Why is Maine a poor state? (Houlton: apartments, insurance, condo)

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by AnnapolisSailor

Just returned from visit to Maine last week, Downeast up to Lubec

It sounds like you drove mostly along Rt1, along the coast. I imagine that you saw a lot of coastal communities. Along that route there are also many roads that lead off onto peninsulas where you can see more coastal communities and shore line. I hope you had fun and got lots of photos.

... I was curious in terms of live stock farming, do farmers raise sheep/lambs for wool sheering or pigs, for meat products?

There are people here who raise: cattle [both beef and dairy herds]; sheep for wool and for meat; pigs for meat; goats for meat.

If you stop at any of the many Farmer's Markets in Maine you will likely see people offering local beef, lamb, pork, chevron, poultry and rabbit. As well as milk, cheese, and yogurt. Along with all of the veggies and fruits grown in Maine.

[mainegrl2011]

Originally Posted by AnnapolisSailor

Just returned from visit to Maine last week, Downeast up to Lubec, I was curious in terms of live stock farming, do farmers raise sheep/ lambs for wool sheering or pigs, for meat products? I saw no sheep or pigs along my drives. I understand there are particular areas known for raising poultry/ chickens, and to my great surprise the harvesting and exporting of baby eels (pronounced "'els" if I am not mistaken) for export to Japan/ China, and that only aselect few limited number may possess a license to catch them. Don't worry, I am soo not into eels - slippery slimey things! Ugh!

What I did see that I thought was prettyuniquely different as "awayers" of course were 2 horses in a resident's front yard eating from a circle of straw/ hay, the owenrs had placed out for them, looked more like pets (dogs for example), they were secured by a split-rail type fence in the front yard. Just a random observation.

In Maine it's ok to feed your horses in your front yahd if you want to; you can also pahk in your front yahd if you like. If this bothers you enough to want to instigate a law against it, well...I guess I won't say it or I'll be accused of being snarky again. I consider myself passionate rather than snarky. Let's just say Washington County Mainers believe their home is their castle. If others don't like it, they don't have to look.

[AnnapolisSailor]

Originally Posted by mainegrl2011

In Maine it's ok to feed your horses in your front yahd if you want to; you can also pahk in your front yahd if you like. If this bothers you enough to want to instigate a law against it, well...I guess I won't say it or I'll be accused of being snarky again. I consider myself passionate rather than snarky. Let's just say Washington County Mainers believe their home is their castle. If others don't like it, they don't have to look.

None of these scenarios bathah me Maingirl. I was merely reporting on my observations without judgement.

I am trying to get away from all of those picky snobby self-centered shallow peeps in my community (if ya want to call it that! :roll eyes. I think we will right in with the folks of Washington County if their values are as you describe.
You and I must be two peas in a pod Maingirl, I've been told I can be brusque, sarcastic, and abrasive - they are misguided, I am just an impassioned zealot !
Oh, BTW, I am also a bit (no a lot) candid, unpretentious, and opinionated.

[Three Wolves In Snow]

I don't understand this argument about the cost of living. I completely disagree that the cost of living is high here.

A few examples are that I can buy the exact same stuff at the grocery store here that I did in other cities I lived in and the prices are much lower. Consider that I am comparing these prices to what I paid in a city on the west coast almost 10 years ago, that says something.

My excise tax, registration, et al are not more expensive. Again, the west coast has Maine beat by a mile and apparently now FL is making things difficult and more expensive in that area.

My car insurance literally dropped OVER $1200 A YEAR, just by moving to Maine. I just paid off my insurance for a year that would have covered only three months in other places I've lived.

Electric is actually cheaper, again comparable to what I was paying on the west coast 10 years ago. Gas is cheaper, (believe it or not), than some other places I've lived when you do a comparison.

Getting work done on my car is cheaper.

I can find a farm and get my pets' food way, way, way cheaper than anywhere I've ever been.

It is totally and completely possible for me to be able to "make it" with HALF (or more), of what I used to have to make just to keep my head above water.

Life isn't just about taxes. When people talk about the, "cost of living", are they not talking about actual living? Are they not talking about the day to day stuff, the "living" part of "the cost of living"?

The only argument anyone has here is oil. Considering how much I save on every other aspect of my life here, even with oil, cost of living is lower.

Wages? One could say, "But the wages in Maine are bad!" I would say to that, "Honey, the wages are bad all over. This is an employers' market and they know it."

But let's get back to taxes...when I first started investigating living in Maine, I did a comparison of taxes between Maine and some other places I've been before. The taxes are lower here. A LOT lower here. I'm really confused where people come up with this idea that it's horribly expensive to live in Maine.

[Maine Writer]

I think you'd have seen more livestock if you'd come off the beaten path a bit more. There's enough livestock being raised in WaCo to help support a slaughter house in Alexander. There are three (I think all three are still open) organic cow dairies and at least one goat dairy in WaCo. One of the dairies is a MOO Milk farm that also produces chicken, turkey, beef and pork. This website is outdated but has some links to WaCo farms.

[AnnapolisSailor]

Originally Posted by Maine Writer

I think you'd have seen more livestock if you'd come off the beaten path a bit more. There's enough livestock being raised in WaCo to help support a slaughter house in Alexander. There are three (I think all three are still open) organic cow dairies and at least one goat dairy in WaCo. One of the dairies is a MOO Milk farm that also produces chicken, turkey, beef and pork. This website is outdated but has some links to WaCo farms.

Mainewriter, Next trip, maybe and hopefully our move trip we will have more time to venture out to the livestock areas you reference. we were only in Maine a total of 5 nights; Downeast (Jonesport, Milbridge, Harrington,Lubec) for 4 nights, and two days Ellsworth/ Stockton Springs) . Drove from Portland via coastal road with few pit stops at Pemaquid lighthouse and thomastons prison woodcraftersstore (loved that store, the inmates are very talented and skilled crafters). It was a whirlwind of seeing about 18 homes you can imagine our time was pretty taken up!

Thank you kindly for the info on available fresh meats! And hopefully cheeses and fresh butter. We regret having missed the august blueberry harvest season.
Regards!

[mainebrokerman]

Originally Posted by AnnapolisSailor

Mainewriter, Next trip, maybe and hopefully our move trip we will have more time to venture out to the livestock areas you reference. we were only in Maine a total of 5 nights; Downeast (Jonesport, Milbridge, Harrington,Lubec) for 4 nights, and two days Ellsworth/ Stockton Springs) . Drove from Portland via coastal road with few pit stops at Pemaquid lighthouse and thomastons prison woodcraftersstore (loved that store, the inmates are very talented and skilled crafters). It was a whirlwind of seeing about 18 homes you can imagine our time was pretty taken up!

Thank you kindly for the info on available fresh meats! And hopefully cheeses and fresh butter. We regret having missed the august blueberry harvest season.
Regards!

how did you like pemaquid point?

[Northern Maine Land Man]

I sold a piece of land and the buyer called back a few weeks later. He said he knew it was a little late to be asking, but what were the taxes on this land? I told him $19. "You mean $19 a month?

No, $19 a year. Big pause. "How can this be?"

I told him there are a whole lot of acres and very few kids in the schools. He was just plain flabbergasted. That was 20 years ago, but the taxes on similar properties can still be around a dollar an acre per year.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

I sold a piece of land and the buyer called back a few weeks later. He said he knew it was a little late to be asking, but what were the taxes on this land? I told him $19. "You mean $19 a month?

No, $19 a year. Big pause. "How can this be?"

I told him there are a whole lot of acres and very few kids in the schools. He was just plain flabbergasted. That was 20 years ago, but the taxes on similar properties can still be around a dollar an acre per year.

Sounds about right.

[RMoore007]

Maine may be poor yet many poor people still live there for a reason and have a better quality of life than so many people I know out here in the west and other parts of the US. I guess it must be better for poor people to live in a poor state than a rich state? Not that Maine is better than anywhere else but it has something that other states don't have and that's Moxie. I mean the other word moxie too. The ability to face difficulty with spirit and courage including initiative, skill, know-how, guts, backbone, grit, gumption, sand and fortitude. Take your pick. Living in Maine takes a lot of frugality, planning, patience, various degrees of effort and just the will to survive sometimes in a place that isn't known for easy living like the two season warmer states. Some years are harder than others but you balance them out.

I had my sister and brother work for me out here in CA for 10 and 15 years and now both are back in Maine. Poorer, but better off really than they were out here. Both make much less but have everything they need in housing with acerage, transportation and food and all with a sense of belonging as our family has always lived in Maine. My other brother has never left Maine, except a stint in CT, and has 2 kids in their early 20's. They have and always will live in Maine because it's just not practical for them to leave and start over everything in their lives just to make money. They have pretty simple tastes and seem to be fine with it. I've often tried to get my brothers kids to come to CA for school or jobs and that would just put them further from Maine and their dad so no way.

I do worry about them though like I did with my parents when they were alive. But they manage to make do, do without, don't ask for help from anyone and work all that they can at something. They have an "If what I have hasn't worn out yet, then why on earth would I replace it?" attitude. Plus, they get to live in a place that has 4 seasons, clean air and water, few people, little traffic, lots to do outdoors, plenty of places to go relatively close and know a bunch of townspeople including friends and family where pop-ins are common. They know every neighbor too and when out in the yard, cars will toot their horns when they go by the house.

So, I guess my point is, if you're poor and live in Maine, then you might as well embrace it and just go with the flow. You get to live in a pretty cool place that has as many problems and opportunities as anywhere else but you at least you GET TO LIVE IN MAINE.

Oh, and I know people that you would think would be quite poor but you would be wrong. And their yards are filled with artwork or junk, whatever you're into. But money is not one of their problems, neatness maybe.