Category: Living in Maine

Work Life Balance When You Live In Maine

The work life balance when you live in Maine. For me, each new day is an amazing opportunity to try something new.

Work. Life. Balance. To meet and learn from folks both local and far far from my home town Maine zip code surroundings. I believe being raised on a Maine farm with three older brothers in a tight working family created a positive foundation to build on day by day. The challenges of dealing with the unpredictable weather, precarious agriculture produce markets and trained to be efficient in time and money management early on has serve me well through out life.

Juggling Your Life Work Balance And Keeping Perspective. More Time In Maine Helps Clear Your Head.

Wikipedia defines work-life balance as the “lack of opposition between work and other life roles”.

It is the state of equilibrium in which demands of personal, professional and family life are equal.” Balancing work and life outside your job. I believe living in Maine has so so many advantages when walking that life tight rope. To have it all, to do it your way, to smell lots of roses along the way is anyone’s hope and desire right?

But how to easy does it balance your work life balance and pursuits living in Maine?

Knowing what is important to you, knowing how you tick. Making time for what seasoning needs to be in your life to enhance and enrich it. Maine to me is the perfect back drop to study and tweak what truly is needed for harmony and balance in the work life competition for how you chose to use your time. All this space, unspoiled pure and natural outdoor beauty. Maine. It’s not like this many other place. Maine is really like the marketing slogan says, “the way life should be”.

A New Day Spent In Four Season Maine. The Surroundings Help Your Work Life Balancing Act.

Money. Cash in your pocket, tucked away in a bank account or invested around you in the Maine community.

You need far less to keep your head above water in Maine. Housing is way cheaper. You don’t need to sell a duplicate organ or cut off an arm or leg to buy a house in Maine. Carrying one or more mortgages for long is not the local norm. Mainers are brought up to expect hardships, set backs and bumps in the road. Experience with tough situations is what sharpens your skills and level of deep down inside gratitude. Work life balance living in Maine.

They say seventy five to ninety percent of visits to the doctor are related to stress according to national medical statistics.

Problems with depression and stinking thinking. The work life balance when you live in Maine, anywhere. Stress causes everything from headaches to back pain to the inability to function properly in life’s simplest tasks. Poor coping skills can cause added stress. Expectations beyond what they should immediately be is a mental load that robs a person from a feeling of peace and contentment. Chasing the financial objectives to fuel the retail therapy for temporary happiness won’t work in the long run.

Your Backdrop That Helps The Feeling Of Contentment, Reduces Stress And Adds Fulfillment. Maine Offers That!

Debt is a cancer too. Better money management should not have to come from a Dave Ramsey course charged on your credit card in ongoing installments.

You should see the how to run your household finances the right way from your parents and share the same financial skills with your youngsters around the meal time table conversations. In talks from spending more time with family and less time working a zillion hours a week to keep your head above water and making ends meet. The mission is not just to exist and live by the seat of your pants without a plan or practicing procrastination. But to squeeze out the natural juices to enjoy all that life can offer with the right perspective and expecting not everything is going to always run smoothly.

Mainers keep it simple, have their heads screwed on straight. Their kids work, do chores, learn early on how to manage money and what impulse control is all about to save for rainy days. Something they really want and can buy themselves with their own money if the price is right. If money they earn is not wasted on nickel and dime endeavors only. Saving needs to start early to become a life long habit of living below your means for the nest egg for retirement, for a rainy day.

Earning Money, Entry Level Work Early On. Mainers Are Workers, Not Lazy.

My Dad’s University of Maine at Orono college graduation commencement speaker told the crowd sitting in the audience waiting for the rolled up diplomas to go forth and make a difference.

Be a spark, add to your surroundings and be an asset to yourself, family, local community. But in the wise words of advice to apply to their life, he sincerely shared that it was his hope that each and every new college graduate “knew adversity early on in life”. So they could apply what was learned from lessons made from mistakes early on to benefit and shape their life for the better as it progressed.

Around Maine, streamed cyber and safely distanced graduation ceremonies are one by one happening this week across Vacationland. Despite COVID19 adjustments to the norm routine in small town Maine living, creative work arounds to do the job at hand are underway. Making the most of what life throws at you is a test of not just your resiliency to survive and persevere. But it is the mental exercise that boosts your sense of appreciation, patience and helps you stay centered. To take stock along the way of what is really important to you and others you share your life. We all strive to live in different degrees off the land. For farm to table food locally sourced. For recreation and exercise and healthy perspective to remind us what is important, what is not worth the time to purse that is shallow or artificial or not lasting.

Fresh Eggs, Farm To Table. Satisfaction Knowing Where Your Food Comes From Daily.

When you live in Maine, the four season outdoor recreation is always ready and waiting.

You can mix business with pleasure and keep things balanced. We have Nature in our backyards, not hours of driving or miles away. Hopping on the bike for an early morning ride or strapping on your boards for some aerobic exercise to clear your head. Nothing is stopping us from heading out the door where we all spend most of our time through out the year. Dressing a little different to adjust to temperatures and weather patterns all taken in stride but we are not going to deprive ourselves from fresh air, all the rich scenery that involves water, wildlife, no crowds of people.

Social distancing was already the norm when the population is small and sparsely spread over a state as vast and unspoiled at Maine.

We like our own company, need time alone to think and process. Parked on a rock terrain on say Cadillac Mountain gawking out and detaching from your day to day cares, joys, woes is the all natural medication to apply to ourselves. When you already live in Maine, you have it made for safe and drop dead gorgeous surroundings. We have plenty of practice being one on one or alone and don’t fight it. Those times to reflect and process without interruptions or distractions are important vitamins to help the work life balance.

A New Day, The Air Cooler Than The Maine Lake Water Temperature Gives You Perspective.

Money is not so important living in rural Maine.

The right perspective and don’t take yourself so serious humble attitude works best in small communities around Maine. The can do spirit to dig in and learn how on your own or networking with others that barter back and forth in the exchange of goods and services. Small town Maine life is more connected. All the individuals in the small community social fabric are needed to rise and fall like the boats in the harbor lifted by the tide.

So work life balance living in Maine.

If what you do for work is fun, if there is sincere enjoyment from a labor of love well done. That’s what builds joy and gratitude. Helps the unpleasant developments roll off and not cause such a negative reaction. I believe Mainers are highly enthused and don’t get discouraged as easily as those feeling helpless and lost in the sea of faces along a crowded city street. We are more hands on, in control holding the reins to our own destinies.

Fresh Air, Long Views, No Worries. Life Work Balancing Easier In Maine. Exercise Is Key. So Is S-P-A-C-E And Elbow Room.

Binge eating, smoking, over drinking self medication only causes insecurity, exhaustion and difficulty concentrating and we have too much we want to accomplish to waste time on those endeavors. The satisfaction from our work and not the hours poured into it is the key to work life balance with family care giving and relationship maintenance. Work takes less effort when you are excited to get up and hop out of bed to begin again.

If you are not in a career that more often than not gives you a sense of purpose and satisfaction, plan your exit.

At the right time, juggling all the obligations surrounding you and people depending on you to enter in a new life phase. Don’t complain, do not blame or sit on your hands. And ask the person you stare back at brushing your teeth and combing your hair in the morning mirror one question. What’s wrong, what’s right and if anything needs adjustment you have control over, what are you gonna do about it? What are the options and best move ahead of you? Here my piece of Maine life story change of careers.

Empowerment comes I think from being more personally involved in your life.

Hands on and less hired out. You get your hands dirty lifting the hood and tinkering. Not relying so much on others to engineer your life. More skills developed early on in life increases your confidence, avoids delays, saves money and creates satisfaction. Teach your kids life skills and reinforce them in yourself is not a bad ideal to stay sharp and current. Life is not sour, not worthless or hopeless unless you thrown your hands in the air and give up. Feeling good about yourself means get moving, become involved and help others who in turn offer their assistance.

What’s For Sale, What Do Your Need Or What Do You Want? Window Shopping In Camden Maine At Night.

Summer is underway in Maine.

People are opening up camps. Many out of staters have been using their second vacation homes in Maine as their new outpost. Working remotely and telecommuting to leave the packed like sardines city apartments or households. Trading it in for simple Maine living. Getting out on the water, hitting the recreational trails, planting gardens, puttering around our homes and involved in community affairs. Working from home, educating our kids under the same roof as school vacation during COVID19 rolls on for locals too.

Glad to live in Maine where work balance is easier even with the coronovirus impact on daily life in Vacationland.

Our work defines us and for those out of work, you can only do so many job jar household projects repainting and repairing. But as the state opens up and health safety procedures with the face mask, gloves, booties too as I list and sell Maine real estate, every day is a reminder. From folks outside Maine who are not so fortunate and lacking the simple options living here not there offers.

Here’s a couple videos of new properties in Maine for sale to show you what I do in my day job.

Maybe you are looking for a lakefront property in Maine for summer living, even more. Pick a pair of ME waterfront listings.

Promoting Maine to others helps reinforce my own glad to live here more than ever convictions.

Work life balance when you live in Maine. Ever thought of relocating to achieve that ebb and flow harmony? With two grandchildren, healthy family around me and a wonderful partner, good health, living in Maine. I know how lucky I am and consider that I have it made. Stay safe, take care and thank you for following our Me In Maine blog post. Good luck keeping your work life in balance in check during COVID19 and other juggling balls your keep in the air.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

June 3, 2020
Picnics In Maine

Picnics in Maine.

Most people I know enjoy food cooked outside over an open fire or sizzling on the gas grill. Munching on whatever gets served up and slide onto the plate is way way tastier combined with Maine outdoor scenery too. One exception, if there is no breeze, it’s early summer. And the black flies and mosquitoes dive in like Stuka bombers without the high pitched whistle signaling the attack.

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

This blog posts is about the pleasure and practical aspects of picnicking in Maine.

For starters, what does the word picnic mean, where did it come from any way? The French get the credit for the word picnic. The word pique-nique which means “pick, peck, nab” a small morsel of food. Combined with the second half meaning “of little importance, trifle”. That sounds like nibbling and snacking to me.

Grazing on nuts and berries is what comes to mind like climbing Mt Katahdin with the four kids taking trail side mini picnic stops.

Paddling Out To An Island, An Offshore Lighthouse For A Picnic Lunch. Food Prepared And Enjoyed Outdoors IN Maine. Nothing Like That Simple Experience!

Reaching into a bag of gorp. Which is a trail mix snack of nuts, dried fruit, granola, nuts, maybe chocolate for some quick energy without the bulk of carrying a picnic basket full of goodies. Or I think of wagon trains of pioneers and horse riders headed West in search of free farm land to homestead on or suffering from Gold or Silver Fever lust. Picnics would be quick pit stops to stop the possession and refuel and to avoid saddle sores. Take care of nature calls out in the privacy of the brush. To open up a can of beans. Again. (more…)

May 26, 2020
Land In Maine, What’s The Big Attraction?

Land in Maine has always been a low cost investment made for lots of reasons.

People need vacations and the sheer size and less population make the state of Maine shine for lots of land for little money. Camping, recreational trips up to Maine have been a past time for many out of state all four seasons.

When Summer Green Turns To Just Browns, Blues. It’s Late Fall In Maine. After The Foliage Color Explosion Of Leaves. Before Winter White Happens.

Land In Maine. Vast, Not Populated, Unspoiled. Loaded With Wildlife And Outdoor Recreation Trail Options.

But now, with the coronovirus pandemic hanging on and putting a kink in the hose of regular day to day living, Maine land is more popular than ever.

The get a lot for a little is part of it. Large acreages, the 40 acre tracks or more bought to use for vacations starting out was the plan. But in the back of their minds, many of the Maine land buyers eventually can see themselves homesteading. Either by choice for the simple, wholesome albeit harder lifestyle of grow your own and heat your home all done from your own Maine land investment property.

Land in Maine.

The burning desire causing the itch inside to move to Maine relocation. Sometimes the driving force is to buy Maine land done out of fear and to regroup. To distance yourself from people. More often than not the phone conversation starts with “I want to get away from people”. Or “I don’t want to see a soul.” The caller or emailer or texter makes it clear that it’s not because they are anti-social. They just want space that is not shared with a slew of other people. The reasoning is other people are the source of your problems in life.They can be a source of help and share your joy, add to your happiness. But if you don’t have a neighbor to complain about a barking dog or your target practicing at tin cans, life will go smoother. Many are burned out on people,

Let’s face it, jammed together urban living is not so healthy and very expensive. Maine small rural settings don’t have the crime, there are no gangs, zip for traffic. Plenty of wildlife, a lot less regulations to restrict your freedom down at the small town hall. The back to the land movement is something not just our Maine Amish communities are developing. Lots of multi generation buying going on with families eye balling the change of mailing addresses up in the left hand corner of their Christmas card lists.

Searching out acreage, land in Maine, the reasons people hunt it down is varied.

But underneath all is land. Low cost land in Maine comes in generous helpings of acreage. Load up like the country farm style way of serving the meal time food. Eat up. More where this came from and no good reason for anyone to leave the table still hungry and looking for a drive through. When I started listing land in Maine for sale as a young real estate broker, the acreage in forty or larger sizes were $250 or $100 an acre. Rich, fertile farm land with road frontage and power was the former priced. The cut over, had a right of way access and no many positives once the forest timber was removed and trucked to the closest mill. That kind of junk cheap Maine land was the $100 per acre priced and came with generous owner financing.

Pasture, Crop Land In Maine. Some Dirt Is Hard Working, Not Just Pretty To Look At And Enjoy The Hi Test Scenery From Parked In A Folding Chair Camping.

The seller knowing you could not hurt the land in Maine.

The damage was done and the skidder ruts and groves in the forest floor were filling with water and stump, limb debris scattered everywhere the eye could see. There’s an expression for this kind of cut over wood lot. “A woodpecker would have to pack a lunch to just fly across it.” Stripped, raped, clear cut and not so sympathetic to soil erosion that can wash silt into the precious waterways many miles away. That’s how watersheds in Maine work. What happens many miles away affect the lakes, rivers, streams, brooks and is serious stuff.

Fear of catching, surviving or just not wanting to spread the COVID19 virus. That sure has accelerated the desire for Maine land. Bought as an insurance policy and piece of mind. For the move to Vacationland once their existing out of state homes sell and loose ends on their end can be tied up neatly. Social distancing is a piece of cake when people to bang into and avoid hitting are just not in the picture.

Long Views, The Kind In Maine Where Conversation Stops, Jaws Drop. You Unplug To Recharge And Suspend Life For A Healthy Spell.

Land in Maine.

Like people, soils are different. That’s the slug tag line on a local Maine soil evaluator, dirt tester to figure out if the property is buildable or not. Bill Hersey in Caribou Maine designed septic and gray water disposal designs. The HHE 200 and he is right. Soils like people are different. Even before you move into the location of the Maine land. What the drainage is, the profile of the first and what the Maine land is ideally suited for is important to know. It’s even stricter to protect the waterfront resource around the shore land zones in Maine. You can fix up what’s lacking in a home. Changing soils is not so easy and involves Mother Nature, glacier action years ago and not something a carpenter with a tool box can straighten out and correct.

The marching to Maine to find cheap land is nothing new.

Folks have been doing it for years. Some need jobs in Maine to go with their Maine land purchase. Many telecommute and bring those work from home remote employment careers opportunities with them. They already have jobs they labor at and pack them with all their personal belongings to bring with them. Driving large rental moving trucks packed to the gills with all their family pets and loved ones in tow over the big green river bridge entering Maine’s southern tip.

Land In Maine On The Waterfront. That’s Ambrosia, The Eye Candy Of The Gods.

In the mix too, those with retirement checks that will follow them to Maine also make the exodus back to small town rural Maine living in search of land.

Some grew up here in Maine and left to pursue financial objectives in their career choices. Others familiar with Maine from attending school at a Maine college and remember those years fondly. They never gave up the notion to one day, someday buying a piece of land in Maine would happen. Often because the idea of buying Maine land where they live in the city is out of the question. Too expensive and often just does not exist. That’s why “go west young man” was a common direction many headed to stake a claim. Start a family homestead to create a lifestyle that might not be much but it was all mine. Slowly improved on and passed on to the next generation as a legacy.

Still more Maine land buyers were stationed at say Dow or Loring Air Force Base or the Cutler, Brunswick naval facilities in their Uncle Sam service hitch.

Land In Maine Put To Work. Crops Rotated From Potatoes To Grains When The Dirt Is Made Productive.

They remembered and enjoyed the industry watching what happens on Maine farm land.

They wish to return and invest in that feeling of “Americana” country living. If you worked on the border in Customs, Immigration, Border Patrol or for the state police and Maine was part of the climb up the promotional ladder, that’s your first glimpse of what living in Maine is like. Some larger companies move their middle managers around the Pine Tree State and like a buffet, these Maine land buyers sampled a lot of areas. Finally settling on the area they loved most that fits their lifestyle choice at this stage of life. Land in Maine with waterfront or at least a view of it in the distance. Elevated Maine land to provide one jaw dropping view of the countryside or out over water.

Populated areas can have high elevations of land in the level to rolling terrain.

But what are you really looking at when parked on the land is not in Maine? People, houses, highways, structures to herd those people around the urban areas. Maine is vast, open, wooded, under populated with people. Loaded with wildlife. Maybe taking a lesson from the four legged is a smart move. Live where wildlife likes it best. Listen to the bird’s singing. There is a reason like two legged snow birds they migrate back to Maine year in and year out.

Horses Keep The Pasture Low And “Mowed”. Munching On The Farm Land Grass.

Vacationing here and loving it, thinking someday I’ll do more and move to Maine.

That group is a large segment of who buys the small price, large sized Maine land acreages. Or the waterfront property on one of Maine many lakes and ponds or along the coastal regions if they carry a hefty wallet or purse. Because Maine is low population, owning your own smaller piece of land is plenty. When the competition for land in short supply and price tags with big numbers is removed from the buying land equation. If what neighbors you for land is a steep incline or depression. If a swamp is what is across the street where no one would ever build. You have protection. It’s like extra land in Maine you enjoy the peace and quiet. But don’t get the property tax bill once a year to settle up with the folks down at the town hall.

Can you see yourself the owner of a small Maine farm where you live off the land pretty self sufficiently?

Or parked next to a Maine lake listening to crying loons and spending a big part of your day out on the water? Maybe breathing fresh salty coastal air and dickering directly with the lobster boat operator for the tonight’s what’s for supper? Becoming involved as a local Maine community volunteer? Attending church, a patron of the local library and blending in with the small Maine town’s people in your new life chapter living in Maine. Land in Maine is the first stop when you don’t need buildings, not looking to insure and maintain structures that you don’t plan to use today. Future considerations. The long term life plan. Land in Maine is often part of the scheme.

Maine Land. Owning Where You Are Standing. You Feel More Connected With The Land In Maine When It’s All Yours.

The move to Maine is for what the state is loaded with and just as important what it lacks.

Who would not relish the wide open freedom of being sparsely populated and stepping out your back door into Nature? The simple living, friendly local crime free atmosphere is a breath of fresh air to most. No traffic, not burdened with over regulation, not needing a lot of money to enjoy all that Maine offers for free. There is a lot of like and today you don’t feel cut off or remote thanks to amazing Internet broadband connectivity that serves as a very important digital support umbilical cord.

Yesterday, a Maine real estate buyer calls from Nashville TN who runs an online high end digital printing service for fine art.

He and his wife are from 100 miles out of Sidney Australia. Also have a cell phone software development company that’s doing quite well. After watching several local community play list videos, the pair want to buy land in Maine.

Right after that interesting phone call, another Maine land buyer makes the office phone ring. Asking about Maine land but also first multi unit rent properties. Wanting to buy some income generating rental apartment units to get established on the East coast while listing and selling off his residential rental properties in Bakersfield, CA. Over crowded, way way too expensive living in California and stuck in a place that is so not like Maine. Complaining about all the smog that gets blow over Bakersfield CA from the LA area and fed up, ready to make a slow, calculated move to Maine.

Getting High Up To See Out. Some Land In Maine Is In A Better Location, Location, Location.

Maine land, plenty to go around and pretty attractively priced is getting more attention online.

We are so lucky to live in Maine. Others are discovering the secret and want a chunk of Maine land. How much easier it is to weather an economic storm or a COVID19 pandemic when we already live “social distanced”. Or practicing “green” before the easy does in on the environment, be a good steward, think of the next generation. We’ve been living that simpler, healthier approach for years in Maine. Long before it earned a color buzz word label and started trending high and with it’s own hash tag.

Land in Maine is self sufficient survival necessary. Not just fun to camp on and build open fires to gaze into and do some grillin’ while chillin’. Those same fires with the circle of chairs to let go, unplug and start collecting all those positive ions. Land in Maine is space. Everyone needs elbow room and give me some room to breathe, to think, to just take a break.

The Ends Of The Day in Maine. Those Are Extra Special Times To Enjoy On Land In Maine. Sunrises, Sunsets Center You And No Two The Exact Same.

Land in Maine.

It’s not just the low price. Maine property acreage is easy to buy and often seller owner financing is offered to real estate buyers. The land owner does not need to replace the property like you would with a house to get another one. No bank, custom made payments to fit the Maine land buyer’s budget make it before you know it, the property acreage is free and clear. The woods in the forested sections goes up in value as it grows and matures. But the where the cheap land is located is the biggest attraction. Surrounded by nature, not people and development. Unspoiled, pure, natural. Sounds like a organic food product commercial huh?

The open farm land is fertile and can be rented out with a local farmer paying per acreage a set fee for the agriculture lease.

Thinking you would like to own some land in Maine?

Or another low cost land in Maine video to watch option.

It’s cheaper to own than you think. I get my exercise tramping Maine land to find the boundary property times and showing it to prospective buyers. It’s not just homes, houses, condos and timeshares that a Maine real estate broker and agent peddle up 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

May 17, 2020
Maine Potatoes, Let’s Talk About Spuds

Maine potatoes, I grew up on a spud farm.

Did I eat a lot of rice growing up you ask? (Smiling) Ah no. The Maine potato was king for the entire country back in the 1940’s. Maine grew more potatoes than any other state in the nation. Aroostook County soil is ideally suited for raising spuds with grain and other ground cover crops put into the growing rotation. Be kind to your soil and the production yield increases while the soil lost to erosion is kept to a minimum.

Preparing The Farm Field Soil To Plant The Potatoes, Whatever Other Seed Or Transplant Needs To Be Place Carefully Into The Dirt Hill Rows.

What kind of Maine potatoes are find the eye, cut into seed to put back into the ground for another crop has changed with the appetite shift of the consumer.

Our family table enjoyed home grown farm raised baked potatoes on many nights to go with the meatloaf, pork chops, steak or baked chicken, whatever was on today’s meal time menu. Baked potatoes, a sliced open hot and steamy Burbank Russet scooped out to add a pad of melting butter to what you mash with your fork hard to beat. But think about all the other ways to enjoy your Maine potato.

The shift from table stock potatoes into specialty brands was the only source of agricultural viability available.

My Dad was president of the Maine Potato Council and we heard lots of table time discussions about the need to get away from monoculture farming. When you put your er… all your eggs in one big potato basket, it’s like betting the farm on only one lucky horse to win, place, show in the farming trifecta.

Today about a quarter of the Maine potatoes raised ear marked for seed use for the eastern seaboard growers.

A little under half of what’s left get sliced, diced and readied to hop in the fryolator or to ride on the large flat tin pan slide into the oven to bake and come out when the bell or buzzer announces “DINNNERRRrrrrrr” time boys and girls.

Wash your hands, Jimmy pour the milk or water please and thank you. Let’s count our blessings. Give praise to for the cook that prepared this wonderful farm to table spread. Susan, it was your turn to set the table tonight. So Jimmy and Rod can wash and stack the dishes. While the younger ones help clear the table.

The appetite is always good and the food never disappoints when you are hungry. When you earned that hunger. The Maine fresh air, wind, sun and rain or snow all help give a person valuable perspective. A constant appreciation for what’s really important in life. We keep the needs small, the list short living on a family farm in Maine.

Let’s check in with a Northern Maine potato farming video.

Nearly a quarter of the spuds raised in Maine are headed the end of their life in dark, protective potato chip bags.

That leaves only about ten percent of the Maine potatoes grown and harvested for use as fresh use in homes, served up in restaurants, for other raw product purposes. Value added, already peeled and prepared, mostly cooked and just needing a rip open the box, pull it out of the refrigerator or freezer. For the finish warming it up in the oven or quick like a bunny pop into the microwave meal time ritual. Fast food for busy lives has over taken the more satisfying slow cooked, take your time and unwind after a hectic but productive day.

Early Mornings. Already Worked 40 Or More Hours By Tuesday Noon. That’s Maine Potato Farming. Never Stops. Runs Around The Clock On Family Farms.

The COVID19 pandemic has shaken the meal time razzle dazzle.

More people rediscovering the joy of home cooked meals that are creative, revisited from old family recipe traditions. Do you have copies of relatives known for their potato or other kinds of dishes? You know the killer recipes that everyone in the family wants them to whip up and bring to family reunions, the end of life after the funeral celebration of life exercise.

Farming Maine potatoes, anything involving crops or agriculture with live animals is a big gamble.

Maine potato farming. The weather is your biggest unknown to do your best to prepare for all that can go wrong. The markets can open or dry up with the same 180 degree reversal. Potatoes are not like dry beans that you can hold onto and peddle the next year. Like strawberries, blueberries unless frozen, go bad like cut flowers that dry out and fade away in the table top vase.

Old Farm Tractors. The Tried And Tested But Without All The High Tech Gadgets. These Are My Favorites. All The Tractors Hooked To Different Farm Attachments.

Boiled, scalloped, twice bake potatoes just a couple meal time variations to keep it anything but same old baked potato.

Each variety shines in new ways for however you approach meal time with the star attraction the Maine potato. Chowders, crock pots and shepherd pies can be in the eenie meenie miney moe along with whipped, the mix with cabbage, the rest of the New England boiled dinner creation. Corn chowder is about as simple but tasty meal time entree to consider and your potato cubes swimming around it the stove top pot just do the heavy lifting in the medley marination of flavors. More Maine potato recipe ideas. https://www.mainepotatoes.com/recipes/

With folks rediscovering the comfort of home during the COVID19 adjustment to control the spread and protect your family and community, cooking from scratch is gaining popularity.

Extra time freed up not running the roads and staying in your castle more makes slow cooked dishes even tastier. Working on the catch up with all the projects around the house as you drain the job jar, a person in Maine gets hungry. Savoring life often starts with slowing it down. The nose in the flowers to sample the scent and look around to see what the rest of the World is up to these days. You have lots of time to think on the back of a Maine farm field potato harvester.

Rock In The Conveyor Belt Tread Jammed Again. Where’s The Crow Bar? Trying Not To Waste Sunshine During Breakdowns.

Any true Mainer prepares and rises to the occasion whenever setbacks knock appear on your door step and you hear the knock on your door.

Maybe it’s the ever changing weather extremes or how we are raised to prepare for and expect setbacks. To not just get through them but to make them define you by actions to help out anyway you can in your small rural Maine town. Life on a farm raising potatoes, critters, other crops gives everyone valuable training for life.

The Maine potato growing up on a farm that raised them for generations is a solid staple, something comfortable for folks where I live.

The potato picking experience and worth ethic brand it leaves deep inside any one that worked in the fields or on the truck or in the spud storage house is priceless. That education and appreciation for Mother Earth and being on the potato farming chain gang with others wearing field dirt clothing over sun burnt and wind reddened skin exposure get it.

Start Them Young, Train Them Well. Potato Farm Harvest Or All The Other Seasons Are Special Times.

Pass the Maine potato please.

Yes, I do believe I will have another spud scoop helping or two. It’s awfully lonely sitting all by itself without that green bean casserole to keep it company. Pass that big bowl of cabbage and banana salad too could you Bub? Everything served country style where take what you need and come back for more until your hunger is gone from work on the Maine potato farm.

Looking out over the hillside landscape standing, bent over a potato basket or filling one by dragging it down on your knees.

The good Earth and it’s bounty creates a lasting appreciation for the simple agricultural way of life on a farm in Maine. Raw, windy, but the kids keep pushing along to help the farmer get the crop out of the ground by hand. Watch a potato picking field operation video underway in Sherman Maine.

Looking for a song to help the one potato, two or more put them in the basket then dump four of those into the empty barrel? To slide a ticket in the stave groove on the top to claim it with your number. Maine potato humming song for just that outdoor labor exercise.

Watch, listen the Tater Raisin’ Man video song.

Potatoes, lots of spuds, ate more than my fair share raised on a Maine farm growing up and over the years since childhood. How do you like your potato served up best and which varieties are what you ask for at the Piggly Wiggly or farm stand?

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

April 23, 2020
Solitude | How To Be Alone In Maine During Coronovirus

Solitude, Maine, Coronovirus. Sheltering in place.

“Alone together”, “social distancing” all takes practice to develop the skill. Presidents, movie stars, writers, artists, families, farmers, fishermen and lumber jacks. They all selected Vacationland as a destination long before Maine even became a state in 1820. Maine’s unspoiled natural resources and remoteness considered perks. In 1878, Teddy Roosevelt got the historic spot put on the map where he daily opened the good book at Bible Point near where I live in Maine. Teddy the rough rider relished solitude mixed with a good adventure.

Making Music Won’t Be This Close In Small Maine Towns. Parades, 4th Celebrations Won’t Be Quite The Same As We Adjust To Protect Against Coronovirus Spread.

Not everyone is hand stand happy being alone or trapped in just small groups for long stretches of solitude time.

Peace and quiet. You seem to need it most when it is missing or in very short supply right? Older people eagerly seek it out more than the go go go younger generation that find the pace way too slow. Easy does it thinking and moderation? Boring to young grasshoppers. Why would you want to live life in the slow lane and do that? Many avoid alone at all costs or just never never had the opportunity to give it a whirl. The coronovirus “shelter in place” mandates started out with a no thank you helping to see how you liked it. Before “they’re HHhhhhh-here” (the coronovirus punk spiked head cells) announced by our Maine media. Like the long blond haired little girl in the early hours watching the static on the TV in her parent’s bedroom.

The coronovirus news at first like a far away asteroid that might or might not hit Earth’s surface.

Let’s wait and see if stricter measures are needed that impact our lives even deeper. Still wrapping up the end of winter weather as the news reporters provided the coronovirus play by play. We caught things out of the corner of our eyes and bits and piece with our ears. Local life as we knew it still held its distraction. We had time for the get ready, cause here she comes. Given just a taste of rein it in and stay at home as the World news story unfolded. While the country’s eyes and ears watched and listened in the dress rehearsal study on our media news channels. How to flatten the curve, head deeper into quarantine to protect others and yourself.

Ramping up to apply stricter measures here in the states as we circled the wagons. Adjusting, processing what was handled right or poorly in other concentrated hot spot areas as the coronovirus picked up steam. Reacting slowly to what we all watched play out for infection rate spread and body counts across the pond and beyond. Mainstream media and arguing politicians, a scared population all helping or hurting the new culture shaping around us.

Just how we felt on any given day about the virus news can vacillates from “we got this” to not so sure as things drag on. As solitude, alone time racking up the hours deepens. As ventilator production increased by local economies stalled. Consumer confidence dipping and the restrictive stay at home, shelter in place mandates caused take a number, have a seat. And if you don’t mind, can you wait out on the curb? No we don’t have a drive through window. Yet. (more…)

April 15, 2020
Barns In Maine

Barns in Maine, there was a time when every family farm had one or more sitting in the center of the agricultural enterprise.

One at a time and not mass produced, the original Maine barns built for farming, not wedding events. Yesteryear small growing Maine rural communities rallied together. The local farm families stepped up to take their turn. Much like our Maine Amish communities do one day a week. Thursday is community day which means everyone pack up and meet over at this week’s location to pitch in and lend a hand. All expected to step up and come together over and over like the original farm family settlers. To systematically help create each unique hand built barns in Maine. Built to last, slowly constructed one by one using many hands. To get your very own barn building appointment meant first helping several others put together their farm barns.

The Barn In Maine On A Family Farm. That Barn The Tallest, Biggest Structure With All The Others Surrounding It. Barns More Important Than Your House.

Every family member with a specific role in the barn building on the Maine farm.

Large amazing spreads of local food needed to fuel the hard working hungry builders of the farm barn. Barn raisings to piece together the post and hand hewn beam behemoths took the help of many.

The big stately working barns in Maine each secured with mortised joint dowels to create the amazing structures. Slowly constructed to serve the Maine farm families for generations.

Some barn workers in charge of finding the trees, cutting them down. Others shaping the long timbers needed for the skeleton frame of the barns in Maine. Lumber of all dimensions whittled out of whatever the team of horses twitched in from the woodlot sections of the Maine farm acreage. Still more deputized to create cedar shingles, clapboards, board and baton or whatever exterior covering to be applied to the farm barn exterior.

Scaffolding to protect the barn building workers did not remove the dangers being that high in the air performing carpentry maneuvers. You climb, you fall, you would die. That simple. I know of a local roofer who did just that from high a top a barn in Maine being shingled when a fatal accident happened. The staging plank snapped and still shudder thinking about the Maine farm barn shingle roof repair accident.

Roofing, ventilators and cupolas to bring in plenty of natural lighting and air to remove the moisture of newly mowed hayed to be stored in the barn in Maine.

Sills, rocks foundation supports to work best meant selecting a high and dry location with good soil drainage. Hemlock flooring to support the livestock, whatever to be stored in the large capacity farm barn meant another team of individuals hammered each plant in place. Finishing off the hay mow lofts, the standing and box stall pens in the inside of the Maine farm barn. Laughter, singing, hammering heard while installing windows, the weather tight trim boards.

Crafting and hanging doors on blacksmith created hinges and opening hardware another role in the barn raising.

Creating trap doors, upper openings to aid the efficiency utility of the Maine farm barn. Adding pulleys and ropes to help whatever to be stored inside the big farm barns in Maine. Dormers for ventilation and natural lighting because no power. In later years, stringing metal to connected roof top lightning rods. During approaching thunder storms, you better unplug the pasture fence charger quickly. Or you could be the lightning rod during the frantic unloading into the dry barn operation. (more…)

April 9, 2020