will I survive Maine Winter (China, Mexico: appointed, for sale, houses)

[boonelsewhere]

I knew of a man who tried the live off the land approach with his son. He had moved here from California with dreams of getting back to nature etc. He got a late start and had no real idea of how bad the winters can get.The town ended up paying for a motel room for them about mid January when they were found nearly frozen to death in the house they were renting. He moved back to California the next spring.

great post ! thanks mainenah, hope this would not happen to us, may be I should try my first Maine winter by myself, so it would not scare wife to death and make us move back to Florida/Virginia.

[Maine Writer]

An easier approach practiced by a large number of Mainers is living with the land.
Just about everyone I know uses this approach. They supplement many aspects of their lives by a variety of methods. Some grow big gardens,some tap their own maple trees,some raise sheep for wool,some raise chickens, pigs or a beef critter,some make quilts, bake their own breads, preserve their own food, make their own beer and wine, dig clams, catch fish, pick fiddleheads, hunt deer, moose and partridge... the list goes on. You can do as little or as much as you are comfortable with.
No matter what you do you will get a great satisfaction of having done it on your own.

Nothing matches the satisfaction of doing it yourself.


If you're interested in expanding the growing season you might be interested in this article (broken link). Scroll down to low tunnels. There's no reason to wait until the traditional growing season and stop when the frost comes if you're willing to learn. Open invitation - I'll teach anyone who wants to learn what I know. It's not difficult. Make sure you show up in Maine with money for groceries while you get through the learning curve but really, it's not that hard or expensive.

[starwalker]

You can be sure I will visit from time to time to follow you around, see what you have done and are doing, and pick your brain (and lend a hand while I am there, of course.)

No reason to re-invent the wheel when I can learn from someone else's experience!

Originally Posted by Maine Writer

Nothing matches the satisfaction of doing it yourself.


If you're interested in expanding the growing season you might be interested in this article (broken link). Scroll down to low tunnels. There's no reason to wait until the traditional growing season and stop when the frost comes if you're willing to learn. Open invitation - I'll teach anyone who wants to learn what I know. It's not difficult. Make sure you show up in Maine with money for groceries while you get through the learning curve but really, it's not that hard or expensive.

[Elcarim]

Shearling lined, full length suede coat - yes or no? Looks very cozy!

[mollysmiles]

lol....the best bet is to have more than one coat....different coats are good for different things Down is very warm, but you don't want it to get wet--it gets heavy. For storms the best bet is something wind and water proof. Wool is great, and is great as a liner in a coat too

oh, and boots are the same way..

[msina]

Originally Posted by Elcarim

Shearling lined, full length suede coat - yes or no? Looks very cozy!

yes please

[boonelsewhere]

thanks MW, the low tunnels growing method seem to be managable, We so use to cook with green leaves vegetabels year round, just saute them with oil and garlic sometime with tofu over rice, it satisfy us just fine. I may have to learn to dehydrate them or learn to prepare food from root vetgetabels that can last longer in cold storage for the winter months to cut down trip to grocery store.

[msina]

You can blanche and freeze most green leafy vegetables like Spinach, Kale and Collards. Then you have them all winter long. We have a nice lady from China on our street, she gets a huge amount of produce from a very small garden.

[boonelsewhere]

good to know there are some Asian growing kitchen garden in Maine, I think I will be ok in that area.

[CapeCodder]

Originally Posted by boonskyler

good to know there are some Asian growing kitchen garden in Maine, I think I will be ok in that area.

Oh I took this to mean she lived in the town of China in Maine. There's some different town names here...like Peru, and Mexico.