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I went to the FEDCO tree sale today, and had fun! I think everyone there seemed to be enjoying themselves, and I saw a few friends. I do recommend that anyone who has any interest in gardening or organics, to swing by there and check it out
Along with trees and shrubs, I also picked up an interesting book: "Forest trees of Maine" by the Maine Forest Service [Fourteenth edition], published in 2008. It is the 'Centennial Edition'. Once home [and after planting a few of my new plants] I find that it presents some interesting data comparing 1908 to 2008.
For your entertainment I present the following.
Forested area of Maine by percent:
in 1908 - 75%
in 2008 - 89%
Population of Maine:
in 1908 - 694k
in 2008 - 1,274k
Population of the USA:
in 1908 - 92M
in 2008 - 281M
Harvested Volume [in cords]:
in 1908 - 2.8M
in 2008 - 6.7M
Forestry students at UMO:
in 1908 - 31
in 2008 - 50
All students at UMO:
in 1908 - 884
in 2008 - 11,800
Maine Indian Basketmakers:
in 1908 - 400
in 2008 - 100
Primary use of Black Ash Indian baskets:
in 1908 - Agriculture and Industrial
in 2008 - Artwork / collectibles
First it seems that Maine has grown a good deal of forest land in the last century.
Next Maine's population has doubled in the last century, while the nation's population has tripled.
Then Maine's production of timber has nearly tripled even with the loss of so many mills.
Forestry appears to have no greater interest among college students than it did a century ago, even though the college student body has grown by over thirteen times [not is poorly worded]. The percentage of college students interested in forestry has gone from 3% to 1/2 of a percent [31/884 = 3%, 50/11800 = 0.5%]
I thought that was this weekend... I have to miss it this year, just plain BROKE. Instead spent the day PLANTING lettuce seedlings, pea seeds and onion sets and potatoes. More tomorrow...
Glad you had fun, it was a GREAT day for the sale!
I thought that was this weekend... I have to miss it this year, just plain BROKE. Instead spent the day PLANTING lettuce seedlings, pea seeds and onion sets and potatoes. More tomorrow...
Glad you had fun, it was a GREAT day for the sale!
Maybe next year will be more "normal." For now, being out of work (= broke) and behind in the garden (due to last fall's fiasco of helping an alleged friend putting us behind in yearly tasks and this year's weather that would not play nice) is a double whammy.
Trying hard not to whine... and to just put one foot in front of the other and get it done. Hopefully today it will be still enough when I got out in a little while to burn the dry stuff from the strawberry bed so K can turn it and I can replant the berry plants I got from Fedco LAST year, with weed block fabric. MOST of them survived getting lost in the weeds, a year of neglect and a winter of not getting mulched (except by the weeds. LOL) and some even ran and made more...
They do mail-order sales, their catalog is known for unusual write-ups about each variety they carry [often going into the history of each variety].
I know a number of small farmers who supply Fedco with seeds, trees, tubers, and bushes.
They also carry a wide assortment of soil amendments, books and farming hand tools.
They are only open to the public two weekends each year. This year was 29 / 30 April / 1May; and 6 / 7 / 8 May.
Many of the people who do Fedco and the same people who present workshops on seed-saving and preservation: at the Common Ground fair, or sporadically through-out the year according to the MOFGA schedule of events.
The tree-sale weekends are usually swamped with people.
If you were a regular customer at any of the Farmer's Markets scattered through-out Maine, you would notice that there are three weekends each year when many of the vendors are either short-staffed or go missing. The 2 Fedco weekends and the weekend of the Common Ground fair; are these 3 weekends.
I often recognize many of the people who volunteer to work at the tree-sale [wrapping trees, floor staff, sales, loading dock, or parking lot attendants],
as being vendors at the Farmer's Markets and as members of MOFGA.
This year I picked up a plum tree to replace one that had died here; and 100 cranberry bushes [50 each of 2 varieties] to replace seeds that I have been having a difficult time getting to germinate.
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Synchronization of Metronomes
