His Lily of The Valley

Working Hard

After two days of working from sun up to sun down to get the garden started, Lily and the children went to town to visit with Betty as promised. Betty introduced Lily to mother of four, Joan Wilson, who lived in town. Her husband was the town sheriff, Ethan Wilson. Lily liked Joan right away. She and Ethan had lived in town for about three years. They came from Pennsylvania with Ethan's brother, Thomas. Thomas currently lives on a small farm about half a day's ride outside of town. "His wife, Kate, is expecting her second child in the next month so they won't be in town for a while." Joan explained. The three women were sitting on the front porch watching the children play in the yard. Anne and Daniel became fast friends with Joan's four children. "Let me get John to bring the crates out here so we can go through them. I'll check with Mary to see if Lunch is about ready. I think the children would enjoy a picnic out here." Betty said. A few minutes later the little maid, Mary had a thick quilt spread out on the grass. The children sat around on in a big circle. Mary made sandwiches for lunch with fresh apples and lemonade.

"I have four different bolts of fabric here." Betty said once the crates were sitting on the porch in front of them. "You can have them all if you can bring me a bushel of those peaches once they come in." Lily looked at her questioningly. "Oh, you didn't see the trees? There are four peach trees, and four apple trees out there along the wood line near the stream. Have you been to the stream yet?" "No," Lily answered, "we have been working on the garden. I would like to go later this week and catch some fish." "Then I have the perfect trade for you." Joan said. "If you will bring us some fish next week you can have this basket of sewing supplies. My aunt sends me a basket every other month. I do use a lot, but I have a lot of extra supplies too. Besides, fish sounds wonderful." Betty smiled and said, "Now that takes care of that. Let's move on. I have a crate there with some old dishes and pans and things. John found some gardening tools in the shed that he put in the crate that he already loaded into the wagon. He also said there is a good knife in there too. Do you know of anything else you need?"

Lily felt overwhelmed. No one had been so nice to her for so long that she forgot what it was like. She knew that life in the wilderness was hard. A community needs to stick together, Betty had told her. "I have thought of the winter. That is if we can stay." Lily said. "Of course you'll be able to stay!" Betty exclaimed. "As you start canning and loading that cellar, you need to keep track of what you have. That way when it's time for the Harvest Festival you know what you need and how much." "Then," Joan added, "You will know how much extra you have. Not many people around here have fruit trees. Besides that you have all those berries around in the woods too. Do you know how to make jams?" She asked. "Yes I do." Lily smiled. The day went by so fast that Lily almost didn't notice that it was time to leave. Once the crates were loaded into the wagon they climbed in too. They waved goodbye as Lily promised to be back again next week with the fish for Joan. A nice apple pie would go with it too, Lily thought to herself. Anne and Daniel talked the whole way back to the cabin. That night everyone went to sleep early.

The next day Lily was up early starting a list of everything they had. She made a list for the cellar and another list for the pantry. A list of all the fabrics she had and a list of the clothes they each had. While Anne and Daniel cleaned the windows Lily made curtains. After that they cleaned the barn. The fenced in area at the back of the barn made this job easier as the two mules and the goat were able to be out there. Before diner they were also able to collect a large pile of sticks. The sticks were going to be used to reinforce the fence around the garden and the animal pin behind the barn. That night Anne and Daniel painted the names of vegetables on rocks for the garden to use as markers. Lily began making rag rugs from one of the old blankets they brought with them and an old dress. She was hoping this would be enough to make two rugs, one for each bedroom. She had some other things that she could use for at least one more, larger rug for the living area. Then the children could sit in front of the fire in the winter months.