Well a few months ago I retired, not a bad thing considering I am 42 years old. The decision came due mostly to Maine dying wood industry. I have a farm with most of the land in forestry, and yes certified under the American Tree Farm System and the Forest Stewardship Council, but with only 6 paper mills in the state; 4 of which we do not sell wood to; where would we market our wood? Having been raised where "wood is our savings account", I found myself facing the real possibility of lots of wood that had no value. So being a sheep farm, the retirement plan is rather simple; get done building battleships for the US Navy, and then clear the wood off and convert it into pasture while there still is a wood industry in Maine then raise more sheep in the process which has an excellent market. We all need to eat after all. But another aspect of myself and my wife is that we are very active in our church, and know as much as it is a blessing to retire at age 42 (she is 37 and a stay at home wife), we know it would never work if we only stayed and farmed for our own selfish reasons. We need to give back to the Lord. So while we are active in our church doing a Divorce Recovery class, and do a lot of volunteering for a kids Christian camp close by to use, in May we are going to Moldova to work with the farmers there. It will be working with Ag Connect Ministries to help them farm since the majority of their income is derived from agriculture. A lot of people do not realize this, but Moldovan's subside on less than $5 per day and are worse off then most African Nations. They also have really high expenses so to fill up their tractor might cost 1/3 of their monthly income; such is the stranglehold Russia has upon them. But out Pastor encourages his congregation to act "glocally" which is local and global, so we are excited to do the Lord's work combining our love of farming with the gospel message. So the first time in my life I have time to try new things forestry wise, enjoy my wife and 4 daughters (ages 3, 9,10, and 11) and try hard to walk in faith and see what God has planned for the new phase of my life.
One of the best new posts I have ever read. Welcome, LodgedTree! I think that you will find great folks here, most of which will share many of your same values, and will enjoy hearing about your upcoming exploits. Glad to have you.
Welcome to our Home away from Home LodgedTree ... Wonderful first post and a blessing to be able to retire at such a early age... Look forward to your adventures...
I could only hope to retire at that age..... However, I see that you are not in fact, "retired," just reassigned
Welcome LodgedTree to the site. Glad you are here. You will have to keep us informed as to your upcoming trips doing the Lord's work.
Welcome to the forum LodgedTree Some good things in that post and some bad things. It is a shame that forestry and the wood industry is not what it once was but it sounds like you have all your ducks in a row; good for you. Good Lord, you must love women! All those daughters! I hope you have more than one or two bathrooms in your house! lol It can be a good thing to retire early and do some of the things that are dear to you as you plan on doing. We wish you luck with your coming work and overseas mission.
God bless you brother, my wife and I led the divorce recovery at our church for several years. Some very emotionally hurting folks come through that program. Praying for your upcoming mission trip. Glad to have you aboard.
Yes it is sad the logging industry is dying here, but it happened to the shoe shops, the chicken industry, the dairy farm industry so why not the forestry industry too...though I never saw it coming that is for sure? It s hit or miss on the paper mills; I was told today the two I sell too are no longer taking wood this week, but will probably pick up in a few weeks. One mill consumes 7000 cord per day, but is getting 9000 cord so it doesn't need any more for awhile, and the other is in bankrupcy protection, but operating... The government stepped in with some subsidies for the biomass power generation boilers, but gave the money to the ones already running, and not the ones that were shut down. Its a help for chipping, but not for round wood. I have also never seen where subsidies really helped. They just make the crash that much harder down the road. I did pump out a load of mat logs today though. That is the big thing now. Just about any hardwood qualifies as long as it is 16 feet long with a 10 inch top, no rot, but they can have some sweep, any amount of knots, and any seams. They pay $370/mbf for it too. Not bad! Oh, and actually we only have one bathroom. We are in the process of redoing our second bath however for the reasons you site. As a side note though, most of the wood that went into my home came off the woodlot. I am a firm believer in doing as much as you can for yourself with what you have.
Welcome LodgedTree Sounds like a good place to start your own TP factory...job security there ya know! No way your tree supplier could pull a price hike on you Could make 2 types 1. from trees: cheap and scratchy 2. from wool: soft and pricey. Man you got this covered I'm tellin ya!
Hey that is an idea! I actually would like to see Maine build a new corrigated paper mill (cardboard). There is none in the state YET everything today is being shipped because of the E trade going on. All you see is Fed Ex and UPS trucks zipping around. We don't make newspapers any more so why not crank out cardboard?
That sir is very admirable! Welcome to FHC. You have my respect. You can take us Glocally too! Lots of info here to help others! Pete
Man, that table is gorgeous! Would love to hear some details about it, as it sounds as though you probably saw it from standing tree to finished product. I'm eyeballing something like that for a winter project in between feeding the boiler and soon-to-be-new baby. Congratulations on finding your calling and listening to it!
Where abouts in Maine are you...There is a new mill deep in the wods across from me that makes the mats, are you near it....Waterboro area...And welcome...
Beautiful home. And I'm betting it is nice having those daughters even if they won't be able to split wood quite as well. They can do other things better. Sad but I read today that one town in NH (I think, Concord) where they had one of the big furnaces and pumped heat to homes and business for years. But instead of upgrading the equipment, gave notice to the loggers that they are closing it down. Another money maker for the locals will be gone.
