The Mother's Day Club by Rosie Hendry

Author:Rosie Hendry [Hendry, Rosie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rookery House Press

Thea found Reuben in the woodshed chopping some split logs into thin kindling strips, with Bess lying nearby. As soon as the dog spotted Thea she leapt up and hurried over, her tail wagging.

‘Did you hear the news?’ Thea asked, stroking Bess’s ears as she leaned against her legs. ‘We’ve all got to “Dig for Victory” now.’

Reuben stopped chopping and nodded. ‘Won’t make much difference to people around here, though, they don’t need to be told to dig to grow their own food because most already do.’

‘I suppose not, but it could make a difference to us.’

Reuben frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I’ve been thinking I should take in some more lodgers as I’ve got a spare bedroom and could turn the dining room into a bedroom if necessary. Their rent will come in useful, but they’d need to be fed. Hearing what the Minister said on the wireless made me think that I should be growing a lot more of our food here – get chickens and maybe some pigs for pork and bacon as well, a cow for milk, and we could make our own butter and cheese. What do you think?’

Her brother picked up handfuls of the chopped kindling and threw them into the basket. ‘I’d say it was a good idea. They’ll bring in rationing sooner or later.’

‘That’s what Hettie said. But there’s a lot to sort out first: the greenhouse needs mending and if we wanted to keep a pig then we’d need one of the sheds made into a sty and I’d need a chicken coop.’

‘And you’re looking for some help from me.’ He put the hook he’d used to chop the wood back in its place and came to stand in the doorway next to her.

‘Could you? Please. I can do digging and planting. I’m not sure how to mend the greenhouse, but if you showed me how I could learn. What do you think?’

‘The old greenhouse’s seen better days but it won’t be hard to repair it, then you could grow tomatoes in there and cucumbers, and it would be ideal for starting off seedlings.’ He nodded, staring across the garden where the colours were becoming more muted as the dusk deepened and bats were starting to flit about in search of prey.

Thea looked at him. ‘So yes or no?’

He grinned at her. ‘All right.’

‘Excellent, thank you.’ She beamed at him.

‘You’ll have to come up with a plan so you’re growing crops all year round – we don’t just want a glut of tomatoes in the summer. Think about what you could grow and where. Perhaps we could have a walk around the place in the next day or two and come up with some ideas?’ Reuben suggested. ‘I’ll look into getting some point-of-lay pullets who are nearly old enough to lay eggs, and a cockerel as well.’

‘And I’ll send off for some seed catalogues,’ Thea said, thinking she was going to enjoy getting Rookery House’s land into shape to provide them with food.

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