Once again, we are spending regular time throughout the orchard as we pick up drops to control next year's pests, and encountering the animals that live there. Some deer are helping to pick up drops near the top of the orchard, and there is someone - perhaps a porcupine? that leaves the core and pieces of apple spread around when they eat the apples. Slugs, ants, and other invertebrates can eat an amazing volume of apple for such tiny creatures. And perhaps feasting on some of those animals, I saw a Northern water snake under one of the trees. I hope it eats voles too! Come winter time, voles can strip the bark off a tree trunk or branches that are under snow, killing a tree in one winter, so anyone who eats voles is welcome. Most birds have finished with their nests for the season, so we no longer disturb irate parents when poking around in the trees.