With harvest just around the corner, Lisa Ahrens knows things are about to get a little more hectic.
Lisa grew up on a dairy farm and her husband, Brian, is a fifth generation farmer. He farms east of Owatonna with his two sons, Nolan and Nate, and his brother, Marshall.
Lisa and Brian’s daughter, Amber Dobberstein, lives just 40 miles away, and her husband, Mark, also farms. With school back in session for some of the grandchildren, along with sports and activities, Lisa said it gets more difficult to have everyone together.
So on a beautiful September Sunday, the family gathered to spend time together. They celebrated Brian’s birthday and enjoyed a hayride. But first, they made pies. Lots of them.
For years, Lisa’s parents joined her family in making about 50 pies together. Her dad peeled the apples, and her mom rolled all the pie crusts by hand.
“My mom and dad have passed away, and so our family is carrying on the tradition,” Lisa stated.
When Lisa’s dad passed, her children each selected a shrub or a tree to be planted in his memory. Nate’s tree, a SnowSweet apple tree, is planted on the homestead. Brian said this year their trees produced the best apple crop they’ve ever had.
The pie process takes about four hours, and everybody is involved. The grandkids help Brian pick apples from the trees, and peeling and slicing apples is typically a job the men take on.
The ladies assemble, as Lisa notes they’ve steered away from the days of pie crust rolling. While the rest of the pie is made from scratch, they use a pre-made bottom crust, and add a crumble for the top.
They’ve also ventured out a bit.
“Amber and I like to do some fruit pies. So we’ll buy some pie filling and have some different fruit pies, too. And now we make apple crisp, also,” Lisa said. This year, they added blueberry and cherry to the lineup.
Nolan’s wife, Missy, noted it’s common for Lisa and Brian to gift others in the community with a pie for various occasions along with a container of whipped topping.
“A lot of this is used during harvest then, too,” Lisa stated. “It’s in the freezer, so we can throw a pie in the oven that day or an apple crisp for who we’re feeding that day at harvest time.”
The sole dilemma within the process is finding the initial freezer space as the pies can’t be stacked right away.
The family recalled the memory of a younger Nolan assigned with the task of carrying pies to the downstairs freezer and an unfortunate spill down the stairs.
“He was so proud that he did not dump the pies,” Lisa stated with a laugh.
Lisa also does a significant amount of canning during this time of year.
“My mom did it all,” she remarked, though pickles, peaches, salsa, and spaghetti sauce are an impressive repertoire.
Missy described the joy of pulling into the homestead when Lisa is making her homemade spaghetti sauce.
“If we could just get that into a candle or something — it just smells so amazing,” she said.
The ladies plan to come together again soon to prep meals for the upcoming fieldwork days.
And when evening activities keep the families from sit-down meals, Lisa will prepare a big noontime dinner for the grandkids when they come over.
For Amber, these are moments she remembers as a child, and it has become a priority to provide them for own children.
A day at grandpa and grandma’s farm means helping with the goats, enjoying the delicious cookies simply known as “Grandma’s cookies,” and lots of time with cousins.
“They get so excited to see one another — that means a lot to us,” Lisa said.