Chapter Three
Jasper left for work immediately after breakfast the following morning. He’d carried in water for the dishes and Agnes’s bath before breakfast, so she heated enough water to do the dishes, and while she did them, she worked on heating what she would need for her bath.
She’d noticed a tin bathtub leaning against the side of the cabin the previous evening, so she dragged that into the house and filled it. Once she’d immersed herself in water, she began to feel like herself again. Going as long as she had without a bath didn’t feel right.
As she soaked, she thought about what the other ladies could possibly want her to do, but she wasn’t certain if there was really room for her in their business venture.
She’d drained the tub and carefully brushed the tangles out of her hair before Maggie and Belle arrived with Belle’s infant son. “Where’s Sally?” Agnes asked after hugging them each in turn.
“She should be here any moment. She’s probably harvesting and feeding the piglets before she comes,” Maggie told her.
“Piglets?” Agnes asked. “Bacon?”
The others laughed. “Yes, for bacon. But we won’t have any ready until June or July of next year, so don’t get too hopeful,” Belle said.
Agnes invited her friends to sit and served them each a cup of tea. “I didn’t have time to make cookies,” she told them. “I needed a bath.”
“You don’t have to tell us. Remember we made that same journey not too long ago,” Maggie reminded her.
“That’s true,” Agnes said, sitting with the others after setting another cup of tea on the table for Sally once she arrived. “Sally told me you want me to join you. I’ll do just about anything to earn some money.”
“I thought you’d say that,” Belle said. “We have two ideas for you, and you can do both or either of them. The choice is yours.”
“I like choices!” Agnes said.
Sally knocked once and entered, then took her seat in front of the empty teacup. “I hope you didn’t start without me!”
“We didn’t. We started to, but realized you’d want to be part of the conversation,” Maggie said. “Did you get any harvesting done this morning?”
Sally nodded toward the baskets she’d left just inside the door. “Sure did. I have potatoes, turnips, radishes, and beets today. I’m letting the carrots stay in the ground until after the first harvest. My book says it makes them sweeter.”
“You’re the expert,” Belle said before turning to Agnes. “Now, for you. We’d like you to do one of two things, or both as I said a few minutes ago. There’s a need for salmon fishing. It would mean setting nets and smoking the salmon for a week. I thought I hated salmon, but I love it smoked.”
“I’m doing some salmon fishing,” Sally added, “but I have other things I work on as well, and I just can’t do enough for four households.”
“I would be happy to fish,” Agnes said. “I’d need a little help getting everything set up, but once it was, I could handle things from there.”
“You’ll need a smokehouse. Mine is just too small to accommodate what I’m trying to do, and I don’t think I would have the time to keep up with something bigger.”
Agnes nodded. “You have pigs and a garden.”
“I do,” Sally said. “And a husband who likes to be fed on occasion.”
Maggie laughed. “I’m sure he’d be happy to survive on hardtack and jerky. I don’t understand how the men don’t go crazy eating that day in and day out.”
Agnes smiled. “Jasper is the same way. I was shocked at how content he was to eat hardtack and jerky the whole journey. I picked some blueberries one day and gave myself a stomachache from eating so many. They were a welcome sight.”
Sally nodded. “I was hoping to find ripe berries along the way, but we didn’t.”
Belle shook her head. “We’re digressing. The second option is to raise goats. I’d say cows, but they aren’t as hardy as goats, and they tend to die in the winter here. We lost our cow in January.”
“Which is more important?” Agnes asked, wanting to do what was best for everyone.
“They’re equally important. If you choose goats, we’ll all get together to make butter and cheese. If you choose fish, we’ll help build the smokehouse.”
“I think I want to do both. Will that leave something for the others to do? There are at least three more women from the hotel interested in coming here. They’ve spoken to Mrs. Tandy, and they’re waiting on their matches.”
Sally smiled. “That’s what we were all hoping you’d decide.
How we work things is that we share equally.
For instance, I brought two big baskets of produce from my garden.
We’ll split each thing into four shares.
What you do with your share is up to you.
Canning and putting in the root cellar would be the most obvious choices.
Cook it for your supper tonight if that’s what you need to do. ”
Belle nodded. “And we split the money we make. Say you sell some of your smoked salmon to the store. Katie Johnson, the woman who runs the store, will add equal parts to all four of us. But the same goes for when I bake strawberry shortcake or any of the other treats I’m constantly making.”
“Or the forage I find and the bread I bake daily,” Maggie added.
Sally nodded. “I haven’t made much money yet, but I’ve gotten a share of what they do, and we’ve all got smoked salmon for winter as well as the crops from my harvest. Once the pigs are big enough to butcher, we’ll have bacon and salt pork to sell, and those funds will be shared.
If I get a more bountiful harvest from something than we can use, I sell it. ”
“I see. So even if I never sell anything directly to the store, I’ll still make a share,” Agnes said.
Belle nodded. “We’re doing this together. We get paid the same amount.”
“I think that sounds wonderful. What if I want to grow a garden as well come spring?”
“Then you can keep it for yourself or we find a way to add it into what we’re doing. It may be easier for you to help Sally with her garden instead of starting one yourself, but if you want one, you should do it,” Maggie said.
“Same if I bake for the store?” Agnes asked. “Sometimes I get in the mood to bake.”
“Same thing. If it seems like you’re doing more than your share of the work, then we’ll work it out so you get to keep part of it. If Sally sells salmon to the store, that money is all hers because she’s doing so much.”
“Will you stop doing salmon if I start?” Agnes asked Sally.
“No, because I enjoy it. You’ll be able to set things up the way you want and sell extra if you choose to.
I doubt there will be extra this year, but there should be next year.
This year is mostly getting everything working for us.
Building what needs to be built. Learning the steps to smoke salmon. Getting the piglets.”
Agnes nodded. “All right. As long as Jasper agrees, I’ll do goats and salmon.” She rubbed her hands together. “I’m getting excited to help!”
“Good,” Maggie said. “We love excitement.” She rubbed her belly, only having a short time left before her baby would be born.
“And Mrs. Johnson from the store doesn’t mind the extra work of dividing our profits?” Agnes asked.
“Not at all. You’ll love Katie,” Belle said. “She was the only woman in town before I arrived, and she taught me so much about how to survive here. We work as a team, and she understands that perfectly.”
“So, what do I do today?” Agnes asked. “I mean, I know I need to do our laundry, but thanks to you, I don’t even need to clean the cabin.”
“Why don’t you go with me to meet Katie today, and then I’ll show you where to find good forage, and we can work together on that.
There are some good berries coming ripe, and they are great to can for pie fillings and make jam from.
And then you come back here and do laundry.
We’ll talk to our men about building a bigger smokehouse and an enclosure for all the goats.
I know you have one, but I think you should get at least six more nannies and a billy.
Don’t get too attached. We may end up using them for meat.
” Maggie seemed to like the idea of having someone else who would forage on occasion.
Agnes wrinkled her nose. “I’m not particularly fond of goat meat.”
“Share with the rest of us,” Belle said. “If nothing else, the piglets will eat almost everything. You’ll want to save fish heads and guts for the piglets as well as any vegetables that are starting to rot.”
“I can do that!” Agnes couldn’t help but smile. She was going to enjoy working with her friends.
There came a whimper from the basket Belle had brought with her, and it startled Agnes. “I knew you had a baby, but I didn’t realize you brought him!”
Belle laughed. “Bertie is starting to make his presence known.” She pushed her chair away from the table and got to her feet. “I’m going to head home. He needs to be fed and put down for his nap.”
“He must be a really good baby to be quiet all that time.”
Belle nodded. “As long as he can hear my voice, he’s content. If I leave, he’s much less so.”
“Much less!” Maggie agreed. “Oh, we didn’t talk about baby rotation. You’ll watch the babies every fourth weekday afternoon. It’s not the most fun you’ll have, but it makes it so we can do our jobs.”
“I like babies,” Agnes said. “I don’t mind at all.”
“Good.” Belle picked up the basket as she went to leave. “We’ll see you later when you drop off forage.”
“Wait. You need to take your harvest for the day,” Sally said, quickly taking the baskets to the table and making four even piles for them. “All right. Food is tucked all around the baby. He should be happy for a minute or two.”
They all laughed as Sally took her baskets, one partially full with her own share. “You two have fun. I’m going to go check the salmon nets.”
After Sally was gone, Agnes looked at Maggie. “Is she doing too much?”
Maggie sighed. “Probably, but she keeps adding to what she wants to do. We can’t seem to stop her.”
“All right. I’ll try not to worry.” Agnes quickly washed the teacups. “I’m ready when you are.”
“We’ll need baskets,” Maggie said. “I fill two every morning and every afternoon.”
“That’s a lot of forage!”
“It’s plentiful if you know where to look.”
“Am I allowed to forage without you? At least until we get my smokehouse built and the goats come in.”
“Absolutely. Any way you can help is good. I would try to spend a day with Sally if I were you. You can learn the process of smoking the salmon and help her with her garden. It’s a really busy time for her.”
“I will do that tomorrow. I’m not looking forward to talking to Jasper about buying goats.”
“Mrs. Johnson will order them for you. Talk to him tonight. We can pool our money if we need to.”
Agnes shook her head. “I have a good amount of money saved up.”
“Even better.” Maggie pointed in the direction of the store. “We’ll go to the store, and I’ll introduce you to Katie, and then we can forage. She should be able to tell you what the goats will cost, so you have an idea when you talk to your husband.”
The chat with Katie was quick. She didn’t seem to have a problem with dividing the profits by one more person, and she was very helpful about the price of goats. “Any time you bring me something to sell, let me know if it’s for you or all of you. That way I’ll be able to credit everyone properly.”
“I should buy some eggs if you have any.”
“We don’t have many left. Let me check.” Katie took a basket out from under the counter. “We have four left. How many do you want?”
“I’ll take them all. I want to bake a cake for dessert tonight,” Agnes said.
“Next time, talk to Belle before coming to me. I buy our eggs from her.”
“I will. Thank you!”
As they left the store, Agnes asked Maggie, “Should I start chickens as well?”
“I wouldn’t,” Maggie said. “Save something for the other girls who are coming. Do you know who will be next?”
“I believe it will be Ella, Myrtle, Josephine, and Lula. They are all waiting on matches. They hope to be here before it freezes.”
“They’d best hurry then!”
They were still close enough to the store that they heard Katie call them back. “I almost forgot. I have mail for you, Agnes.”
“Oh! I wasn’t expecting anything quite so soon.” Agnes took the letter from Katie. “Do you mind if I read it now?” she asked Maggie.
“Not at all. It may be news about our friends.”
Agnes quickly read the letter. “It’s from Josie. She said all three of them have matches, and they will be traveling together. I’m sure that will be nice. They leave...Oh, looks like they’re already on their way. Do we come up with jobs for them?”
“We’ll talk to the others. I’m certain we’ll have tasks for them when they get here. Or at least three or four things they can choose from. Belle is going to be so excited!”
“Belle?” Agnes asked.
“She’s the one who started all this. We’ll all decide together what we need, but Belle is the one who is mostly in charge, if that makes sense. She doesn’t boss us around or anything, but she lets us know what she thinks we should do.”
“That may not go over well with Mary,” Agnes said.
Maggie laughed. “Probably not. Mary likes to tell everyone else what to do.” She stopped walking in a clearing in the middle of the forest. “This is my favorite place to forage. There are lots of berries in season right now. Not those green ones there. They’re poisonous, but we can find blueberries, nagoonberries, lingonberries, crowberries, cloudberries, currants, and soapberries.
If you see some Eskimo potatoes, get those too, but for the most part, we’re focusing on berries.
” As she talked about the different berries, she showed each one to Agnes.
Finally, she found some Eskimo potatoes and showed her friend those as well.
“So much food is plentiful!” Agnes said, excited to get started.
“It is. Fill your baskets.”
While they picked berries, they talked. Maggie explained when different types of forage were plentiful. “We mostly had Eskimo potatoes last year, but this year, Sally grew a bunch. We should all have enough to see us through the winter.”
“How do the Eskimo potatoes taste?”
“They’re all right, I guess. I prefer different types of potatoes, but I’ll eat those just fine. They keep well in the root cellar, and I can even find them in the spring from last year. They’re pretty much a staple of the diet here.”
“I can’t wait to taste them.” Agnes plopped a currant into her mouth and smiled. “Oh, these are perfectly ripe. I can’t wait to make jam from them!”
“If you can, make extra jam for the ladies who aren’t here yet. We’ve been trying to set aside as much for them as possible. Do you enjoy making jam?”
“I do! It’s something I did with my grandmother before she died. Every fall, we’d pick all the berries we could find, and then we would make jam out of them. It was a very pleasant way for us to spend time together.”