For several years when my children were little, we had the opportunity to spend time on a nearby farm on the central coast of California. The three of us always looked forward to Live Earth Farm Fridays. One autumn, the young ladies leading our homeschool group showed us how to make gingerbread goats. A sweet memory I eventually put on paper with the poem below from our forthcoming Poems for Childhood Collection. A printable gingerbread cut-out cookie recipe follows. Goats optional.
Gingerbread Goats
We gathered at the long farm tables
A handful side by side.
Cool daylight stretched across the wood
The barn doors opened wide.
We scattered flour on the boards
And rolled the brown dough thin.
It powdered all our fingertips
And dusted rolling pins.
I pressed the little cutter down
Then lifted it to find
A goat with four small legs
And one short tail behind.
The narrow legs came free at last
I lifted mine away.
Then laid my gingerbread goat down
Upon a baking tray.
Its silver surface, scratched and worn
Had darkened marks below.
I traced one with a floury thumb
Then set my goat just so.
The old stove doors swung open wide
The trays slid in with care.
Soon ginger, clove, and cinnamon
Came drifting through the air.
At last the trays came sliding out
The goats were crisp and browned.
I searched among the cookie herd
Until my own was found.
I nibbled first a little hoof
Then bit one small brown ear.
And long before we left the barn
My goat had disappeared.