He engages the artists, even making suggestions about the displays.

"It looked like aliens," Rose says of the barrels. "Then I said `Why are you putting those posts in!'"

But the artists did not listen, and now, according to Rose, the "aliens" look like they are walking on their own land.

Items of interest are scattered across the farm, among the sheep, cows, "Black Forest Maze" and haunted cemetery.

A wooden cart rests at the foot of the driveway. With wheels made of mesquite wood, it is heavy and old.

"I brought it up from Mexico on my pickup truck and assembled it," Rose says.

When he went to Mexico on a grant to research insects while a U. Mass. undergraduate, Rose found the oxcart, which was built more than 150 years ago. He brought it north to a new home and Red Apple Farm gained another attraction.

Rose described managing a family farm as the challenge of his life.

"You need good people to help you in this kind of business," he says.

Rose hires local teenagers to harvest the apples. He knows their names and hobbies, running a tight shop.

"I tell them to apply wherever they want for college. Isn't that right?" he says.

Ron T. Kamel, of Fitchburg, Mass., on cooks hamburgers and roasted corn at the farm's outdoor barbecue pit. He sautees in cider the medley of apples, tomatoes, onions and zucchini that tops the burgers.

"We sold out of burgers!" Kamel shouts to Rose at about 4 p.m. "You going to remember to go to the store tonight?"

To visit the farm and taste Kamel's special sauce, take Route 2 to Exit 19 and follow the signs to Red Apple Farm. For seasonal news, visit the farm's Web site at www.redapplefarm.com.

There are still plenty of Red Delicious and Empire apples. Both have slightly mushy meat, versus the MacIntosh's crispness. Juice bursts from all the freshly-picked apples when teeth break through the skin. The juice seems to disappear the farther the apples go from the orchard.