Maine
Opinion: The stuff we stockpile to survive in Down East Maine
The BDN Opinion part operates independently and doesn’t set newsroom insurance policies or contribute to reporting or enhancing articles elsewhere within the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com.
RJ Heller is a journalist, essayist, photographer, writer, an avid reader and an award-winning guide critic who enjoys crusing, mountain climbing and different out of doors pursuits. He lives in Starboard Cove.
Stuff.
All of us have loads of it, and plenty of instances we sit in awe looking at our piles, questioning the place all of it got here from. Often round this time of yr we lastly say we’re going to do one thing about it. After which when our backs are turned or the lights are all of a sudden turned off we find yourself having extra stuff.
After I drive Down East again roads, it’s obvious that not solely serene spots of magnificence and unadulterated pure areas can be revealed, however piles of stuff may also be on full show. I ask myself: Is there a distinction within the stuff or the quantity of it from completely different areas of the nation? Extra importantly, is the aim of the stuff one accumulates completely different when residing in a metropolis as an alternative of a rural space or Down East? After being right here awhile, I can say, indubitably, that there’s a distinct distinction in each stuff and objective. In relation to this place, now our dwelling, there’s a stark distinction between issues acquired right here versus every other areas I’ve traveled.
There may be loads of area between folks, particularly right here in Washington County. As famous by one county commissioner, ”We’re 35,000 folks inhabiting a 3,400 square-mile space of area attempting to stay and make ends meet.” And these ends, or providers for that matter, are unfold out far and large. They require planning and logistics that many individuals in cities merely couldn’t think about.
It could really feel like we’re a rustic unto ourselves on a chilly morning when the facility is out and it’s time to drive two hours to a health care provider’s appointment scheduled a month in the past. No energy means no water, no lights and no warmth except you’re ready. And from the seems to be of issues right here Down East, many individuals who name this place dwelling are effectively ready and simply itching for an excellent nor’easter to return barreling by to allow them to make use of the stuff that can see them by the day, per week or perhaps a month.
The stuff collected is just not multiples of nonessential gadgets or junk however moderately gadgets important to life that make it a bit of simpler to battle the weather or the gap. When driving these roads I’m not shocked to see many cords of wooden, snowplows, gardens, rooster coops, mills and piles of miscellaneous instruments and gear ready for that second when the proprietor will spring into motion, make use of it after which deposit it proper the place it completed its final chore.
The occasional windmill or photo voltaic panel will present up in an try and fight {the electrical} charges or the facility outages. However extra so, I consider this stuff are yet one more mark of self-sufficiency attribute of the generations of households that first sought this place out and finally settled right here. On this place members of a household not solely will stay shut to one another, however will share, help and train each other from technology to technology. Whether or not expertise retains up or not, the instructing goes on and the stuff to stay and survive grows and is shared alongside the way in which.
Simply as in spring when indicators of life awaken, the fiddleheads spiral from the earth or the lupines start their climb of shade, so in winter, when the ocean smolders and a layer of frost, ice and snow covers all the things — that is when it will possibly greatest be seen in all its glory. “It” is the stuff of life that creeps out of the woods and grows into wooden piles or fills pantries and freezers to the brim. It’s a misplaced device, now discovered, or it’s a neighbor calling a neighbor a few journey to city for the important stuff or just to say howdy.
It’s the stuff that enables the cycle of life Down East to by no means sleep, particularly in winter.
This can be a particular place, made extra particular by the care and the simplicity that individuals put into residing right here. It’s easy, exact, and actually stunning to observe. It’s a symphony of self-sustainability on full show, if one takes the time to cease, look and pay attention.
It’s a stunning factor.