Chapter Four
By the end of the afternoon, they had each picked entire baskets of berries. “Does it matter what kind of berry everyone gets?” Agnes asked, looking down at the colorful array of berries in her baskets.
“Not at all. I like to just give everyone a mixture. Mixed berry jam is delicious, and the men in the area love mixed berry pies.” Maggie’s baskets weren’t quite as full, but she was moving slowly, due to her advanced pregnancy.
“That’s what I’ll do as well then. It won’t hurt feelings if I bake a few extra pies for the store?” Agnes asked.
“Not at all. I’ll talk to Belle, but you’ll probably keep the pie money for yourself because it’s more than what you’ve agreed to do.”
“No. Because you are all giving me what I need to make it through the winter, and I’m only helping for a short time.”
Maggie frowned, thinking about it. “I guess that’s all right. It does make sense.”
“So, what do we do now?”
“I usually head to Belle’s first and drop off her share. Then I go to Sally’s with less in my baskets and take whatever produce she has set aside for me.”
“And what do we do in winter?” Agnes asked.
“We continue to bake for the store. We all gather at one of the cabins, and we quilt together. Or we work on our own projects, but we tend to do it all together. It makes it easier to not feel isolated. The weather is bad enough that we can’t get out for days at a time, so we make the most of the days we can leave our homes.
” Maggie looked down at her stomach. “I’ll be taking care of my little one, so most gatherings will be at my cabin.
The baby will be too little to take out in the snow much. Bertie will do better than little Bob.”
“Bob?”
“We haven’t decided on names yet, but James is hoping for a boy we’ll name after his father. So, we’ve started calling him or her Bob until we know what we’ll truly name it.”
“That sounds like a smart way to do things. What would you name a girl?”
“We’re talking about Charlotte, but we’re not sure yet. We’d probably call her Lottie.”
“I like that. Lottie or Bob.” Agnes smiled. “The idea of a baby is so far off for me. I want children, but I feel like I’ve only been married a day or two.”
“I understand. I think James and I would have both preferred a little more time before the babies started coming, but we’re also pleased it happened quickly. The emotions are very mixed.” Maggie stopped in front of a cabin and knocked once before entering. “We brought berries!”
“Ooo...I see some pies in my future.”
“And jam,” Agnes said.
“If you make a lot of jam, don’t immediately sell it to the store.
We don’t know if anyone else will be joining us this year, and if someone does, they’ll want jam.
” Belle turned from the stove where she was stirring a large pot.
She quickly dried her hands on her apron and walked to the table where she had a large bowl waiting for the berries.
“Oh, we do know!” Agnes said. “I got a letter today from Josie. She, Mary, and Theresa have already left to come here. They’re traveling together.”
Belle smiled. “That’s wonderful! We’ll come up with other things for them to do.”
“Another person foraging would be nice,” Maggie said. “And maybe one more growing crops.”
“And the third...” Agnes was trying to think of what to have the third person do.
“Maybe one person could bake. If we had someone always baking, we could make a lot more money,” Belle said.
“Not a bad idea,” Agnes said. “I can certainly add baking to what I’m going to do.”
Belle shrugged. “Maybe until the goats come in.”
“I did talk to Katie about pricing today. She said she could get me yearlings, so I wouldn’t have to start from scratch,” Agnes said. “I’ll have to rotate out my billy goat every year to avoid inbreeding, but it definitely sounds doable.”
“And will you butcher all the billys that come from your farm?” Maggie asked.
“I guess I’d have to.”
Belle smiled. “Don’t introduce the goat to Maggie then. She can’t bear the thought of eating an animal she knows.”
Agnes smiled. “I guess you didn’t grow up on a farm.”
“An orphanage. Most of our food was donated and any meat was wrapped in white paper.”
“The boys didn’t go out and hunt?” Agnes asked, surprised.
“We were all girls. We were church run, and they didn’t think it was a good idea to have boys and girls in the same orphanage,” Maggie said. “So, no one was hunting.”
“I like hunting,” Agnes said. “Maybe I’ll set some rabbit snares. I love rabbit stew!”
Belle studied Agnes for a moment. “Maybe you can hunt with me until we get your other tasks set up. We mostly do bow hunting because of how expensive ammunition is here. We can make our own arrows. Or there’s an Eskimo tribe about a day’s walk from here who will happily trade.”
“Are they friendly?” Agnes asked, fascinated by the idea of Eskimos.
“They are cautiously friendly,” Belle said. “They trade with us, but they don’t want to socialize with us.”
“I see,” Agnes said, carefully dividing the berries she’d picked as Maggie did the same.
“While you’re here, you should get some meat for supper from our cold house. We have venison, smoked salmon, rabbit, and duck to choose from.” Belle tilted her head to one side, thinking. “And moose. There’s probably more, but I don’t remember for certain.”
“I’ll take some rabbit if that’s all right. I’ve been craving a good rabbit stew.”
“That’s fine. Maggie can show you where the cold house is, and everything is labeled. If there’s something else you want to take instead, go ahead.”
“Thank you!”
“We share everything. That’s what makes this work for all of us,” Belle said, going back to stirring her supper.
Maggie led Agnes to the cold house, which was filled with ice and meat of all sorts. Agnes looked through for rabbit, and though she searched, she couldn’t find any. She settled on venison instead. “This will work,” she told Maggie.
“All right. Now to Sally’s cabin. Do you think you can find your way home?”
Agnes nodded. “There seems to only be one wide path, and I know where to leave it to get home.”
“It’s easy,” Maggie agreed.
When they got to Sally’s place, Agnes was in awe of all the buildings and the large garden. “I should help her!”
Maggie laughed. “Sally likes to do things her own way, which mostly means she doesn’t want us helping with the garden.”
Agnes nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Sally was in the garden, picking some peas. “Did you get good forage?” Sally asked as she continued her work.
“We did. Lots of berries for you!” Agnes called back.
“Great. Give me a minute to finish this row of peas, and I’ll be right in with peas for you both.”
Maggie and Agnes went into the cabin and poured Sally’s share of the berries into a large bowl. “You should have been here for rhubarb pie season,” Maggie said. “I thought I hated rhubarb, but Sally taught me differently. I bet she has some canned goods, and she could make you a pie.”
“I love rhubarb pie! My grandmother and I made it every spring.”
“Did you never cook with your mother? You seem to only talk about cooking with your grandmother.”
“My mother was around until I was five, and she met a man who didn’t like children. She left me with my grandparents then. All of my good memories come from time spent with my grandmother.”
“I’m sorry your mother left you.”
“It’s all right. My father died before I was born, and she wanted love. I was in the way. I’m glad she left me rather than take me into a house where I wouldn’t have been loved.” Agnes looked down at the bowl she’d filled. There was plenty for jam and even a pie or two if Sally was careful.
“What happened to your grandmother?”
“She died. She was getting old. After her death, I started working at the hotel. It wasn’t my favorite place to work, but I was able to make enough to survive, and I even have some saved up.
I was loved as a child. No one can ask for more than that.
My grandparents never made me feel like I was a burden. ”
Maggie was silent, not certain what to say. “What are you going to make from your berries?” she finally asked.
“I’m going to turn half into jam and the other half into pies. I’ve never really worked with so many different types of berries at one time, but it sounds like the perfect challenge.”
“I tend to make jam one day and pies the next. It feels like less work that way, though I’m not certain it really is.”
Sally came in then, putting two large baskets on the table. “Oh, good. You each have an empty basket.” She put handfuls of unshelled peas into their baskets. “I tried a few pods, and they were delicious.”
Agnes made a face. “My grandmother would eat them raw as well, but I prefer my peas to be cooked.”
“I do too,” Maggie said.
“Well, they’ll be good cooked as well, I’d imagine,” Sally said. “I need to start supper. Tom is so easy-going, but I try to have supper on the table when he gets home from work. Just one of the ways I tell him I love him every day.”
“What are you having tonight?” Maggie asked her.
“Smoked salmon. I’ve worked so hard to smoke it, and I’ve eaten very little of it, thinking I should save it for winter. But if Agnes will be fishing and smoking salmon as well, there will be enough.” Sally smiled. “I do love smoked salmon. And I will make peas, I think. Baked potatoes.”
“You’re making me hungry!” Agnes protested, just then realizing she’d somehow missed lunch. “I need to get home and start our venison stew.”
“Remember to save any table scraps for my bacon machines,” Sally said as the other two took their baskets and walked toward the door. “Let’s all meet at Agnes’s cabin tomorrow, and she can tell us what Jasper has to say about our plans. Hopefully, he’ll agree.”
“He gave me the impression he’d support whatever I wanted to do,” Agnes said. “We’ll see how he feels about goats.”
“He’ll be happy if you’re happy,” Sally said.
Agnes walked home alone, thinking about everything that had transpired that day. She was excited to talk to Jasper about what her plans were over supper. She only hoped he would agree.
As soon as she got home, she started the stew in a large pot.
Then she began the tedious task of laundry.
She was wearing her only dress that was clean, and she knew Jasper was out of clean clothes as well.
She knew she should have started the laundry earlier in the day, but she’d been jumping into work headfirst.
Jasper arrived as she finished hanging the clothes on the line. He walked to her and kissed her softly. “Thanks for doing the laundry,” he said.
“I meant to have it dry before you got home, but I was out foraging with Maggie most of the day.”
“I don’t mind,” he told her. “What plans do you have going forward? Are you joining the others in their business venture?”
She nodded. “I am. We have two jobs for me to accomplish. Let me get supper on the table, and we’ll talk about them.”
While he washed his hands, she set the table and served the stew. She’d have preferred to put carrots into it, but they weren’t ready to harvest yet, so she made do with some of the peas she’d received.
She put both bowls on the table and sat down, reaching to hold Jasper’s hand during their prayer.
After she’d eaten a few bites, she brought up the business again.
“They would like me to catch and smoke salmon, and said their husbands would help build me a smokehouse. And they’d like us to raise goats.
I know you have one, but we’d get several females and one male.
Katie said she could get us yearlings, so we wouldn’t have to wait long for there to be fresh milk. ”
He nodded. “What price did she give you for the yearlings?” he asked.
She named the price, and he slowly shook his head. “I don’t have that much saved up.”
“I do,” she said. “I’ve saved every dime I could since I started working at the hotel. I can buy the goats if you’ll build me a barn for them.”
“I can’t let you spend your own money on goats.”
“Why not?” she asked. “I have it. I was saving it for my future. Goats will be our future. I think it’s the smart thing to do.”
“It goes against the grain for you to pay for something. I feel like I should be providing for you, not the other way around.”
“You said you didn’t mind if I joined the others in their business. This is how I join them. I’d really like to do it, and I was planning to use my own money all along.”
He watched her for a moment, trying to wrap his head around the idea. “All right. I’ll help however I can.”
Agnes wanted to jump up and down with joy. Instead, she thanked him. “I’m excited to learn about goats. We can make cheese!”
“I do like cheese...”