will I survive Maine Winter (Ellsworth, Winn: power lines, motorhome, camper)

[ogre]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

I am familiar with that book, I rub elbows with other farmers who attempt to walk that path.

In fact last week I toured a 'Perma-Culture' training home, and one of the resident / apprentices and I had a conversation about 'the one straw revolution' techniques.

You will find many others up here who are doing similar work, however they are also somewhat scattered.

You may do better off to invest your money for now, come up here and move into one of the farming communes. Then after a year of experience, go shopping for land.

Many CSAs offer apprenticeships. We have been contacted by folks seeking apprenticeships, however our farm is still too young in development to really be able to utilize any apprentices.

I sell organic produce at the local farmer's market, and among the other vendors there, some of them just lost their summer apprentices, and are currently shifting things around as they have lost most of their workers.

You will need to start attending the 'hippy fair' in Unity each year, sadly you just missed it.





Good point.






Farm-land is not so hard to qualify for here, but it takes a few years. Stick to tree-growth. Within the tree-management plan that you are required to have written, you will find many farming avenues that fit in nicely with your planned techniques.

May God bless you.

These look like excellent suggestions. Really good thoughts as well from El on the importance of researching any move, and from Msna on some realities of the life you're considering, Boonskyler. Rep for all three posts.

As Msna points out, any serious undertaking requires that you learn details about how the job is really done before you can do it successfully. That takes experience. Reading a book is not enough. I had planned to make the general suggestion that you check into the possibility of finding more of a regular job to work at while you learned the craft of living off the land. It looks as if Forest had the same idea, and one better, since he has suggested jobs that would pay you to gain experience with this kind of farming.

Really good suggestion by Forest, and worth considering. You don't want to take on the kind of undertaking you've proposed without experience with that kind of work. Best of luck as you make your way into this new phase of life.

[Maine Writer]

You can do it if you go into this with an intelligent, realistic plan and work hard to live up to the plan. Be sure to have enough cash to support yourself before you leave VA. Land is a good start. Tools and other equipment get costly. You probably can't set up everything you want to do before the first winter sets in. I can help you learn how to grow most anything you'd like to grow and how to put it up. Figure out where you're going to get your seeds and transplants, what you'll grow and how you'll get the garden space started. If you want to raise meat I can help with that too. It's unlikely that you'll provide the majority of your food the first year or two. If your land is completely forested it's going to take time to clear usable space. If you hunt successfully you can help your meat supply with venison, rabbit and partridge.

I'd buy the first winter's firewood and spend your firewood time on the second year's wood to give it time to cure.

I suggest you spend some hands-on time learning to do some of the things you want to do before you get here. I very quickly learned that book knowledge is a good start but it doesn't compare to real life. It's one thing to read about gardening and another to turn over the soil, learn what's seeded and what's transplanted, when those things happen, how to judge your soil and get food on the table. To make the transition easier I would figure out housing and if possible, a job before you move. MOFGA might be very helpful in finding work as an apprentice. If you don't have housing figured out you might consider renting for the winter.

Good luck!

[Submariner]

We began here and have made numerous mistakes.

We have learned something from each endeavour, and we change how we attempt to do things.

Our garden has utterly failed two years in a row.

I am a bee husbandman who does not have a single living bee.

We keep trying, we keep learning, we keep adjusting.

I have now finished my third summer living in Maine.

I talk with neighbors, and I attend workshops to learn how other locals attempt to succeed. [I think that both methods of sharing knowledge are mixtures of helpful insights, folk lore and less than useful information].

You can succeed.

However like Capt James T. Kirk, I cheat. I have my pension and my DW working part-time, so that I can utterly fail, and yet I can still move on. I have a back-up plan [years spent living underwater taught me to always have an up-to-date back-up plan]. So I can afford to try and to fail.

Dude if you are coming up here without a back-up plan for self support.

...

Attune yourself to the pre-existing network of earth-friendly farmers already here. Assist them, learn form them, and then spend your money.

[boonelsewhere]

thanks MW for your help.

Tools and other equipment get costly. You probably can't set up everything you want to do before the first winter sets in

My plan is not to own any large equipments or tools. The method of planting is as simple as scratch earth surface drop the seeds and cover it back what the what ever around.
Here in Virginia chickens gave to me from a neighbor in exchange of favor now they sleep in the tree and raise there young and lay eggs in the bush enough for me and my dog and extra for neighbor. The land in Ellsworth has open area near marsh land hope to start garden there

I'd buy the first winter's firewood and spend your firewood time on the second year's wood to give it time to cure.

This is the area I will need to learn the most ,at first i though it s/b plenty of trees fall on the ground for me to use as fire wood.
As for housing, I will tow travel trailer up and live in it while build my own house.

[Elcarim]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

LOL

It took me a while to write my response

Oh, but I knew it would be a good one!

[boonelsewhere]

FB, I will compile a long list miss stakes in the next 3-5 years if i am not frozen to death first. I have a very low expectation of things and stay at it attitude, hopefully that would help in the unfamiliar environment.
My wife said i am a dreamer.

[Submariner]

Then I am sure you will do fine.

Live in your Airstream, and get settled in.

I would still advise that you look into some of the CSAs for apprenticeships.

I am curious though, in this area we pay around $900 - 950 per acre of riverfront treegrowth, and $300 - 350 per acre of treegrowth with no flowing water. How much did you find treegrowth land going for in Ellsworth?

[boonelsewhere]

the land in Ellsworth are 2 parcels, #1 is 2.5 acres not on tree growth, #2 is 108 acres on tree growth and need to renew in five years,both for $150,000 and they are R2 zoning i think.I did not expect to find any land that access/build able can cost less than $1000/ac. I should have spend more time searching!!.

[Elcarim]

Nothing wrong with being a dreamer! Just make sure your dreams can be supported in this real world we live in.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

It will be tough living in a camper for the winter. You will be carrying water. People have done it and from observation only I have a few recommendations.

1. Build a 16 foot square entry beside your camper. That way you won't have a howling wind sucking the heat out every time you open the door. Why 16 feet square? You will definitely need the space.

2. Get a Monitor type direct vent heater. A small one will do. Your camper heater won't be adequate. Airstream never envisioned anybody doing what you are about to do.

2. Get a 300 pound propane cylinder, commonly called a "pig". The fuel company will fill it on site if you have a plowed driveway close enough. It's cheaper than buying your propane a tank at a time. Monitors also run on kerosene or #2 heating oil. They are cheaper to run than propane.

3. Have you closed on the land in Ellsworth? Up here you can buy 350 acres for $120,000.

4. You won't find enough fallen dead wood to heat your home. Standing dead wood is dry. Fallen dead wood is wet and rots fast. It is poor fuel. I know a lady that heated her house the first winter with old pallets, scrap wood and packing materials. It was a lot of work, but it was free.