The Gatherings by D.A.Sanford - HTML preview

Spring will be interesting

The rest of the winter was long but finally spring broke winter’s hold. The song birds are back. Things are starting to turn green from the gray bones look the trees and bushes were during winter.

We still open up on warm days to air out the home but the damp that we had last year was not here this year. Jonus came up with an air exchanger that would condense the moisture out of the air by having a closed air loop that brought in the cold air from the outside. The air inside would flow around that cold loop and cause the moisture to condense.

All we had to do was to regularly empty out the water jar. That was a morning chore for the folks living in the back cavern.

We began the spring hunting and trapping for the gathering. Now we had more than enough chickens that we really needed to trade almost half of what we had. There were even sets we could sell. Like we traded, two hens and a rooster that were ready to start laying.

Again we had live game like the last year’s spring. It was Rodger that came back to our area with a man we could smell a mile away but I was excited to greet him. On his cart was a freshly killed domestic pig. It was gutted but not butchered. I was told that he was going to cut it as needed. He was willing to trade this one for three sets of chickens and some of the rabbits.

We haggled over the rabbits but we did trade. Korry and Rodger took it up to the entrance. On my explicit instructions the fat back was to go into the smokes the rest could be frozen with the exception of some for tonight’s meal. Outdoor roasting of course.

I traded the man for all the books he had. Traded a hefty price but that is what the spring hunting is for. I will say that the canned goods people had were from areas away from the contaminated houses. It was said that they went into those flooded communities to scavenge but the smell of sewage told them that it was not a healthy place to be in.

The general consensus was that it may never be a place to go into. Most said that it may be beneficial to just burn the whole neighborhood to the ground but the fire would not be controllable. I told them that we would make signs stating raw sewage with cholera deaths.

“Anyone that would enter that area would deserve to die.”

The gathering again was peaceful. It is nice not to be the enforcers but having people respect that it is our property our rules. Fall was agreed upon and then everyone went their own way.

That night, we ate roast pig for the first time in years. The only thing that will top it is the morning’s bacon and eggs. Each had only two slices. The rest was cut up and frozen in fourteen slice packages. The slices are as thin as we could get them. They will be only for special occasions.

That pig lasted well into late winter. It was only for special occasions as a treat. Even during the winter, all would watch the fire and enjoy the smell of the pork roasting and the sizzle of the fat drip hitting the coals. There was a thought to collect those drippings but the aroma negated all thoughts. The fatback bacon grease was saved to flavor other dishes so aroma won over.

Summer has gone well. With that plane finally gone from the meadow. We decided to improve the gatherings. Where it was, we built a communal shower. Six stalls for the men and six for the women. The large water tank was fed from where our stream exited the cavern. It was high enough to have a gravity filled tank.

Always thinking, our Korry has taken after his father. We have a tower adjacent to the showers that has water heaters that were salvaged from houses. The burner bottoms were cut off and then they were mounted over a stone fire pit on that platform.

We asked for people to take turns keeping that fire going. The first time everyone saw it, we had soap and cloth to dry yourself. Everyone had five minutes in the warm shower. We mixed the waters above and all they had was an on and off hand valve.

The following gathering, all were told to bring their own. It was a big hit, especially for those whose bathing was water warmed on a fire in a basin. A field bath.

Again, this was free. Always building our reputation as friendly. There were guards, like the fire tenders, that would take turns watching from the outside to maintain the privacy of the bathers from those who, shall I say, are curious.

To say that the fall gathering had bigger lines at the showers than any other line is an understatement.

The traders benefited because people were feeling better. Feeling better made for lively trade. Most left with what they traded for than dragging back what they brought.

Also, during the summer, we made, away from the shower, more outhouses. We found that too many couldn’t wait so the outdoor bush facilities were being used. The bushes grew better but the smells afterwards prompted us to make those extra outhouses.

We know well what raw sewage can do.

This summer was a good one. Enough warm days with enough rain. The gardens thrived. Our stores were overflowing. We now had a bounty that we could trade. We did not do that because there were a number of traders that crops were the only thing they had to trade.

We figured that we had enough but we did trade with those for what we had that they needed.

Seasons came and went, all seemed to fly by so fast. The only season that dragged on was winter. You would figure that, with the room we have it would be just like the other seasons. Winter we could only go out on a few days to enjoy. All the other “good days” were for hunting. Snow shoes, bundled up then gutting the kill. Not fun in the cold.

With all the room we have, we do not have windows to at least watch the world go through its winter show. Cabin fever hits, even in a cave. That is why spring is so anticipated.

The warm weather, birds and the color green. Our spirits soar with those birds. For those few days, we forget about the cycle of starting to prepare for winter.