When she arrived home, she immediately went to work, carrying buckets of water inside to do the laundry.She should have done it as soon as Jack left for work, but she felt accomplished with what she’d done.
Watching the time slowed down her progress a bit, but by the time she needed to walk to the store to meet her friends, she had the laundry on the line.As soon as she hung up the last shirt, she hurried to town.She couldn’t wait to see friends she hadn’t seen in months...and a year in some cases.
When she reached the store, she spotted Myrtle speaking with Belle, Maggie, Agnes, and Sally.As she walked up behind Agnes, she heard her ask, “I heard something about a surprise?”
She tapped Agnes on the shoulder.“Are you my surprise?”Agnes asked, embracing her.
“Well, her and me too,” Lula said.
“And me,” Ella said.
“Four of you came together?”Belle asked, embracing each of them in turn.
“We did.We probably shouldn’t have, but we did.”Josie grinned.“I can’t wait to find out what you need me to do.”
“There are always options,” Belle said.“We’ll go over them when we get to Maggie’s for lunch.”
Josie took the baby Belle was holding.“Oh, he’s a handsome boy!”
Belle smiled.“He gets that from his father.”
Soon after, they all walked to Maggie’s cabin.Belle waited until they were all seated before explaining exactly how their little operation worked.It was quickly decided that Lula would join Belle every morning hunting.
When Sally asked if anyone was available to forage with her, Josie volunteered for the task.“You’ll need to tell me what to do.”
Sally smiled.“I can be bossy when I need to be.”
Maggie served a meal that had nothing to do with hardtack or jerky, so Josie was thrilled.She shouldn’t have skipped breakfast that morning, but she really didn’t think she could choke down more hardtack.
As soon as they were finished eating, Maggie took Belle’s son and shooed them all out the door.“Get us some more meat!”Maggie called after Belle and Lula.
Sally looked at Josie.“Let’s go do this.Maggie’s a better forager than I am, but I’ve learned a lot in the past few weeks.We’ll be able to find Eskimo potatoes and there are still some berries.Today, we’re looking for onions, Eskimo potatoes, blueberries, low bush cranberries, highland cranberries, and crowberries.”
Sally handed Josie a basket.“We want to find as many as we can.What we’re foraging for now will need to last through the winter for all eight couples.Plus, it’s nice to have some to make into pie filling and jam to sell at the store.Do you bake?”
Josie shook her head.“I’m useless in the kitchen.I mean, I can clean one like no one else, but actually cooking or baking are beyond me.I bought a book of receipts from Katie today.I hope it helps me.”
“I’m sure once we’ve finished our foraging, you can get cooking lessons from any one of us.I’d love to teach you if you would like!”
“Thank you!I think I would like to learn to bake from Myrtle because she’s incredible, but I’ll learn anything that any of you are willing to teach me.”
“Let’s concentrate on finding food first,” Sally said with a smile.They had reached a clearing, and Josie already saw berries to be picked.“The berries are easy to spot.”Sally squatted down, touching a fern-like plant with yellow leaves.There were several brown pods hanging from it, making Josie think of peas.“These are Eskimo potatoes.At least that’s what they’re called.They’re not really potatoes at all.”Sally removed one of the pods and opened it, showing Josie what was inside.“This is the part that’s edible.”
“So, there are no real potatoes?”Josie asked.She would miss them.
“Only the ones I grew in my garden.I grew a lot of potatoes.I’ll have Tom bring over a big bag for you later.”Sally smiled.“I love to garden, so that’s become my special skill to help our group.Do you have any idea what yours will be?”
Josie shook her head.“No, not really.I can knit and sew, but I’m not sure if I want to do just those things.I mean, in winter, I think it would be practical, but I want to be able to help with food somehow.Just probably not cooking it!”
Sally smiled.“I prefer gardening to cooking.We could certainly use another gardener.”
Josie nodded.“I’ll think about it.I’m not sure it’s what I want long term though.”
“You have plenty of time to figure it out.”Sally stood and pointed to another plant.“This is a wild onion.The Eskimo potatoes and the onions are real food, and we should focus on those first.Then we’ll pick berries after.Do you think you can identify the potatoes and onions?”
“I think I can.”
They spent two full hours foraging before it started to get too dark to continue.Sally finally said, “It’s getting too dark to continue.And it’s probably time to start supper for our men.”
Josie groaned.“I hope I can figure something out!”
“You’ll be able to.Let’s head to my place.We need to divide our forage into eight equal parts.”
“Will Belle and Lula do the same with whatever meat they get?”
“We share everything equally.Whatever is left, we sell to the store.Katie even buys some of it from us.She’s so happy to have other women in town!”
Josie smiled as she followed Sally to her cabin.“I think I’m going to like it here.”
