Pulling up to the gate I sighed. My husband took my hand and asked, "To much to soon?"
Sighing I said, "She planted all of this from seeds months ago if we don't get started we can lose all of it. But first let's look around."
"Angie it is ten acres plus five greenhouses," he said. "You said a lot of the ground plants she threw the seeds out as you were walking. Could it have survived?"
"Yeah," I said. "Grandma was the queen of chaos gardening."
"Is anyone else coming out here?" He asked.
I gave a snort and said, "No. When she was dying she told them I get it all. They left and never came back."
He pulled up to her cabin and walked around to open the door. I stepped into the sun and looked around as I said, "You can smell all the vegetables, fruit and herbs she planted. I am going to have to compost a lot of plants so the land doesn't go to shit."
Putting a arm around my waist he said, "well I guess we better see what we are working with."
We walked to the front door and Charles opened it for me. The smell coming from inside hit me and he took my hand and said, 'You got this babe."
Opening my eyes I said, "This is her legacy. I cannot let her down."
Looking around I walked to the pantry and opened it up. The shelves were almost bare and after checking the freezer's I saw they were bare as well. In the center of the room even the work bench was bare.
Charles asked, "Angie, where are all the jars and supplies she had?"
We went to the kitchen and sat down. In the center of the table was a box and letter on the table. The letter was simply labeled Angie. I sat down and opened the letter and read it to Charles.
"My sweet Granddaughter I am sure by now you and Charles have looked through the house and noticed that all the items I canned and dehydrated are gone. When I was sick I have Pastor Mike and his wife Sally come to the property and to take my work and bring it to the soup kitchen with firm instructions the lids, rings and jars need to come back to you. The fish I harvested and cleaned as well as the meat from the animals I harvested also went to the soup kitchen at the church. Let Charles know the animal pens are ready to be filled and all my fishing equipment is in the lake house for you both to use. Do not compost the plants this year, it is time for them to be burned. I left you a map for you to get started. I had a order of mason jars ready for you to get started at rural king as well as two new dehydrators. While you are there you can get chickens as mine were harvested. Many family members were mad that you got everything, but you were the only one there during the good and bad times. I hope you and Charles live a long life in this home and she will take care of you. I will be watching over you. Grandma."
Charles smiled and said, "Well I guess after I unpack the SUV we can go to rural king and then food shopping before it gets dark. I hate I have to head home to continue cleaning everything out and packing before we sign the sale papers."
Looking up I asked, "You okay with selling the house."
"Yes," He said. "You own this outright. With my bad leg I can slow down at work some and we can live peacefully out here. I just hate being away from you while I work and pack. Thankfully the new buyers are working with us while I pack and work, while you start here."
We unpacked the SUV and headed to Rural King. Charles loaded up the order and I picked up even more Mason Jars, a new pressure cooker, baskets for the harvest and a fire pit. Then we headed to the food store and filled two carts with groceries. You may ask why we are stocking the house. Well that's easy we live four hours away and until Charles goes through and packs the house I am on my own at Grandmas when he is working. When we got home there was a truck waiting by the gate.
Sighing I said, "Its my Mom and Dad."
He pulled up and I saw luggage in their truck. Dad said, "We are taking over the place."
Sighing I said, "No Dad leave. We sold our house and are moving here. There is nothing here for you. Do not make me call the police."
Taking out my phone he said, "You would call the police?"
"Yes I have will for the police if I need to call them," I said. "The money you stole from Grandma was your inheritance and the fact that she did not call the police."
He put his truck in reverse and said, "We will see about that."
We pulled in and Charles asked, "He doesn't know that we have security cameras here does he?"
"No and that is why I am working the front of the property starting tomorrow after we set up the fire pit in the driveway," I said. "By the time you leave I will be harvesting and getting everything started. But I think I will call the non emergency line and get a report and ask for a drive by every once in a while."
"Go inside and I will bring everything in," Charles said. "Call the police and unpack."
I called the non emergency line and they said they would have an officer come by sometime tonight. As we finished unpacking and walked to the front of the property a cruiser pulled up to the gate and Charles let them in. I explained to the officer what had happened and he looked around as he asked, "You are worried that your parents may try destroying your Grandmas legacy?"
Charles said, "They want to turn the ten acres into a camping estate and when they found out Angie inherited it they went crazy. She has no relationship with them due to years of emotional trauma. Angies Grandma raised her."
"Understood," He said. "I go to the church your Grandma belonged to. Her donation to the soup kitchen has helped many families. She spoke about you both all the time. I patrol the area during this time and will have other officers do the same."
We thanked the officer and as he was leaving he said, "I will be dropping the used mason jars off later this week I will call you and arrange a time. My wife is one of the kitchen workers and she has loved using your Grandmas garden."
After he left Charles said, "I know you need some time. I am gonna set up the fire pit and grab some of the wood on the pile. Go ahead and pick a spot and start to harvest I will grill some burgers for tonight."
I grabbed the basket and waste cart and walked to the front of the property and found a green pepper plant on the edge of the driveway. With my gardening sheers I started to remove the green peppers filling the basket quickly. Walking back to the house I placed the green peppers on the outside table. Grabbing another basket I went back to the plant. By the time I finished filling the second basket Charles was walking up to me saying, "Well I guess you have a lot of work ahead of you with processing everything."
Smiling I said, "I have ideas. However, I think I am going to fill four baskets at a time and them process those four baskets. I will knock out those baskets before I continue."
He grabbed the waste cart and added the debris to the fire as we passed by. We made our plates and sat next to the fire. Talking and eating I felt more at peace than I have since Grandma passed away. When we finished eating Charles went to the river to see what type of fish he could see from the dock. i took the peppers inside and started prepping them. By the tome he returned I had frozen some strips, cubes and had both dehydrators full of strips. I set up jars to pickle the next morning. Charles came back carrying more harvest baskets saying, "I found these in the fishing shed. I figured that you can use them to get more together at once. Also if your okay with I want to fish for an hour or so."
"That's okay," I said. "Just clean whatever you catch before you leave for home."
Smiling he said, "Deal."
We fell into the bed exhausted from the drive to the property. Laying in bed listening to the sound of nature I knew we made the right decision to sell the house and move here. I fell into a deep sleep waking up the next morning to the sun shining on my face. There was a note on the bedside table from Charles saying he went fishing. I got up and made a cup of tea. Sitting on the porch I smelled the plants growing and smiled. knowing Charles would be gone for a while I grabbed the baskets and waste cart and went down to where I was harvesting the day before. For the next three hours I harvested the remaining green pepper plant, a few different tomato plants, green beans and two containers of sweet potatoes. When all my baskets were full I started to burn the plants. Once I was done I went inside and emptied the dehydrator adding the dried pepper strips to a jar to store. Then I started to process all the food that I harvested. Saving the scraps in a bag I had in the freezer for the pig I had being delivered later this week I got everything canned, frozen or in the dehydrator.
Charles came back with fresh catfish ready to be frozen in filets. After a quick lunch he said, "I have to head back. Work starts early in the morning."
We said our goodbyes and started the four hour drive home. After I watched him leave I grabbed my baskets and found more containers hidden amongst the plants. I got to work starting to take back the land removing everything from the ground that was not meant to be there.
Pastor Mike/Sally
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