Johnsons Side Hill Farm

Mapleton Maine

Sidehill has been my home since 1990, when I began building a log home and managing thirty acres of young forest. Now, some of that forest has become a sugar maple stand I started with a "tubing and gravity" sap delivery system. With over 1200 taps and a vacuum system, thousands of gallons of sap are processed into hundreds of quarts of syrup in our ever-evolving log Sugar house.

A field at the Northwest end of "the farm" may have grown potatoes for fifty years but now is home to about 5,000 Balsam/Fraser fir Christmas trees in all ages of succession. Besides the crops here, managing for the good of all critters is my mission.

My latest Trout Totem Pole (photo above Jan. 2020) is currently on display in Denver.

Video of my first Trout Totem Pole.

This Trout Totem Pole is carved from a single northern white cedar log. Because cedar usually grows hollow, I'm always on the lookout for sound logs, but in the totem's case I needed a very large log, so I went to a mill that saws cedar for cabin stock. They actually sold me one of the finest logs on site.

I'm using this wooden fish sculpture as a structural support in my fishing cabin on Narrow Pond. If you'd like a similar Trout Totem Pole please contact me and we can discuss details.

by Bob Johnson