37. Expanding (2)

Novum led the man over to the mine and saw that Rurik was almost done with the cart. As they got closer Rurik came up out of the mine. The man that was with Novum smiled from ear to ear. "Master Rurik, good to see you."

"Steve glad you are okay." Rurik looked at Steve and then at Novum and raised his eyebrows asking if he was okay with this. "Grab a load off the cart and get it below. We are not up to opening yet but it is stable enough for early storage."

"Rurik don't forget that I need the sizes for the bracing. There are guys taking down trees as I stand here. Apparently you were not the only one that wanted to come along. I have them all doing something now. So I am going to be busy taking care of the details."

"I will have the list when we come to switch out the wagons." Novum gave him a wave and headed back to the main area. He was walking slow since he was not sure how he should proceed. Should he break up the land and sell everyone a parcel for cheap or should he just building the houses with the intention of people that worked for him could stay there. Everyone was going to get a wage so that was a start but with winter coming up it was going to put a strain on his funds.

After the walk he decided that he would decrease the pay over the winter when there was less to do but he would also be providing food so he would build another smokehouse as well as another cellar. He would have to go to the capitol just before the weather turned to get all of the other stuff that he needed but he was also going to need to make another quick turn around trip in the next few days to get more livestock and other things that he might need. He looked at everything that needed to be done and realized he did not put nails on the list and his forge was not up yet. He would have to send the guys back into town.

As he walked up to the main house he could see the ladies coming out of the cellar and one of them was making a list. He would not have to worry about teaching one of them to write. "Ladies how are you finding things?"

"Well the supplies are set up like a guy with no taste was going to live here for a long time with basically meat and a few potatoes."

"I started a garden."

The woman covered her mouth quickly. "My Lord."

Novum gave her a laugh. "Please do not apologize. You are perfect in your assessment. I planned on hunting most of what I ate and whatever came out of the late garden. I hoped that it would be better next year but I am a single guy who never had the intention of being a Baron with this many people. So there is that. So what I am going to need from you three is a list of the stuff that you need me to buy to last the rest of the summer and into the fall. After we figure out the average rations and thing like that we are going to need to start planning for the winter."

"My Lord I can do basic writing but I am not sure about the numbers part of it."

Mary quickly spoke up. "Oh me. I am really good with numbers. No one even taught me. I am just good with them."

"That works out. I am planning on another smokehouse and either expanding the current cellar or just building another one. Also add spices that you want as well. I had salt and that is about it. Not perfect but given my skill with cooking that is all I really needed." He had a few things and was a pretty good cook but when compared to these ladies he could not claim that and he knew it.

"We are definitely going to need a few big pots for this many people." About that time a little girl came running in with a hand full of plants.

"Mom I found the stuff you wanted me to find and guess what?"

"Emily the Baron is here."

The girl turned and saw Novum and curtseyed before she quickly ducked behind her mother's leg. "Can I guess Emily?" The girl nodded but did not say anything. "Did you see a bunny?" The girl shook her head. "Not a bunny. How about a fox?" The girl shook her head again. "Not a fox. A wolf pup?"

"I saw that too but that was not the guess part."

Novum smiled as the girl finally spoke. "Oh yeah. Let's see. How about a blue bird?"

"No but it does fly." The girl was out from behind her mom who was looking down in a little bit of shock.

"It flies but I am betting that it is not a different bird. I know, I know what it is. It was a butterfly."

"It was a honey bee."

"Oh a honey bee. I never would have guessed that."

"Emily you didn't squish it did you?"

"Never mommy. You told me that bees make honey and I love honey."

"That is good." Novum could tell that there was more to it than that.

"Did you happen to have bees before?"

"Oh yes my lord. We had a four box colony."

"As it so happens based on the recent honey shortage I bought a few boxes so that I could try and figure it out. But if you would be willing to assist I will leave it up to you."

The woman was beaming. "Of course my lord. Once lunch is prepared I will go out with one of the hunter and Emily and find the bee hive that she was talking about and find a good place for the box."

"I also went ahead and got the full suit, so there is that as well. Just let me know where you want the boxes and I will get them placed for you. Ladies I have taken up to much of your precious time. I will leave you to it."

Novum had barely stepped out the door when he heard Emily. "I like him he is nice." He heard all the ladies agree and for some reason color rushed into his cheeks. Now that the mines and cooks, as well as a possible beekeeper, was taken care of it was on to the next area.

Novum was not sure if he should go to the garden or the pens next but Fang was headed towards the garden with his nose to the ground. He just followed behind him. As he got close an older man came towards him. He gave Novum a deep bow of his head. "My Lord. How can I help you?"

"Well how are things looking now?"

"Honestly the soil here is really good and you can see that a few things that you planted have already started to sprout. It looks like if we have a late frost we should be able to have a pretty good haul for the cellar."

"That is good to hear. But I am sure that you have improvements. Go ahead you won't hurt my feelings with suggestions."

"With this many people I am going to need almost twice this area and might a suggest a compost area."

"With pigs would we have enough stuff for that. We could simply give it to them."

"I don't disagree with you my lord but if we could split part of it up and send two thirds to the pigs and the rest to the compost it would do amazing things in the next couple of years. A compost area is a long term commitment and not an immediate result type of thing."

"Go ahead and mark off the area that you want to set as the garden for the next few years as well as the compost area. Just don't get to close to the paddock over there. Those goats are mean as a badger and will fight back." Novum was about to talk to Fang when he darted for an area just to the side of the garden. He stood up with a rabbit in his mouth. "That will help keeping some of the pests out. But mark the area so that we can fence it as well. Fencing it will be the last priority but it will be a priority."

"Thank you my lord. I will have it marked this evening."

"Very good. Also I am going to need a list of the crops that you want to plant in the spring and when I should be able to buy the seed for them. As well as how much you need."

"I am not real good with letters my lord."

A young man jogged over and then bowed deeply to Novum. "I will help you Uncle Jed. I can handle the writing you just tell me what type and how much. My lord I will need some parchment though."

"Swing by the house and talk to the ladies in the kitchen."

"When we leave the field I we will work on it."

"Thank you gentlemen. If you need something please let me know." Novum headed for the animal area. He needed to get them sorted out as well. And he was probably going to need some dairy cattle and a full barn as well. He would be lucky to get everything done before winter hit. He saw the men coming out of the stable and going to the sty. He followed a short distance behind them.

"The repairs on the stable were done pretty well. I would like to swap out a few more boards but the way the Baron talks there is going to be a lot of growing going on so it will have to wait."

"Yeah it was done well. It should hold up until things slow down and we have the time to get a few of the little things fixed. This sty looks really well done. It was built new and they did good work."

Novum walked up behind them. "Thank you."

The men jumped in surprise and then flushed red. They all gave him a bow. "Sorry my Lord we did not know you were there. We should be more alert to our surroundings."

"You were focused on your task there is nothing wrong with that. So what do you think?"

"The paddock is just big enough for the animals that you have. The horses are all in great shape. With that black as a stallion you could have some really nice foals in the spring. The big steer is ready to eat. Honestly I would not wait much longer to store him. The little one shows a lot of potential to be ready for next year. Those goats are meaner than any other goat I have ever seen. Well the billy is. The nanny goats seem to be calm enough that with some work we might be able to get a little milk out of them."

"That is good to hear but I hear a but coming."

"But with the size of the paddock it would not be feasible to get in the cattle necessary to feed this many people over the long term. And the stable is not big enough for when the snow hits. And that is not even taking into consideration dairy cattle. The pigs are young enough that I doubt we have piglets before this time next year. And with that many I think the sty needs to double in size. Though with them being redbacks that is not a necessity. They will actually come out and lay in the snow."

"So we double the size of the sty and make a few small changes to the stable. But I think that we build a large barn in between them. And obviously we will expand the paddock as big as it needs to be. I bought everything from here to the lake so space should not be a problem. Should I wait until the barn is done before going after the cattle?"

"That is a toss up my lord. If there are not issues the barn should be done in time for snow but then it will be to late to get the cattle without extra risk. But if we get the cattle first and the barn has issues then there is a risk there as well."

"You are right about that. We will start the barn to incorporate the sty and the stable as wings. When it gets far enough along that short of it burning down we can have it done we will go and get the next batch of stock. Though it would be nice to have some milk. Okay then guys. Work with Jed over at the garden and make sure you keep some space between his expansion and the paddock expansion and start marking that area that you think is necessary."

"Right away my lord."