Webmaster’s note: The format of this column includes all of the Quill’s Endians participating at various times and in various ways! Phil writes this month’s column.
Apples!
Apple season presents special challenges at Quill’s End Farm. For one, we all become less efficient at gettin’ where we’re goin’. The daily rituals of walking to the various animals to tend to them now require a detour for walking snacks.
Sometimes just for us.
Sometimes for our charges.
There aren’t too many critters that don’t love apples, and the mere sight of an opposable-thumbed climber triggers a doe-eyed, melting stare from all corners of the realm. The quadrupeds are really hard to resist, and the urgency they convey makes pity swell within us.
We must take care not to be too regular or too clever, or the melting stare’s urgency can become a problem. Cows, goats, pigs, and horses all have nimble mouths. Their ability to check your pockets is uncanny. Goats will even undo a zipper.
We have learned that apple scent lingers, not only on your breath, but also on your hands. Convincing a cow that you are appleless is a special skill only practiced by a minutia of the population. It is a skill that must be learned by trial and error. Failure to convince can lead to slobbering searches.
Much like Klondike bars, there are differing levels of commitment to procuring an apple. I’m not sure that somersaults are off the table; we just don’t want anyone to get injured in their tasty quest.
Apple season also brings extra milk from the late season forage and gives an extra creamy flavor to the milk, yogurt, and cheeses. Our cream separator is also turning out quart after quart of stand-up-in-your-spoon-cream. It is perfect for fall butter making and for whipped cream for apple or pumpkin pies. Carolyn and Ben have just the tasty pie pumpkins for you, with names to tempt your taste buds.
With all the apple trees about, take the detour and find some walking snacks. Bake a pie. Whip some cream to go on top. And just think about your good fortune that no goat will undo your pocket zipper to find your fall treat.
Heather and Phil Retberg and their three children run Quill’s End Farm, a 105-acre property in Penobscot that they bought in 2004. They use rotational grazing on their fifteen open acres and are renovating thirty more acres from woods to pasture to increase grazing for their pigs, grass-fed cattle, lambs, laying hens, and goats. Heather is Vice President of Halcyon Grange #345 and writes a newsletter for their farm’s buying club of farmers in her area and has generously permitted us to share some of their columns with Grangers. Visit the Quill’s End Farm Facebook Page for more information.