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Re: [Homestead] A slang question

From: "Lynn Wigglesworth" <lynnw1366 AT hotmail.com>
To: <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [Homestead] A slang question
Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2008 08:41:04 -0500

Coastal Maine is the same 4-5 USDA zone as northern PA (where I am). And we have 48 hour periods where the temperature never rises above ZERO.

Lynn Wigglesworth
Tioga Co. PA

----- Original Message ----- From: "bob ford" <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>
To: <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, December 05, 2008 8:23 AM
Subject: Re: [Homestead] A slang question

But Lynn, do you know how cold it gets in Maine. They have entire 48 hour periods where the temperature never rises above freezing. And from reading Stephen King in my youth, ME sounds like an altogether spooky place; with strnage people with histories full of ghosts and goblins ;-) .........................

------------------------------------------------------------------------

--- On Thu, 12/4/08, Lynn Wigglesworth <lynnw1366 AT hotmail.com> wrote:

From: Lynn Wigglesworth <lynnw1366 AT hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Homestead] A slang question
To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
Date: Thursday, December 4, 2008, 6:01 PM
Susan Jane; Maine is a very special place. If I ever leave
here, that's
where I'm heading. My sister lives on Mt. Desert
Island, but owns land in
Belfast, and plans to build her dream house there very
soon. And she know
Peter, the orchard ladder hippie guy :-)

Lynn Wigglesworth
Tioga Co. PA

----- Original Message ----- From: "sjc" <indexer AT fairpoint.net>
To: <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2008 7:50 PM
Subject: Re: [Homestead] A slang question

> rayzentz AT aim.com wrote:
>
>> Really? How did they do that? And when? Are you
referring to a particular
>> event?
>>
>>
>
> Late in the 50s and early in the 60s many people left
this area for jobs
> elsewhere; the only real jobs left here for many years
thereafter were
> 'factory' chicken operations, huge processing
plants down on the
> Penobscot Bay (which had waste chutes 8' across
where waste was shovel
> straight into the Bay), and a smattering of leftover
lobstermen and
> fishers. The fisherman were at the beginning of the
overfishing and
> couldn't make a living, a lot of them turned to
lobstering. That still
> survives; they took it upon themselves to set limits
after having
> watched what happened to the fisheries. Just about
everything else was
> chickens. Most everybody else took off for
'greener pastures' (I guess
> that means where the snow in July in the gutter
isn't actually white
> chicken feathers), largely Boston and beyond. A lot
of farmers, having
> bought the 'can't make any money farming
anymore' walked off and left
> land, houses, whatever.
>
> People were happy to sell some large tracts to
incoming
> back-to0-the-lander, hippie types. There were
hundreds at one time.
> So, they were pretty well-educated, willing to take a
risk, supported
> through the initial stages, not afraid to be doing
something new. Now
> they're old hippies, but it turned out they were
well educated (Daddy's
> money), and had enough of the same money (trust funds)
to buy land and
> actually get it going. MOFGA was in its infancy then
but there were a
> couple of people there who helped them off to a decent
organic start,
> information-wise, and a few of the old farmers left
here helped them.
>
> Just about the time they got a toehold, the chicken
business in Maine
> fell apart (disease) and more people left, leaving
more ground, some of
> which was occupied by said folks, mostly by then in
family groups. They
> all had kids, which they homeschooled, county was too
broke so they
> looked the other way. Eventually Pop's money ran
out, and everybody
> buckled down to work. The kids were reared to be
polite, to work with
> their hands and backs, to be respectful, curious,
hardworking,
> goal-oriented, independent, contributing members of
their community.
> They learned in many cases to take care of the old
farmers and their
> wives who'd helped them when they first came. Now
those kids have grown
> up to be some real decent folks, with a good sense of
who they are, who
> else is here, a good bit of wisdom for a group of
young people. They're
> teaching, some abroad, in the military, taking care of
grandparents.....
>
> The adults who came here as kids are now mayors/town
managers in many
> of our small towns here, and enthusiastic still about
the area, willing
> to work hard for it. Most of the staff of Unity
College got their start
> right here on Stovepipe Alley (one of the communes
which is now a
> cohousing unit under I-forget-the-name). Most of the
staff of College
> of the Atlantic came from here, same circumstances.
Not a few are
> professors at UMO and UMA. We have a reasonable tax
base. They started
> and still own a newspaper. They redeemed many old
buildings and built
> many new ones which one can be pleased to see. They
have been at the
> forefront of alternative energy in Maine, and some of
them, on a
> national basis. There are no 6000sq foot boxes here,
nor nasty
> mortgages to pull us into the fray to the south. We
have libraries now,
> parks and other public places, beach access in many
places, and many
> small businesses which employ our residents. they
still don't poke into
> anybody else's business, and I've never heard
of a one of them
> bellyaching about what services they don't have or
can't get here (my
> personal gripe; if ya want it, stay where ya have it).
>
> We do have 2 stoplights here now, but that's due
to the old yuppie
> (Crowley, MBNA) who thought he'd make a killing
off the dumb Mainers
> and installed a huge call center where he soon found
out that the dumb
> Mainers here don't like to lie to consumers, even
on the phone, and so
> won't sell bad interest rates without telling
people what they're
> getting into. I think they were here 4 years.
Didn't take everybody
> long to decide they'd rather have the
hippies......
>
> The sense of community is outstanding here; when my
house burned in '01
> I told 6 people to please spread the word (on Wed, too
late to get it in
> paper) that I planned to have a house-raising on Fri
& Sat (Thanksgiving
> weekend) and to please come, and bring any tool you
don't mind others
> using, and any materials you may have that you
don't otherwise want.
> Fri there were well over 60 people (plus children who
could actually be
> trusted to operate a tape, carry cheerfully, whatever)
and on Saturday
> over 100 folks, plus a lot more who came by but would
have had to park
> too far down the muddy road (over a mile). Little
kids restacked my
> half-burned firewood to a new spot, picked up trash,
dragged magnets,
> corraled dogs (strict leash law here backed by 410s).
A rousing good
> time and much good food was had by all, and by Sat
dark (about 4:00 that
> time of year) the shell was up except for the roofing,
which hadn't come
> in yet. About half the materials were donated. Peter
(old hippie,
> probably still count himself one, who makes apple
ladders brought the
> rafters he'd cut in the woods that morning.
Donald, one of the few
> farmers who welcomed new people to the land even if
they were hippies,
> was in the woods logging Fri and came Sat and cut
those logs right in
> the driveway into the flooring, with the measuring and
toting help of
> two hippies' grandchildren. The next Saturday the
roofing went on in
> four hours. We like (treasure, actually) that sense
of community and we
> all know and acknowledge that had Waldo County driven
off the hippies,
> as did many surrounding places, we'd now not have
what we do, in many
> ways. Their children, after living all over the
world, are now coming
> home to be teachers in our schools, administrator at
our hospital,
> manager at the credit union....and so it marches on.
>
> The counties adjacent to us, with the exception of
Knox County (Camden,
> old money and established tourism), were in similar
shape to our county
> at the beginning of 1960. They were just beginning to
get their heads
> above water when things slowed down this time, and now
who knows; they
> are already in trouble in 3 of the 4
counties....meanwhile we are in
> reasonably good shape here.
>
> So even though nobody really wanted them to come, or
so I'm told, it's
> not been tooooo bad. I doubt if you'd find anyone
complaining here,
> now. I can't think when I heard the last person
grumble about 'them
> hippies', maybe about 1990?
>
> They did OK by us.
>
> SJ
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>

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Re: [Homestead] A slang question , (continued)