ass kissing

william, just looking

william, i suppose, more strictly belongs in the petting paddock at allenholm farm, but he wanders at will around the parking lot and porch because he seems to enjoy hanging out with people. he doesn't mind if you get up on his back, not even if you are a grownup. and while he doesn't so much beg, he will come and look over your shoulder at whatever you are eating and you'd best not set your ice cream down and leave it unattended because unattended food belongs to the donkey.

you can kiss william right on the lips, too, but you'd better have a peppermint candy in your teeth. do NOT ask me why anyone wants to do this, but diana did it TWICE.

diana seated on william

allenholm is a real working farm but these days it gets harder and harder to make a small family farm work and pam and ray are making it work with the help of tourist dollars. they're on a popular bike route, and they serve refreshments at the farm store. they aren't always serving the exceptionally fine apple pie, but you can always get one to take home and bake yourself if you have the cargo space.

last saturday they weren't serving the pie, which is how i came to be introduced to the maple float. oh, my goodness! why was i not aware that such a thing existed? it's not on the menu, but when you buy your maple creemee tell them you're making a float and they know right what you're talking about and put it in a right-sized cup.

artist paula bradley touches up a bench

you go to the freezer and buy a maple soda and pour it in there with the ice cream and it is so good you get the feeling your life is now complete.

and a word about maple creemees: i style myself something of an expert on the maple creemee in vermont. you're always hearing from this or that person that some local stand has the best maple creemee in the state and pretty much the standard to which i hold them all up is the maple creemee at morse farm.

the maple float

so before i make my float out of the allenholm creemee i have an obligation (it's research!) to critically taste this creemee and see how it stacks up.

it is every bit as fine, and i don't notice a difference. so now there are two creemeee stands sitting as gold standards.

here's the thing about maple: good maple, made with care, tastes pretty much the same regardless what sugarbush it comes from. and in terms of creemees, what makes one stand out over another is the quality of the custard mix and the quantity of maple that goes into it.

your perfect maple creemee starts out with a high quality high-butterfat content mix and what gets added is a whole LOT of grade B maple. there is no getting around it and there is no cutting corners.

the maple float is so mind-bendingly good that i sit in one of the chairs on the porch and if prompted even slightly i tell people who only got the maple creemee that they have made an error and they must go back and do it properly, with the float.

next time you're near there, go have a visit with the allens. sit on the porch and have the maple float. the whole world will be better for it.