The Journal: Ash Fall Read Online Free PDF

find someone with a tractor
that can plow and disc the land. Once that’s done, we’ll get
Carolyn involved and plan it out.”
    Carolyn was our local minister, and she was
pivotal in keeping The Stone Soup Kitchen functioning, and keeping
the people united during our very dark time. I just knew she would
do it again. Being a minister fit her well; she had a kind and
loving soul.
    “Okay, let me work on it. What are you doing
today?” Anna asked.
    “I’m going back home and plant my garden!” I
stopped when I got to the door. “Oh, and Anna, John is back.” I
left her stunned with my announcement. I know I smirked all the way
home.
    The day was long, hot and productive. With
both of us working, we got half of the garden planted. In another
week or two we can put in a good portion of the plants I had
growing in the house that were staying protected from a possible
late frost. Two weeks after that the rest of the seeds could go in
along with the second planting of vegetable seeds we did today.
    Being self-sufficient is part of being
prepared, an important part, and that need was growing stronger in
me. I’d always tried to heed those feelings, and it usually served
me well. Something was tweaking my alert system. I didn’t know what
it was, but I’d listen, although it was likely just memories of
this past winter and worrying about shortages. I wish I could
easily resupply everything we used over the winter. I don’t think
that will be possible though.
     

CHAPTER 4

    May 7
    Keith Kay stopped by this morning to see if I
was still interested in fire wood.
    “Of course I am!” I readily agreed. “And you
saved me from having to track you down, Keith.”
    We’d been friends a long time and he had
furnished my stove wood for many years. Having it cut, split and
delivered saved me a great deal of time that I could spend on other
things, including the garden.
    “Unfortunately, the price has gone up,
Allexa. It’s the cost of gas for the splitter machine and diesel
for this hog of a truck,” he said, pointing a thumb at the large
red dump truck parked in my driveway.
    “I understand, Keith, the cost of everything
has gone up. When can you bring the first load?” I asked. I was
delighted when he said later that day. It gave me peace of mind to
get all my winter wood done early in the season. I had acres of
wood I could harvest, and cutting wood was very time consuming. We
used a lot of wood last winter for staying warm and cooking, and we
needed every piece we could store.
    “So how did you do this winter, Keith? How’s
Carron? I didn’t see either of you at the food bank at the township
hall,” I asked.
    “The wife is fine and it’s thanks to her that
we made it,” Keith said. “She did a lot of canning last fall. I
must admit, though, I got real tired of tomatoes and green beans.”
He laughed. “But we didn’t starve, and I did manage to get a deer
or two, which helped, and the swamp was abundant with rabbit. Of
course staying warm wasn’t a problem.”
    I imagined not; he must have years of wood
stacked in his yard.
     
    * * *
     
    After Keith left, John and I emptied the
woodshed of the remaining two face cord that we didn’t burn over
the winter and I stacked it on the pallets nearest the house for
the first burn in the fall.
    “Aren’t you putting any on that other set of
pallets?” he asked, looking toward the small brown barn that I used
for storing canning jars and equipment. Under the clothesline
attached to the short sloping roof were three empty wooden
pallets.
    “Yes, I have longer range plans for that spot
though. There are a couple of trees down by the creek that fell
during a wind storm that still need to be cut up, and one that has
already been bolted,” I explained. “It will be very green wood and
need longer seasoning so I want to keep it separate. Once we get
the shed full, you can cut up the trees whenever you want, if you
want.”
    I so appreciated the work he was helping