To Everything There Is A Season

July 14, Afternoon

Couple quick comments. 1)If anyone is interested in the curing ratios I can post them. Otherwise we just assume Sang knows what she's doing and the author isn't pulling things completely out of her butt. 2)Timeline wise this is the afternoon and evening of day 5 the guys head back to base in 2 days. Time will speed up after this week. I just needed to establish the rhythm on the farm. 3)Please ignore the disappearing organ meat and heads. I did the research on how to eat head to tail with pigs and frankly grossed myself out. Just assume they were used. Lard will be rendered while supper is prepped. 4)Thank you all for continuing to support this over researched fanfic, this story is the junction of over thinking and waiting for the next book.

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            I picked at my meal while the guys inhaled their food. My stomach was unsettled after cleaning casings for the last couple hours. At least I kept food down this time. Last time I prepared casings I threw up the entire time. Father had mother take over the job as I just couldn't keep going. She was so mad that I'd gotten out of work she wouldn't let me eat anything until all the sausages were stuffed and the hanging in the smoker. That doesn't sound so bad except we were at a community butchering and I was required to make all of the sausage for the whole community. It took the better part of the week to butcher all the hogs. Upside, it was hard to do more than dry heave and gag after day three. Cleaning casings was a lot easier than.

The men talked about their morning and how the different jobs were going. Mr. Nathan and Mr. Kota were going to finish up the butchering after lunch while Mr. Owen and Dr. Sean would go with the rest of the men back to the cotton field to finish the hoeing. Mr. Luke had apples to finish processing and I would be bouncing between the kitchen and the butchering. I didn't have any issues with the plans that were being made, mostly because I would be doing exactly what I had been assigned anyway. Something told me none of these men knew how to properly preserve the different cuts.

Nathan and Kota were watching me while the rest of the table talked. It almost felt like they were judging how much I was eating. I knew I was picking at my food but eating light for one meal wasn't going to hurt me and honestly with the way I was feeling, food was the last thing I wanted. I finished eating a small helping of the meal Luke made then started clearing the table. By the time I was back from taking my dishes to the kitchen the rest of the men were finished and starting to clear their spots. After helping to finish clearing away lunch, Mr. Luke and I washed up the dishes. The other men were heading out to their afternoon jobs.

The kitchen smelled of sugar, cinnamon and cooked apples. I was tempted to steal a small bowl of apple sauce. Mr. Luke must have read my mind as he scooped both of us out small bowls. He handed me one while inhaling his own bowl.

"I never thought I would eat apple sauce for dessert, in the past it was either something parents with young kids ordered or we added it to baking instead of oil." Mr. Luke told me around licking his spoon. "I have no idea why it tastes so much better when made from scratch."

"Apple sauce is one of my favorite foods. When I was growing up my grandmother showed me how to make it. We usually used the last of the winter apples as a way to stretch a meal. My mother was so sick when I was growing up that even though enough food was grown in the garden, she couldn't preserve enough for us to have fruit and vegetables through the winter. Her, my father, and grandmother would get whatever was canned and my sister and I ate whatever was left. Grandmother taught me how to make a full meal with very little. Soups and stews are really great ways of making a very little amount of meat and vegetables stretch to feed a large number of people." I commented as I finished my own bowl. My stomach seemed to settle after eating the sweet treat.