Mint to Be by Juliet MacLeod

Author:Juliet MacLeod [MacLeod, Juliet]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781982939687
Amazon: 1982939680
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: 2018-05-19T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

Iwoke up before dawn the next morning and changed into a pair of ratty blue jeans, a long-sleeved t-shirt, and my trusty pair of black Wellington boots. I headed outside to begin my daily farm chores. I visited my chickens, fed them, and collected their eggs before turning them out into the small apple orchard located next to their coop. Then I cleaned out the coop and tossed their used straw onto the compost heap before going into the goat shed. Daffodil and Tulip were happy to see me and we chatted a bit while I milked and fed them. I cleaned their shed after letting them loose into the back yard, which was looking a little raggedy and in need of a trim, and took their milk to my stillroom. After that, I harvested blackberries, the season’s first apples, cabbages, leeks, eggplants, and some onions. I packed up the produce, laying it into protective boxes and slapping a Sage Wisdom Farms label on the outside. Later, I’d haul them into town and drop them off at Vernon’s Foods, the grocery store run by my mom’s boyfriend—and don’t think I didn’t cringe every time I thought of that particular phrase. Gus Vernon worked closely with local farmers to ensure that most of the produce, meats, and dairy products he sold were organic, locally-sourced, and in-season. Before heading to the gardens again, I loaded the boxes into the back of Big Red, the ancient farm truck that had been a part of the sale of my house and its land.

After squaring away that morning’s crops, I spent the next few hours making goat’s milk hand creams, scented with a variety of herbs and flowers taken from my gardens. I set up lemon verbena, vanilla rose, lavender, and aloe creams, excited about bringing them into the store later that day. The goat’s milk products were our best-selling items, often completely selling out on a weekly basis. Everyone’s favorite seemed to be the lemon verbena, although the vanilla rose was a close second.

I went back inside soon after decanting the creams into their little pots and applying labels to the containers. I found Sadie and my mom sitting in the breakfast nook, take-out containers and to-go cups of coffee arranged around them. The air inside the house smelled of cinnamon and bacon, and my stomach growled with anticipation.

There you are, Mom said. I was beginning to wonder if one of the chickens had eaten you.

Eaten me, Mom? Really?

Chickens are nasty creatures, Mom said to Sadie with a knowing nod. So mean. They peck something horrible.

I rolled my eyes. I told you not to bother them when they’re laying. You didn’t listen. I gave Sadie a long-suffering smile and explained, She was trying to help me one morning a few months ago. The chickens don’t like to be bothered while they’re laying. I told her to wait a few minutes before taking the eggs. She didn’t listen. She got pecked.

Mom held her hand out to Sadie.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.