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.
Rings of Growth
Heather and I had a chance to walk along the shore on Saturday. The trees in those woods along the harbor hold up a mirror, I think, about the people, too, who inhabit the rugged coast of Maine.
A clear, cold January day in the single digits with a biting wind and little snow cover shows the struggles. Some of the trees seem to have taken wrong turns before beating a path toward a “success” that is not wholly guaranteed. One bad storm, one poor year and…
the experiment changes.
The tree becomes forest floor duff. In the meantime, hold on to that ledge with all you’ve got. Send out another root to catch an inch of soil. Nourishment and anchor all in one and a better chance to stave off the inevitable. It’s hard living along the coast.
But the beauty of the struggle is inescapable. The stone, stacked by God to hold just enough back from the open jaws of the Atlantic. The rockweed, placed just so that the tide delivers food for the stretching roots. The crooked, crooked shoreline to offer just enough windbreak to hold on. The clear, cold sky, reading stature and form like an open book, laying the natural history bare for any and all to see.
This winter has come off just right. It’s a reminder that another ring of growth comes with scars from the wind and the waves. This winter also shows us what is necessary for survival. A good roof over sturdy walls. Plenty of laundry layered on a body to be outdoors. Woods to break the wind. A full pantry to keep you. A farmer to fill it.
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. Quill’s Endians are members of Halcyon Grange and publish a newsletter for their farm’s buying club of farmers in her area and generously permit us to share some of their columns with Grangers. Visit the Quill’s End Farm Facebook Page for more information.