Locally grown Maine food is fresh, abundant and provided by your friends and neighbors.

Besides the high nutritional value, knowing where the food came from is kinda important. You develop a relationship with the grower, the Maine farmer who you come to trust to provide food, rich fruit and vegetables for your table. And beef, eggs, milk, other meat and dairy products have the same trust built right into every mouthful your Maine family takes in, gobbles down to hit the spot three times a day.

Do you have a garden, have you started green pepper and tomato plants in peat pots on newspapers on a southern exposure porch window sill?

Or spread out seedlings in rows and rows over a card table covered with old newspapers? Does your home have a designated area in the cellar for a cold storage? Older Maine homes had root cellars for the canning, preserves, barrels of potatoes. For the sand with buried carrots, hooks for hanging onions, shelves for blue hubbard, butternut and other squashes. Do you raise baby beef, have horses, goats, sheep, meat rabbits? Or other small two or four legged Maine farm animals counting on you for grain, hay, water, food of their own?

Initially done for survival and to put a big dent in the food grocery budget. But now out of concern for making sure healthy, safe food is served up daily. Without all loaded up, spiked with the contaminants, chemicals, gases, polishes and who knows what when you pick up mystery food at the Piggly Wiggly Foodmart. It looks good, but is it? Sure does not taste the same as fresh, home grown Maine food in season.

Farming, growing, raising, feeding yourself and others is one of the oldest, noblest professions.

Not too long ago most folks were farmers. Not a lot of money, but everything they needed for not going to bed hungry. Or worrying about your next meal. Even during The Great Depression, famines, wars. And wood lots on part of the Maine farm acreage kept your bones from freezing. Heated the joint. With a cook stove and a whistling tea kettle of hot water always ready for a spot of tea. Shot of coffee. To bake a pot of beans, fresh home made bread to soak up the juices. With potato or cabbage salad, brown bread, hot dogs or steak. Hot water boiling, parked on the wood cook stove corner used to pour on your oatmeal too. After morning chores were completed down at the barn.

If you are like eight out of ten people, you depend on the shelves being stocked fully at neon bright, abundantly displayed urban groceries. But if those eighteen wheels on the semis and box trailers stopped rolling for about three days, panic would happen. Go low on food in a city and a pit in your stomach happens. Beyond just being hungry. Scared happens. Especially if you have a family to feed. And can’t no matter how much money you have stuffed in your pocket to offer. Because you are dependent on others for all your food. On thin ice.

You would do anything to keep your kids from starving.

Including using a gun if needed and that may be part of what Uncle Sam worries about. With all that fire power and ammo in the hands of civilians. Make that a hungry population, and tired, angry picks up a beat. In the tempo of life survival. Food is right up there with air, water, shelter and love as important!

Hit a farmers market in Maine. Plenty of food for everyone. Make it a habit, a healthy one that is win win for you and the local economy that supports itself. Local Maine cows are happier bovine…Moooo-ve toward picking up only locally produced, home grown, close to your house raised dairy products. Veggies, fruits, grains, meats, fish and dairy, poultry products are all right here in the bread basket called Maine. Let’s eat. Let’s hit a local Maine farmers market.

Don’t think we need farmers? No farmers, no food. Pretty basic, not hard to understand. But often taken for granted in this cheap food, mass produced mentality for feeding the masses. And remember, don’t talk with your mouth full if you don’t think farmers are one of the if not the most important components of society. And on a farm in Maine growing up, exposed to no thank you portions. Try it you might grow to like it helpings standard procedure around meal time. Learn more about Maine farmer’s markets.

Farming, more than driving a pickup with a Farmall IH, John Deere green and yellow deer emblem on the bumper.

Wearing western shirts and listening to country music. Much more to it than just fixing a few pasture fence posts when the moose crashes through or frost heaves, tilts them sideways. A little bit more involved than just throwing, growing seeds on top of the ground. Like Jack did with the ones exchanged for the family dairy cow that got traded causing crazy, bizarre results.

Maine, unfiltered natural beauty and no better tasting locally grown food. More than just blueberries, lobsters, potatoes to brag about in Vacationland.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
207.532.6573
info@mooersrealty.com