Travis Johnson
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MOFGA stands for Maine Organic Farmers and Garden Association, and every year they have a big fair not far from my house. We actually did all the ground work for this fair in 1997 but this was the first time I ever went. As a traditional farmer in a long standing farm family, I don't often agree with their political views on agricultural procedures, but I like how they try to think outside the box and like to experiment with stuff.
I picked up a lot of information this year on alternative energy. They had some stuff on insulated concrete homes, strawbale houses and of course windmills and solar panels. My Uncle, who has the means to dabble with whatever is his fancy, recently bought a windmill and is now dabbling in solar power. That works great for me because he spends the money and I find out if it is profitable or not. So far his windmill hasn't panned out very well. It will be interesting to see how the solar power goes.
I also got a chance to talk to the State Planning Office. That was funny. No matter what I said or how I said it, the man in charge claimed my compost pile heating system would never work. Yes there are plenty of people doing it, and it is working, but he would not hear any of that. As I started to walk away however, he did say "If you do get it to work though, let us know so we can tell everyone else." That kind of struct me as funny.
About the only part of the fair that is traditional is the animals. Everything else must be made in Maine and be organic. Meaning you starve to death there. No fried dough, instead you get whole wheat dough covered with honey. Hamburgers must be certified organic and topped with homeade ketchup. I think you get the idea.
Anyway Lie Nielsen did have a booth there and I saw Erica there, a woman that worked there when I did. She was always great so it was good to chat with her, and to look over some tools. More inetersting was the Low Impact Logging area. I talked at length with a woman who made cedar shingles. That was very informative. She started out as a hobby kind of thing and now works full time at it and can't keep up. Interesting for me as we have a cedar shingle mill. Another interesting thing was something they call the Maine Farm Link. That is where they team people who want to rent out farm land, to farm land owners to help preserve crop land and keep it from becoming forest. I might give them a call. As always the forest service had a lot there as well and had some good stuff on forest pests.
All in all it was a great fair to go to. I did not go to any seminars they had on account of time, and while it was nothing kids could get into, it was very informative.
I picked up a lot of information this year on alternative energy. They had some stuff on insulated concrete homes, strawbale houses and of course windmills and solar panels. My Uncle, who has the means to dabble with whatever is his fancy, recently bought a windmill and is now dabbling in solar power. That works great for me because he spends the money and I find out if it is profitable or not. So far his windmill hasn't panned out very well. It will be interesting to see how the solar power goes.
I also got a chance to talk to the State Planning Office. That was funny. No matter what I said or how I said it, the man in charge claimed my compost pile heating system would never work. Yes there are plenty of people doing it, and it is working, but he would not hear any of that. As I started to walk away however, he did say "If you do get it to work though, let us know so we can tell everyone else." That kind of struct me as funny.
About the only part of the fair that is traditional is the animals. Everything else must be made in Maine and be organic. Meaning you starve to death there. No fried dough, instead you get whole wheat dough covered with honey. Hamburgers must be certified organic and topped with homeade ketchup. I think you get the idea.
Anyway Lie Nielsen did have a booth there and I saw Erica there, a woman that worked there when I did. She was always great so it was good to chat with her, and to look over some tools. More inetersting was the Low Impact Logging area. I talked at length with a woman who made cedar shingles. That was very informative. She started out as a hobby kind of thing and now works full time at it and can't keep up. Interesting for me as we have a cedar shingle mill. Another interesting thing was something they call the Maine Farm Link. That is where they team people who want to rent out farm land, to farm land owners to help preserve crop land and keep it from becoming forest. I might give them a call. As always the forest service had a lot there as well and had some good stuff on forest pests.
All in all it was a great fair to go to. I did not go to any seminars they had on account of time, and while it was nothing kids could get into, it was very informative.