Smallville

Chapter 2

 

  Late Spring of year 4 brought a riverboat trader with news that Lian and Jeral were alive and well.  The runaways were in a mountainous region downriver from Smallville with a group of nomads building a mission settlement.  The trader brought no grain seeds as we had hoped, he only had apple seeds.  Yolondyn, who was concerned for our health and had been collecting herbs, was in favor of trading for the apple seeds.  She said one day someone would prove that an apple a day does keep the doctor away.  Since we had not as yet planted the fruit seeds we already had, we sent the boatman on his way.

  We did however have a location picked out for orchards on the other side of the small stream to the west of town.  By summer of year 4 we built a small bridge and a meeting hall.  We had our first town meeting and determined that the town's population was now 28.  Our second child was due by winter.  It was decided at the meeting that we would build a lodging house and hospital as soon as possible.  Yolondyn would be our physician when needed.   

  Over the next couple of years construction continued on the west side, and the riverboat traders continued to bring us nothing but fruit tree seeds, and the walnuts we ordered.  In spring of year 6 we welcomed 5 nomads, and 16 more the following year. Farther west we built a apiary and gatherer's hut, and cleared land for our fruit and nut trees, but our food and firewood supply was again a major concern.  The sawmill we started building on the east side of town still could not be completed without steel tools. We built a tiny trading post hoping for more boatmen. We added hide coats to our stock of trade goods since our tailor was now maker warmer wool coats for us.

  In early spring of year 8, shortly after I began planting the garden, it snowed.  We lost a good portion of our vegetables.  A month later 6 nomads arrived, they willingly helped with the fishing, hunting, and gathering.  After all this time, we were still barely managing to feed ourselves much less send food to help Smallville.  Needless to say, we were discouraged and about to give up.

 

 

Chapter 3

 

  In spring of year 9 a boatman arrived with chickens.  Our hope was renewed.  Those spring chickens reminded us again of the wise elder's words of wisdom "don't put all your eggs in one basket" and "don't rely on something that's unreliable".  We would plant more vegetable gardens without endangering the grazing grounds.  We would build a tiny coal mine and make our own steel tools to finish the sawmill.  When the nomads arrived, we welcomed 10 but sent 11 on their way.

  Our food reserve remained low throughout years 10 and 11 despite our renewed efforts and first harvests of plums and cherries.  The garden workplace had no problem handling vegetables from more than one garden, in fact it extended the availability of sorted vegetables over a longer period of time.  We bought corn from Alfonso the food merchant.  We turned away 26 nomads; our population was already 93.

  Alfonso returned twice but we decided to hold on to our trade goods in case a seed merchant would show up.  In autumn of year 11 we traded for cabbage seeds and in early summer of year 12 we got bean seeds and ordered wheat and pumpkin seeds and milk cows.  We hoped we would have enough trade goods for the added expense.  Yolondyn told our trader at the town meeting to keep an eye out for beeswax; our apiary was not producing any and we could not make herbal soap to improve our overall health without it.  In fact, she could use a little help collecting herbs.  In spring we had an outbreak of scarlet fever after allowing 15 nomads to stay.  All survived the outbreak and our new residents set to work, clearing 2 crop fields, and fishing from the new pier on the northwest side of town.  

  Drakeem thought a good place for a fishing pier would be south of town, not far from where Stevieve the hunter was trampled by a wild boar.  A small service was held at the town meeting hall since we had no church or chapel yet.  The animal was hunted down, Surgess butchered it and we all got a portion of the meat.  He said we might want to consider raising hogs and shouldn't turn the boatman away should he bring some to trade.  Drakeem said he was perfectly safe fly fishing from shore, wild boars were rare in this area.  No wonder none of us had ever seen or eaten one before, and only a few nomads, who came from the north, had ever seen and eaten the fish Drakeem caught, they called it trout.   Drakeem asked me if I had seen what was being build down South.  I said no, I was a little busy with vegetable gardening and sorting, and our 3-year-old and newborn.  Maybe I'll get down that way in spring.

 

Chapter 4

 

  It was another cold and snowy winter.  Broderic, the home grower west of town, said even his eyes were cold.  His good friend, Arth, the tailor at the new shop nearby, made him a special sheepskin hat with eyemuffs. Well, Broderic couldn't pull the wool over our eyes; we knew he wore those eyemuffs thinking we wouldn't know he was napping during the town meetings.  

  No one venturing south of town could miss seeing the big red barn built for Zandel the farmer.  He said that's why it was red.  Back home where he came from, all barns were red so farm workers or anyone lost in the snow could see it from afar and find their way safely home.  That summer of year 14, just about everyone in town went down to see the new barn and the big black and white cows the boatman brought him. His wife, Dariam, gave everyone an earthenware pitcher of milk to take home with them.  And the farmstead was certainly a beautiful sight to see in winter.

 

  A few months after the cows arrived, Surgess got the hogs he wanted.  After assuring everyone that these strange creatures were quite gentle, not aggressive like the wild boars, even the school children were taken to see them.  For weeks after, the children oinked and snorted and laughed and giggled.

 The adults of Pumpkin Hollow also did more smiling and laughing.  Over the next 2 years, our food and firewood supplies were higher than they'd ever been.  The big farm continued to expand, we ordered oats, wheat, and more chickens.  Our orchards did exceptionally well despite an early freeze, and our deer herds multiplied.  We had plenty of venison, pork, and beef, and extra leather for the trading posts. Before long we would be able to send food downriver.

 

 

Chapter 5

 

  We were all shocked when the boatman wanted 5,000 units of trade goods in exchange for the oat seeds we ordered.  What choice did we have, we needed grain.  Nomads and school graduates were added to our workforce and helped restock the trading posts.  We had just enough trade goods for pumpkin seeds and leghorn chickens later that year.  In early winter of year 18 we had a population of 96 adults, 33 students, and 47 young children.  My Daughter, Reathey, was just starting school. The school closest to home was filled to capacity so I walked her to the school on the west side of town for his first day.  It was a beautiful day for December, a little chilly but peaceful and still with the morning mist lingering over the river upstream.  I was surprised to see another riverboat approaching, but then again the autumn had been mild, crops were still being harvested.

  Therin, the crop merchant, said harvests had been good all up and down the river this year.  He had sunflower seeds but no wheat seeds.   Alfonson, the food merchant, arrived later that day with a good selection of fruits and vegetables, confirming what Therin had said.  We traded for bread and sugar cookies, a real treat.  I took some of the cookies to the town meeting that evening where of course the crops and the weather were the first topics of discussion.  A light snow began to fall just before sunset, farmers and home gardeners were still trying to get the last of the crops harvested.  

  Among the last group of nomads to arrive were a husband and wife who were a miller and baker by profession. Our oats would not only provide edible grain, straw and winter feed for the livestock, but could be milled into flour for a tasty bread.  We would need sugar for cookies though.  All those attending the meeting agreed we would build a mill and bakery.   Should we build another school?  The last time we delayed, a number of children missed out on getting an education.  Zandel pointed out that his son Connelliot was getting a good education learning an honorable profession from his father and uncles on the farm and in the newly built creamery.  No one disagreed with him or with the proposal to build a new school.  Another of the new nomads said she had teaching experience.  She added that in the town she just left, the school children were often disrespectful, unruly, and unkind to other students.  Ameron the forester said that was something a quick trip out behind the woodshed could cure.
 

Chapter 6

 

  The following year, year 19, we all wished for a simple cure for what ailed us.  The year started off well, perfect spring planting weather followed by a very pleasant summer.  Pumpkin Hollow finally had pumpkin patches and fields of grain ripening in the summer sun. I remember looking down from the hilltop and wondering if there was anything manmade on earth made that could look more beautiful.  The sunshine on the autumn foliage was spectacular, the harvest outstanding, there was only a light frost on the pumpkins, and then like the seasons, it all changed.  

  It changed into the worst winter any of us could remember.  The temperature hovered just above or just below freezing with rain, sleet, or snow, day after dreary day with a damp cold that chilled one to the bone.  And then diphtheria broke out.  Yolondyn immediately reopened the hospital despite being ill herself.  Those who did not succumb to the disease suffered from coughs and colds and fevers and chills.  The herbalists worked diligently collecting herbs but even with another hut they could not keep up with demand.  The only bright spots those 3 dreadful months were waking up to warm bowls of cooked oats for breakfast and kettles of hot homemade chicken soup for supper.  No one wanted to venture far from home and hearth.

 

  Early spring brought welcome sunshine and no new cases of diphtheria. The worst was over.  Life began to return to normal, crops were planted and building projects resumed.  A mill was built down on the farm and the bakery was almost complete.  In late spring the hospital closed and the new school opened.  Our population remained 183, 104 adults, 38 students, and 41 young children.  

  The year ended with prayers of thanksgiving at 2 new chapels and feasts that included fresh-baked nut breads, pumpkins, toasted sunflower seeds, and roast pork.  Mugs of ale were drunk at the Pilgrims Rest tavern in memory of Stevieve the hunter, the only pilgrim laid to rest in Pumpkin Hollow.

 

 

Chapter 7

 

 

  There was little rest for laborers, traders, or builders in the years that followed.  A new trading port was built and we began stocking it with goods we knew were in short supply in Smallville.  We sent word via the boatmen asking what they needed most.  We traded for wheat seeds, apple seeds, and zsoap to improve our health, wool to improve our comfort, and sugar for cookies and jam.  

  The new jam shop opened right next door to our house.  I will be preservist until Naniela, our oldest daughter, gets out of school.  She will work in the shop and I will return to my garden.  Drakeem was standing in temporarily for one of the teachers who became cleric in the new chapel across the road. He was eager to return to his fishing.  With the new market, the jam shop, and the chapel we were now in a high foot traffic area.  I was not happy to have so many towns' people seeing my pantalets hanging out on the wash lines, Naniela was mortified.  Alber, our youngest, teased her continually with a silly little rhyme about seeing London and France and underpants.  We are considering moving across the river.

  A small bridge was built over the stream in the northwest for the laborers and a longer bridge over the main river to retrieve stone and iron.  A deer herd grazes there but there is plenty of room for a big garden and some chickens.  Eggs are in short supply since the mill produces wheat flour and I shared my omeletten recipe.  The thin pancake is especially good spread with plum jam and rolled up.  A new orchard of plum trees was planted down by the mill.  A new storage barn and church were built there too.  Like the other side of the river, there is room for the town to grow down there by the farm but there is a lot of heavy stone and iron to be moved.  I remember back in Smallville there was a lot of talk about a railroad, big carts on wheels that could move a lot of heavy resources from one place to another along a wooden track, but that's a whole nother story.  

  So weary traveler, there is a lot of hard work to be done here but there are plenty of tools, warm clothes, good food, and herbs.  Our population is 222, 128 adults, 42 students, and 52 children but there's room in our schools and churches.  We only have 2 lodges but there is plenty of wood and room to build houses.  So, the decision is yours, you can stay in Pumpkin Hollow or you can go.  I must go and get that wash in off the line.

 

The End