Jim And Howard Debate Best Organic Farming Practices And Network. I Learned A Lot About Why My Farm Apple Orchard Is Meh And How To Revive Organically.
The Farmer to Farmer conference kicked off with a farm tour of North Spore Mushroom facility.
Sorry, no photos allowed at the 25,000 square foot facility that provides spawn to dozens of farms around the county. Saw the labs, steamers, all the stages of creating mushroom substrate and learned much about the health benefits.
After learning about mushrooms we walked over to a meet and greet hospitality social at Allagash Brewing.
Networking is critical to make organic farming sustainable and viable.
Social, Hospitality To Kick Off MOFGA Farmer To Farmer Session At Allagash Brewing.
Meg my life partner invited me to tag along to Maine’s largest city and beef up my organic farming knowledge at this year’s MOFGA Farmer To Farmer Conference.
Her organic farming experience all started in 1996 from a small humble produce veggie stand. Nature’s Circle Farm, based in New Limerick Maine grew to an over 400 acre full time Maine organic farm spread.
Meg, her Dad and crew raise, store, ship fresh market organic produce. Nature’s Circle Farms also selling over 20 varieties of Maine organic seed potato stock from their Aroostook County fields.
Organic Meals, Locally Sourced Maine Food. Nothing Beats Farm To Table Dining, Networking With Big, Small And In Between Passionate Maine Organic Farmers!
The MOFGA conference happened during the super bowl and watching the Patriots lose on the big screen did not damper the enthusiasm of organic produces.
When you own and are totally invested in a small organic family farm in Maine, time spent fretting about who won or lost a sporting event is not the end of the World.
Learning From Other Organic Producers About What Works, What Does Not. Critical To Sustainability On A Small Maine Organic Farm Operation.
Your family, chores around the Maine organic farm to keep it vibrant and sustainable suddenly more important.
The conference jam packed with worthwhile education sessions on everything from where to get grant moneys, new markets for your produce, how to deal best with the pesky Colorado potato beetle and more.
Black Garlic, It’s Popular. Ever Tried It? Howard Explains How It Is Produced And Distributed By The High Meadows Farm Truck.
A half acre organic farm and expansion to an acre may sound small potatoes.
But rich well nurtured farm soil can produce thousands of pounds of organic food with careful year round prep work. It’s not just creating a big crop and develop markets to sell it. Soil health, protecting the river or waterfront you border is key to eliminate erosion. Appreciation and protection of nature is always a concern of every Maine organic farmer or gardener. Farmer to farmer meetings help keep the dream a reality around Maine.
NRCS, The Natural Resource Soil And Water Conservation Service, Farm Services, MOFGA, Others All Work To Support The Maine Organic Producer.
No Farmer, No Food.
I have read about food insecurity and that up to a third of the food produced does not get consumed.
In Maine, when you think about all the school cafeterias, the colleges, prisons, the big consumers of shipped in produce, you have to wonder. Why can’t we funnel Maine organic locally sourced wholesome food to these food stream consumers?
The need for a processor to peel the squash, to cube it and fresh freeze to be ready to quick and easy prepare it is part of what’s missing.
Community freezers, coordination with legislators, and a grass roots passion to help stop wasting food and help the small Maine farmer at the same time is key.
Shout it out. make some noise.
Let’s clean up the plate and not scrape it into the garbage stream.
Support locally produce Maine agricultural products.
Local Farmers Markets, Community CSA’s Producing Locally Grown Food.
Where you shop, do you get the impression local matters and the suggestion area farmers are able to peddle their crops at the Piggly Wiggly?
Do they really or are some of the grocery store posters and propaganda on their websites from long ago and faded?
Not a grow it and we will give you shelf space to get it placed from the farm to the family table practiced for local shoppers where you stock up on groceries?
Is there a strong current grocer to local Maine farmer connection underway?
Maine Is Farming, Lots Of Woods, Rich But Simple All Natural Living.
There should be and speak up for fresher, cheaper, locally sourced Maine farm food that is not trucked in from many time zones away.
Pulled locally and not from out west or out of the country.
Let where you push the wire cart with the squeaky wheel know you noticed and ask them why local growers are replaced with far away from who knows where producers.
Support local Maine farmers, organic and conventional or everyone misses out from the farm to table nutritious habit at family meal time.
Here’s one farm property that was just listed in Northern Maine with 36.5 manageable acres.
Horse around, have critters and crops. Could you do it? Serving up what you grow and bartering with other local producers for what you don’t. It’s a lot of work and you have to be healthy. Starting out it helps to have savings, a nest egg.
Or someone holds down a real job to tame and flatten the peaks and valleys when operating a small Maine family farm.
Maine real estate is my real job but growing up on a farm and owning one is a passion too. Thank you for sticking around, reading until the very end. I appreciate you out in the blogging audience and here for suggestions on blog posts you want to see all about Maine.
One spud, two spuds, picking potatoes on a Northern Maine Aroostook County farm.
Was it hard for kids to head out into the early morning darkness to the Maine potato farm field? What work ethic lessons were learned for youth relied on to get the potatoes basket picked, poured into barrels, trucked from the Maine farm field for winter storage?
One Basket At A Time! Picking Maine Potatoes A Skill Learned By The Lucky Youth Growing Up In A Fall Harvest Potato Farm Field.
Have you ever picked potatoes along with your family and friends to earn money for school clothing?
The valuable list of skills and attitudes learned picking Northern Maine potatoes.
Toiling in the farm field under all kinds of weather over school harvest recess is a worthwhile entry level job. But from the outside looking in, today’s youth and parents not exposed to the fall harvest potato picking tradition, it is easy to overlook the learning experience.
So what was it like and why were area Maine youth relied on as an vital component for the fall harvest of potatoes?
My Dad and mom, northern Maine potato farmers said kids did a better job handling the potato harvest picking the crop. Less damage to the valuable farm field potato harvest crop than from fast moving mechanized machinery like harvesters caused. Better for Mother Nature too with less erosion from air harvesters harnessing kid power to pick this year’s crop.
Your family household goes to bed the night before to prepare for the early rise and shine during potato harvest.
By 5AM, you are finishing a hearty breakfast for the day ahead in the Maine potato farm field.
Picnic Food Just Tastes Better Looking At This When Munching What Gets Fished Out Of The Basket. Potato Pickers Move Field To Field In Fall Harvest Colors.
The fresh air during fall potato harvest improves the taste of your lunch, all the the snacks. What you munched on carefully packed to lug to the field.
Along with your water jug, extra warm clothes, back up pairs of fresh brown jersey work gloves.
You learned early to be careful with your lunch box, extra clothes, water jug to keep them from being run over by the barrel truck.
The Maine area potato farmer that hired you for the fall harvest will be at your address with a covered pickup soon.
Barely sunrise, rounding up and delivering the young potato pickers to the new field to dig today. Or to finish up the one from yesterday that was not completed due to sheer size, too much rain, frost or or mechanical breakdowns. You arrive in the field layered with long underwear, extra clothing layers because you can see your breath in the crisp, frosty early morning air.
One by one you hop out of the back of a pickup or van used to collect your fellow potato pickers for this year’s harvest.
Before heading to your “section” in the row after row of un-earthed, not dug potato field, your field boss hands you a fresh pack of tickets. You have an assigned number, usually 50 up to 100 tickets wrapped in an elastic band. A barrel of potatoes weighs 165 pounds.
Yesterday’s barrel tickets tallied the night before. How many barrels did you pick? Count the tickets you get back or the ones missing from your original stack.
Rolling Farm Fields Planted To A New Crop Of Potatoes. Next Year This Will Be Grain. See The Snow White And Yellow Plants?
It takes at least four filled to the brim and over baskets of fresh dug potatoes to fill a barrel. And to earn the right to slide one of your numbered tickets out of the pack to wedge into the groove, on the top of the barrel stave.
That ticket with your number announces to the World that you claim this full barrel for 25, 60 cents or whatever the farmer is paying you this season.
Piece work not an hourly wage. If you don’t produce, you don’t make much or anything.
Clear a spot. You put the new empty barrel on it’s side, carefully using two hands to fill it with potatoes. The ones exposed by the squeaking potato digger that back and forth passes your section over and over through out the day of outdoor labor. As you and your fellow potato pickers advance across the wide open farm field one harvested row at a time.
Pick Them Clean, Get Them All Into The Potato Basket. Do These Kids Look Abused, Picked On Out In The Maine Organic Farm Potato Field?
Your section is how long a portion of the farm field you think you can manage through out the day or until you move to a new one.
The trick to be just getting the last potato picked up and deposited in your basket before moving into the next row. Hopefully the one that was just freshly dug that only good timing and planning causes. Pick a schedule that matches the digger speed to keep caught up. Work steady.
Lessons earnred young piicking maine potatoes in th farm field!
But like life, things happen and you can find yourself getting behind in the Maine potato field.
One of the many observations taught early in the Maine potato field. To learn something that sticks with you for life.
If you took too big a potato field section, you will run out of steam and get behind.
Claim The Barrel, Potato Picking Ticket With Your Number On It.
Some potato fields are grassier than others and have sods to wrestle with to make sure you “pick them clean”.
In the Maine potato field, it is no quality spud left behind. And remember that “bruisers are losers”.
Be careful handling the potatoes.
Slowly dump the basket into the empty farm field barrels. Before placing the next empty barrel upright every other row. So the farm truck can have a lane to retrieve the full ones headed to the potato house storage. You clear any spuds under the barrel first and place it there. In a spot in your section where it a short trip to avoid wasted steps, needless lugging.
No rotten potatoes and leave the green ones or rocks in the field not dumped in the barrels please.
Don’t over fill those barrels lifted up with a boom that lands them on the platform. You don’t want the barrel hoist tong to smash or slice any spuds. Each filled potato barrel is hoisted up from the ground to the truck body using tongs.
Thrown with position to land on the top of the barrel like a lasso. Then tightened up by lifting, using electrical or hydraulically piston pump that grips the barrel tight and secure. To swing up and onto the empty stake truck.
Not the easiest job either to roll full potato barrels to the back of that truck lumbering up a side hill.
Moving those barrels like a game of Tetris, to fill the space quickly. To create a full load to bee line to the potato house.
Then to hurry back with the empties to throw off to each field section of pickers for the repeat the pick, fill, slide on a ticket barrel number filling process.
The further away from the potato house in Houlton Maine the barrel or bulk body trucks have to haul, the more apt a shortage of empties is going to happen.
Nothing hurts production like running out of barrels and trying to make good use of the down time waiting for empties. Picking the tops off the rows you get behind so you can cover your section faster when the fresh empty barrels get tossed onto your section from the truck.
Eating lunch early, doing your business in the woods for a nature call. All part of potato picking field operations. Hopefully your water jug was put in the freezer, slowly un-thawing as the day unfolds.
It Starts With Planting Potatoes In The Maine Farm Field Back In Spring. Cultivating The Hills, The Potato Rows Over The Summer, Harvesting In Fall.
Potato tops need to be removed, shaken as pickers advance across the Northern Maine farm field.
When do you eat? When the tractor pulling potato digger is turned off signally the lunch break. Or sometimes early than noon time because of tractor or digger break down.
There are digger lags hooked together to create the bed with spaces to filter out the potato field dirt.
To lay out the two or more field rows into a flat shaped table of new golden or whatever color spuds to fill a basket to add to the barrel.
Blossoms On Houlton Maine Potato Farm Field.
More on picking Maine potatoes explained by someone who grew up on a farm and picked from age five and on like my three older brothers.
You start out picking.
Graduate to the farm truck or maybe a harvester work shift where you stand and pick out the rocks, the rot and debris.
So it won’t end up taking up space in the potato storage bins.
Over the winter months, the same Northern Maine farmer can use the field tested pickers to pack.
Put up potatoes trailer truck loads shipped to southern markets for distribution.
So what is the occasional cry that picking potatoes is child abuse?
It is hard for someone that never picked potatoes or missed out on the fall harvest tradition to grasp the experience.
You never did it, how could you know without spending time out in the Maine potato field?
School students spending the three to four weeks out in the Maine potato field are social, talk and laugh as they pick, move from to a new harvest section of the farm.
The Red Sox are in a pennant race that fall. Someone has a radio next to your section. It’s one for all and all for one to get those spuds out of the ground before a killing frost. Before snow or dodging rain drops that can interfere with the potato picking process. May work later tonight, or Sunday depending on how’s the weather been this fall in Maine.
Parking Near Fenway. It’s A Trick And Usually Costs A Few Coins. If The Rex Sox Make The Play Offs, Maine Potato Field Workers Tune In, Listen In To Games.
The potato pickers see the outdoor beauty of the early morning fog, the brilliant fall leave color change and fill their lungs with fresh air.
Worked muscles bending over filling potato baskets and lugging them to fill the empty barrels gets students into shape for soccer or other school sports ahead. The field dirt and dust will wash off in the tub or shower tonight when they get home. They tell Mom and Dad about the wildlife they saw out in the field today.
Heading to the small downtown of a Maine community to shop for a new winter jacket is part of the Saturday night learning experience.
Shopping with your own earned money sharpens your spending skills. And if you don’t perceive a value, you keep looking. Impulse spending control is easier to master when it’s your hard earned money. Not twenty dollar bills spit out, handed to you from the mom and dad ATM.
Locally Sourced, Farm To Table Maine Produce, Vegetables Like Potatoes. Priceless. Know Your Local Grower! Maine Is The 5th Largest Potato Producing State.
Learning how to save not just spending is money management.
But what if you never had an entry level job? Did not work for a wage and have to do a good job or you are not asked back the next Maine fall potato harvest? What’s that? Life’s not fair? Life is what you make it. Life is entry level jobs and responsibility to accepting without griping or weaseling out of it. That you have to show up and perform to be an asset not liability.
You stick with it because your family needs the money, the help buying your clothes.
You in turn take better care of clothes you purchase with your own money that is real World right?
The farmer depends on your to help his family get the crop out and into storage. Grit, determination and dealing with colder weather and days when maybe you are not handstand happy about heading to the field. But you do go and eventually less bothers you as your realize the value of this exercise.
Northern Maine Aroostook County Potato Field. A Very Valuable Work Ethic Experience. This Is One Of Your First Entry Level Manual Labor Field Experiences.
Kids that pick and work the fall Maine potato harvest look around and realize I did something worthwhile during the harvest break.
They feel good about themselves and part of something outside their home four walls and a roof. Independent, responsible and dreaming about what part of their picking check they get to spend as they see fit. What they would like to buy with their own money.
And whatever is purchased does not get broken or discarded after the newness is gone. Instead being respected, cared for and put away to protect it because they earned it. Worked too hard not to take care of whatever they bought with their own hard earned money.
Ask anyone who grew up picking Maine potatoes what they thought about the experience.
Some become farmers from the experience digging in the dirt. Remember “No farmer, no food”. You gotta eat at least three times a day.
The harvest workers are part of a proud, capable bunch and learn their value, developing their work ethic. It makes them proud to be from “The County” and that work ethic, dependability to show up and do a good days work is a rural Maine thing.
Four Or More Baskets Of Fresh Picked Maine Potatoes Fill A Barrel. The Barrel Weighs 165 Pounds. Don’t Forget Your Ticket.
Striving to do your part, to keep your potato field section picked clean and caught up and get along with the others on the potato chain gang.
You start to realize that you are not lazy, that you can stick with something that is not for pure entertainment value. Glad my kids learned from the experience of picking Maine potatoes.
Packing up, heading out and bee lining to the state of Maine. Is it time to trade the chaos of city life for simple living, no traffic, and the natural rural beauty of wide open rural Maine? Maine continues to gain popularity momentum as a top destination for those looking to relocate. According to the U-Haul Growth Index, Maine is lucky number 13 and pole vaulted an impressive 18 spots from last year—its highest ranking since 2021.
This makes Maine one of the fastest-rising move to states on the list, alongside Oklahoma and Indiana.
Your View Where You Live Now. Is It A 300 Lot Housing Subdivision Or Wildlife, Trees, The Waterfront?
People want to know the steps to take to do it wisely. They know they can’t afford the price of staying where they live now on the planet. More and more people are moving to Maine for peace and quiet, affordability, and a wholesome simple way of life. With the fourth lowest crime rate in the United States, clean air, and a strong sense of community, it’s no wonder that Maine is drawing families, retirees, and those looking to live a more no traffic, self-sufficient lifestyle.
Living and volunteering in a small Maine town. Be prepared to step up, dig in and help out on local projects. Not just for one year but for life. It’s how you meet the unique talent loaded folks around you in a small Maine community.
It’s like being brought into a large family and feeling you have a purpose when making Maine your new home base.
What if you could wake up each day on your own piece of Maine land, surrounded by rolling fields, towering pines, and the sound of birds instead of sirens? Low-priced farm properties in Maine offer just that. Whether you’re looking for a small homestead, a fixer-upper farm, or acres of land to build your dream home, rural Maine real estate is still surprisingly affordable.
Or maybe you just want to get below radar and stop the spin of the World.
Take a break from people on all four sides. Parking it in your waterfront log cabin on a Maine lake to rest and relax? That price of $32,500 and you own the land can’t be right. Right? What? Not a misprint? Whoa.
There’s something for everyone in drop dead gorgeous Maine that will grab you by the heart strings and never let go.
Are You In This Dream About Maine Vacations? Low Cost, No People, More Wildlife, Better Sunrises, Sunsets. Maine.
Raising your family in a small Maine town or starting a Mom and Pop family business is another reason to move to Maine for many!
Better Place To Raise Kids. Small Maine Town Are.
I’ve read other studies showing Maine squarely in the top ten as favorite places on radar to consider packing up and moving to today.
Farming in Maine isn’t just about growing crops—it’s about building a way of life. Families are rediscovering the benefits of multi-generational living, much like the classic Waltons-style households where gram and gramp, kids, and grand kids all share the same homestead. The quality of life soars and you realize more and more about why this move, relocation to Maine was so right.
It’s not just cost-effective; it creates a support system that modern life often lacks. Imagine having loved ones just steps away, sharing chores, meals, and memories in a way that strengthens family bonds.
Head To The Country, Get Away From Traffic, People, Smog, Crime. How Long Has The Dream About Moving To Maine “Someday” Been Playing In Your Head?
Maine’s small towns feel like a big extended family.
Neighbors wave as you drive by, people help each other, volunteer, and come together during hard times. Every person, with their own quirks, skills, and stories, contributes to the fabric of the community. Whether it’s a local farm stand, a town potluck, or a group gathering to help bring in the hay, there’s a strong sense of belonging here that’s hard to find elsewhere.
Moving, relocation to a small Maine town, what do you worry about or makes you not so sure if it is a hot idea? Often the doubt is not thinking such a place can exist in real life. Or folks around you that have never set foot in Maine are experts telling you don’t do it. Do your homework, reach out and let’s tackle the concerns. Discuss the pros and cons of moving, relocation to a small Maine town.
For those seeking a healthier, more active lifestyle, a Maine farm provides daily exercise, fresh air, and farm-to-table quality food.
Maine offers four distinct seasons, each bringing its own charm. The crisp autumn air and vibrant foliage, the snowy landscapes of winter, the lush greenery of spring, and the long sunny days of summer all make farming in Maine a rewarding experience.
Maine Small Town Living, Nothing Compares.
If you’ve ever dreamed of living off the land, raising animals, growing your own food, or simply having space to breathe, now is the time to explore Maine’s affordable rural real estate.
Whether you want to homestead, create a retreat, or start a small-scale farm business, there’s never been a better time to invest in a piece of unspoiled Maine countryside. Houses in town, property land acreage, a waterfront getaway in Maine. There are all pleasantly lower priced the further up into Maine you travel and explore.
Why keep putting off the dream that haunts you about relocating, moving to Maine?
Farm properties in Maine are still within reach, but as more people discover the benefits of country living, demand is growing. Find your perfect farm and start building the life you’ve always wanted—wholesome, peaceful, and connected to nature.
Check out a new Maine property 50 acre farm listing video, with an extra 25 next to that if you want more elbow room.
Would you like help finding the best affordable farms in Maine, homes, land, rental property, small business and waterfront listings ?
Let’s talk. Call, click, text, send smoke signals, come visit us in Aroostook County. Thank you for stopping by our Me In Maine blog post today and please explore the other posts! Anything “Vacationland” and what’s it like living here. What you need to prepare you for the moving, relocation to Maine. It’s all fair game in the blog posts about simple living in Maine.
How to start a small farm in Maine, why people homestead?
Space, less or no regulations, no home owner’s associations, low crime. Is it time to trade the chaos of city life for simple living, no traffic, and the natural beauty of rural Maine? More and more people are moving to Maine for peace and quiet, affordability, and a wholesome way of life.
Getting Out Of A Maine Real Estate Office, Not Pinned To A Wall By A Desk. Me In Maine Blog Author Andrew Mooers Does!Maine, The Way Life Should Be. One Big State, Lots Of Special Hidden Areas To Discover.
Running a farmstead like maybe some family member did years ago in their family.
I talk to many who remember as kids coming to Maine on summer vacations.
Helping their grandparents with chores on a Maine farm. And these folks think they want their grandchildren exposed to the same self reliance and feeling empowered working the Maine farm land.
With the fourth lowest crime rate in the United States, clean air, and a strong sense of community, it’s no wonder that Maine is drawing families, retirees, and those looking to live a more self-sufficient lifestyle.
What if you could wake up each day on your own piece of land, surrounded by rolling fields, towering pines, and the sound of birds instead of sirens? Low-priced farm properties in Maine offer just that. Whether you’re looking for a small homestead, a fixer-upper farm, or acres of land to build your dream home, rural Maine real estate is still surprisingly affordable.
Small scale farming in Maine isn’t just about growing crops—it’s about building a way of life.
Families are rediscovering the benefits of multi-generational living, much like the classic Waltons-style households where gram and gramp, kids, and grand kids all share the same homestead. It’s not just cost-effective; it creates a support system that modern life often lacks. Imagine having loved ones just steps away, sharing chores, meals, and memories in a way that strengthens family bonds.
Here’s a video to watch for 40 acre farm property in Maine with two houses as an example of a current Maine real estate listing.
Maine’s small towns feel like a big extended family.
Neighbors wave as you drive by, people help each other, volunteer, and come together during hard times. Every person, with their own quirks, skills, and stories, contributes to the fabric of the community. Whether it’s a local farm stand, a town potluck, or a group gathering to help bring in the hay, there’s a strong sense of belonging here that’s hard to find elsewhere. How to start a small micro farm in Maine.
For those seeking a healthier, more active lifestyle, a Maine farm provides daily exercise, fresh air, and farm-to-table quality food.
Maine offers four distinct seasons, each bringing its own charm. The crisp autumn air and vibrant foliage, the snowy landscapes of winter, the lush greenery of spring, and the long sunny days of summer all make farming in Maine a rewarding experience. Your small farm in Maine.
Country Home, Your Outbuildings On The Maine Farmstead. Could You Build Your Own Slowly?
If you’ve ever dreamed of living off the land, raising animals, growing your own food, or simply having space to breathe, now is the time to explore Maine’s affordable rural real estate.
Whether you want to homestead, create a retreat, or start a small-scale farm business, there’s never been a better time to invest in a piece of unspoiled Maine countryside. Buy an old farm tractor, yesteryear equipment and work the land, til the soil.
There is lots of Maine land to buy for little per acre cost. See the buildings, the wide open space in a Maine town with less than 30 people in it? Never going to be Walmart in Drew Plantation, Maine.
Maine Homestead, Looking For A Relocation To Vacationland?
It’s smart to get a mix of land like the video above that is 40 acres total but 10 acres cleared pasture farm land and the rest mixed woods. The clearing wooded land and removing stumps, rocks is a long expensive back breaking process. Start with cleared open land or bush hog the pasture farm field starting to grow up to golden rod and mustard. Start small, think big, think independent and farm to table.
Quick Facts On One Maine Farm Property For Sale!
Why keep putting off the dream of owning or building a home on Maine farm land?
Farm properties in Maine are still within reach, but as more people discover the benefits of country living, demand is growing. Find your perfect farm and start building the life you’ve always wanted—wholesome, peaceful, and connected to nature. For many, the news has them nervous, the high tailing it to small rural Maine and getting below radar looks pretty attractive.
The farm property in Maine you buy does not have to be like the one in Green Acres.
Homesteads, Farm Properties In Maine.
Funny show but we don’t climb telephone poles to make landline calls anymore in Maine.
No mortgage, no high cost of living and more wildlife than people in vast under populated areas of Vacationland. It’s no laughing matter and folks are getting serious about making a change in where they live. Would you like help finding the best affordable farms in Maine? Let’s talk about Maine real estate, my real job when not blogging about the Pine Tree state.
The legislation enacted into law during the Civil War opened up wilderness, vast expanses of acres with little or no population. Land was plentiful and not so valuable. Clearing it, settlements in Maine took a lot of hard work, plenty of faith in yourself and others in the new neighborhood.
Free Land For Settlers In Maine. One Way To Populate Unsettled Maine Townships.
In Maine, 100 free acres of land were available to help attract new settler immigrants to move to America.
Unfortunately, no one fighting on the side of the Confederacy was allowed to play in the Homestead Land Grant of 1862. That changed in 1890 to open it up to those wearing gray during the War Between The States.
160 acres of free land to open up and settle parts of the West, up into Maine, everywhere.
Farm Property In Maine. Your Nearest Neighbor A Half Mile Away.
The Morrill legislation provided for 210,000 land grants to promote higher education. Going to the University of Maine I always knew UMO was a land grant college.
Giving land to the land grant educational state colleges and university institution to sell to fund the higher education was a lofty idea.
I had listed a 50 acres of Maine land in New Sweden recently and got to thinking how the Swedish picked up state in their old country. To make the trip across the pond to rural Maine.
More Outdoor Space, Owning More Land With Your Home In Maine.
Up here in Maine, instead of 160 free land acres, the offer was changed a little.
Five acres of 100 were cleared, an 18’x26′ cabin provides to help the new Maine settlers. Each log cabin had a Hampden wood cook stove.
The settlements sprung up around a brook, stream, river. The waterways were vital to run mills and if successful, a boarding home might spring up. The Bangor and Aroostook Railroad helps open up the Swedish settlements in Northern Maine.
Valuable For Heat, For Home Cooking, The Farm House Wood Stove.
When you are warm from an unending supply of firewood and you raise your own food, the national economy news is not of much effect.
Oh sure, teacher salaries might have to be cut but the Maine free land homesteading settlement farm and lumbering families had all they needed.
Peru and Mexico were Maine town names that came from struggles happening in those countries at the time. Paris Maine was in honor and payment for service in the French and Indians Wars. The land grant from Massachusetts before Maine became a state.
Poland Maine and higher wages in the US than Europe caused the influx of population during the Gilded Age in the late 1800’s.
A name for an unorganized Township 5 Range 2 came from many places. Not because the earlier settlers had a connection to a particular country or culture. You think of the early Swedes or whatever country the immigrant came from and have to admire their grit and faith.
The St John River Valley, Aroostook County’s Crown Of Maine.
The early years in New Sweden, Stockholm area had setbacks like anyone farming, working in the woods getting the timber to the mills.
Poor crops, lousy market prices, forest fires, sickness but always always a hard work day ahead. Clearing the land, farming, lumbering, toiling to create strong lasting Maine communities. It took stamina, a strong faith and cooperation from other free land homesteading immigrants resettling in rural Maine. Free land grant in Maine, an opportunity for a brighter future than staying where you were across the ocean.
Unsettled and under populated wilderness areas of Maine and the free land to homestead were an opportunity. For families to pack up and move here but not for vacations. For a new start, for free Maine land and some other perks to entice settling rural parts of the state. To carve out a life where family values, cultural and religious traditions could continue in the new Maine location.
Get calls from Maine real estate buyers who need to invest in property someplace else that where they now live.
Maine, The Way Life Should Be. One Big State, Lots Of Special Hidden Areas To Discover.
Some are looking for a vacation home location and Maine scores top of the list.
Moving to Maine.
Others just know they can not stay where they live now. Either to raise a family, run a business, to retire and enjoy the Golden Years as best they can.
Had a lady from Texas as a recent example who dreams of moving to Maine.
Getting Out Of The Maine Real Estate Office, Not Pinned To The Wall By A Desk. Lucky To Live In Maine Is How I Feel Every Day!
Her husband works for the phone company, she has MS and is from Maine.
Does not need a prepping on what it is like living in Maine.
The couple bought a house for around $150,000 years ago near Houston Texas that is now worth three times that figure.
“It’s too hot and burning up” is a remark I hear a lot these days and those exact words she shared with me on the phone today.
This lady says you know it is time to move when you come out of a big box store and your jeep is parked next to a Lamborghini on one side, a Maserati on the other.
There’s one of the signs. This couple in their early 60’s are looking to sell out and move away to get to Maine.
It’s not just the cost of living outside rural Maine that is nose bleed high pushing the pack up push back to relocate to “Vacationland”.
Maine is drop dead naturally gorgeous and a four season stunner.
The simple small town way of living in rural Maine is the hook, the carrot.
The communities, the people who live in small town Maine are the best. You wake up and wonder who plowed your driveway and have no idea. A casserole shows up with a hand written note “I know you are going through a tough time in your life and hope you like this covered dish at meal time.”.
Or “heard your mom had fallen and hope she is doing okay” is also on the same note.
In large over populated rush rush hurry scurry areas, kind gestures don’t happen like that. In small town rural Maine they do all the time.
Smaller group of people, friendly happens. More intimate, personal and friendly. Less crime, no traffic and lower cost of living kicks in living in rural Maine. High price of fuel oil or gas, no problem. Heat with renewable resource wood and warm as toast.
Live Music, A Maine Community Band Supplies It Weekly For Free. That’s Maine.
Next year’s heating supply of wood is all cut, stacked, stored away. Mainers are more organized and well prepared. The root cellar in the home basement has canned fruits and vegetables. The chest freezer gets pulled from over the winter months.
A garden is a source of joy and tasty food your planted on your knees and kept weeded, watered, tended.
Sometimes searching online comes up with very little Chamber of Commerce type information blurbs.
Hard To Stay Indoors For Long Living In Maine.
No chamber, low population and just not a lot to browse and consider in typical small rural Maine towns.
Or other times, lots of write up on many websites created that just miss the mark. What should happen is testimonials on why do you live in Maine? What makes you some kind of glad everyday you live in Maine? What is life like and what do you do for fun?
One website I stumbled upon tries to pick a region of Maine and showcase a “day in the life” there.
The hour by hour break down would not attract anyone to come to Maine let alone stay here. The same format write up but find a different local coffee shop, insert it.
Life Is A Maine Beach. Salt Water, Fresh Air, A Summer Breeze At A Maine Beach.
Highlight the mill the local Maine native works at and mention how during break they take a walk to enjoy the outdoor location. That’s it. No images, no narrative written by the local native… just how someone outside Maine would describe what life is like. About as exciting as watching paint dry. It is obvious who threw together the copy does not feel grateful they live in Maine.
We Have A Green Light On Derby Hill! Heat 109, Drivers Ready…? Check Your Brakes.
I hope the images, the video embeds and what is blogged about on Me In Maine is worthwhile and transparent.
Living here, raising a family in Maine and enjoying four seasons of so much natural beauty is part of what pulls at a person’s heartstrings.
But the community spirit, the local population that steps up to help out and shares the same lucky to live in Maine attitude.
So many people in this World want to run far away to hide out somewhere, anywhere. Moving to Maine. Itching to run away and doing your home work on just where?
Maine, are you looking for small town friendly and real, wholesome, healthy?
Houlton Maine, Everyone Is Excited About The Total Solar Eclipse April 8, 2024!
If you know of a boy or girl in Maine, anywhere around the state who wants to race in the soap box derby, please reach out.
Every young driver should not have to wait until they are sixteen to get behind the wheel of a car. Learn the “thrill of the hill” happens at Community Park in Aroostook County’s oldest town each June.
The winner goes on to represent the state at the big All American Soap Box Derby Race out west in Akron Ohio.
Need to send them a race application for the big state of Maine race on Derby Hill in Houlton Maine.
Also, the count down has started. Ready for the big total solar eclipse in Maine? Here to help with logistics if you are heading North to experience it in Northern Maine, Aroostook County!
April 8th, 2024. Circle it several times in red magic marker please and thank you.
Sorry, you snooze and lose. It will be a lotta years before the next one in Maine. There is no rain date for the total solar eclipse in Houlton Maine 2024, the last location in the USA to experience “Totality.
