Chapter Eight
Two weeks later, Sally was once again outside planting her June crops. This time she was planting cabbage, kale, carrots, and lettuce.
Belle brought lunch every day, but Maggie was out foraging for rhubarb.
It was peak season for the wild rhubarb that would make delicious pies.
Sally planned on using some of the rhubarb she got to bake two or three pies for the store, as well as several for her and Tom.
Her mother had taught her to make a perfect rhubarb pie, and her mouth watered every time she thought about it.
The first day of planting, Sally was relieved to see Belle approaching with the baby. “Is Maggie coming for lunch?” Sally asked.
“Yes, she is planning to meet me here. Hopefully, she’ll have enough rhubarb for some pies. Rhubarb isn’t my favorite, but Everett loves it, so I’ll make him a pie every day until it’s gone.”
“Do you enjoy baking pies?” Sally asked, holding the door open for Belle to carry the baby and the basket with the meal she’d prepared.
“I do. I like to be creative with desserts, and Maggie prefers to bake bread most days. Occasionally, we’ll swap what we make for the store, but not too often.
” Belle set the sleeping baby on a chair and removed the towel covering their lunch.
“I made sandwiches today. Bertie was fussy, and anything more than that would be too much. Just think...in a year when we have sandwiches, we can have ham from your piglets! How are they doing?”
“Herbert is gaining weight quickly, which is what we want to see in a boar. Sometimes I let him out of his pen, and he follows me around the farm. The sows are more timid. I haven’t even named them all yet because I haven’t seen their personalities.
” Sally washed her hands and put plates on the table. “Milk or tea?”
“Milk. Katie tells me it helps me produce more milk, and Bertie needs all the milk he can get.” Belle put the sandwiches on the plates. “I’m going to wait for Maggie to eat, but you can eat now if you’re in a hurry to get back to your planting.”
“No, I’ll wait. Would you like to meet Herbert and the ladies?”
Belle laughed. “That sounds like the title to a terrible dime novel. Herbert and the Ladies.”
Sally grinned. “It does!”
“Let’s go meet them while we wait for Maggie. I feel like they’re all partially mine.”
“I do as well. Everett insisted on using his lumber to build a sturdier pen, and you’ve given me plenty of table scraps to feed them. Your chickens would love table scraps as well, you know. They love when you chop up eggshells into their feed.”
“I didn’t know you could do that. You’d think they’d feel like it was cannibalism.”
“I don’t think they see things the way we do,” Sally said, leading the way outside toward the pen they’d built. They’d put it a fair distance from the cabin so the smell wouldn’t bother them, but Sally knew it would soon be bad anyway. It was the nature of the beast.
As they approached the pigpen, Herbert ran to the fence to receive pats from Sally. He nudged her hand through the wooden slats, obviously happy to see his favorite person.
“I can’t wait to have vegetables that aren’t quite right from the garden. I know he’ll love me more when he gets a bigger variety of food.”
Belle watched him for a moment. “I had no idea pigs were so affectionate.”
“They really are. I won’t get as attached to their babies, as I know they’ll be butchered.
But these will be my breeders for a few years at least.” Sally scratched Herbert under his chin once more before heading back to the house.
“If I decide to keep any of the gilts from the first litters, I’ll need to get another male in here to replace Herbert.
We don’t want a boar to reproduce with his daughters. ”
“That makes sense. It’s all really interesting. I have no knowledge of pigs, but I’m happy to learn!”
Maggie was approaching the house as they returned. “How goes rhubarb hunting?” Sally asked.
“I had a good morning! Were you out looking at the piglets?”
“We were. I can take you out and show them to you as well.”
Maggie shook her head. “If I get to know the pigs, I won’t be able to eat their babies. It’s best I stay away.”
Belle laughed. “She won’t hunt either. She doesn’t want to see the animal she’s going to eat while it’s still alive.”
“I guess we grew up differently,” Sally said, heading back inside and washing her hands again after petting Herbert.
Maggie put her baskets on the floor and washed up as well, then they all met at the table for their lunch. As they ate, Maggie talked about how much rhubarb she’d found. “I hope the men like rhubarb pies,” she said. “I’m not much of a rhubarb eater.”
Sally smiled. “My mother made the perfect rhubarb pie. Let me make one for us to share, and if you love it as much as I do, I’ll share the receipt.”
“That sounds like a good plan,” Maggie said. “And it would be good to have your receipt if it’s really that good. I’ve never made rhubarb pie before.”
“Rhubarb is my favorite pie,” Sally said. “I could eat it for every meal. I wonder if we could can some rhubarb pie filling. I may try and see if I can make it work.”
“Let us know if it works,” Belle said.
“I’m making some rhubarb sauce as well. I like it better than apple sauce. Do you ladies want some for you? Or do you want to try it to decide?”
Maggie smiled. “Let’s try it first. I’ve never liked rhubarb, but it may just be the way it’s been prepared.”
“Why are you foraging for it then?”
“To sell,” Belle responded. “Everett keeps telling me I don’t need to work so hard, but I can’t imagine just sitting in the house with the baby all day when I could be making money. I worked too hard for too long to stop now.”
“I feel the same way,” Sally said. “Tom left the choice up to me. I can work or not work. But it feels so much better to work. I couldn’t sit in the house all day. I go a little crazy on the days when it’s my turn with Bertie.”
Belle burst out laughing. “Believe it or not, I do as well.”
“And me,” Maggie said, rubbing her belly. “I’m not sure what I’m going to do when this one arrives.”
Belle shrugged. “What we’re doing now. Someone will watch both babies while the other two work.”
“Only if we’re still doing that when it’s my turn to have a baby,” Sally said. She was feeling more and more like she wanted a child after all. Watching Belle with Bertie made her yearn for a baby who would snuggle into her the same way Bertie snuggled into Belle.
Belle stayed to do the dishes while Maggie went back to her planting. The earlier plants were sprouting, and she worked hard to keep the crops watered and weeded. Watching the baby every three days seemed to work well, and she was still able to do the chores she needed to do around the house.
As she planted carrots, her mind was filled with thoughts of her rhubarb pie. She and her mother had spent countless hours baking together, and every spring, the rhubarb pies were her special treat.
As soon as her planting was done, and she’d watered the new crops, she hurried inside and rolled out two pie crusts. She wanted to be able to serve one pie for dessert that evening and the other with their lunch the following day. She wanted her friends to love rhubarb pie just as much as she did.
The meal she cooked that night was simple, and she hoped Tom wouldn’t complain, but even as she thought the words, she laughed to herself. Of course, he wouldn’t complain. The man never complained.
When Tom walked in the door, he took a deep sniff. “You’re baking something.”
“Rhubarb pie,” she told him. “It’s my favorite thing in the whole world.”
Tom looked hurt. “You mean I’m not your favorite thing?”
She chuckled. “You’re my favorite person.” She walked to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I missed you while you were gone.”
“I always miss you,” he said, pressing a kiss to her lips.
When she served the pie, she watched him carefully, hoping he would like the treat as much as she did. He took a tentative bite and then smiled, diving into the pie as if it was his first meal in a month. “This is delicious. I’ve never had rhubarb, so I didn’t know if I would like it.”
“I’m so glad you like it!” She got her own piece of pie and sat down, sipping milk as she ate it. “Just like Ma used to make.” She felt a pang as she ate the pie, but it also made her feel as if her mother was close by. “This pie brings back so many memories. I haven’t had rhubarb in years.”
“I hope Maggie is finding a lot of it.”
“I do too!”
After supper, he suggested they go out together to check on the piglets. As they walked, she said, “I introduced Herbert to Belle today. I offered to introduce Maggie, but she said if she met the piglets, she wouldn’t be able to eat their babies.”
Tom laughed. “I notice you have no qualms.”
“Maggie grew up in an orphanage. She never had the opportunity to hunt or butcher animals. She was the one who always helped in the kitchen, but by the time she was given meat, it didn’t look like an animal any longer.”
“Well, I’m glad you were raised by a pig farmer. It adds one more aspect to our lives for me to enjoy.” They stopped at the pigpen, and as usual, Herbert rushed to the fence to get their attention. The gilts stayed inside the barn, huddled together.
They reminded Sally of a group of old ladies who did nothing but gossip about the people they knew. It was odd how they seemed almost to understand what their purpose was.
“How long before we can breed them?” Tom asked.
“They’re nine weeks old. We can breed them at six months. When they are four months, we’ll want to separate them. That’s why I had you build the fence through the middle of their pen. They’ll breed too early if they’re all left in one area.”
“So, we can breed them in October?” he asked.
“We can. A female can have two litters per year. They are pregnant for almost four months. We have to decide if we want them giving birth in January. It may be easier if we wait and have them give birth in April. Then they would be able to breed again in July and their second round of litters would be October.”
“That sounds reasonable. It would probably be best to wait until January then. That way the babies would have a little time before the truly cold weather sets in.”
“My thoughts exactly.” Giving Herbert one last head pat, she turned to go back to the cabin.
“I got all the planting I had planned for today done. Belle and Maggie came for lunch, and Maggie dropped off some rhubarb. I baked one more pie to share with them after lunch tomorrow. They both think they hate rhubarb, and I intend to show them they don’t.
” She paused for a moment. “Now that you’ve tasted rhubarb, do you think you’d like rhubarb sauce?
It’s a lot like applesauce, but rhubarb instead. ”
“I think I’d love it. That pie was wonderful. In fact, I’m going to have another slice before bed.”
“I will too then. If I’m going to have to wash dishes anyway, I may as well wash more.” She bit her lip. “I’m considering making a couple of pies for the store. What do you think? Would the men like them?”
He laughed. “I think they would make the men very happy. You haven’t attempted to bake anything for sale yet, have you?” he asked.
“No, not yet. This will be my first time.” Sally laughed. “To tell you the truth, I’m a little nervous about it. I know they love Belle and Maggie’s baking, but I worry mine won’t be as good.”
“It’ll be fine.” Tom put his arm around her as they stopped right outside the door. “I would be in line to buy one after that first taste. I want rhubarb pie every night.”
“Me too! I’ll make them as often as I can,” she promised. “Unfortunately, I need to focus on planting this week. But the rhubarb will keep coming in. I’ll do what I can.”
“I think the system you worked out with Maggie and Belle is working well. Don’t you?”
Sally nodded. “Yes, I really do. And I think it was sweet of Everett to insist on giving us the wood for the pig pen.”
“I agree. We made a much better pen than what I would have been able to do with logs.”
“I think we should put in a cold house before fall as well. We’ll be able to store more meat that way, and if we don’t do it this year, we’ll need to do it next for the pigs.”
He sighed. “It’s probably smarter to do it this year. Next year, we’re going to be knee deep in piglets.”
She giggled. “I love playing with them when they’re first born. I’ve even bottle-fed one or two that the mother rejected.”
“I didn’t know sows could reject their piglets.”
“It’s rare, but it does happen. The ones I saw were weak piglets that couldn’t latch onto the mother’s teat. Then Pa would give me the piglet and a bottle, and I’d feed it cow’s milk until it was eight weeks and old enough to wean.”
“Sounds like it was a lot of work.”
“Everything worth having is worth hard work,” Sally said. “The piglets will be work, but the bacon will taste better than any you’ve ever had because you’ll know what they’ve eaten and how they were cared for.”
They walked inside, and she served them each a slice of pie and put water on the stove to boil for washing the dishes.
“If I was asked to eat this every day, it wouldn’t be too often.”
She shook her head. “I’d take that as a compliment, but you were happy with hardtack and jerky every day...”
He laughed. “I prefer this. I promise.”