Some of the things I learned in Cheddahville

This is Maine in fact-my very own dooryard complete with out of commission minivan!

This is NOT Maine!

I have learned many things in living here only five and half years. The first thing that I learned was how much people up here do not like "Flatlanders". So, within the first days I lived here-I made a mad dash to change my license plates from Massachusetts to Maine. Whew! however, since it is such a small town, they knew about me already and still have to prove that I am not a typical Flatlander. I used to dress up just to go into town (I always did before moving here). That was one of the things that made me stand out! Now I wear the usual jeans and sweatshirts etc... hair up in scrunchie .

People love to call the Sheriff's Department on me for some reason or another. One time was when I had some friends up from Massachusetts in the middle of February and had hiked out to my field on the side-found it was too windy and the snow was too deep. We then meandered (carefully without snow shoes and falling in several times) down to the field out back. I was inside cooking when I looked out my window and found a sheriff outside with a wide brimmed hat. There is no local police in town and we have to rely on Farmington Police or Franklin County (which leads all of the way to Canada) Police for help, and sometimes the Maine State police. The sheriff told me that they had received a complaint about the gunshots from out back. Many people target shoot out of their yards up here (and even from their windows!) and there is always a lot of that going on-not to mention the hunters out back in the fall each year! We make sure to wear orange when just out walking the dog and I even put orange scarves on my sheep out in the field. There is also the necessity of protecting our livestock from predators which still roam the Maine woods-like Fisher cats, wolves, Coyote etc... The sheriff seemed very upset to have been bothered when the proper paperwork was produced and after the long trek to my back field-he wanted to call for a snowmobile to rescue him! He rolled his eyes at the whole matter since he was called out here before for other stupid matters.

When I asked one of my neighbors why they hated us (Flatlanders) so, he responded it was for many reasons. The first was that people from my area move up here and buy out all of the land (because there is not much left on my home turf and most other places). Then they ("people from away" (anywhere other than Maine), mention how much they love the land and its natural beauty and are fast to close it all off and if a section is open to the public-they charge people to see it. This, understandable is very upsetting and sad. When more property is purchased by people from out of state the already insane property taxes go up drastically and drive out people who have been here for generations. Farms that have been held and maintained for many generations had to be sold-because they could no longer afford to pay those radically raised property taxes. There are also the slowly encroaching subdivisions that have wandered up here from the farms that had been bought out or when people had to sell their property parcel by parcel to survive. Alas, that is the story of America! It was just kept from here until the last decade or so. Probably because people like me, who had never heard of this area before had found these same farms on the Internet! I think over the years they have slowly accepted me and realize my intentions are pure. But, there are always my neighbors who still do not seem to like me! I have moved up here to have a farm and to become self sustaining from the food from my garden and the wool items from my sheep.

Most people here have small farms and raise their own meat. This is a new culture which I would love to someday do, but have not grown up around it. They raise chickens-called broilers (usually 1 a week) and then beef cattle and pigs for pork and bacon etc. you know exactly what is in the meat and it is very healthy and tastes way better than supermarket meat which is processed, and pumped with hormones and who knows what else! There is also the small farms with fresh milk,which I have never tried before moving out here. I purchased local milk for while and only had to bring a jug to scoop it out in! There are also the local farmer's markets all over the area and many road stands of the surplus from farms all over. I still have an issue of bringing the animals to slaughter that I have raised from a baby and would probably name and treat as a pet! I still have the suburban mentality in that aspect-though hope to change it!

Also, the businesses that come up here. For example Wal-Mart. Due to the severely low pay index of the area most people who live here are forced to shop there since that is the most that they can afford. Including me. However, the low prices drive out the local farms, since they are not able to charge competitive prices against them. Thus, the small farms are forced out of business.

It is so rural up here that you have to be tough to survive this climate and very creative as well. Most people who live here are very geared toward the outdoors and very little keeps them inside-all year round. In the winter, there is the plowing and shoveling just to get out of our houses and in the Spring, the fields need to be tended and gardens started. I sheer my sheep and put them out to pasture. I am always fixing the fences due to their constant breaking out of them. Then there is the fire wood for the winter, that needs to not only be chopped down, but split and stacked in the basement or woodsheds for the winter.

There is also ice fishing (which a lot of people do). Most of the people up here also use this as a time for getting very drunk and sitting in heated shacks dotted all over lakes. There are always pics of this passed around work of the latest foray on the ice. I never see that many pics of fish caught on those photos-or very rarely. I still have not done this. (Update from Papa Skddls: "Why the h--- do people fish for ice? We've got plenty here anyways!")

When I first moved here my neighbor's father would plow my driveway for a 6 pack of Budweiser-cans (the son liked the bottles)! He has since passed away. The barter system is very much alive here and it is very common to have to pay for help around my farm with the hats that I have made from my sheep or from food from my garden.

There is also the famous; Radar Runs. This is when the locals go out on the lakes and ponds in town (many in Cheddahville) to chart how fast their snowmobiles run. They have races and drink a lot of beer. I heard once that my neighbor Don won one year when his snowmobile was clocked at 130 miles per hour! It might have been beat by now. Of course they get drunk then too-another part of that tradition! I have only been on a snowmobile two times. I have a huge field which leads to an access path to the Maine trail system. Everybody seems to have one (snowmobile) up here -but me :( . You see them daily stopping at Ricks market in Wilton, on my way home from work. Most Corner Stores here have stews and chowder for them. I have not seen that either.

There is also the dog sled races in Farmington when they race them on this huge field by Route 2. It is certainly a treat to bring the family too. Then there is the Farmington Fair. Held once a year in September. Kids are excused from schools if they are showing their animals there-horses and livestock.) The kids are let out early on Wednesday so they can go on the rides and the buses drop them off there! Update: they happened to be going on today_ got to see them on the side of the road today while going into town! Yea. Pretty neat! I also saw some man on a snowmobile trying to race me on the side of the road-he beat my car and waved as he turned the corner and went further out to the field past the dog races. Only in Maine! On the way home there were a bunch of other snowmobiles resting by the Cheddahville Mall and probably stocking up on more beer! lolololol

There is also snow shoeing, which I try to do often-it is a great workout and the only way I can travel in my back yard this time of year.

Also, there is the maple syrup! In the fall the trees are gorgeous all through the mountains. I have a few trees on my own property and hope to tap them myself-though I really need help since it is a very messy process. In March, the farms open their Sugar Houses which I tour with my daughters. They put syrup on everything including snow as a treat! When I went this last fall I went to Randy' Sugar Shack in town and he knew the house I lived in and mentioned that it was known to be haunted. Naturally I asked him about it and he mentioned that one of the former owners shot himself in my living room! I had not found out any evidence to support it, though love hearing local lore-especially on my house (built in 1787).

Then there is the tradition of smelting. Smelts are a tiny fish that run up the rivers once a year and people go out to catch them in the rivers. My neighbor Pete told me that there is a small window of time for this. You go out late at night (usually around 1 am) to good spots that the locals know about and wait. The state allows only a certain amount for the catch and I don't know how that is reported. You also need a license to do this. They take their family with them-usually bringing the kids and wait with their nets for the smelt to swim up river. I was always too tired to do this since I hate being up so late. One time he invited me over their house when he had cooked the catch. His wife Angela told me that she lets Pete cook this-it is his thing-he has a special recipe for the smelts. All I know is that they are cooked in a deep fryer with a covering of breadcrumbs and secret ingredients. They were wonderful! He also deep fries huge onion rings to go along with them. Yum!

Road kill Moose; People actually love to hit moose with their cars up here since after reported to the game warden-they can take them home and cook them! This happened to one of my neighbors and they invited the girls and I over to have some "moose burgers!. It tastes like chicken! Not-but very good all the same. I also heard one time of a dead moose on the road one spring and some of the locals decided to count the ticks on it! They had found a few thousand of them - how some people pass the time!

Deer; they love to hunt them and everyone seems to know how and wait eagerly for hunting season! The Corner Stores make special stew for them too and always have fresh coffee for the hunters. I also learned that you can shoot a deer if it comes near the garden! I don't know if I actually will though if that happened to me. Thankfully it never has!

There is also the "Hornpouts" (Catfish). I do not know how true this is since my neighbors love to scare me. I was told that they go out in the middle of the night (they do that a lot here-with lots of beer) and know spots where there are a lot of these fish (hornpouts). They have a lantern to see by and when they catch one-they reel it in and hit it dead with a hammer! I was told they were good eatin'. I have still not tried that yet though! Whew -yet again! (Update from Papa skddls: You don't need to hit them with a hammer-just take them off the hook! There is a spot on the back that you can grab without being stuck with the barbs. The whiskers do not sting you-like most people believe. To cook them, you cut the head off, gut them (eeeeew!) and fry them-pretty easy. )

There are also the Fiddleheads and Dilly Beans and Pickled Eggs. These are sold in most of the Corner Stores around here. Fiddleheads are the top parts of ferns that grow locally and are bitter in taste-they are stored and pickled to eat and are sold in preserve jars. They are a delicacy here and the places where they are found are well guarded and hidden. You find them out by the marshes where there are a lot of black flies and you brave them to pick them. When you bring them home you clean them really really well! Then you put them in a pot of water and salt pork (it is a piece of meat you buy at the store that is really salty-you can cut it like bacon-but for this is best to leave it in a chunk) and boil it until tender. Or, you can saute them with Sesame oil until tender.

I live in a very rural area and time seems to have stopped here. I have been here since 2003 and a few things of modern times has sprouted up here-though lost in the surrounding traditions. Wal-Mart is here along with a few Dunkin Donuts and even Rite-Aid. But, other than that, most people still have shares in the local Farmer's Union and buy their supplies and Feed for livestock there.

The Grange is still very active and I have had the honor of belonging to it a few years back. I would love to still be a part of it and know I would be welcome, but I have been too busy working full time and on the farm at other times and in just being a single Mom. Without revealing any of its secrets- the Grange is the last of "Americana" in all of its glory and rural traditions. Most, if not all of the members are farmers. They always have a booth at the Farmington Fair and mostly my local Grange wins. They put in the booth items from their farm and handmade crafts. The Grange is filled with wonderful people. They have bean dinners on Saturday nights and the members volunteer to cook and serve at it. I have done this a few times when a member. They compete with their bean recipes and many if not all are equally delicious! They also have lots of advice for farmers at meetings and even ceremonies with old Americana songs sung. I loved those meetings and would love to join again-I hope some day my time frees up for this.

Most of the women up here are very creative and it seems like all of them know how to crochet and make granny squares. All of this and the Grange have long been lost where I grew up in Southeastern Massachusetts. There were no traditions left there and it was wonderful to find out that they are still very much alive here today!

I have learned to plant my potatoes after the first full moon after the last frost. I have learned to let the dogs to walk around the property to mark it to keep the deer away. I have learned that I could afford to have my monster garden plowed (I used to do it by hand-due to the prices of this in Norton). Now I have a huge garden. I have modernized it a bit with storage by freezing everything in my extra fridge since I still have not learned how to preserve them in jars. In the summer we cook everything from the garden. We have a fire pit outside and cook a lot on that too, including coffee. I now can cook meals on it over a grate.

This is necessary up here with the lost pay and high cost of taxes. I have six years of college and get paid weekly similar to what I was paid before college in Massachusetts working at the YMCA in the late 80's!. I looked for work for over a year and was told that I was overqualified. I took a job in Wilton and am still there since I need to pay the bills. I rarely get any child support and have grown used to this. I have supported my children on my own their whole lives. I live on a farm that I own completely as well as the cars that I drive. My bills are very little, just utilities, food and clothing. There are also the expenses on the farm. My father and I raised the garage and barn-that was falling over from age and snow and built the stalls for the sheep. I have also put in the fences for my side field along with some help for that.

Then there is the beef jerky. You can buy it every where here and most people even know how to make it! I was told that if you eat it before bed-it takes a while to digest and can keep your body warm and keep off hunger. (Update from Papa skddls: bull----!)

I have learned that humidifiers only bring up the astronomically high electric bill and I have since learned that if you hang the wet clean clothes in the middle of the house-it not only dries them-but provides the much needed humidity required in a very dry house heated by a wood stove! I hang up the cloths in the yard in the months when it is above freezing and am never ceased to be amazed by the smell of the country dried in them when I bring them into the house! The grasses and local herbs like lilac fill them with their scent!

I have also learned about my area from interesting perspectives. For example, one day I saw a helicopter overhead. Now, where I was from that would mean that a convict had escaped from the nearby Walpole State Prison. My daughter had told me that it was the state police looking for local pot farms-it is apparently a very popular crop here! I nearly laughed and fell off the chair I was sitting on with that told-though it was verified by many other people!

Most people up here take pride in reusing things for other uses. Most of us are poor farmers up here, including me. I have learned to be creative for many of the things on the farm and household. That is a whole other blog for another day.

Three of my closest friends up here have led incredible lives. I grew up with food from supermarkets and clothes from the mall and weekends at the tennis clubs and summer in the pool out back and family trips at cottages all across New England. They grew up here and it was even more rural than what I moved up too. they are very strong hearty women and they have taught me lots on survival. All Three of them grew up in houses without electricity and plumbing! They told me about the outhouses (some attached to the houses out back)-I cannot even imagine that in the winters up here! They told me of lugging the snow inside to thaw in buckets and heated on the wood stove for baths! I grew up on Sesame Street and they had to haul in wood and buckets of water from nearby streams since they had no running water! I find it amazing and they have taught me on many occasions what to do when times get rough for us.
I wish I had even half of their strength! They are strong women and are always full of ideas on how to survive and battle each hardship with determination and creativity. They never hesitate to come over to help out when I need them.

There are many thing that I have learned up here and these are just a few of them.

Ayuh for now....