Category: Living in Maine

Farming In Maine, The Barn Was The Centerpiece In Building Collection.

Farming in Maine, when there were seven farmers on one road.

Not one farmer in three small Maine towns. Bigger, more production but way way fewer in number now. And less of the stuck in the middle of the road farmers that were weeded out. Dying on the vine and pushed to the wayside.

Maine Farms, The Big Barn Is The Center Crowned Jewel Of The Buildings.

There is a resurgence in micro farming, locally sourced agriculture grow and raised close to home is a healthy sight to see.

But like farming without the eight row equipment and many zero place debt load, small farming in Maine takes frugal measures.

Regardless of the state of affairs on conventional, organic or whatever size spread for Maine farming, the buildings used to pull off the lifestyle.

In our travels it is always pleasurable to see a big main barn given TLC, a shot of love. Some on life support and it is a nip and tuck operation.

The Maine Barn Sitting Back On Its Haunches. Leaning, Straining And Recently Went Down Completely Like 52 Pick Up.

It’s all over happens. Too late for the new sills, the roof repair and general pulling the structure back into post and beam health that it had when hand built in the late 1800’s or earlier. The lack of a new roof covering makes everything melt into the ground.

Like a dinosaur going to its knees and never to get back up.

With the 8×8’s and old doors, the hand forged hardware to hang them recycled from the rubble. To fix another barn a few townships over in rural, sparsely populated Maine.

When you think of barn raising, where all the family, kids and old alike joined forces to put up a farm building.

The barn that was the cornerstone, crowned jewel of everything else to come. Even horses pulled those mortised beams into place to pin them securely.

And next week we set up shop with the same folks at your spread down the road a piece in Maine. Another farm setting hosting the food, the hard work and hopefully good weather holding out until voila. Another big barn in Maine dots the countryside.

Hungry? Know What You Are Eating, Where It Came From If Not Locally Organically Grown?

Besides lack of maintenance, the high cost to insure, other factors put a cross hair on the life of a Maine barn.

Lack of use because like schools, everything is on one floor now. Those expansive hay lofts on a gambrel design or gable A-frame farm barn not used for loose or square bales anymore.

Big 1200 pounded that look like huge Rolo candies now squat around a recently hayed and laid to collect pasture field operation. Where no field hand muckles on to the twin twine strings to toss up on a passing hay wagon or farm truck flat body.

No hauling it back to the big Maine farm barn depository to store inside before black rain clouds open up to spoil the haying operation.

Or placement on a conveyor pointed skyward to hoist them higher for the rack and stack inside. Why no more?

Because a farm tractor with hay forks on the front or rear spears and lifts to deliver them to be placed in a roll. Wrapped in white plastic to preserve them until needed from the hay bank. Not put under cover of a big Maine farm barn.

Oink. Wee Wee Wee .. Sing It Out Loud And Clear.

So no fear of if their is moisture in the hay, then oh oh. Heating up and spontaneous combustion ignites and no more big, beautiful barn.

Taken out of the farm spread rotation. And when a barn fire happens, like domino formation, one by one the rest of the auxiliary structures go down.

Poof. The machine shed, well house, ice house, grainery, pig shed, horse hovel, chicken coop and the farm house too!

Just farm land left, maybe no wood lot either though on top of it all. When the grass fire turns everything into the scorched Earth like the rules of war makes it leave nothing for the enemy to benefit from down the road. Al that brought into the chaos. No more buildings or remains of them to resurrect.

So barns, unless lots of money to maintain them, insure them, can die of natural causes. If no one climbs up and cables off the roof sides to hold them, suck them back together securely. Or cross braces to keep them from swaying in the Northeast gales, those winds out of the Northwest too.

Maine Is Real, Fresh, Original.

Some Maine farm barns re-purposed for conventions, weddings, family events and rented out to earn their keep.

To pay their way. Conversion to truck terminals is one use the barn I now care take and own was. Now used for storage of campers, antique cars, recreational boats and other motorized adult “toys”.

Do you have the same love of barns and does that one structure surrounded by other buildings make the picture complete? Many are gone, but not forgotten. And a few are maintained and still standing proudly.

Add animals, crops and farm activity and all the better reaction to the big awesome barn. The barn is the charm, casts the spell has the smell of grain, hay, animals that used those standing, boxed stalls and stanchions. Food is pretty special to have at least three times a day for most of us.

Having a steady supply of quality raise it yourself food stuffs keeps the body healthy. Raising it keeps you in shape and just breaking even making you feel grateful helps your overall attitude. The way you look and approach obstacles, challenges in life is key for what you glean from the years here on Earth. On what you pass on for the next generation that is valuable in life skills.

Lucky to own one. Peddle them too. Maine farm barns, come north and can show you a few classic ones.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com | 207.532.6573

September 19, 2016
When You Live In Maine, Your Foot Is Not Nailed To The Floor.

Maine is one big state and when you live here, it is like a multi faceted dream come true.

Because you get to sample lots of very distinct areas. All friendly people but the closer to the southern border of the state you get, a little more traffic happens. The cost of living goes up.

It is more accessible, there are more rules to herd the population that treks there to sample it and those who live, mingle with the tourists. Depend on them for a living. Sharing what they love and

Another Day Starts At Wells Beach Maine.

others seek. When you live here it is not just one week’s inoculation until the next year’s booster is administered.

You get to enjoy Maine year round, it is like Christmas all twelve calendar months.

Some tourist traps that you want to fall into at least once a year. Bar Harbor, Old Orchard, are so different than a visit to the same ocean but a different part of it say in Lubec, Eastport Maine Downeast.

Like a buffet that you wished you started at the other end before your plate weighted down. Head North. Go deeper inside Maine, near her center, the soul.

And Maine has those other remote areas accessed by hoofing it, only by a high clearance jeep or on horse back. Giddy up.

That no one but you gravitate to and the in between gray areas off the beaten path. That depending on the day, the time and budget you have to spend get visited.

That are not so easy to travel to without thinking about the return trip pretty much about the time you land there. The longer distances help insulate, not isolate is how I prefer to look at it.

Some folks chase Maine lighthouses.

Lighthouses, Portland Headlight In Cape Elizabeth Has Lots Of Selfies Posted Using Her Nautical Charm.

There are over five dozen of them to round up and revisit when seasons change for a whole new take away experience. Others traveling to Vacationland just want to see a Maine moose! Hear a lake loon cry or sing depending on the day or night. Want a big slab slice of Maine blueberry pie or to slice into a steaming Maine potato. To crack into a dark green turn bright red lobster or a bucket of whole clams wearing their shell.

Add some fixin’s that are not probably the healthiest. But you gotta have a little fun in this short life on Earth right?

Spent a few days in Wells Beach Maine and snapped a couple images to share in the Me In Maine blog post.

When a family picks an area of Maine to build their photo album it because tradition that others in the next generation continue.

I am happy to be introduced to Congdon’s Donuts, to share with the kids just waking up that just hopped out of the grease. Onto the cooling grills. Or to sample whole friend clams from Jakes Seafood, and more clams, the steamer kind from the Fisherman’s Catch.

No Two Alike, Along A Maine Beach Like The Ones In Wells, Moody Maine.

And the ocean front. Staying at N’er Beach in Wells Beach Maine last year. And right on the beach this year.

The vacation home in Maine rented for a week loaded with lots of expressions about being at the beach. Reminding you to relax. That the beach, the ocean fixes everything.

Reading material in the bathroom, on end tables, night stands and wall hanging about how to tap into the power of beach life. Knowing to forget about the concept of time. To get up, rise and shine and get out on the beach. To walk it and study the many different styles of beach front, waterfront property shanties and castles.

Congdon’s Donuts, Jakes Clams… You Must Be Talking Wells Beach Maine.

Open porches are a must anywhere you live in Maine.

Communication still done without a glowing screen device casting an eerie glow on the user’s face.

Some have hammocks on them or an array of brightly colored rockers. Second and third floor balconies and public way access strips so folks on the other side of the Atlantic Avenues.

And other nautical or old salt air sea sounding locations can drag a lawn chair, an umbrella and cooler on wheels, a good book to tap into the healing power.

To set up the colored buckets and shovels for the kids to start sand construction.

As the tide makes the waves aggressive or causes them to retreat. And wipes out the handiwork, the foot prints in the sand, with sea weeds, the shells, sea glass and other finds.

Advice For The Maine Beach Vacation. How To Relax Tips Everywhere You Look At A Beach Rental Property.

Para sailing boards, sea kayaks, jet skis and boats ply by and swimmers laugh, bob and get massaged by the wave sets. The smell of the ocean, the return to a visit with an old friend.

It changes the channel from the hike up Mount K, the trip to the Allagash Wilderness Waterway to fish. Or the wood’s camp visit on leased paper company land in T this, R that.

No Wally World or Mickey Dee’s corporate office scoping out these locations on the Maine turf. No Fun Town, Splash Town rides and slides in this GPS coordinate.

Maine is not one monotone speed in the rattle and hum.

Fresh Air, Working The Sand As Early Masons On A Maine Beach.

It comes at different price levels. you can mix and match and write the rules of relaxation that fit your pace to a “t”.

The best one is camping and grilling food at a state park. no money shelled out can improve the taste of a Maine vacation. Sleeping under the stars, listening to crickets. And unplugging to recharge. Wells Beach Maine is one of the many venues for those needing rest and relaxation. For the unplug to recharge all of us need called Vacation.

Maine, you getting low on your supply of it? Don’t stay away so long, she tugs at your heart strings and misses you just as much as the other way around. The signal goes both ways. All I know is I am very fortunate and know it to live in Maine, the way life should be. It is not this neat in many places and locals, vacationing transplants too know how lucky they are to travel to Maine, the largest of the New England states.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com | MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton Maine 04730 USA

August 26, 2016
Living In Maine, Small Rural Town Decision Making.

Common sense and being forward thinking are two skills true dyed in the wool Mainers possess in great supply.

Small Maine towns survive if resistance to change is removed, if creative brainstorming is done. To figure out what do we do now? Way way before arriving at that all important crossroad that makes it do or die important.

Resistance to change happens for a lot of reasons.

You might have liked it just fine the way it was. Or the issue(s) at hand are large and many in number. So where to begin and how will it upset the rest of the apple cart has to be considered. Like the ticking bomb, you holding the wire cutters and with sweat on your lip and brow, hoping you pick the right colored wire to snip snip in just in time. With barely seconds to spare.

When It Is Less People, More Peace And Quiet Happens.

The stakes are high because the room for error in the direction you head to work around the problems to arrive at solutions is small.

When you know hard decisions are needed but delayed, population starts to drop off. Folks that don’t want to leave do anyway. Because inefficiency and delay of implementing new policies that control the spending in a small Maine rural towns is disasterous.

High property taxes in small Maine towns, hikes in user fees and service permits signal something is not being correct quick enough in the belt tightening. When you see one by one small Maine towns and plantations lined up to wave the white flag.

To deorganize and step into the boat being lowered into the water from a sinking local community ship. That opts out to go all in with centralized services from one of the sixteen Maine counties. To lose their local identity because not enough volume of people, too low a population, and too higher a tax burden. The bilge pumps can not keep that local boat afloat.

Drift, Glide, Pop Up And Down Fishing. Maine Loons Dressed In A Black And White Tuexdo.

Local control is something small Maine towns are finding harder and harder to hang onto despite the fierce pride, the colors of the sport’s teams worn proudly at state contests on the way to the top. Reaching for the gold ball.

So when you see the loss of population going down, the cost of living in a small Maine town spiking upward, why so slow to rein in the spending?

Rather than hiking the mill rate to dangerous levels like watching the pressure readings on a steam locomotive engine with a dial needle dancing in the red. Drastic times do call for decisive measures to control the skid.

What adds to the frustration is true Mainers that know the rules of survival don’t run their own households that way. They adjust the spending and live below their means to prepare for those sharp curves, crater sized potholes in the road ahead.

Like pushing the heavy car that is out of gas to who knows where. Getting out, bailing and hitch hiking and looking for the best trail out of the situation can make it every dog for himself. Centralized services, removal the layers of duplications in spending and letting go of the way we always used to run the show in a small Maine town. With a spirit of we’ll be better off on the other side and around to rise and shine.

Style, Comfort, Home Sweet Home Made To Last Design. Life The Way It Should Be Protected In Small Maine Towns.

Like pruning a tree of life sucking dead limbs, what remains can thrive and prospers in new healthy ways. If.

Letting go of personality conflicts, using the wisdom of what happened in history when similar scenarios found their way into small Maine town life.

To arrive at this is the best course of action now for the good of the community, everyone in the small burg.

The Mainer who prides himself or herself on being independent will find new ways to work collectively because there is no other option. Just no room for slow, stalled or just not moving in the best course available correction. To keep as much of the distinct, the original flavor of a small Maine town. While preserving, at the same time streamlining and preparing for the future to assure survival of a small Maine town.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com | MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton Maine 04730

August 20, 2016
Taking Money Out Of The Equation | Simple Maine Living.

During an election year, like hail, lots of activity pelts a person off the beaten path even in Maine.

The robo phone calls from Presidential hopefuls as everything gets racheted up approaching the early November elections. But when less voters live in a rural state, to pull the curtain and fill in the spaces, when money is not plentiful to seek out to support candidates, we get more left alone than other places.

Rich Where It Counts, Maine Is Unspoiled, Drop Dead Gorgeous.

High taxes when it’s low wages and you struggle to make ends meet in a city.

That is a frustrating combination. But even though Maine has it’s share of how to fund the most basic elements of state, county government and local obligations to keep things moving.

You can still get by on less money. Because we live full time in Maine.

And our fun is not coin operated. Not needing continuous slides of the plastic rectangle with the magnetic strip or the new chip to push it in and pull it out. We always keep an eye on the bottom line, to avoid over spending in Maine.

Camping, sleeping under the stars, in a tent or lean too at a state park and grilling food outdoors. One of your best, cheapest entertainment options. And the wildlife, the backdrop of blue, green and other colors in fall, many shades of gray, white, brown and blue in the winter.

In Maine you are aware of the space around you, our place in the World.

There is a connection with the local sparse population and folks need each other, help each other, work to survive and prosper collectively. Our water front is clean, the air is fresh, the scenery uninterrupted and vast.

The Imaginations Working Full Time Outdoors, Lungs Full Of Fresh Maine Air.

If you owner finance a piece of land in Maine, start slowly. To use on vacations with the eye toward the big move when the time is right. Up the pike to this thumb sticking out of the national map in the top right hand corner.

You don’t make much, you don’t spend much but you get more in Maine. Because money is removed, the need for status, prestige or the pecking order in a small plantation or little town is not what makes it run.

Bigger, more important items like got to get that roof finished before tomorrow when the weather man predicts cats and dogs for rain coming down. Got to get that hay in, the crops harvested before the temperature drops.

Or splitting, stacking the winter wood a year ahead to be ready for old Man winter.

Canning and preserving food from your garden to stock the shelves in your root cellar. Fixing what breaks, not just buying new to replace it. Taking better care of stuff, respecting others more is part of the transformation if any of this is new to a person not brought up in the country, in Maine or a similar rural area where money is missing.

Hiking, Dining On Food Cooked Outside. Feasting On This Kind Of Maine Scenery. Priceless.

Practicing resourcefulness, bartering saves the day in Maine.

So does hanging onto that piece of angle iron or stainless steel bracket. Because necessity is the mother of invention to make the most of what you have to do the best you can with what you already have.

Feeling good about the hands on, tap of creative juices inside. For the swell of the empowerment and “can do” spirit that does its magic from the inside out.

Knowing if it is to be it is up to me. Not blaming anyone else or feeling sorry and having a pity party. Time a wasting, hop to it. Shake a leg, get a move on.

Buck up, stay strong and being grateful, how luck you are to live in a place like Maine.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton Maine 04730

August 10, 2016
The Love Affair With Maine Cars, Trucks, Tractors.

When you grow up in a small rural state like Maine.

Where the ability to fix things, keep them going not just plunk down the cash to replace them, an attachment grows. To our Maine cars, trucks, tractors, anything with or without a motor on it.

I have a super M farm tractor I feel pretty fond of because she is older than me.

I have lots of memories on the farm working with her working potato and grain fields. And we grew up together.

1967 Ford Mustang, Wearing, Sporting Springtime Yellow Paint, Wire Wheels.

Just purchased a International Farmall 656 farm tractor that is color coded. Keeping with the red theme that was used on a hay farm by a Maine state trooper down state. That I never met but had scoped out the iron horse he was letting go of for a reasonable price.

Had it hauled up to the unloading dock they were nice enough to let me use at the Tractor Supply outlet in Houlton Maine.

Had fun driving it home during one of the coldest days of the year with the wind blowing strongly and my colar pulled up as my head shrunk down. But excitement to have gotten the new to me big tractor that I introduced to the “County”. Where farming of all types is big.

I needed a little bigger tractor with more power, a three point hitch to get under machinery and to lift up and over ledge or other obstacles found working around the Maine farm I grew up on and purchase from my three older brothers.

Speaking of my brothers, the car I almost had that got totaled but no one hurt back when I was just getting my license to legally drive at age 15.

Even though when you grow up on a Maine farm you are driving way way earlier than that. From field to field, around the farm with a variety of machinery options depending on the farm season. The length of my legs at the time and if I could reach the brake, clutch and gas pedals or not.

Cancer Ripples, Effects Everyone Around You. Hold On, Hug Tight. My Secretary Of 24 Years Wishes Youngest Well On Ride To Summer Job Down State Maine. Robin Still Ticking, Going Strong. So Is The Little Black Del Sol. Her Red Car Ruby The Mazda.

During a good potato year which you could count on back in the 1960’s about every third one, my dad custom ordered a 1967 spring time yellow Ford Mustang. I was two weeks away from making it mine. Because my brothers had their turn in high school.

It was not allowed to be taken to college and used mostly by two of the next oldest brothers when they were in high school. Kinda off limits to my oldest one who drove everything too fast, on the edge of being in not being in total control more often than not.

But Stephen Mooers, a clothes horse was a good wheel man because of experience and little fear.

Lung cancer got him when most figured speed would. Because of too many near misses behind the wheel of something pushed faster than the speed limit or manufacturer suggested.

The Mustang Ford car I waxed, drove around the yard and waited for my turn was not to be.

My brother Jonathan had a 1961 Chevy that would not pass inspection, had house glass for the driver’s side door, no reverse, and those were just some of it’s ills.

But it was what he could afford, got him around the University of Maine campus. Most of the time. Until a breakdown and much needed repairs that could not wait.

Fixing, Getting Under The Hood, Under The Engine Of Small Maine Town Pride And Joy.

He used to park the not so pretty shade of brown Chevy car in low spots of parking lots. To hide, cloak it and to try to be non-descript.

From the eyes of folks looking for current stickers, that picked up on violations in the motor vehicle department rules and regulations.

Dad agreed to let Jonathan take the Mustang out of storage, with the promise of one week it would be returned to the same parking berth.

Unharmed, no delays. The car got totaled in the “Y” intersection of the two Main Streets in Brewer on a Saturday night.

Coming into contact with a pick up moving a little too fast like the Mustang. The frame of the Ford bent and the insurance company signalling with a thumbs down on investing the money to fix it back to driving condition. No one was injured but there went the yellow car in my high school driving pair up.

Have a red jeep that four kids learned how to drive in, that went on lots of trips with that went on to be a loaner to the grown kids before they got their own set of wheels.

No Injuries, Well Except The Maine Black Bear Had A Goose Egg On His Noggin. Took Off Into The Woods To Die, Live Another Day. Wondering What Hit Him.

As a parent pouring money into the fleet of tired, mileage piling up vehicles while juggling resources to get the kids educated. After that much history with a vehicle, it is hard to just let go and not feel a special place.

Especially after it hits a Maine black bear, the kids don’t roll over and as a parent somehow I give the Jeep trusted with care a lot of the credit.

Here is a picture of poor Sally, the 1998 red jeep that could be parted out but can’t quite do it. Feeling the need to fix and restore because of our history, all those kids that learned to drive with her patience.

(Yes I know what an “E brake” maneuver is and other not so smart things done over hill and dale, in the back seat with this Jeep kids.) Read more about the 1956 Ford “Heatwave” local car legend. We do blog about cars once in awhile in the Me In Maine post thread.

So vehicles, tractors, anything that we depend on or helps us have the freedom to move around and explore Maine. We don’t need the latest and greatest and the longer we use them, the more attached we get to them. Because they are part of our life living in rural Maine.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton Maine 04730

August 2, 2016
Maine, Start Small, Get Big Without Debt.

Living in Maine, the idea of relocating here starts with vacations, the eye candy.

Lots of Maine images splash online to tease and entice. But when the dream of living in Maine full time won’t go away, needs a little action, how to do it best? Start small, think big and steer clear of the debt to pull it off too quickly.

Maine Outdoor Living, We Keep It Real, Simple, Honest.

Like home made food prepared slowly, the process is not rushed and the end results are the tastiest right?

Do it yourself and not hired done is the best trip. With online resources on how to homestead in Maine everywhere you turn, there is no shortage of DIY instruction to study the steps to pull off the farmstead lifestyle. Tailor made for your unique situation.

The small piece of land in Maine that had a clearing that was neglected.

And trees one by one rushed to fill in the opening in the property acreage. Clearing, pushing back those trees to go back to the land, tilling the soil to make it production is not easy work. But the labor is so worth it. Knowing what you eat, growing it yourself, heating with the wood cleared from the future field or pasture land is its own reward.

Maine Horses, Stick Together, Are Closed Like The People.

So is wildlife not people for neighbors around your Maine land.

Not because you are anti social but because you like your own company and can entertain yourself with the industry of clearing the Maine land, set up shop to make it productive.

In the shift from whatever you did chasing the dollar before to a new endeavor when you rise and shine each new day in Maine.

How much land for farming in Maine do you need?

Not as much as you might have thought. Plus with owner financing the land in Maine, managing the spending is always front and center in a homesteader’s thinking.

Has to be for survival along with the chores, careful detail to stretch those savings means developing spending impulse control if it was ever missing or treated laxly. Attention to delay never lets us or goes away developing your micro farm, homestead spread in Maine.

Different, Odd Or Something Beautiful. In Others, What Do You See? Good Or Bad?

Taking care of loose financial ends where you lived outside of Maine means the move to Vacationland may be a tad delayed.

But doing it right means sticking around and enjoying the four season show Maine performs oh oh so well.

Where you live dictates how the story of your days and nights unfold. The twists and turns your time here on Earth takes.

Find your direction, purpose. Point whatever you drive or use your thumb stuck out proudly to head north.

Get to Maine, find out what’s been missing, what is most important in your life. The location, surroundings are everything in creating the back drop for a rich, rewarding life in Maine.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton Maine 04730

August 1, 2016