Dare chuckled and reached inside the car for a pair of gloves he passed to me. Then he grabbed some shears and we walked along the first row. He showed me what we were looking for and walked me through the process then sat back and watched me prune my first plant.
“That was great.” He applauded me and I stood up to take a little bow.
It made him laugh.
“What do I do with these?” I pointed at the branches.
“We’ll pick them up on our way back to the truck. I try to mulch as much as possible, but sometimes I’ll burn them if there’s too much.”
I nodded and looked at the next plant. “Can I?” I asked.
“Be my guest,” he said and put his hands on his hips.
He watched me prune a couple more before he picked up his own shears and started on the second row, opposite me.
We worked in silence for the rest of the morning, Dare’s persistent cough was the only noise aside from the birds and the wind. Every now and again I’d throw a dead branch for Lookah to retrieve, and he was all too happy to play fetch with me. Even Dare joined our little game.
We just about managed half a row each before we got hungry and made our way back to the farmhouse for lunch. After eating, we came back out to finish the rows, but it was getting too dark to stay out so we gave up and I promised him I’d help again tomorrow.
“How long do you see yourself doing this for?” I asked on our way back to the truck.
Dare bent down to pick up another handful of branches and he stood back up, coughing.
“As long as I can,” he said. “It’s hard work but I love this place. I love tending to the plants. Picking the fruit. Making stuff with it. I don’t know that there is anything better than being part of nature and providing sustenance for others.”
I smiled.
“You sound a lot like me,” I said. “I love baking and putting a smile on people’s faces.”
Dare glanced at me and smirked.
“I’m hoping I can expand at some point, but I need to wait for all the crops to be productive first.”
“How so?” I asked.
“Well, it takes three to five years for a plant to start producing substantial fruit.”
“Oh. I didn’t know that.”
He chuckled.
“Yeah, they’re plants that take patience and a lot of care. I was lucky when I bought the place, it already had half an acre of blueberry plants that I could work with. I’ve planted another acre and a half since I took over, and it was only this year I got fruit from my own crops and varieties.”
I looked around us at the darkening fields and squinted trying to tell how far it reached.
“How many acres do you have?”
“Just the two. But the land around is undeveloped. I’m hoping eventually I can buy another acre or two. But not until the two I have now are productive.”
I nodded.
“I honestly don’t know how you do it all.”
We reached the truck and disposed of all the branches we had managed to pick up in the bed, before we loaded the goats there too and got into the car.
“I could say the same about you, you know.”
“Me?” I stared at him.
