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.
The Soft Start
Since early April, when the frost departed from the soil in the pastures, we have been privy to the scene that unfolds every spring. From 1/4″ clover leaves, cute as a kitten to a grass farmer, to the stout orchardgrass, bullying its way to the heavens, the season never yet disappoints. But the greens. They change every day just ever so. Under gray skies, the glow seems otherworldly. Sunny skies seem to make smiling green, bright and toothy as it blows gently in a breeze and receives its soundtrack from the newly arrived frenzy of birds.
The trees are starting to play along as well. The multitude of reds and yellows adding to the drama of yet another unfolding. They just frame the scene as the mist and clouds roll by, adding the promise of summer to the dreariness. Underneath the coming canopy they are all business, soaking up all the moisture they can bear to miraculously turn it into foliage.
The soft start. It is frustrating to us as we wait. Know that we might be the only ones waiting in nature. The rest are off to the races while we enjoy the view.
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 the area, and generously permit us to share some of their columns with Grangers. Visit the Quill’s End Farm Facebook Page for more information.