“Oh, that should be nice.”
“No, it won’t,” my grandfather’s voice called from behind me. “We don’t need some government official here sniffing in our business.”
I sighed. I was hoping to avoid him today. He’d been against getting certified since I started the process, but he needed to realize times had changed since he ran things.
“We’ve talked about this,” I said. “It’s not the government; it’s one of their contractors. This will boost our sales through the roof.”
Hoffman Farm wasn’t your average family farm. We did everything from raising animals to growing wide fields to beekeeping to body care products. We basically kept the whole town fed, including all the tourists, and even exported.
Though we were considered a family-run small business, it was on a larger scale with a lot of moving parts, and we needed all those parts to continue moving. One poor year could kill it all.
“I still don’t like it,” he grumbled.
“They shouldn’t be here long.” Though I didn’t know if that was fully true. We had a lot of land and business to go over.
By the time we sat down for breakfast, Bailey had made her way in with her fiancée, Cleo. It was surprising to see them so early. Bailey always said her bees liked to sleep in, and so did she.
Everyone chatted the way we did every day until Beau and the girls left, Bailey and Cleo stuck around to finish, and Blake went upstairs to get ready for the day. He was a jack of all trades but an especially talented mechanic. He took care of all the machines we used, and he was damn good at it.
Then, I got up and helped my mother with the dishes until she all but threw me out, and I was surprised to see my father on the porch, sitting in one of the rocking chairs.
“Morning, Pop,” I greeted, taking a moment to sit with him. The sun was bright in the sky now, and it was time to get to work, but it was nice to take a moment and enjoy the vast fields and beautiful sky.
“Morning, Brooks. How’s everything?”
“Good. We have the organic people coming tomorrow.”
He nodded. My dad handed over ownership of the farm to me the year after Beau and his wife had their first kid. He and my mom decided they wanted to be there for their grandkids more and take it easy.
I’d been working to take over the farm since I was old enough to collect eggs from the coops, so it felt right. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I’m glad to see how you’ve handled everything,” he said. “You’re doing a good job.”
I blinked. My father was a very caring man but odd about expressing it. It always happened out of the blue.
“Thanks, Dad. You taught me well.” And that was true. He’d taken me under his wing at an early age, so it happened seamlessly.
“Well, I’m going out to the west field to look at that fence, so I know what supplies I need. Then I need to do a last-minute sweep of everything.”
“You need help?” he asked.
“If you could help round up the cows, I would appreciate it.”
“That I can do,” he said as I left.
It was a usual early spring day for me. I made sure fields were prepped, seeds were ready, and animals were fed. I loved working with my hands and with the earth. Something about it felt so gratifying, and even more so when my whole family was involved, even though my job had now turned into a lot of managing.
By early evening, I still needed to run into town to grab some extra planks from Rick’s to fix that fence. The hole turned out to be larger than I thought.
“Hey,” my sister Bailey called as I headed toward my truck. “Can you do me a favor?”
“Sure, what’s up?”
“Could you run this honey to Jake? He wanted to try a new flavoring for his moonshine, and I think this will add a good sweetness.”
I took the box. “Sure thing. Ready for the market to start this year?” I asked. The bees were finally coming out of the hive again and producing, so Bailey could make more products.
“Yep. I’ve got a new body butter recipe that I think will be a hit for the Blossom Festival.”
