Maine - Page 330

I know they will have it posted on the website when that is updated but that might be a bit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mountaintopsilkies 

Hoppy, I was there, and I am not sure, but the lady with the White Crested polish, I think won Show champion or reserve.    Who would know for sure who won?  Fran maybe?  if you find out let us know!

I loved seeing the look on all the Jrs. when thry got their trophies!

Not sure who else might be interested in this but:

http://www.sialis.org/raisingmealworms.htm#other

This was a really straight forward and comprehensive page on raising your own mealworms.  I found some in the coop and just fed them to the chickens but should have kept them for breeding I guess.  Broody was pretty happy I did.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by PollyC 


I can hold them for a bit. I would like them gone though by the middle of June or so.

I'm pretty sure I can get it done by then. I'll keep you posted! Thanks so much! :)

Okay I have to admit that I am a bit addicted to House Hunters and House Hunters International. I am amazed by what some people want and what they don't want.

First of all everyone seems to want stainless steel appliances. Really? Yes they look great but a white refrigerator and stove work just as well. To me if the appliances still work than who cares. When they wear out I can replace them with whatever I want.

Second they just have to have a master bedroom the size of Canada. Why? You sleep there. And the closet have to be the size of Russia. Again. Why? No one needs that many clothes. Or shoes.

Then there are the number of bedrooms. The majority of the people say they will have lots of guests so the spare bedrooms need to be huge. They are guests people. They aren't staying permanently. So what if they have to sleep in a twin bed or even a double. If they don't like it then they can go to a hotel.

Yard size is always interesting. Toss up between a large yard, fenced in yard, corner lot, pool, street noise. Very few ever seem to worry about livestock though. :(. Dogs yes. Kids yes. But no chickens.

Finally there is the commute. I swear people on the show think a 30 minute commute to work is pure torture. Wow. I guess they have never been to Maine. I have a 35 minute commute. Yes in the winter during a nasty snowstorm it is terrible. But the rest of the time is is relaxing. And here I can have chickens, horses and goats along with plenty of 'wilderness' instead of neighbors who are so close I can watch their tv from my living room window.

Use to live in the DC/Balti metropolitan area ... a hellish commute is 4+ hrs due to gridlock. You haven't lived until your bladder is about to explode and you haven't moved more than a few feet in hours. There is no such thing as traffic in Maine, even leaving the York toll plaza on Columbus Day weekend. The traffic at least moves. And sometimes there's a man in a lobster suit to wave you goodbye. In Maryland leaving Charles County to go to DC or Balti politicians running for office would park along the side of the road and wave to commuters with big signs with their name. When the traffic was really bad and stopped they'd be able to talk to the "voters." That's my idea of insanity. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that the news around here didn't include what was backed up on the beltway or that the bridge was blocked due to an accident and rubbernecking. No traffic reports, ever. Welcome to Maine. The way life should be. When I go home it's hard to remember that if I want to go somewhere I need to include at least an hour window for traffic.

I also admit I have a huge house that I don't need, but it was a steal during the housing nadir, and I can afford it. A pellet stove later and it's a breeze to heat, too. I enjoy having space after living in dingy cramped apartments for years. Don't care about the guests, but *I* love the space.

I do wish I had more land, and more privacy. I would move for that, even if the commute was longer. Because I need more garden room and goats. And maybe a cow or some horses. Or guineas.

I have a small place, big yard, long commute.  I drive 45 minutes to Cape Elizabeth & get to barrel through Portland.  Whoo.  I am ready to give some PSAs on driving after a swing down State St.  I get funny looks from all of my friends about where I live, how I live - the ducks seem to tip the scales from "kooky" to "whacked" for a lot of folks.  (Silly.)

But I come home to peace & mostly quiet.  A spot to hang my hammock & watch the critters run around.  I have room enough for my sewing table, a spinning wheel and to do the things I love.  None of the neighbors complain about our friends & their banjos, and they even come over & ask me to let the ducks & chickens free range.  "We miss them," they said to me the other day.

I can grow veggies and sing as loud as I want in my garden.  I drive 15-30 minutes for shopping, which is fine because I am not a huge fan of shopping.

I lived in NYC for college.  That was more than enough city dwelling for this gal.  After college I moved out to Boulder, Co.  I rented a place in town, but spent most of my time in my tent in the foothills around Boulder & would go to my house to shower, or on days I felt like cooking a big dinner - then back out to my quiet tent site on a mountain side.  After 2 years I stopped renting & just lived in the woods. 

I like being close(ish) to a place where I can see live music, take the kids to cultural events, socialize in the rare moments I feel like socializing.  I only like it when I have a hermitage to run to.  My mind needs trees & grass, flowers & bugs.  My heart needs room to roam.

There are trade-offs to living out here, but my kids get to be a little bit sheltered from our helter-skelter reality & I get some truly blissful moments watching the bluebird at the feeders, or seeing the ducks swim in a vernal pool.  Or the other day - when I heard a weird barking type sound & looked out to see a flock of turkeys around the chicken pen.  They were all chattering away to one another for almost 2 hours.  I just sat out there watching.  After a while the turkeys came up & made a loop of the bird feeders.  I think the chickens told them about all their favorite places to forage.

I wouldn't trade my small house, big yard for anything else - except maybe a bigger yard.  I want to expand to having more Angora rabbits and maybe a mini cow.  Would be nice to do my own pig.  I love to cure my own meats.

I could do that stuff here where I am, we have a "lifetime lease" but I am not in love with the house, and so I hate to invest much more into temporary coops/a barn for much more than what I have going on now.

I would LOVE to move to Bowdoinham.  What a cool, little town.  My band mates live there & there is just something about it...

Well, I live in Bowdoin.  I live in a 200 year old house on 9 acres with a beaver pond/stream out back, cemetary to the left, and one neighbor to the front and side.  Kitty corner there is 150 acres preserved which used to part of all this.  I rent here, and just moved mid-April and left a lot things behind us-- including materials.  More of a 'zen' style aspiration, though the house is big enough for more and more and more....  I still own a place half a mile from town in Sanford.  Close to town had its advantages, like being able to say, 'I'll just buy dinner cuz I don't want to make it," and a nearby library, but the quiet and the green are necessary.  I had almost half an acre in town, fenced in and filled with flowers and two raised beds I put there.  The dog and kids were OKAAAY cuz we had a park next door but we all wanted more space.  The road was too close, the neighbors were loud, it smelled and sounded like a pile of people lived there.  They do; People piled on people.  I remember seeing chickens piled up like that as a kid.  Its outlawed now.  Wish we could outlaw people piling, but I figure its better than clearing enough land for all of them.  I've lived off grid and in downtown Portland.  When all you want is convenience and experiences of a certain nature you go to town.  When you want experiences that are self-growing you go out of town... and work harder to be there than you did in town.  I love how you said, no one worries about keeping chickens.  They are worried about keeping status.  I don't watch tv.  I know how to 'dress for success,' as part of the job I just left as well, but the success that was defined by the cars, tv and what not were not what made me feel like a success.  I feel... something... when I look out the windows here and see my kids on the land, or the chickens or the dog, or when I walk out there.  I'm a part of it, not a part on it or apart from it.  They are safer here.  Serenity?  Is that it?  I don't know if serenity can be found keeping chickens, but maybe.  Humor sure is though.

Helps to have humor when you step in a slippery one...