Category: Things To Do in Maine

Ice Cream In Maine

Ice cream in Maine.

The Maine weather forecast of blue skies and soaring temperatures makes folks vocal. Year round the weather consumes a big part of local conversations. Most Mainers are outdoors more than they are inside is part of it. Plus the local weather forecast is pretty important to everyone from the farmer to a plane pilot. For anyone planning for an outdoor event like a wedding, family reunion or even a funeral that’s success revolves around the Maine weather forecast.

Everything Is Bigger In Maine. Like The Pistachio Ice Cream Cones.

3 Scoops Enough? Maine Dairy Bars Aim To Please. Beat The Heat With Something Sweet.

But summer weather when temperatures soar and the humidity index is sky high, time to beat feet for a Maine ice cream dairy bar treat.

We don’t do humid heat well in Maine but adjust just fine to winter cooler temperatures just fine. But when it is hot. They say everyone screams for ice cream. And stocking the blog post shelves

Our Family Hand Crank Ice Maker Was Aqua Colored And Had Lots Of Miles On It.

with regular installments takes some head scratching to avoid brain freeze.

So why not some images to avoid the wall of words to talk about ice cream in Maine?

Young and old, everyone in the middle knows the small pleasure of ice cream in Maine. Growing up, my parents both taught us the skill of making ice cream. It was not open the grocery store cooler door to reach in for something cold and tasty. Or lift the lid to reach down to fish out something from the chest freezer cool and creamy.

Oh sure, we had ice cream that was store bought.

But there was also a hand crank home made ice cream maker in our Maine farm house. To whip out, dust off and to make home made ice cream. Making ice cream where everyone has a turn at the churn to give the cylinder a crank or two. Is a motorized ice cream maker cheating?

Does the make ice cream from scratch and the fruit of your own labor improve the taste?

No pain, no gain.

Thank you ice cream maker inventor Nancy Johnson.

Back in 1843 Nancy Johnson patented the process and is to be praised for her improvements to the hand cranked home made method of making ice cream from scratch.

Ice cream, when made from scratch everyone was eating the same flavor.

How do you think that would go over in an age of too many choices, not just one or two standards? 1st World problem, like the TV channel changer where someone laments 300 channels but nothing to worthwhile to watch.

Ice Cream Cools You Off, For Awhile. Until The Next One Gets Served Up.

How long does it take to make ice cream the hand crank method?

As a little kid it seems an eon. But the ice cream making research shows you eat about less than a half hour hand cranking steady as she goes. Because once the cylinder containing the frozen ice cream becomes tougher to turn, you have arrived. Ready your cones or line up the dishes for hand made ice cream.

It’s not cheating plugging in the electric ice cream maker either.

Instead of hand churning the ice cold favorite flavor of ice cream in Maine, you can rely on the motor. Especially if you are creating more than one kind for the audience where today, everyone is not going to settle for the flavor of the day. The labor of love where lots of people take turns revolving the cylinder packed in ice to create ice cream improves the taste. Also provides a bit of history on how did they did this before power lines ran by your Maine home. The ones needed to tap the juice to improve or some say complicate your life.

Ice Cream, Open Jeep, Maine. Perfect Combination.

What.. what’s that you say about if there was no power, how was their ice to create and preserve the cold ice cream treat?

Our farm had an “ice house”. It was on the north end of the “well house”. The labels help you put two and two together. To figure out just what their purpose was on the homestead. We’ve blogged about ice harvesting in Maine and my grandfather on my Mom’s side, E. Shirley Benn lost one of his best farm horses. It all happened during an ice harvesting mishap down by Mill Pond in Hodgdon, Maine.

Back back to the ice cream in Maine.

When it was hand churned and particular flavors served up in my home during spells of hot humid Maine summer weather.

So what do you need to make ice cream is half and half milk and heavy cream.

Vanilla extract if that’s the preferred flavor. Quite a bit of salt… rock salt, table salt, the kind affects the final results. A towel or kitchen oven mitt. A timer or clock to keep tract of the ice cream making operation.

Do you know or can you remember your parents favorite ice cream flavor?

My Mom’s was grape nut, Dad’s vanilla. Strawberry was a close third because we grew them, threw them into the revolving churn ice cream cylinder to hand crank. Use what you have and it’s more than enough thinking is pretty common during a lean farming year on a Maine patch of dirt.

And when the carload of four Mooers’ boys would drive into a dairy bar wherever we roamed locally or around Vacationland, those were the flavors they ordered. How about you? Early on the available flavors of Maine ice cream was a shorter list. Less choice, more common requests happened. Cookie dough or heavenly hash, death by chocolate were not on the roster outside a Maine ice cream dairy bar in the 1960’s.

Chocolate, vanilla, coffee, strawberry, grape nut were standard offerings you could bet the farm on seeing listed. Somewhere in a poll I read that banana ice cream was a flavor folks loved or shied away from ordering. Another not so popular flavor that I personally like is pistachio ice cream creating the anticipation grin above from your blog post author.

Here’s a graph showing the country’s most preferred ice cream flavors.

Favorite Ice Cream Flavors In USA, One Survey Result.

Personally, not so much a fan of butter crunch or anything caramel ice cream.

But if that’s all she wrote for what you got, deal me in please. It’s cold when it’s hot and beggars can’t be choosers right? In a recent trip to the Wells Beach Maine area to Barnacle Billy’s, the combination of blueberry pie mixed with pistachio was a pleasant twist combination. Now so many choices.

Do you hem and haw but still end up ordering the old standard favorite you developed a sweet tooth fondness for as a kid?

You see banana, the toss up choice if no pistachio flavor did not make the ice cream poll. Chunky Monkey if we’re talking Ben and Gerry’s ice cream or Cherry Garcia please.

When soft serve came to my small Maine border town, it was the vanilla and chocolate that ruled the day.

Maybe the duet of the two was offered from the Taylor soft serve ice cream making machine. More on how to make ice cream from scratch that’s not processed with lots of chemicals or allowed to get freezer burn. Home made ice cream does not linger in a Maine household when the summer temperatures push the thermometer mercury level high.

How to make home made ice cream the old fashion way video.

Today the sky is the limit. Pick a flavor like the colors offered from the rainbow for ice cream choices. Artificial coloring and fake flavor ingredients get infused into the base ice cream frozen paste. But the real deal hard ice cream. Nothing like it when two scoops of ice cold get air lifted down on a piping hot fresh piece of home made pie. Hungry for ice cream yet?

Bike Trip Up Maine’s Cadillac Mountain At Acadia National Park.

Remember being a kid and the hotter it was the faster you had to lick. To contain the drip as it melted so fast it became obvious to all around you what flavor you just had based on your clothing stains?

Rather have the real deal and hard ice cream thank you very much.

Like micro brews, Maine based ice cream makers are plentiful. The treat of an ice cream in a cone or dish is just part of Maine summer living experience. I know how wonderful a cold ice cream bar tastes after pedaling a bike up Cadillac Mountain at Acadia National Park.

Here’s a photo snap on the pedaling up Maine’s Cadillac Mountain thinking of the view, the ice cream reward that awaits on top.

Lots of tour buses on top and folks heading to their own private rock to sit and reflect. Gazing out over the ocean and thinking about Maine lobsters or steamed clams in a few hours. After all this ice cream wears off and time to open the pie hole again.

Your Maine setting or back drop is everything pumping up the volume of whatever you lap with your tongue or scoop with your spoon. Ice cream definitely is one of life’s small pleasures that everyone can afford. Have you been to your local dairy bar in Maine lately?

What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream in Maine?

Whether store bought or uniquely blended by hand crank, ice cream whatever flavor tastes better enjoyed in Maine. With the backdrop scenery second to none. When no people are around to share the eye candy as you slowly enjoy your Maine ice cream.

The worst ice cream flavors?

From the link you will see bacon, eggnog, cotton candy, licorice made the list. Not thinking I would ever order up a scoop or dish of Maine lobster ice cream. But blueberry, Maine blueberry ice cream. Now you are talking. Gifford’s has a wild Maine blueberry ice cream flavor that is pretty dang tasty running solo or pair up with a piece of pie.

No ones made strawberry rhubbarb ice cream flavor yet that I know of but ready to stand corrected if someone knows something I have not gotten wind of yet. Wouldn’t be the first time.

More on Maine ice cream stands.

Sadly, Houlton Farms Dairy which is huge in Aroostook County is not on the state of Maine map. What the heck? Houlton Farms Dairy Bars are a huge draw for folks in Houlton, Presque Isle, Caribou Maine.

My little league team for years had an expense account at Houlton Farms Dairy.

Win or lose, the kids in their uniforms trotted off the baselines away from the ball field dug out to get something cold, sweet. The Mooers Realty coach and his helpers too treated to some local Maine ice cream flavors. Small Maine towns, the ice cream outlets are a big part of the local landscape and were all we had to mingle. Before social media outlets took over for many. Put down the device, turn off the boob tube. You scream, I scream for ice cream.

“NEXT! What Flavor Of Ice Cream Will It Be Today? Soft Or Hard Ice Cream?” Maine Dairy Bars For Something Cold When It’s Hot, For The Social Element.

Ice cream sundaes, milk shakes, banana splits, parfaits.

So many ways to sample your ice cream in Maine. Thank you for following our Me In Maine blog post. This one on ice cream in Maine. There would be less trouble and unrest in the country, the World if we could all sit down and enjoy a bowl or cone of ice cream together right?

I remember being at a Coldplay concert in Manchester, New Hampshire where the audience was promised if they were good and considerate of others, the band would buy everyone a chocolate ice cream. It works on the kids as an incentive to tow the line. A reward of sorts. Here’s hoping you visit a local outlet for your own personal favorite flavor of Maine ice cream.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

August 24, 2021
Orono Bog Boardwalk | Maine Hiking Trails

Orono Bog Boardwalk, Maine hiking trails.

Looking for something healthy to do and in the Bangor / Brewer / Orono area of Maine? This blog post highlights the over six hundred acres, more than 4200′ feet of floating decking known as the Orono Bog Boardwalk.

Welcome To The Orono Bog Boardwalk in Penobscot County Maine.

The boardwalk technically starts at the wetland edge of the Bangor City Forest.

But within 800′, you cross the Orono town line. The section of the Orono Bog Boardwalk in the town of Orono is owned by the University of Maine where both Meg and I went to school.

Meg and I did a quick overnight “staycation” in Bangor Maine this past Saturday and spent walk the trail for about 90 minutes on the Orono Bog Boardwalk.

The iron bars to grab near the table land or summit. No blue dashes of a hike up Abol trail at Mt Katahdin all missing. No big hills, the four foot wild section of decking creating the bog walk pathway are easy to maneuver. The low impact walk through the forest sections is all wide, easy to traverse pathways.

Orono Bog Tree Size, Meg Helps Show How Big This Smasher Is.

Through out the Orono Bog Boardwalk experience, lots of signage explains which birds, what other wildlife and various vegetation types you will find here.

Bring your camera and forget any fear of getting lost. The signage maps make it crystal clear where you are, where you can head depending on the time you allow for the Orono Bog Boardwalk.

Wide, Easy Walking Trails Criss Cross And Connect The Orono Bog Boardwalk.

The boardwalk is for walkers, wheelchair access users only.

We did see foot traffic hikers with leashed dogs on the wooded trail sections. Thousands of hours and dollars went into the Orono Bog Boardwalk creation and improvements.

Lady Slipper Wild Flowers, One Of The Many You See At Your Orono Bog Walk.

QR code maps sync you up with the network of trails so no repeat worries about what happened to Goldie Locks.

The 509 sections of composite decking that ride on aluminum rails, stainless steel footings have rest stop seating areas. Learn more about the Orono Bog Boardwalk.

The Many Flowers You See On Your Orono Bog Walk. Don’t Forget To Bring Your Camera!

Lady slippers, Labrador tea, cinnamon ferns, cranberry, bog rosemaryy, tuffed cotton grass, round leave sundew.

The Orono Bog Boardwalk offers up to 140 examples of wildflower species. Lincoln’s sparrows, palm warblers, so many small mammals and amphibians along with random moose or bear might be seen on your bog walk.

The Information Spelled Along The Orono ME Bog Woods Trail Hike.

The tall healthy pine trees impressed me at the Orono Bog Boardwalk.

Many starting out as one large trunk and then splitting into two as they reached for the sky hungry for sunshine. Winterberry, black ash, oak, red maple along with beech, white birch. Lots of other hard or softwood forest examples provide the scenery and shade along your bog walk. Talk about vegetation and no bugs, no flies. Picked a good day or just kept cuffing along to stay ahead of them. There was breeze and the boardwalk was not over crowded with tourists or locals who frequent this venue.

Looking Out Over the Peat Bog In Orono Maine. Lots Of Life Happening As You Look Closer.

The Orono Maine raised peat Bog Boardwalk is designated as a National Natural Landmark by the National Park service.

30,000 visitors walk the mile long boardwalk that is a popular local exercise option. Learn more about the natural aspects, the history of the Orono Bog Boardwalk.

Excellent Family Fun Option, The Orono Bog Boardwalk Hike.

When is the bog open for walks, contemplation and a sense of wild wide open space?

Closed during the winter, here are the hours of operation for the Orono Bog Boardwalk. The Orono Bog Boardwalk is roughly 1.3 miles from the Bangor Mall. It offers a variety of Maine hiking trails to explore and to keep it new and different for all ages of walkers. Fresh air, scenery and always something new to learn. Added by the friends of the Orono Bog Boardwalk. Folks and local area businesses who donate so much effort and funding to this near peat bog area of Maine.

The Things You Learn And See On Your Bog Walk In Penobscot County Maine.

Frequent visits are possible because no long multi hour travel time is involved for those living in the Bangor, Brewer, Orono area of Penobscot County Maine.

Over 600 Acres, So Much Effort And Funding Put Into The Orono Bog Boardwalk.

Heading to Acadia National Park less than an hour to the south in the Bar Harbor area offers more hiking exercise if you want more.

Have a lobster. steamed clams and a local brew while on the waterfront along the Maine coast. Baxter Park to the north is an hour away to access all the hiking trails around Mt Katahdin, Maine’s tallest mountain. Maine is outdoors. Maine is the way life should be. Hope you enjoyed this blog post sharing of our walk along the trails of the Orono Bog Boardwalk in Penobscot County.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

May 31, 2021
Maine Maple Syrup Sunday | Sugar Houses In Maine

Maine maple syrup Sunday, sugar houses in Maine.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

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

March 17, 2021
Snowshoeing Maine Trails

Snowshoeing Maine trails, one more winter outdoor option.

Strapping on a pair of snowshoes, zipping up the jacket, pulling on a pair of warm gloves or mittens. Hitting the snowshoe trails for lots of fresh air, eye candy on a Sunday morning in Maine. Blogging about the snowshoeing across Nickerson Lake and up the Crescent Mountain Trail loop today for you Me In Maine readers. Radar and Archie, the two dogs acting like kids equally excited about the trek along the north shoreline of Nickerson Lake in New Limerick. Before veering sharply south to snowshoe straight across the frozen Maine lake ice. To start the gradual climb up the winding, weaving hillside trail using snow Mother Nature and Jack Frost provided us.

Snowshoeing Nickerson Lake, New Limerick Maine!

Cobalt cloudless blue skies, bright sunshine and social distancing snowshoeing Maine trail exercising.

Hints of spring higher temperatures in the air. The mix of stronger sun rays mixed with the snow crust crunching under foot made me thing of maple syrup operations. Got my COVID shot this past Friday and feeling pretty good about that. How about you? Rolled up the sleeve yet? Stay tuned for a blog post on that end of winter, here comes spring ritual in Maine in a future blog post. Today on Nickerson Lake it is ice shacks for fishing, I counted seven huts in the section of Nickerson Lake that our party of five snowshoers and two K-9’s passed.

Winter Outdoor Fun Snowshoeing Maine Trails.

Cleared sections of the Maine lake exposed for pond hockey ice skating games in front of one log waterfront cottage.

The smell of bacon grilling and sizzling from one ice shack owned by Frank McPartland, my classmate and plumber. When you snow sled, stopping into the ice fishing shanties is fun. Frank and I and about twenty other die hard sled heads used to pack up this time of year. To snow sled into Bowlin Pond Camps in the Shin Pond area of Penobscot County. Those trips went on for about twenty years until families started the same tradition.

You see a couple snow sleds drift in and shut down beside the ice fishing shacks. To check in, shoot the breeze and visit before back on the way to a Poker Run. Or to hit a sled trail diner dotting the map around Maine. Maine winters are not meant to be spent on tramped inside. Mainers are outside all year long and simply make the appropriate clothing adjustments to match the temperature conditions.

Maine Ice Shacks Get Trailside Snow Sled Visitors Stopping By To Say “Hi”.

Heading up the Hand family section of the Crescent Mountain Trail, the snowshoe pathway groomed, smooth, wide.

High, wide and handsome is the Maine expression. We met about eight snowmobile sled machines on the ITS section of the Maine trail. Simply stepping to one side as you hear their approach while they slowly pass, smile, wave. Without words, all of us sharing the same thought. Isn’t it a beautiful day to be in Maine, out on the trails? Gotta do this more, why don’t I make this a habit? Snowshoeing is low cost, the lightweight gear packs up and stores easy in your car or kitchen mudroom entry closet.

This time out on snowshoes for us to explore and discover one more trail experience.

Ice Fishing On A Maine Lake! Small But A Mini Waterfront Island On A Frozen Sheet Of Ice. Some Swanky And All Decked Out. Others Pretty Basic And Tiny Tight Quarters To Get Out Of The Cold.

It’s like a video game where something different is ahead on the Maine winter snow trail.

Leaving the wide easy opening to funnel into a narrow less traveled trail that snow sleds avoid. Not wide enough for the front ski expanse of the snowmobile trails today. Years ago, snow sleds were narrow tight skis upfront and not so wide beds. Because there were not many trails and you had to squeeze between trees to make your own path ahead.

Kneeling on one knee, throwing your weight into the corners to help the snow machine go where you needed before oh oh. You are sinking and heading up hill. Good luck getting out of this mess of bottomless soft snow with not end in sight. Great exercise if you get sucked off the trail and brought to a sudden halt. Snowshoeing means anything area covered in white is fair game to explore and way less energy sapping. You set the pace alone or in a pack of snowshoers on the slew of Maine trail choices.

Some snowshoeing trails take more planning and are more strenuous.

Snowshoes Open Up Maine Wnter Woods And Lakeside Trails!

Like what if you want to snowshoe Mt Kineo for one example.

Not just the incline but the winter temperatures and wind that make it simple or requiring more thought and preparation. When snowshoeing, doing anything outdoors in Maine winter. Winter camping at Mt Katahdin. Ever done it or only visit Maine’s highest mountain wearing a t-shirt and for a one day up and down summer hike? Toting your water bottle or camel pack and some trail snacks. In and out, quick and easy. Pass the Gorp please. Watch those slippery sliding trail rocks, especially heading down when slow down. You’re going too fast kids.

Watch a video that outlines what snowshoeing Mt Kineo in the Moosehead Lake region of Greenville Maine involves.

Past blog posts have highlighted small downhill skiing Maine trails, others snowmobiling them.

Hiking, biking, so many ways to put the trail loops to good use year round. Snow covered or iced over Maine lakes do not stop you when on cross country skis. When you ride a sled or wear snowshoes with the easy adjustable snaps. Drilling a couple holes to ice fish and clearing sections to flood with lake water to create your own Zamboni like smooth solid skating surface. Outdoor pond hockey ice skating is so different than being on artificial indoor Maine hockey arena ice. Lose the puck easier too outside when someone lifts it with too much flex. And the game stops until the black rubber disc is retrieved when you play outdoor lake or pond ice hockey. When your buckle of extra pucks runs out and like golf balls, time to retrieve.

Ice Hockey On A Maine Lake. Your Rink As Big As Your Snowblower Or Snow Shovel Wants To Make It For Pond Hockey And Ice Skating.

The smell of the pine and fir wood trails as we leave a clearing and go up, down, sideways snowshoeing.

The lake residents that do use their places along the shoreline show a plum of wood smoke trailing upward overhead. You study the wildlife tracks as you leave the lake community to head into the Maine woods. Radar a beagle and spaniel mix curious about a hole under some tree roots. Archie a special breed of yellow like golden retriever more of a light platinum blonde color and much bigger doing the same sniffing. To rout it out and convinced something just scurried down that hole in the crusty trail side winter wonderland snow.

Snowshoeing Maine trails is something all ages can do easily, affordably through out winter.

The snowshoes are not like your great grandfathers with hand carved wood of brown ash or other pliable timber. Missing animal parts strung together for the webbing to keep you on top of the snow and from sinking. The harness to attach your foot to the snowshoe is not make of leather and laced to secure it these days. Lightweight aluminum, adjustable to your foot and with lots of ways to increase or tighten the custom fit. Smaller less bulky design to fit to the shoeshoer’s weight and height describes the snowshoe fit today. With or without adjustable telescopic poles, your choice. I think with poles adjusted to your arm length and height that you use upper body muscles to propel the trails. The lower legs get a work out snowshoeing but why ignore inviting the arms and upper body to the exercise outdoors in Maine right?

On The Maine Lake It’s Breezy. On The Snowshoe Trails More Protected From Winds.

A couple hours outdoors hitting the trails using snowshoes.

This is one easy option to get your daily fix of Maine outdoors when you already live here. Still thinking about the trail sights, the wildlife tracks and how much fun the two dogs had on the snowshoe outing as I hunt and peck today. Can’t wait until the next time but also, thinking I want to downhill or cross country skiing soon. How much fun snow sledding the trails this time of year would be. It is hard not to think about should I buy a new snowmobile and would I use it more than the one I have that has a few years on it?

Maine Snowmobiles, Snow Sleds Way More Sophisticated. No Boogie Wheels, Better Suspensions, Four Cycle Less Gas Guzzling. I Grew Up With Ski Horses And Snow Jets. There Were 50 Flavors Back In The 60’s!

The snow sleds today come from four brands and feature much improved suspension systems and less trips to trail side gas pump stops needed.

Since the days of tinker for two hours to enjoy them for one sixty minute time interval. Smelling like two cycle motor oil mixed in the fuel and it was not like the four cycle quieter experience snow sledding today! Plus the trail system is so much more expansive and developed with strong local Maine snowmobile clubs working hard to add new ones. To build bridges to cross waterways and remove the sharp curves for safety sake. As new trails are cut and groomed for local and out of town snowmobilers to enjoy. Winter recreation is really a shot in the arm for the local tourism economy. Especially during the COVID pandemic when the virus makes hitting the trails so safe and easy in vast, rural low population Maine.

Snowshoeing Maine trails.

Snowshoeing In Maine, Signing The Crescent Park Trail Loop Registry. Meg Signs Us In Today.

Signing in on the Crescent Park Trail shows you folks use this loop year round like you do.

Snowbirds that today are in the sunny south are thinking of spring, summer, fall walks on the same pathways. The trail ones snow covered not green. And with sparkling snow crystals today causing the sunshine reflection magic. Getting outdoors in Maine any season really energizes and excites your insides. Those inner places where you remind yourself again and again how lucky I am truly am to live in Maine. More on Maine snowshoe trail options if you have the bug.

Thank you for sticking around to read to the end of this blog post and imagery on one snowshoeing trail hike up and down the Crescent Mountain trail. Across Nickerson Lake in Aroostook County Maine one winter Sunday morning wearing snowshoes to experience the great outdoors.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton Maine 04730 USA

March 8, 2021
Small Maine Downhill Ski Areas

Small Maine downhill ski areas. Quoggy Jo Ski Center Presque Isle Maine is one in Aroostook County.

Family friendly, low cost Maine ski areas turn winter snow into outdoor fun. Skiing in Maine does not have to be expensive or limited when stepping into the downhill boards.

Small Maine Downhill Ski Areas, Quoggy Jo Presque Isle Maine

This blog post about small Maine downhill ski areas.

The visit to Quoggy Jo ski center in Presque Isle Maine this past Sunday made me think about small downhill trail facilities.

The small Maine mountains need lots of volunteers because the volume of skiers is smaller just like the lift ticket price.

And throw in a couple no show snow Maine winter weather droughts. When zip for consistent supplies from up above of new fresh powder snow. And well, then your small friendly area ski area in Maine can find itself reeling on the ropes.

The Air Is Thinner, The Clarity Greater On Top Of A Maine Mountain Or Steep Hillside Ski Slope.

Too cold, no snow, any pull back on local financing help. Or the loss of volunteers who pitch in while their families are young, etc. There is a lot stacked against the small Maine downhill ski areas. Insurance liability is one of the biggest expenses. Combined with power to run the mountain ski lifts, a profit for payroll, to keep the lights and heat on in the base lodge.

Maine Small Town Ski Areas! Ideal For Beginners, No Double Black Diamonds.

Quoggy Jo started as a registered non profit ski area in December 27th, 1957.

The history of the Quoggy Jo ski center . Dating back to back to 1932, today the downhill area is owned and operated by the Quoggy Jo Ski Club. Through fundraising, corporate business partners and generous donations from local Maine community members, Quoggy Jo operates 11AM to 4PM. That’s providing there’s plenty of snow and no hazardous weather conditions. The ski center provides rural Maine families with an affordable outdoor winter downhill recreation experience.

Free Lessons, Low Cost Ski Equipment Rentals. That’s Small Town Maine Affordable Mountain Skiing.

You can’t beat the $10 lift tickets, $12 rental packages, and FREE lessons small Maine downhill ski areas provide.

Quoggy Jo Ski Center offers a full service snack bar, ski rentals and if you don’t have fun, it’s your own fault. Patrons and those working at Quoggy Jo all try to make sure everyone enjoys their small Maine downhill ski area experience. To get them to keep coming back for more skiing on the groomed Maine ski slopes.

The Quoggy Jo downhill ski area offers beginner skiers a vertical drop of 215′. Slow and gradual, no blistering speeds tucked in and racing down this small Maine downhill trail slopes. No one is training for the Olympic speed trials at Quoggy Jo. There is one ski lift, a double t-bar. No snow making, just what ever Mother Nature supplies to trail groom and maintain. There is night ski riding and terrain parks with some mild jumps. The phone number of Quoggy Jo Ski Center is 207-764-3248. Quoggy Jo’s small Maine downhill ski area located at 420 Fort Road, Presque Isle ME 04769 in Aroostook County. This is close to home for Aroostook County and New Brunswick Canadian residents.

Small Hills, Mountains Are The Best For Learning To Maine Skiing. To Catch The Ski Bug For Life.

When Loring Air Force Base in Limestone was operational, many of the stationed families took advantage of Quoggy Jo’s Maine downhill skiing facilities.

Affordable, everyone in the family had fun and something to do besides ice skating, sliding or ice fishing. Winters in Maine are not spent on the couch hibernating. Snowmobiling is another big recreational pursuit. Snow sledding really jump starts the Maine winter tourism economy along with skiing.

There is no better atmosphere to learn to ski than a small Maine family friendly local downhill mountain or hillside operation.

Close to home, lift tickets and ski equipment rentals won’t break the bank. Everyone’s love for their small Maine ski area is great. Because all pitch in to support it from fund raisers, blog grant writing and taking turns with other parents to man the stations. The fire in their belly passionate ski volunteers are on fire invested so kids get introduced to beginner level down hill alpine memory making.

Hungry From All That Fresh Winter Air And Up And Down The Slopes Maine Skiing?

There’s Marge working the snack shack with your cousin, her granddaughter. Your Dad is helping a beginner figure out the best length of skis for their skill level. Your brother is hot dogging and showing off for his teenage friends on the small hill’s steepest run called the Bomber.

There is nothing like riding up the t-bar being pulled along with music, laughter, under the light night skiing too.

When you are a kid, looking back as an adult increases your appreciation of all the volunteers that keep the small Maine ski area mountain open for another downhill season.

Fireworks, BBQ’s, Something Always Happening At A Small Maine Ski Area To Keep Local Families Coming Back For More Than Just Downhill Skiing.

In college at the University of Maine at Orono, winter downhill night skiing at Hermon Mountain was one low cost close by option.

Sure planning a trip and pooling the resources to head over to Sugarloaf USA was an downhill ski slope adventure too. But small local Maine ski areas to get your fix of downhill fun and exercise hit the spot quick and easy. Something more personal and home grown happens in the small Maine downhill ski areas. Maybe it’s because your visit is more appreciated by those volunteering at the slope or due to many visits to downhill ski. Not just once a year or less due to the distance away or high cost to subsidize mountain operations. Small Maine mountain ski areas are popular places and so low cost, so nearby to visit for another perfect winter day.

The Lift Line At a Small Maine Ski Area. How Many More Runs Can You Fit In Today?

In my small Houlton Maine home town, Hovey Hill had a rope tow.

Lots of runs down the slope and just as much time spent pulled up the hill and gliding down it. Out in Colorado, when you ski in the Rockies you get lifts up to the top of several peaks with a series of gondolas and lift lines. On a small Hovey Hill ski area, a re-purposed Maine farm tractor jacked up with the big rear tire removed and the engine running the continuous rope tow. The Hovey Hill small Maine ski operation long gone run by the local parks and rec department. The downhill trail slope was near Houlton International airport’s glide path from the southern runway approach on dead end Hovey Hill’s elevation very handy to the Canadian US international boundary line.

No double and triple black diamonds and all the down hill trails at a small Maine ski area are green circle safe and easy.

The Ski Center For Quoggy Jo, The Trail Lodge In Presque Isle Maine.

Ideal for beginners skiers to avoid a trip to the hospital emergency room with a broken leg or two. Way way less stressful for the parent(s) shepherding the downhill family beginner skiers. When you live in Maine, you are just glad to have a small mountain or nearby hill ski area in your own backyard. For the kids and their parents to bundle up with clothing layers to swish swish carve the snow. Your support the small Maine mountain downhill ski area anyway you can to keep it up and operational.

May Mountain in Island Falls Maine was another small family ski area that I took my four kids to when it was open.

When I brought along my oldest brother Stephen’s three kids, the volunteers at May Mountain were awesome. Taking the never skied before newbies by the hand to show them each the ABC’s of this is how you ski. Now when I ride by May Mountain on US RT 2 on the way to list or show a Maine property listing, I think about the small downhill ski area experience. The big cable wore out, the mowed slopes grew up to brush. The base ski lodge had a second floor added and is now a re-purposed single family home with one long driveway, tremendous views, a killer sized parking lot.

At The Top, Ready To Ski Down After Letting Go Of The T Bar Lift Handle.

The kids skiing May Mountain grew up and moved on to other slopes in Maine and beyond.

Those kid’s parents were the life blood of May Mountain, Hovey Hill, other small Maine ski areas. Local small Mom and Pop businesses all pitched in their support for the love of downhill snow skiing. Just like they do to underwrite little league teams and local school musical and sporting programs.

Another small local ski area beside Quoggy Jo in Aroostook County is Big Rock in Mars Hill Maine.

Just across the border into Canada I used to book a room at the Holiday Inn in Edmunston so the kids could ski Mont Fralagne in New Brunswick Canada.

Usually the boys had a hockey team game in Plasterock or Grand Falls and we were close enough to stick around an extra day. To step into the snow skis for family fun on another small but Canadian downhill facility. The American dollar being stronger than the Canadian loonie helps subsidize the small mountain skiing fun. Lonesome Pine Trails in Fort Kent Maine is another small ski operation in Aroostook County.

Crabbe Mountain in Upper Haynesville New Brunswick Canada is another affordable family ski mountain folks in Northern Maine use.

You don’t have to race to get to Crabbe Mountain ski area either.

Open until 10 PM Canadian time meant after church, we all piled in the Jeep or Excursion to beeline for the Crabbe Mountain slopes an hour away. Lift ticket options beyond just full or half day meant you got your money’s worth downhill skiing at Crabbe Mountain.

Sugarloaf USA and Sunday River ski areas are Maine’s two biggest facilities.

The Top Of The Maine Mountain Or Hill Ski Area. Looking Out Over The Expanse Clears Your Head.

Large enough to be more than just put into operation for winter downhill skiing, the condos and resort hotel rooms at the summit used for year round group meeting conventions.

I’ve had Maine REALTOR state MAR association conventions at both Sunday River and Sugarloaf USA ski resorts. Over the years MAR has rotated where the continuing credit and guest speaker sessions will be this and next year.

It’s different coming into the base lodge without any snow, not wearing ski boots when you visit A Maine ski area off season.

The Maine ski areas not just put to use when snow is on the ground. The Maine ski resort operations expanded to offer golfing, biking, hiking the green not white colored trails. Leaf peeking the brilliant fall foliage colors with chair lift and gondola rides up the larger mountain slopes. Wondering about local Maine comfort food pub style cuisine choices that go hand in hand with the vacation recreation.

Snow Skiing In Maine, Lots Of Big, Medium, Small Size Mountain Downhill Options. Kids Start Out Best At Simple, Low Cost Small Hillside Ski Areas.

An off season mountain visit causes one to wonder and dream about new snow, groomed trails and down hill winter skiing to come.

And fond memories of past time spent on the Maine ski slopes flood the gray matter. More Maine ski area information. Check out these other Maine ski area locations and try out some new slope set up beyond your personal most visit favorite downhill mountain venue location.

Do you ski and which Maine mountain slope is the closest to where you life in or outside Maine? Getting you out of the house and on a set of skis or snowboard. Hope this blog post on small Maine downhill ski areas was helpful to get you headed to one or two this winter.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

February 23, 2021
Lobstering In Maine | Learn About ME Lobsters

Lobstering in the Maine. ME lobsters.

It’s said lobstermen and lobsterwomen are born, not made. For starters, Maine is lucky to have a coastline, to be on the Atlantic Ocean. All those ragged, rocky juts of Maine land out into the

Maine Picnics Go Hand In Hand With Lobster Rolls. Potato And Pasta Salad. Corn On The Cob.

briny, misty water take a life time to discover as a tourist. The quaint Maine harbor towns and fishing villages are a big part of the Vacationland attraction.

This blog post about lobstering in Maine.

Like the agriculture farming and forest timber lifestyles, lobstering or any fishing coastal endeavor takes a lot of discipline. The stakes are high. Long hours too that start early, extend late. There is Maine weather delivered up good, bad and worse.

Fishing in Maine is like farming the waters off the coast using boats, buoys and lobster traps not field tractors and implements.

The Maine lobster market prices up and downs means you have to manage your money well. Your overhead continues no matter how many Maine lobsters crawl into the hauled up watery traps. Like many Maine industries, going bigger to monetize production is the trend. But this blog post on lobstering in Maine focuses on the smaller, family fishing operations.

Videos on lobstering in Maine are the easiest way to deliver the goods.

The promise of the blog post title uses your eyes and ears today. Like lazy man’s lobster where everything is steamed, opened up, cracked and buttered. Need a bib? You better put on a bib. Squirts happen around the lobster feed setting. (more…)

December 27, 2020