1850 Part 1 | Story Info | 1851

Charlotte’s morning started very much like the mornings had back east. With a waddle to the outhouse. Sighing deeply, Charlotte rejoiced when she actually made it there, and headed back inside to get dressed for the day and make breakfast for her growing family.

She didn’t have more than a few moments of peace before the delicious smells of the Forager’s Stew woke everyone up with rumbly bellies.

Charlotte served everyone their stew, and finally had a chance to sit down and feed herself, too. Theodore ate quickly, and put on his work boots, heading out the back door. There was planting to do, and … hopefully the crops that were already in the ground and grown had produced enough to afford the costs of some starter animals for their farm. Charlotte wished him a good day with a smile, then turned to find the tail end of a mischievous Harriet heading out the front door.

After corralling the wayward toddler, and finding something more productive for her to do, she gave a still-hungry Luke a second helping of stew, and went to clean up the breakfast dishes. Sometime today, they were due to get another delivery of ice for the icebox, as well, so she needed to get rid of the remnants of the old ice and prepare for that, too. It seemed there was always more to do on a farm than one actually had time for – at least, when it was just a single family farm, instead of the huge plantation like they had left behind. The plantation had been more just delegating tasks to the help… this was… completely different. Charlotte liked being able to get her hands dirty and do the tasks herself, instead of always managing others. At least this way, there was nobody to blame but herself if she messed something up.

Outside, Theodore was thinking much the same thing. Being able to care for his own crops and reap the benefits and harvests from them was so rewarding. Today, it seemed, the bugs were out in force, so he had to get out the pesticide sprayer and get to work.

After doing all of that, Theodore harvested the vegetables and flowers the garden had produced overnight, and carefully took inventory. A quick trip to town to sell… and buy.. and finally, there were two hens, a rooster, and a young heifer to start filling up the chicken coops and the cow pasture.

This would, of course, mean more chores around the farm… but also more yield. And more food for his family. His worry about taking on the burden of an untried, unknown farm, was starting to lessen. As the sun set, he made sure the animals were bedded down for the night, and wearily – but happily – headed inside to a hot dinner and some time with his pregnant wife and their two toddlers. Despite his exhaustion, he attempted to take as much of the burden of toddler care off her hands for the evening, at least. He shooed Charlotte off to take a bath, and promised the toddlers would be asleep by the time she was done.

The next day, Theodore was back battling the bugs and weeds, but also managed to take some time to befriend a wild bunny, who seemed happy to make his (or her) home in a tree stump on the farm, and help get rid of the weeds on the farm. The chickens, amazingly had settled in, and were already incubating one viable egg – which meant there was one more animal coming to the farm.

Whistling to himself, Theodore enjoyed the view from the farm fields, and smiled. This really was “the life”. He was almost glad his brother had decided to take on the plantation.

To Charlotte’s relief, today was one of Lucinda Titus’ days to come help – and between the two of them, they managed to get the whole house clean, as well as bathe the two toddlers, whether they liked it or not.

With help to care for the toddlers, Charlotte took a couple hours to forage in the forest, and came back with some mushrooms and other tasty treats to add to the coming dinner. As she walked back, Theodore had gotten his rifle and was heading out to (hopefully) find the main course for dinner. The growing kids needed the nutrition for sure. Charlotte organized her findings into the pantry, and waved Lucinda goodbye with a smile.

Dinner ended up being a rabbit and mushroom stew that everyone really enjoyed, and definitely easily filled everyone’s belly with leftovers to spare. Their proximity to such a bountiful forest was definitely a huge bonus to this farm.

From the kitchen, Charlotte smiled at Theodore chatting with Harriet and Luke. He was turning out to be such a good father. With a hand at her back, and trying to hide a grimace of discomfort, she turned and began cleaning up from dinner.

Over the next days, this pattern continued, and Theodore watched while Charlotte’s belly just grew and grew. She tried to hide it, but her back was always aching, and carrying around toddlers was definitely not helping. Every time she thought he wasn’t watching, one of her hands would stray to try to support her back, and her face would scrunch in pain. Theodore continued hunting on an almost daily basis to supplement their dinners – since they certainly didn’t have enough animals to start slaughtering them for meat.

The dinners continued to improve with the bounty of the forest and the village market. One night, they had sausages and mashed potatoes, which the toddlers were clearly in love with, and Theodore certainly wasn’t going to complain if the market had cheap sausages again sometime soon.

Theodore tried to compliment his wife as much as he could, and help out when he wasn’t out in the fields, the forest, or on an errand to the village. He cringed internally every time she winced and rubbed her back. This pregnancy was very hard on her, and he wondered silently at her ability to push it aside and NEVER complain.

Finally, however, one dark and stormy night, the wait seemed to be over. Charlotte’s groans and cries of pain woke the toddlers, and Theodore tried to console and explain everything to them, but, ultimately, they were still afraid for their mother. Theodore thought to go get help from … somewhere? Perhaps the Tituses? … But with the storm, and the two afraid children, he really had no opportunity to do so.

All things pass, fortunately, and, while the birth was a long one, their new baby girl was born before the sun came up, and the older two kids (and their mother) were firmly tucked into bed to sleep away much of the morning.

Theodore wasn’t quite so lucky, and trudged determinedly through his own day full of farm work, pausing only for a short lunch of bread and cheese while watching the chickens peck at their grain, and the nearly tame wild bunny communing with the cow. Musing to himself, he wished he’d thought to name the cow, but he hadn’t exactly had time to think of a name yet.

Later in the day, he stopped by the Titus’ farm to ask if Lucinda could stop by to offer some extra help in the next few days since the baby had been born, and she immediately packed up a casserole dish and went to get their buggy to immediately head over.

By the time his errands were complete and he got back home, Lucinda had cleaned and fed both toddlers as well as the outhouse and the kitchen, and, amazingly, hadn’t let Charlotte offer a single hand in help. He thanked her quietly as he showed her outside to her buggy, and readily agreed to her coming over the next day so he could take the produce to the fair. She mentioned there was a Chicken competition, as well, and suggested he take their rooster, who was a lovely shimmery blue black color to see how he fared against some of the other Fowl.

Waking up at the first red strokes of dawn in the sky, Theodore finished his work around the farm, packed up the rooster in a small cage, picked what looked like a fine brown egg that the chickens had laid last night, and placed both in the front seat of the wagon. Glancing in the back, he checked that the produce he was taking to sell was secure, and then clucked to the horse. It was going to be a long day.

Theodore managed to haggle some better prices at the vendors, and sold his produce for a whopping 25% markup based solely on their quality and his salesmanship.

The rooster was securely nested into his competition booth, and, showing his truly calm nature, had decided that – without the females to look after – it was time for a long nap.

With a smile, Theodore turned to enter the strange egg into the egg competition, noting that a couple of other strange colors of eggs were also in the competition.

With very little else that HAD to be done at the fair, Theodore wandered around the grounds, meeting townsfolk, and offering to do some small errands for the mayor – who appeared to also be the judge of the competitions. He was sure he saw some bribes change hands later, but there was no way he would stoop to that level, so that by the time the prizes were awarded, it was no surprise that neither of his entries won.

It had given their farm some recognition, however, and a participation ribbon was proudly displayed near the front door once he returned home. The rooster was carefully bedded back down in the coop, and the strange egg – hopefully – was making someone’s dinner better on some other farm. Theodore had decided not to let his family eat such a strange looking item, and instead brought some fair treats for the toddlers and his wife all packed up in a picnic basket so she wouldn’t attempt to make them dinner.

With a sigh, he sat down to his dinner, exhaustedly waved goodbye to Mrs. Titus, and kept a close eye on the two toddlers to keep them quiet as his wife and newborn slept away. Managing to keep them from waking her, he got both ready for bed and tucked into their covers, then carefully crawled into his bed beside his sleeping wife. Summer was coming, after all… and there was more work to be done tomorrow.

(Author’s note): I did download a mod for this save (if you noticed, I took a picture of the forest sign post). It’s called Ye Olde Cookbook, and gives a note of realism to both what they’re eating and how they get the food.

1850 Part 1 | Story Info | 1851