Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
North is bad area for survival, hard to produce enough food... plus climate is so horrible with long cold winters....
Another northern Mainer here.
You would be hard-pressed to produce as much food as we do here! We raise virtually all the fruit, vegetables, eggs, meat and dairy that the 4 of us on this property eat, plus substantial contributions to our 2 daughters, 6 grandkids, neices and nephews. Every month we bring sacks of potatoes and onions, crates of eggs, apples, cheese, bacon, chicken, and beef, down to RI. It helps them a lot.
About the only thing we buy here, is rice, oats, honey, salt, and flour.
You would be hard-pressed to produce as much food as we do here! We raise virtually all the fruit, vegetables, eggs, meat and dairy that the 4 of us on this property eat, plus substantial contributions to our 2 daughters, 6 grandkids, neices and nephews. Every month we bring sacks of potatoes and onions, crates of eggs, apples, cheese, bacon, chicken, and beef, down to RI. It helps them a lot.
About the only thing we buy here, is rice, oats, honey, salt, and flour.
We have four growing seasons in the tropics (can grow food year round) but there are times when we envy what you have. Winters kill pests including parasites that make raising food here difficult without the cold temps. Obviously there are tradeoffs (for example, we don't need to harvest fuel for heating or focus on food preservation, honey is practically free etc) but I don't know of any reason why living in a northern climate is inferior to living anywhere else as far as food self-sufficiency is concerned if you have the right knowledge base and grow the types of food that work where you are.
We have four growing seasons in the tropics (can grow food year round) but there are times when we envy what you have. Winters kill pests including parasites that make raising food here difficult without the cold temps. Obviously there are tradeoffs (for example, we don't need to harvest fuel for heating or focus on food preservation, honey is practically free etc) but I don't know of any reason why living in a northern climate is inferior to living anywhere else as far as food self-sufficiency is concerned if you have the right knowledge base and grow the types of food that work where you are.
I like apple cider. I own a small apple orchard [each of the varieties were selected for making hard cider].
Apple trees need a hard freeze before they can produce fruit.
Secondly, I grew-up farming in an area that is highly prone to drought. Without water crops die. All flora dies.
I decided to migrate to Maine for my retirement mostly because I was looking at regions free of drought.
I like apple cider. I own a small apple orchard [each of the varieties were selected for making hard cider].
Apple trees need a hard freeze before they can produce fruit.
Secondly, I grew-up farming in an area that is highly prone to drought. Without water crops die. All flora dies.
I decided to migrate to Maine for my retirement mostly because I was looking at regions free of drought.
In post number '18' I pointed out all the trouble most of us are having with invasive pest. Me and my late wife loved to travel to Maine. You have very healthy forest up there and I am curious if you have had any problems with all of the invasive pest I pointed out in that post? It did not look like it to us; but we were just visiting and not living in that State. Do you have to worry about the fire blight on you fruit trees or any of the other pest?
In post number '18' I pointed out all the trouble most of us are having with invasive pest. Me and my late wife loved to travel to Maine. You have very healthy forest up there and I am curious if you have had any problems with all of the invasive pest I pointed out in that post? It did not look like it to us; but we were just visiting and not living in that State. Do you have to worry about the fire blight on you fruit trees or any of the other pest?
In a state that is over 92% forest there will always be some blight, borer, or beetle that is harming the forest.
My fruit trees have not been harmed so far.
I have bigger concerns with my trees carrying too much fruit, so much that the weight tears branches away from the trees.
I am originally from California, where the grass turns brown and dies in May - June from lack of water. We don't have that here. Here any piece of bare ground needs to be bush-hogged once every second year to keep the forest from encroaching.
In a state that is over 92% forest there will always be some blight, borer, or beetle that is harming the forest.
My fruit trees have not been harmed so far.
I have bigger concerns with my trees carrying too much fruit, so much that the weight tears branches away from the trees.
I am originally from California, where the grass turns brown and dies in May - June from lack of water. We don't have that here. Here any piece of bare ground needs to be bush-hogged once every second year to keep the forest from encroaching.
I'm glad you have that problem. Bear on those limbs do not help!
Last Fall I cut down all nine of my mature pear and apple trees because of the fire blight. I am hoping to replace them this Spring with peach trees.
In terms of climate, home prices and taxes, I am inland.
Inland Maine can get some pretty hefty snows. The coast moderates the temperatures where Portland has temperatures close to what I have here. I am surprised that your fruit trees do so well; I never thought about it before other than some of the heavy snow falls and cold temperatures that you can get inland. Are any farmers up there into the hydroponics and geothermal greenhouses?
We were always jealous of your forest; they are so lush and thick and healthy. Down here, besides the invasive pest, we also dealt with acid rain for many years. That especially hurt our forest in our higher elevations because there was very little naturally occurring limestone in the ground. There was nothing to neutralize that acid rain.
Inland Maine can get some pretty hefty snows. The coast moderates the temperatures where Portland has temperatures close to what I have here. I am surprised that your fruit trees do so well; I never thought about it before other than some of the heavy snow falls and cold temperatures that you can get inland. Are any farmers up there into the hydroponics and geothermal greenhouses?
As the number of farms nationwide decline each year, the number of Maine farms has been climbing for the past 20 years. Few states have a growing trend in farming, such as Maine has.
Maine has over 3,000 miles of coastline, most of the coastal towns are tourist traps. Land prices and home prices tend to run 4X to 20X more than inland prices, and taxes follow the same pattern.
Quote:
... We were always jealous of your forest; they are so lush and thick and healthy. Down here, besides the invasive pest, we also dealt with acid rain for many years. That especially hurt our forest in our higher elevations because there was very little naturally occurring limestone in the ground. There was nothing to neutralize that acid rain.
Healthy lush forests should be the desire of anyone who is interested in 'Self-Sufficiency and Preparedness'.
"Apple trees need a hard freeze before they can produce fruit."
There are apple varieties that fruit in the tropics but even the ones that aren't adapted will fruit here. The trick is the tree has to be manually defoliated which isn't hard to do with a grafted dwarf. A goat can do most of it in just a few minutes and the leaves that are too high can be pulled off by hand.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
