Farm to Fairgrounds

I am not sure about other states, but in Maine there is a huge opieod epidemic and people are dying; about one per day in this small state from drug overdoses. Just so everyone knows, I have never tried drugs, smoked a cigarette, or drank...BUT trust me when I say; this guy (me truly) has plenty of his own vices, so I fault no one for their own issues. But in the last year I have lost my best friend, my ex-brother-in-law, and a neighbor to addiction, and I am SICK OF IT!

We are just lowly sheep farmers and can't give a lot financially to the cause, but we do have plenty of land! Having a friend that has a band, back in January we said, "hey we ought to do a concert up on our hill as you can see some 150 miles away". We set a tentative date, let things slide, then a month ago got serious about it. Since then things just exploded!

This year we are starting "small", with 3 bands playing, 2 speakers and of course me telling the story about our 9th generation farm. It is free for anyone, and all are invited, but we are taking donations with all going to drug abuse counseling. All of it.

I got tears in my eyes when I type this because people have just been clamoring to help. People want to do SOMETHING and they just did not know what they could do. It looks like we will have around 1000 people. In this rural area that is a lot, but we will see. It is kind of scary; opening your farm up to the permies, but I am not one to cower in fear either. We have to do something besides talking about the problem, and do something. This farm is, and I think its a step in the right direction.

BTW: Having a sheep farm, we chose to call it "Rock the Flock". Kind of catchy I thought!

What is the cause of this addiction way out in the hills as it were ? What are your thoughts ? by opoid I assume you mean heroin crack etc
I used to work in a rough part of London amongst addicts and saw no common thread of why ,apart from poverty and dispare and total lack of self belief  not sure if they were symptoms or causes

We had Meth move in here a few years ago. They had to crack down hard on various things including pseudophrene based anything (only decent cold decongestant IMO when you catch one of those nearly fatal headstopper colds, but)*. When you can brew a batch in a 2 liter soda bottle if you can just get the ingredients and it's said that one use will addict you forever... it's sad.

My condolences on your losses, Travis. It's a good thing you're doing. You have parking sorted, how to keep people out of where you don't want them, and enough portopotties rented? Talked nice to local law enforcement and will have some on the day? Did you get event insurance?

(I was in charge of having a punkin-chunkin team here one year and had to get such. In case anything at all happened. it wasn't that expensive and was worth the peace of mind!)

Good luck with your event.

*(edit: yes, I believe in eating hot pepper flakes when I have stopped up sinuses to blast them open, but sometimes you can't stay ahead of it and it is nice to be able to sleep longer than a pepper blasting will allow.... I grow insanely hot peppers so I  have plenty of cold chasing fodder... and I will only make 23 alarm chili if I know you can handle it-or as jokingly said, you're on the top of my cr** um s*** list)

Yes Deb, that is the amazing part; everything you mention has come together for this to happen.

Our church is really doing a lot. We are large enough in this rural community even to require a parking crew for church-goers on Sunday, so the parking team is helping here. They are also providing portatoilets, insurance, paying for radio and facebook advertisements, and hopefully I can get a spot on local TV soon. All that should get the word out. So it truly is coming together. The reason our church is so big into this is because our pastor got hooked up into drugs years ago, and was fortunate to get out. I get to introduce him for the first time as an official Doctor, so it shows how far a person can come around in life.

I just read this with tears in my eyes http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/07/children-ohio-opioid-epidemic/ WTF is going on over there ; I have never heard of anyone becoming an addict due to pain killers either in the UK or France not since WWII  . You have pain you get non opioid pain killers . In small doses . My sister gets opioids but she has terminal cancer fat chance her lasting long enough to become an addict  More power to your elbow Travis but how did you guys get there ...............


David

I have never dabbled with drugs. I've always thought that being smarter than the average person is a big advantage, and I wouldn't want to ruin my brain.

I have known about 20 people who killed themselves with various substances. Most of them came from bad home situations. Some came from above average homes, where they were offered every advantage. The main thing they seem to have in common is that they enjoyed dabling, in search of new experiences.

Low innate intelligence and lack of impulse control, were definitely factors with some of these fellows. Fetal alcohol syndrome may have played a role with some. They often have a hard time predicting results or understanding consequences.

Only one of them did not smoke cigarettes. This seems to be the starter drug for the majority of hardcore users.

The only thing I was really addicted to ever was sugar. That can be a rough one to get off. Ask any diabetic about their first month or so.

Travis I hope you have it all sorted, and may I ask when this is going to happen?

Oh one more thing, what if the weather doesn't cooperate? I did a bluesfest once, at the AFA, and it decided to rain us out so bad one night they had to pull most of the bands that night because of how flooded everything was and the stage was a deathtrap (electricity plus water???). They had two fests in two different areas and flew the headliner bands to play one one night and one the other. We were on this slope on the south side of the football stadium, and the vendors were up the hill from the stage and audience area. There was a huddle of three of us vendors that afternoon that were going to wash away, so we drew straws, I lost, and in the afternoon deluge I had a garden trowel and valiantly went uphill and dug an inverted V trench to divert the water around our little clot of tents/booths. I was inspired and I dug enough to make a difference...and had the 10 gauge extension cord to the generator and the industrial 30 amp GFI outlet strip. So all five of us huddled in the 'alley' between two of the booths with the tarps clipped to send the EZup water that way into my trenching and away, with surplus wool army blankets under blazing halogen lights and ride it out. If anything shorted we had faith in my GFI.

They cancelled every act except the mainliners, it had poured between 2 pm and 9ish and finally paused. They cleared the stage of water with grain scoop shovels and after that, push brooms, and got the main headliner on at ten so they didn't have to refund tickets. The previous five hours they canned though. Some of the merchants farther up the hill went and hid in the beer tent and one set up shop in there. Nobody was buying beer either so they didn't kick that person out. One batch had only done indoor events before, had borrowed their EZ up, and left everything standing like it was indoors and left early. The rest of us had buttoned, lowered our roofs, etc. We had 75mph gusts later that night/early that morning. Next morning those people found their booth all over from the top to the stage. Nothing survived and they had borrowed it all. They tried to come bum stuff off everyone else and sorry all our stuff was in use. They tried to sue the venue and in the contract it said the venue wasn't responsible for nature or act of god. Do make sure, you have something everyone has to sign to keep you from getting cra.. coming to haunt you afterwards.

I want your event to succeed. Just have a contingency if the weather doesn't cooperate.

Do you have a plant to prevent overdosing at the event?

Our church security team will be in place...not in uniform since most are members of law enforcement here, but can call in their law enforcement friends on duty if need be. We prefer NOT to have the police here in uniform, but certain can if we have to. I am friends with the sheriff here as well our church pastor being on a drug epidemic panel that is advising the Governor of Maine on this issue. There are lots of police officers on that panel so we should be covered security wise.

I have never done drugs, drank or did cigarettes even, but I sure have had other vices in my life, so I am empathetic to anyone whose decision making is controlled by outside influence. And while I cannot relate to what these people have been through, and are going through, I do know people who can, and have a 87% success rate in doing so. My farm is just a venue to get a few great bands to bring people in through the power of music, and then let people be directed to advocates that can help. Only they can make that choice, and it is scary...inviting the public to my farm, but something has to be done.

As for the date: it is going to be on August 12th at 4PM and it might be streamed online. I am not sure as it is in a very remote field of mine so streaming it might be an issue.

Sadly the rain contingency is a simple one: we just won't have it. It would just be too hard to do a rain date with school starting and all that.

David Livingston: this is what I was told regarding how things got to this point.

The United States as a whole got indoctrinated into a policy where pain is somehow very bad, and while naturally I understand the NEED for pain killers, it was taking to the extreme. Basically it was triage at its worst; take in the injured at emergency rooms, and for those with pains, prescribe them pain killers and send them to their doctors. This sort of set up a policy where strong pain killers were easy to get.

Then the drug cartels in Mexico had an idea. Since prescription drugs pass through humans readily, test the sewer treatment plants incoming water (or read the results online as that is routinely tested now), and find out which communities have high prescription drug problems. When they did, it identified their "gateways," and they swooped in and provided heroine and other rather hard drugs cheap. These were not run down communities, but suburbia where the youth had affluent parents who could afford the cheap heroine, but lots of it. Basically they went to a volume business marketing style.

Once hooked, the epidemic just started to spread. As people moved, heroine migrated from cities and suburbia to the small towns, and even rural towns like mine. Now it is a huge issue.

My state has just over a million people, and yet we are losing one person per day to overdosing. It is not just young kids, but ALL walks of life. Foster homes, adoptive homes, ambluence services, hospitals, etc are stretched to the maximum. When I had my logging accident a woman came in and was screaming for pain killers. It was her 5th emergency room visit in 24 hours. Obviously she has an issue, but who paid for those 5 visits...most likely tax payers. Then there is Narcan...an injectable drug that revives people who overdose. I think the price is $1200 a can. My next door neighbor had 4 administered before the ambulance showed up, two in the ambulance and 2 in the hospitable...and she still slipped into a coma and died. That is over $10,000 for one overdose, not counting the ambulance trip and hospital stay...and she had many more overdoses before. Small communities like mine (700 people) cannot afford so many people doing this, so taxes are going up...really up.

But there is something way more sad here then money. I got a lot of likes on this thread. but the reality is I should have been berated. WHERE WAS I?

I knew my neighbor. She bought a desk off us and it was apparent her life sucked and she was lonely. I have 4 young daughters and a lot of stuff and did not want to see bad things happen to any of it in order for her and her friends to buy more, but in doing so did I ever tell her about people that could really help her? Did I ever give her hope? What about my best friend...same thing applies. What about my brother-in-law? Yep all dead and while protecting my stuff, I did nothing.

I AM SICK OF IT. They may be using drugs, but they are still people.

As I said, I am not rich, but I have a farm, I have some friends that have awesome rock bands, they like to play, I have a venue with a nice view of the mountains, and I know people who can help those crippled by drug abuse. This is something I can do and not just talk about it.

Its great what you are doing Travis , it really is , but you are an individual, you guys need to organise . Your healthcare system seems to me frankly evil  I ...words fail me; If everything is down to money then you know the price of a human life and to me when you know the price of a human life then that is slavery , people are bought and sold . Follow the money . I asked locally here in France you cannot get opioids just like that you have you get other painkillers . Everyone believes here opioids lead to addiction .

I disagree on that, but only because here things tend to swing pretty far both ways before they come into check.

We have experienced the extreme swing for sure, and they say now opioid prescriptions are way down. It is no different then parents giving their child too much sugar and then realizing upon their first cavity that maybe they have to get a better handle on it. There is nothing wrong with sweeteners in modesty, just as there is nothing wrong with opioids when taken correctly. When I have had surgeries and had teeth extracted they were really nice to have, but I have never abused them because I take them how they were intended. But I also have a really high tolerance for pain. I also have no intention of getting hooked on anything, and the Doctors all say, if a person is concerned about getting addicted, they never will because they are conscious of it.

I think this is a great idea.

You mentioned the possibility of streaming live.  Will you have a kickstarter so people can support your work and have the opportunity to watch?

r ranson wrote:I think this is a great idea.

You mentioned the possibility of streaming live.  Will you have a kickstarter so people can support your work and have the opportunity to watch?

Now I am not sure. The field is about 1/4 mile away from our home so I am not sure if high speed internet exists there or not. I got people more technologically savvy then me going to find out though.

Sadly it is too hard to do this via podcast or anything as we have no cell service out here, and the event itself has no power...well except my farm tractor and my generator.

This year (08/11/2018) the event will be even bigger. Last year at Rock the Flock we had 350 people and raised $3000, but this year we expect 1000 people.

We have a cruise-in from the Maine Antique Auto Club, as well as a motorcycle ride in from Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, We increased the hours from 4 to sunset last year, to Noon to Sunset this year. We also increased the number of bands playing. It should be a lot of fun, and is family-friendly because will have things for the kids to do too. And it is free.

I cannot say "ALL" free, because we have to charge this year for the food. Last year we didn't and people really took advantage of us. We are not gouging anyone, just enough to cover the cost of the food, but hopefully people will understand that with some people, if you give a burger, they take five of them. So we are thinking like $2 a hamburger. Not free, but not gouging anyone on prices either. I think that is only fair.