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Be careful with your planning. Murphy is afoot and he has tortured me with a vengeful fist. If you think you have all your ducks in a row, be ready to have Murphys Law pay a surprise visit.
I wanted property in Maine for as long as I could remember. I had lived there as a child and never forgot it. And the day came when I could actually afford a piece of land there. My circumstances prevented me from moving to Maine right away. Further circumstances also had me buy a house in a small mountain hamlet in WV shortly thereafter, which I moved into immediately. A few years after that, I discovered that my COPD was triggered by cold air. That leaves my Maine property as a summer retreat rather than a year-round residence. And the insult is that I love winters and snow and was looking forward to be snowed in every year.
Oh well...
No matter what you think is going to be best for you 10 or 40 years down the road, circumstances can - and probably will - change.
Thank you very much for great advice and ideas! ReturningWest, I got the hint , but we're looking farther north
How much farther north? I bought this lovely homestead-style place but due to personal reasons have to sell it. I learned a TON on this place and it is fabulous and breaking my heart. Long story.
I'm looking for something smaller -- like 5 acres -- that I can manage and am having to re-think my plans based on all I learned on the farm. Things like propane is your friend -- because cutting wood is an occupation and should only be a back-up plan if you want to do other things or have a couple other adults. Great for atmosphere and survival but not fun as a regular source of heat.
You can grow a LOT in a small garden if you plan it right --- and it will shade out weeds so less weeding.
Berry bushes are not that hard to grow -- and the birds don't seem to like blueberries in TN.
Every season I learn more. I've discovered the joys of raised beds this year as we had a ton of rain.
I'm torn between being north enough to have an easier time gardening and south enough not to have harsh winters. TN is pretty good on that. I just have to much to handle. So that would be -- don't get to much land for your family to handle.....
Be careful with your planning. Murphy is afoot and he has tortured me with a vengeful fist. If you think you have all your ducks in a row, be ready to have Murphys Law pay a surprise visit.
No matter what you think is going to be best for you 10 or 40 years down the road, circumstances can - and probably will - change.
ALL to true -- really great advice. Something similar happened to me. Plan all you want, but be prepared to change directions mid-stream. Life just seems that way for some of us.
Hi Beekeeper --
What can you grow in your orchard? Just apples and cherries or other fruits? Nuts? Do you keep any berry bushes?
What do you grow in your garden in any abundance?
I've moved around a lot and keep hitting walls on things I think I can grow in the wrong place. I'm considering moving back up north but now I'm messed up on what I can grow in the short season you have. That's why all the questions.
Also -- do you really keep bees there? Having any trouble with CCD or mites, etc? I'm having a suspicious lack of bees this Spring -- last year my place was buzzing like crazy with honeybees. Despite this I have plums and strawberries and other early items in plenty -- but haven't looked up which is bee-pollenated or wind. Do have the little "sweat bees" doing some work but not one honeybee this Spring. Kinda freaking me out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by forest beekeeper
There is a lot of it.
The majority of Maine is un-populated.
I guess.
No building codes;
property taxes run around $1.05 per acre;
They say that income taxes are high, but my pension is not high enough to require that I pay income taxes, so I honestly can not say if income taxes are high in Maine. Maybe some wealthy folks can answer that for you.
During my career, we have lived in a lot of places, we have never seen such low taxes anywhere that we have been.
Politics are bad everywhere.
But at least crime is low and open carry is encouraged.
We run goats and sheep in our forest, they do okay. Chickens and hogs too.
We have a lot of wild turkey, deer, moose and fish.
We have been learning a lot about foraging edible plants, fiddleheads are a big deal here.
I have built a few small greenhouses, planted an orchard, and we have raised bed gardens.
We are producing about 80% of our own food now days, and hope to soon have enough extra to market the surplus.
For berries we have: Black currantberry, Blackberry, Blueberry, Cranberry,
Goji berry, gooseberry, grapes [Concord, Niagara, Suffolk], Red Winterberry, Raspberry, and jujubes.
Our veggie and herb garden is a long list too.
Quote:
... What do you grow in your garden in any abundance?
A few things.
We produce most of what we need now, we hope that it will turn around in the next couple years, and we should have a little surplus.
And we have goats, sheep, hogs, chickens, and turkeys.
Really we go through a lot of grain [barley, oats, corn sunflower], we have no method now of producing those grains. Fortunately there are farmers in the area that do produce grains.
We are experimenting with a number of things this year [a long list of crops]. We are doing a bed of sugar beets for molasses, for example.
Quote:
...
I've moved around a lot and keep hitting walls on things I think I can grow in the wrong place. I'm considering moving back up north but now I'm messed up on what I can grow in the short season you have. That's why all the questions.
I see.
Quote:
... Also -- do you really keep bees there? Having any trouble with CCD or mites, etc? I'm having a suspicious lack of bees this Spring -- last year my place was buzzing like crazy with honeybees. Despite this I have plums and strawberries and other early items in plenty -- but haven't looked up which is bee-pollenated or wind. Do have the little "sweat bees" doing some work but not one honeybee this Spring. Kinda freaking me out.
Like everywhere many hives keep dying every year. We lost some hives, others are doing fine.
I am hoping for some swarms soon so I can re-populate my empty hives.
Until two years ago we were what the tax people call "DINKs". That's double income, no kids. My wife was forced out of her job and our other source of income was sharply reduced. The tax people are not happy. We were supposed to pay those high taxes forever. As the functionaries in our state capitol are beginning to realize, there are many thousands of citizens in the same boat. Government revenues are declining. The golden goose is cooked. Enjoy the sandwiches because to quote that famous John Belushi line from Animal House, "Game over Man!".
Wow, that is an incredible list. Thanks so much for taking time to answer. I can not imagine trying to keep up everything -- much less harvest and store it all properly. I'm going to copy and paste and do some research. Thanks!
For berries we have: Black currantberry, Blackberry, Blueberry, Cranberry,
Goji berry, gooseberry, grapes [Concord, Niagara, Suffolk], Red Winterberry, Raspberry, and jujubes.
Do you use greenhouses? Seems some of those fruits (figs/apricots/lemons??) can't possibly grow in Maine.......or were you just pulling my leg?
[quote=tnfarm_35acres;14322649]Wow, that is an incredible list. Thanks so much for taking time to answer. I can not imagine trying to keep up everything -- much less harvest and store it all properly. I'm going to copy and paste and do some research. Thanks!
For berries we have: Black currantberry, Blackberry, Blueberry, Cranberry,
Goji berry, gooseberry, grapes [Concord, Niagara, Suffolk], Red Winterberry, Raspberry, and jujubes.
Do you use greenhouses? Seems some of those fruits (figs/apricots/lemons??) can't possibly grow in Maine.......or were you just pulling my leg? ...
Our figs and lemons are in planters so I can move them indoors to become house plants over winter. I was attending the annual scion exchange hosted by the local seed-saver chapter, when a guest speaker mentioned this technique.
It had not occurred to me to do the house-plant thing through the winter before, so we were missing out on citrus and figs. But after this workshop I decided to give it a try.
Our apricots stay outside in our orchard.
I have spots set aside in our orchard for almonds. Almonds, apricots and peaches all use a common rootstock. But I have not located an appropriate hardy almond yet. When I do they will be located in the orchard.
I know a farm 'Five Star Nursery' that produces peaches in Maine. They are on the coast, on a peninsula. He teaches grafting too. Real nice folks.
Maine has many micro-climates. I do not think that we can support peaches here. However there are micro-climates nearby that can support peaches.
Winter months are a good time to research and plan. Some of these crops we are doing because it 'sounds like they should work'. You don't know until you try. In many cases it takes years to fully prove if a tree will work or not. I am trying as many varieties as I can, in the hopes of producing a wider diet.
While most of our trees have budded and leafed, a few did not. In the case of a few of our trees they had woke up yet from the winter, so I had assumed that they had died over-wintering. It seems to be common for trees to die during their first winter. I got some replacement trees and went to replace the 'dead' trees.
In the case of the mulberry, it only now [end of May] started to bud. So clearly it is not dead after all. The same happened to one of our elderberries.
Our walnut has not budded, but neither has the nursery grown replacement. So perhaps they are just waiting for more warm weather.
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, but we're looking farther north 
serious query on gardening options
