Anne with an E The Next Chapter

A Garden to Grow

Early May, 1901, was one of the better years on record for the amount of warm sunny days it provided and the number of scattered rain showers it produced. While Jerry had been working hard at the Cuthpert's, the orchard and his house, he knew he needed to get a few vegetables in the ground if he wanted to have food to eat this fall. He was short on time and was feeling himself spread very thin over all the tasks. His lack of free time also meant he had not spent time with Diana in weeks and was worried she was forgetting about him.

Jerry had already started working the transition from the Cuthpert's in an expertly crafted plan. His younger cousin Aldéric was only 15 years old and ready to get started in life. He had always been a hard worker at their own family farm and needed some work experience outside the homestead. With his family home getting  crowded as they welcomed a 12th sibling to the household Aldéric knew he needed to find his own way in life. When Jerry heard that he was looking for work, he knew that the Cuthperts farm would be the ideal place and since he was such a good natured and hard working person, he had a feeling the Cuthperts would be well looked after. He had brought Aldéric on for the last 2 weeks to train him and today he was leaving him to work the Cuthperts' farm on his own.

It was a bright and warm Saturday morning and Jerry sat out on the newly refinished front porch to watch the sun come up with his coffee in hand. He could hear the birds chirping and felt the familiar stirrings of spring. As the fog burned off with the warmth of the summer, he saw his family arriving bright and early to help out with the planting of a garden. Jerry's mother had a basket of baked goods and lunch for the crew- she always thought about food as the essential refueling of hard workers and took great pride in preparing sustainable meals. Jerry's brothers and his father got right to work clearing a patch of yard into a soft workable soil meant for planting.

Jerry's family had been  incredibly helpful over the last few weeks, helping with repairs to the house, fixing the leaky roof patching ceilings indoors and fixing gates and latches on the house. Diana's family, though not very handy in these areas, had helped by enlisting the help of a local builder who knew what to do to about ensuring angles and measurement would be fit for sustaining the elements of winter.

Shortly after lunch, Jerry's family needed to leave to go back to their own property to finish off their own garden beds. They left him with all the essentials; seedlings and roots he would need to get his garden bed ready.

"Theses are the vegetables you can get started with now his mother informed him. Radishes, arugula and this baby Kale love the cold. They will do better if you plant them now... and then keep seeding them throughout the spring so you have some all season. The cabbage will do well and so will the carrots so get them in sooner than later" his mother informed him.

"These seeds are for well after the 21st of May if you want them to survive" she handed them to him in a heap: tomatoes, cucumber, beans and peas. "Get these started inside – that front room where all the fancy furniture is, thats the place for them because of all this sunlight". She handed him little jars and planter boxes his father had made out of scrap wood. "Put some earth in each of these squares and plant those seeds. They will need daily misting and lots of sun, no cold. I'll pass by later this week to make sure you got it all right".

Jerry looked over the abundance of seeds and thanked hismother gratefully. "I'm giving them to you this year but you'll need to get all the flowers off these plants and prepare them to dry later in the season so youhave your own supply next year. You remember when you were little how we did it each year.

"Oui maman, je m'en rappelle. Pas d'problème".

She smilled at her son and reached up to ruffle his soft hair. "Tu vas toujours être mon bébé tu sais".