Maine

I'm getting the bug to travel again. LuAnn suggested I relive our trips by writing about a different state each week, like States of America, every Saturday or Sunday. How about Monday? It's more like it might happen when the mood hits me!

For some reason I thought of Maine this morning. I saw my friend Andy in St. Louis, he grows sweet corn and fresh market produce at County Fair Farm. He was one of the first fellows I met who wanted to raise sweet corn without tillage. His old Maine farm has plenty of drainage and too many rock and reduced tillage made sense to him.

We finally made it to his place on one of our trips up the east coast around ten years ago. He has made a lot of improvements to his farm since our trip. He was excited about his son graduating from college and coming back to the farm to help manage the challenging task of marketing their fresh market produce. Andy is the farmer and one person can't handle all the tasks well.

Maine is known for timber, potatoes and maple syrup, among other crops. Fresh market produce has grown in rapid acceptance, a trend we see across the United States. Agriculture is important to Maine's economy, like it is in every state.

The lobster and sweet corn is terrific, but I love the sweet Maine shrimp. I can't get enough of them when we are there. Maine is a beautiful place to visit and we vividly remember the bed and breakfast south of Jefferson, Maine that had the outdoor shower. There is an Italian restaurant on the ocean, kind of in the middle of nowhere we visited on two different trips that is as good as they come.

One time we drove all the way through Maine on the way to Nova Scotia. We had the most beautiful weather you can imagine right before a major hurricane came up the east coast. Our first trip was over ten years ago for an east coast soil and water meeting and the boat trip to an island lobster bake was so foggy you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

You don't hear much about Maine or Mainelanders, they keep to themselves. They don't keep their hospitality or beauty of their state when you visit.

Ed