office, the usually one person staff that’s me, myself, I … the town manager you sense how busy he or she is.

Fielding non stop ringing phone calls, with one ear on the police and fire scanner to see if a call comes in for a grass fire on the south end of town.

Licensing vehicles, issuing marriage licenses and copies of death certificates, tags for your dog and a stick for your boat or snowmobile. Fire burning permit for the old house torching on purpose Saturday or the EMS training in the school gym coordination.

Many small Maine towns have a one or two room office or use just a small corner of a large vacant former school house.

The local school building no longer needed due to consolidation when the educational census dropped too low to cover the education expenses.

In the Haynesville ME town office you see lots of boxes and sometimes smell everything from crayfish to produce odors. Free food to help subsidize the local grocery costs mean the small, cramped multi purpose town office is used for a community food pantry.

In small rural towns, folks pray and worry about the community members of all ages.

There is strong connection and sense of caring you just don’t feel in large urban population centers. Small groups on ZOOM meetings are much more rewarding and productive than large ones.. same dynamic. And because you work with Tom and Sue on so many local community events and serve on the same boards, the small group “knows” each other personally.

It is not uncommon to hear the small town manager asking Bob as he licenses his boat and trailer how his mom is doing after her surgery.

Maine Small Town Artists Crank Out One Of A Kind Items. Like This Maine Theme Handcrafted Window.

Or when is little league starting up so I can post it on the town’s social media channels Zeke? Zeke and his brother in law Stanley are the little league commissioners for the border league youth ball team. The one that needs uniforms, practice sessions and the dug outs painted this weekend heading into another baseball season. Nothing done for the money. Because the salary is purely the goodwill your volunteering provides the town and your own sense of purpose and inner well being.

Fundraisers are big to create the money raised locally at public suppers of community breakfasts.

From car washes to candy sales to raffles on a rifle. Or something like a snow sled or four wheeler or a tank of heating oil, a cord of seasoned fire wood. Somehow, the funds are raised writing grants. With well organized haunted hayrides or from Christmas tree sales to pull off funding another community event.

Veterans who served from the small town are remember dead or alive with monuments.

Fishing derbies, canoe races, hunter contests. Christmas parties down at the sled club or fish and game or American Legion or one of the local church worship flavor locations. There is much that goes on behind the small communities. The graveyards are kept mowed. The grounds maintained in respect of past community members buried in the small Maine town cemetery plots.

Small town office managers in Maine, they have a big responsibility.

They and all the volunteers that work hard behind the scenes are a special breed. Wanting no attention for themselves, but all about pride and respect for their home town of whatever else in Maine.

Carrying on tradition, enjoying growing up in the small Maine town pushes them into stepping up and performing a service.

Local Artist Cynthia Taylor Creates Greeting Cards, Maps, Local Maine Lifestyle Products.

Contributing, making the small Maine town the special place each one is because in main part because of the people who live, work, play there.

Taking turns at different roles in the Maine small town leadership of all the departments.

Holding down two, three or more “titles” because it’s efficient and not a lot of folks stepping up to replace them after their term ends. Setting up and running voting booths during election day.

Volunteering on the fire department and going out on calls to help their community. Creating the parks and recreational programs, setting up town signs, supporting the school children, veterans and elderly needs.

Just working together behind the scenes for the greater good. Time that most have no idea about how long it takes to pull it off consistently and often single handely.

The small town office managers in Maine are the cheerleaders to put the community on the map.

To educate property taxpayers about homestead, veterans or tree growth property tax reduction programs. Finding a community block grant for a failed septic system that the local taxpayer can not afford to replace.

To organize the locals to tackle the new roof the elderly widow needs to stay in her own home.

And avoid the forced move to an assisted living facility many townships away from her community.

The small town manager in Maine gets visits and phone calls or emails from folks doing ancestry searches and is a town historian.

She or he helps the school alumni plan reunion events or guides the who to call for what and where. Quickly reciting contact name and numbers as the local insider expert chamber of commerce welcome wagon operator.

They have a very big job and juggle many balls, wear many hats. Thank you for sticking around, reading this blog post on the very important role small town office managers in Maine play.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

April 17, 2021
How Much Does It Cost A Day To Vacation In Maine ?

How much does it cost a day to vacation in Maine?

Plenty if you beeline to a tourist trap along the coast. I know, I know, those lighthouses, sliding on a bib to crack a steamed Maine lobster venues are a lot of fun. But they can set you back some serious money. Being planted in the Old Port section of Portland Maine is a little pricey if you spend a serious amount of time there.

This blog post explores the question of just how much it costs a day to vacation in Maine.

Outdoors Hiking, Taking In The Natural Beauty Of Maine. The Best Low Cost Maine Vacation!

The advice on where to vacation is often written by a media specialist many moons away from Maine.

The hired pen “suggestions” are hired out ones to strongly suggest to the audience this is how to should vacation in Maine and where, when, why. But what if you don’t own the hospitality business being highlighted in the write up? The outfit or chamber of commerce touting this location as the only place to consider staying and spending lots of money while you do is not trying to save you money. Not giving you options on how to vacation cheaper in Maine so you can visit more than just once a year.

This Maine blog post explores other cheaper ways to get away from the tourist trap high expenses and to see more of Vacationland without the unnecessary extra costs.

The Million Dollar View Does Not Have To Cost That Much With Low Cost Maine Vacation Planning. Ask A Local Insider Where To Stay, How To Save Money On Your Next Maine Vacation.

For starters, what time of the year are you planning vacation travel to Maine?

Remember the “shoulder seasons” are your best value. The periods just before and immediately after the busy summer Maine vacation season save a lot of bucks. Plus not so many people on the sidewalks of those quaint Maine harbor town locations.

Way less traffic on the narrow streets networked around the Maine coastal harbor town locations in the shoulder season. You don’t see the cruise ships double parked out front. The big tourist buses from Canada and beyond are not casting a shadow in the restaurant parking lots.

And the people who work the restaurants, run the inns, hotels, bed and breakfast locations along the coast are less stressed, more friendly during the shoulder season.

Collecting Maine Lighthouses. One Low Cost Maine Vacation Thing To Do For Fun.

The daily grind serving the public is not so intense or fast paced for the Maine motel and restaurant, the amusement business operators.

Everyone is more laid back and enjoyable like the surroundings that are not to capacity and beyond for tourists. Just my suggestion as a local native Mainer in my travel experience.

So how much it costs per day to stay during a Maine vacation depends on the time you arrive.

Winter can make the lodging rates even cheaper and you’re right. Not every place to stay is open when snow piles up outside the Maine tourist establishment. Many motel, cabin, hotel and inn owners take off for the sunny south to spend the winter months. To unplug and recharge for another Maine summer tourist seasons ahead without blisters from operating a snow shovel.

But winter stays at popular Maine tourist destination offer something else besides savings.

Solitude, smaller groups, no lines and everything in the tourist mecca returns to simple small town Maine existence sans the tourist dollars. Take Wells Beach Maine for example during the winter months. Winter at Sunday River or Sugarloaf USA is not cheap but sure is fun. The cost to maintain that many downhill ski trails, especially when Mother Nature does not cooperate with the snow flow all takes money. Plenty of snow in this Maine Sugarloaf ski video getaway over one New Year’s Day a few years back.

Sugarloaf USA In Western Maine To Ski, Stay, To Getaway Video

The ski areas in Maine have to make the long dollar because despite the myth, winter is not six months or long .

The added golf courses, hiking and biking trails and fall leaf peeking tours on the chairlifts all help the ski area’s bottom line financials.The smaller Maine ski mountains with lots more volunteers and less paid staff can weather the overhead easier to survive. Plus the cost of area lodging is much lower to the ground. The entire day in and out local economy in smaller rural communities is so much less.

The how much does it cost a day to vacation in Maine can be $250 a night and up or the coupon rate of $59 for the lay your head in the bed.

When traveling to Boston MA living in Northern Maine, stopping in York seems to be the line to not cross for motel room rates. Way cheaper, no charge for parking or any other add ons happens getting off exit 7. Because once you go further south, open your wallet or purse wide happens for the cost of the stay. Parking is never a problem in Maine for vacations. You can not say that when hemmed in a city like Boston with lots of one way old cobblestone streets.

The Boy With The Leaking Boot. One Local Houlton Maine Tourist Attraction.

The cost per day of a Maine vacation room, suite, cabin, where you stay depends on the season, the region, what events are happening.

What do you like to do for fun and is the vacation around your kid’s school recess break? School basketball tournament week or a labor day, 4th of July long weekend are prime time when vacancy rates are low. Dead of winter changes everything on the lodging bill and the meal deals to expect. If you tow up a camper trailer and go the RV route on a leased lot with hook ups, when you pitch a tent. The overhead is different than a five star resort with all the overhead.

Getting a lean to at Baxter State Park or renting a house on the beach or a lake and splitting expenses with your loved ones that jointly vacation as a group.

Any Season, Any Angle, Mount Katahdin Captivates A Person Any Age.

There are many approaches to hold down the how much it costs a day to vacation in Maine.

But do you snow sled, downhill or cross country ski, ice fish or snowshoe and is outdoor winter hiking up Katahdin your idea of fun? Are you more of an apres ski kinda person and want to curl up by a crackling fireplace blazes with a blanket as you gaze out onto the Maine winter landscape?

The problem with average costs per night for vacation rates in a state as large as Maine is the extreme. The $250 a night in Kennebunkport does not match up with the $59 motel rate in Presque Isle or Fort Kent, Rumford or Eastport Maine. The average them all together for around $160 a night is not what you would expect to pay everywhere in Maine. More on Downeast Maine.

Save Your Money. Low Cost Maine Camping Vacations Up Into The Interior Sections Of The Pine Tree State.

What do you spend for meals? That’s like asking what is the electric bill going to be in this Maine home each month.

Do you hang your sheets out to dry on a line or do you wash Suzie’s one favorite pair of jeans for the big high school dance that is suddenly only a few tense hours away? Are the household showers long and never ending or do what you gotta do and get in, hop out to dry off? Still in the one Saturday night bath whether you need it or not mode? Your habits and preferences dictate how high or low will the household bills go month to month. We live cheaper in rural Maine so how to vacation, what to do for fun is lower cost too!

Do you like picnic lunches and outdoor dining by a stream with a Maine mountain view?

By The Water, Is A Maine Sandy Beach Your Ideal Of Now We’re Talking For A Vacation Setting Location?

Or do you think taking advantage of a family meal special is cheap not instead a way of freeing up vacation funds for something else fun?

Your best Maine vacations are the ones that did not cost an arm and a leg going into debt to pay off for months to come. In small town Maine, pre-COVID, tonight’s meal at the local farmers museum for $8 gets you everything from new potatoes and fresh peas, ham, baked beans and home made bread and biscuits. To the same room for later. To take your pick of created at home just a few hours ago fresh pies of all kinds. Whip cream or ice cream on that generous slab of pie?

Local Farmers Markets In Maine Are Low Cost, Tasty Fresh And Friendly Venues To Meet Your Veggie Grower.

The earlier breakfast down at the local Maine snow sled or fish and game club is even cheaper.

Plus there was a family discount. The land owners dinner is free to those letting local sledders run a groomed, market trail across their property. The breakfast ploys, pancakes, steak and eggs with fresh juice, hot coffee and muffins, toast again served up by the volunteers you know by first name in small Maine towns.

You can rent a cabin on a Maine lake for around $80 a night at a place called Tall Timber Lodge in New Limerick.

Or tap into the many vacation rentals where owners offer their places dirt cheap. Airbnb rentals, VRBO cost of and home away from home travel sites make the Maine vacation way more affordable. So you have money left over for more than one trip to Maine a year from the savings.

Sampling The Local Maine Location On Your Cheap Vacation. Learning What Life Is Like Here! What Living Here Full Time Would Be Like To Compare To Where You Hang Your Hat Now.

The same people rent the place they buy for vacations in Maine too.

That lake camp or woods cabin owner started off sampling Maine on vacations. Then decided to invest and become a local property owner because of the positive vacation experience. The vacation second home up in Maine is put up for rent. Everywhere, the same one or two weeks, folks look forward to another leased piece of Maine in the same spot. If you don’t buy a property in Maine, you are more likely to explore other areas of Vacationland. When you have the investment, working on it and returning to the same base to explore a section of vast Maine happens.

So the cost per day of your vacation in Maine for meals does not have to be an average of $40 a day when you go deep local.

The thinking that the trip to Maine for a couple for one week will cost over $2200 does apply in so many cases. When you hit a church supper meal, you dine with the locals and they take you in like you lived there. Sharing the experience of living in their small Maine town and if you ask, volunteering how best to spend your vacation. Pointing out what to make sure you don’t miss out seeing while you are staying in this part of Maine. Isn’t that a more memorable Maine vacation that won’t set you back vast sums?

Maine Coastal Vacations, Usually Water Is Somehow Attached To Your Stay In Vacationland.

Agri-tourism where you visit a local Maine farm or learning about the state’s rich lumbering history with museum tours.

The trip out with a lobsterman, someone fishing for a living is the real deal. It’s way more than mini golf and go karts or whale watching and lighthouse tours to make your Maine vacation memorable. So much extra to squeeze out of the vacation time when you approach it like a local who lives here. That is your best guide on what to do for fun.

Fishing, hunting, kayaking, hiking, biking, camping or glamping up in Maine.

Parked On The Waterfront Somewhere In Maine. Is That Your Idea Of A Memorable Maine Vacation? Cooking Outside, Talks On The Deck, A Nightly Fire With Chairs Surrounding It?

Are you planning to crack lobsters and munch on butter dipped steamed clams or trail mix and open grill sizzling steaks or BBQ lathered chicken?

Pass the potato or macaroni salad please. The cost a day to vacation in Maine can be just a tank of gas, a stop at a grocery store for grub and hanging your hat at a simple woods camp.

Just listed a 60 acre woodlot in Washburn Maine that would be one ideal simple vacation destination.

Just got a call just now from a Maine land buyer in Lisbon, down country who has relatives in the Presque Isle area. He and a friend are thinking seriously of going in 50-50 to buy this well wooded property. The one that is more than just a source of income when trees get selectively harvested to open up recreational trails.

Buy Some Maine Land, Put Up A Simple Camp Or Haul In The Travel Trailer Camper. Ideal Low Cost Vacation Location In Maine.

The Washburn Maine land for cheap instate vacations fronts Pettingill Brook.

And the town shows 72 acres, more than the 60 acre estimate in the warranty deed. If this Maine land buyer builds a simple camp, it could be rented out when not being used for profit.

Wood stove, playing cribbage and cards, having wildlife for neighbors uptah the rustic camp in Maine.

Is that all you are looking for in your Maine vacation? Is the Maine land on snow sled trails and four wheeler ATV pathways? Yes it is and building restrictions, heavy duty HOA’s? Not in Aroostook County or most of rural Maine is what you find for building permits. No people, no hassles, that’s Maine. Where common sense still rules the day.

Camped Out Near Mt Katahdin,In The Baxter State Park Area. Priceless. Owned Properties Pay For Themselves In Savings Shelled Out At Places To Stay And Eat.

Dial in your type of Maine fun.

Is your Maine vacation outlet shopping and are the kids going to be blue screen reflection silent during meals, and on couches plugged into Internet devices like the back home routine? Or unplugged and hitting the trails for a family adventure to learn about a new area of Maine? Show of hands, who wants to hike up to the top of Mt Katahdin tomorrow? Better get to bed early and pack lots of water, trail mix and quick energy snacks for the climb up and down Mt “K”, Maine’s mile high tallest peak.

Thank you for following our Maine In Maine blog posts faithful reader.

Reach out with blog post topic suggestions. It is all about helping you find your way around Maine and sharing what it is like being a local insider living here in Vacationland.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

April 2, 2021
Maine Maple Syrup Sunday | Sugar Houses In Maine

Maine maple syrup Sunday, sugar houses in Maine.

Every year Maine maple sugar house farm producers open up their woodlot operations. The public gets to sneak a peek. Go behind the scenes for how the maple syrup actually gets collected and refined. To sample and see all the work to transform clear watery liquid sap into what gets boiled down into the honey amber golden syrup.

Maine maple syrup Sunday where the forty to one boil it down maple syrup production woodlot sap collection happens.

The long hard process gets explained by local Maine woodlot tree farmers. To get what you drizzle over tall towering stacks of flap jacks, my by far favorite Maine maple syrup application. Pancakes, ploys taste better with Maine maple syrup. Swimming, drenching Maine made food items in the liquid topping we all love so much.

Maine Maple Sap Bucket Collects Clear Watery Sap To Boil Down To Thick Amber Maple Syrup. Covered Lid To Keep Melting Ice And Rain Water Out.

You can not stop spring desperate to be sprung in Maine.

The seasons change with or without you. The pandemic kinks the hose a little in how the Maine Maple Sunday operations will flow this year on March 28th. But the sap is on tap and it’s almost showtime. You can not stop Mother Nature pair up with Jack Frost. Where the two tag team to yearly produce another batch of highly addictive amber gold Maine maple syrup.

Over 100 Maine Maple Sunday syrup collecting sugar bush tours ahead in this 38th annual event.

All the family friendly entertainment to sample the maple syrup products coming to a sap collection venue near you. From York to Aroostook County, Maine maple syrup tree tapping demonstrations are going to happen ready or not. The fun activities to sample the all natural syrup sweetener await. Mark the date, please circle March 28th a couple times in red on your kitchen calendar. To make sure not to forget. That it’s that time again. For all the Maine maple syrup producers statewide to join together and promote some great maple products.

Let’s check in with Ed and Pat Jillsons to see what a Maine Maple Sunday open house looks like pre-pandemic with the magic of video.

Here’s the Maine Maple Sunday map of sugar houses to find one or more near you “celebrate approaching spring” open house tours.

To protect the public adhering to the state’s COVID 19 safety protocols, Maine maple syrup farm producers will step back. Spacing it out to creatively and safety do the show and tell sugar bush demonstrations. But nothing can stop the excitement surrounding Maine maple Sunday when spring syrup is collected from tapped trees around Vacationland.

While out on the McIntyre Road touring a Maine river front land property listing last weekend, I spied with my little eye the hanging galvanized buckets. Hooked securely to sap taps on maple trees across the road, the inspiration for this next Me In Maine blog post clicked. Like a minister looking for the next week’s sermon, why not ask folks out in the audience what comes to mind from two words, maple syrup?

And do you think log cabin maple syrup or the lady with the bandana smiling at you?

Or Maine maple syrup no matter what the price of the supermarket jug. Pure, natural Maine maple syrup, woodlot to your family table please and thank you. There’s your sign, that’s your brand. Settling for nothing but the best, forgetting all the rest of those light weight, watered down imitations full of fructose and God only knows what else that we all know if bad for your body right?

The Sweet Stuff, Rock Maple Sap That Boils Down 40 To 1 For The Golden Mixture To Ooze On Your Maine Blueberry Pancakes.

New England maple syrup, do you thick of log cabins and the state of Vermont?

Maple Shade Trees Are Full Of Syrup Sap When Above Freezing Days, The Other Way Below Zero Nights.

Well move over Bernie Sanders and Ben and Jerry’s, the state of Maine produces more than 575,000 gallons of maple syrup yearly. Over $27 million dollars from Maine maple syrup production flows into the state’s economy. More than 560 full and part time jobs generate the sugar shack sap house excitement.

If there were no Maine maple sugar houses, it would produce a gaping hole cavity of over $17.3 million in worker’s wages.

Does it hurt a maple tree to tap the sap? Is there a right and wrong way to vampire the live giving fluid? Isn’t natural tree sap needed to jump start the new buds that create the green hardwood solar collectors to continue forest stand growth?

How would you like a high speed drill coming at you from all angles to look for a mainline sap artery to slow drip into the hanging bucket weighing you down?

You know drilling out a tooth cavity is not the most enjoyed Maine recreational activity. But like a colonoscopy, Maine humorist Tim Sample says you’ll get through it like a Maine winter.

What maple trees can be tapped for the best syrup? Maple syrup can be made from any species of maple tree. Trees to tap for the sap are sugar, red, silver, black maple and box elder varieties. But the highest natural sugar concentration maple syrup is from the sugar maple.

Many maple species lack a high enough concentration of sap sugar… kinda anemic and not your super donors. Like down at the Red Cross lay down, roll up your sleeve and give the gift of life.

These light weight minor league maple trees mean you need even more watery sap to collect and boil down for syrup magic. With up to 60 gallons of maple tree sap needed to produce just a gallon of that precious golden syrup.

Here’s one video on tapping Maine maple trees and how to do syrup sap correctly.

I first got the bug about what if there was a local sugar bush maple trees to tap the sap for rich tasty syrup from my Dad.

On the Maine farm my four brothers and I grew up on, the long driveways of stately maple trees were tapped yearly. For way smaller but sweet treat syrup production on the farmstead kitchen gas stove. Sometimes using a wood heater to boil it down. But something larger scale was always on the back burner in my Dad’s thoughts. When just a little shaver of about seven, my Dad fired up the 1966 Snow Jet to head to the maple tree heavy woodlot. The sled were rode on purchased from my Uncle Carl Hagan who was the blue snowmobile dealer in Cary Mills, Maine.

Together, Dad and I made the trek to the 100 acre family woodlot in Ludlow Maine. To weave the snow machine around the ridge of tall hardwood maple trees. To survey them for the best plan if we ever created a sugar bush, a sugar house to create the maple syrup from our own Maine woodlot.

The Solitude, Peaceful Feeling Of The Maine Woods In Winter. Don’t Miss Maine Maple Sunday Sugar House Open House Demonstrations Nearest You This March 28th.

Dad had lots of irons in the fire and was quite the entrepreneur.

With little free time already spoken for to kick off the sugar house maple syrup dream, it did stop him from the mental layout of just how he would do it. To create an intricate series of tubing for sap collection up in the Ludlow Maine woodlot where we yearly gathered firewood to heat our homes. Lack of enough hours in the day to pull it off, Dad still had a vivid detailed vision he shared with me of a large sugar bush maple syrup operation. The one he saw in his head where just everything would go from his life long study and passion for the heavily wooded maple tree forest terrain.

Complete with large long hand made wooden tables with picnic style benches to slide along to find your place for the celebration of a new maple syrup batch.

Walls that open out and up to let in the natural light. Open sides of the forest dining room utilized for fresh frosty air. Served up with baked beans, pancakes, sizzling bacon strips, smothered corn fritters, sweet breads, sweet glazed donuts all with a common ingredient of Maine maple syrup. A communion ritual to invite in all your friends, family and neighbors to celebrate the approaching spring renewal of life. To quell the hunger for new Maine maple syrup infused in the yearly event up in the Aroostook County woodlot.

Maine Maple Sugar Shack Sap Production. No Network Of Tubes Gravity Feeding Into A Tree Sap Reservoir. Just A Simple Bucket Brigade ME Syrup Collection.

To introduce young and old to the sound of the crackling fire under the steaming maple sap evaporator woodlot scene.

As they pushed food around their tin plates in the sugary maple syrup for the bath before open up the hatch and down the gullet. Dad saw maple syrup as one more agricultural endeavor to sponsor to get Maine farmers away from mono-culture thinking. Of potato, potato, potato with a little grain in the crop rotation on small family Maine farms. The one that desperately needed to diversify to avoid having all the eggs in one basket. Income on a small family Maine farm has to come from many sources. To assure you stay on the family patch of dirt passed down through the many generations. To assure someone is around to feed the rest of us that don’t farm.

After a long Maine winter, even Pa Ingalls touted the medicinal health benefits of maple syrup used in the Little House in the Big Woods too.

The all natural elixir that requires a lot of hard work to collect the sap. Then the fun part of maple syrup making of collecting it bucket by bucket. To pour the clear watery sap into an evaporator for the boiling it down. Tending the wood fires to steadily reduce the maple tree sap into the 40 to 1 evaporation. To distill the amber gold slow moving liquid used so many ways. The alternative to white sugar, do you add Maine maple syrup to your fresh brewed morning coffee? Is the Maine maple syrup used in your cooking or to make candies? Are you planing to take in the sights this Maine Maple Syrup Sunday and support the local producers?

One more old fashioned Maine sugar house maple syrup production video.

It is a family day where Mainers bring their kids, can get a horse drawn sleigh ride. To sample some Maine maple syrup candy. Get out, shake off the winter mental cobwebs and break free of cabin fever. A little sugar shack shock of the taste buds does a body good and these open house demonstrations are healthy from many angles. And sure beats sitting on the couch and killing time inside . When you are missing out big time on a worthwhile sugar house demonstration in your own backyard. That supports local Maple syrup producers and the local communities around them.

Another pre-COVID Maine Maple Sunday sugar house operation video to stir the bug to attend one.

I remember seeing an old sugar house up behind my Mom’s home place on Benn Hill in Hodgdon Maine.

When all the cousins rotated our home locations week to week to play Sunday after church. While the Aunts and Uncles all socialized and caught up on local events. Thank you for the stopping by today to read, watch and learn about Maine Maple Sunday that has happened for the last 38 years and getting bigger and better than ever.

These Maine maple syrup sugar house open houses can provide up to 50% of the operation’s golden profit.

Highly important and more than ever this year to recover from pandemic losses as everything we know as normal went through a blender and got reconstituted. This is what’s happening around the “Crown of Maine” for Maine Maple Sunday plans . Up here in Aroostook County, the garden of Maine when talking maple syrup production this year. A lot of Maine maple syrup producers add honey to what they produce and sell like Spring Break operation in Smyrna Maine.

Please make an effort to attend a Maine Maple Syrup Sunday open house sugar house tour or two near you this year.

Remember, no farmer, no food. Think about that when you enjoy whatever is served up three times or more a day. Wherever you hang your hat when the dinner bell rings. The support for the local Maine maple syrup farm producers. Support for the local sugar bushes, the Maine maple Sunday syrup producers is more important that ever this year as we come out the other side of the pandemic tunnel.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com | MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

March 17, 2021