The Farm At Maple Hollow - 29. Chapter 29

Coming back into the house after our trip downtown, after a not so brief stop in the tool shed, we were greeted by a beaming Marge and Earl. My respect for the both was already limitless, and when I hugged Marge it went up a thousand-fold. I sweetly whispered in her ear that she truly was a woman of mystery. She cracked up laughing as she pushed me away, reminding us we had starving children out at the cabin, and we had best attend to them. I would, many years later find out, that she was one of the banks managing directors, and had not too insubstantial deposits of her own.

We were in the mood to celebrate and while terrified to some small extent, of the enormity of the changes we were undertaking, it wasn’t enough to dampen our moods. Making a trip into the walk-in cooler/freezer, I grabbed a couple of extra chops, some thick cut bacon for the morning and managed to abscond with a frozen strawberry rhubarb pie, we’d be eating well tonight.

I invited Marge and Earl out to the cabin to help us celebrate our impending purchase but it had slipped my mind, that tonight was their square-dancing club turn to host their sister club from New Hanover. Sheepishly I extended the invitation for tomorrow night. Marge turned to me and asked if I was cooking, when I affirmed that indeed I was, she thought it might be a good idea to have Ethan show me how to make a pie. I was mortally embarrassed; don’t know how she knew I had made my escape with the frozen one. There wasn’t any doubt about my guilt, if my bright red cheeks were any indication.

As they were on their way out the door, she mentioned that I might find a collared shirt to wear tonight. It seemed that there were abrasions on the side of my neck, it might be a good idea to see if I needed to put salve on them. Ethan, that rat bastard had fled the kitchen while all of this was going down. I’m not sure if it was possible to die of incurable embarrassment, but I was sure I could be a test case.

Both Marge and Earl were chuckling as they walked out the door, I fled to the bathroom to see what Marge had spotted. When I stood in front of the mirror, I let out a yelp, followed by an inventive series of curses, full of all sorts of invective. Removing my tee shirt, I could see the trail of hickeys leading from either side of my neck all the way past my belly button!

As I cornered Ethan in the kitchen, threatening all sorts of vile retribution, he wormed his way back into my good graces by offering to make the replacement strawberry rhubarb pie, and…if it would please me…he’d make a couple.

Supper that night was ethereal, the conversation lively, we had invited the girls down and they entertained us with tales of college life and shenanigans. I reminded the boys it would be an early morning; we would be going to walk the Janssen’s farm, did they want to stay or come with us?

Sam piped up that he was in favor of going, of course that meant Pietro as well. When Sam mentioned wanting to see the draft horses, Mary piped up that she was interested. Looking first to her sister and then to me, Pam let her know if we were ok with it, it was fine with her. There would be at least six of us in the morning, Earl would accompany us as well.

It turned out to be an early night, the boys had put in a full day working for Pam, we started but never finished Robinson Caruso for story time. We took our turns brushing or teeth and emptying our bladders as needed and turned in. Tomorrow was going to be a momentous day fraught with all sorts of possibilities I thought, as I quickly fell asleep in Ethan’s arms.

~~~

Mr. and Mrs. Janssen could not have been any more gracious as we stepped out of our cars. Marge and Earl had followed us down. My nerves were all jingly jangly, I forced myself to outwardly appear calm as I focused on my breathing. Earl and Mr. Janssen quickly fell into a conversation as Marge and his wife settled themselves on the porch. Pleasantries over, we began our tour and it went as expected. His dairy barn, while not currently in use was spotless, his barns and sheds were in tip-top condition. When it came time to walk the fields he asked if we minded a ride. I was thinking he’d pull a hay wagon with one of his tractors. I was only partially right. We would ride in the hay wagon, only Rufus and Rosco would supply the power.

As we neared the stable, we could hear the horses and when we turned the corner there were six of the biggest horses I had ever seen. Sam along with Pietro were stunned. Mary to her credit looked amused, as she relieved a silent Sam of the bag of carrots he had been carrying. Looking at Mr. Janssen for permission to give them the treats, he nodded ok but warned Mary that they could be a handful at times.

As she approached the horses, she spoke in soft assuring tones and asked them to line up. It was the darndest thing I had ever seen. Each horse, Rosco, Rufus, Levi, Samwise. Frodo and Maria each lined up and took their carrots in turn. Mr. Janssen quietly said it was the damnedest thing and just shook his head in wonder.

In short order, with Mary and boys help, the horses were hitched to the wagon and we were off to view the fields and cart paths through the wood lots. She sat next to Mr. Janssen and he let he hold the reins as he taught her some of the ins and outs of driving a team.

If we thought what we had seen previously was in tip-top condition, the remainder of what we saw was meticulous. While Maple Hollow was a working farm and we worked hard to maintain it’s appearance and condition, Mr. Janssen was a step above us. For Mary and the boys, the ride was all too short and once they had helped put away the wagon and gear, seeing the horses stabled for the night we made our way to the kitchen where we would get down to business. Mary and the boys decided to stay down at the stable and curry the horses. Their size certainly belied how gentle they were.

Mr. Janssen asked Ethan and me if we were serious about buying River View Farm. I looked at Ethan and seeing his assurance I noted we were and would like to make an offer. I handed him a purchase and sales agreement and he took a few moments to review the numbers. He asked what was it we intended to do, it took a little less time to explain the business plan I had given Uncle Ernest at the bank.

When I was through, Mr. Janssen gave me an inscrutable look, turned his attention back to the purchase and sales agreement, humming and muttering quietly under his breath. God…I was on pins and needles; I seriously was wondering if I had insulted him or his intelligence. He asked if Ethan and I were more than partners, throwing caution to the wind as my lower alimentary canal clenched, I took Ethan’s hand in mine and told him we were.

Looking back down again, he took his pen and scribbled a notation or two and signed the agreement. Looking at both of us he told us that he had three conditions if we agreed to meet his price. First, we needed to place the farm in a conservation easement as we did with Maple Hollow, ensuring it would remain as farm land in perpetuity. His second condition was that we would need to keep the cattle and the horses. The cattle we could sell when the time was right, but all six of the draft horses would have to stay. He further explained, that after Rufus and Rosco, the other four were rescue horses from a circus that had gone belly up. They had become a family and he could not bear to see them broken up. He told us Maria was pregnant and we could expect her foal shortly after the 4^th of July and was part of the package. He asked when the time came that we would allow both he and his wife to be buried in the family cemetery as well.

We agreed and noted the final paperwork would include all conditions. As he slid the purchase and sales agreement back towards us, he asked if we would mind a closing date for the middle of July. He wanted one more chance to show off his team at the 4th of July fair. We simply told him; we’d like nothing more.

When I went to place my signature on the agreement before passing it to Ethan, I had a shock, he had crossed out what we thought what was slightly above what the farm should sell for and he had deducted thirty-thousand dollars. In no uncertain terms he told me to sign and to pass it to Ethan to sign.

Standing up to shake our hands he told us how delighted he was, that we were going to keep his place as a farm, that we were honoring his parents wishes. He then told us of his brother, a member of our tribe so to speak as he winked. How proud he was of him, his successful career as an architect, and his parents, as they accepted who he was and chose to love. He never brought shame to the family and that after his untimely death from lung cancer, his partner of more than thirty-five years was included in all family activities.

I sat there stunned, flummoxed at the events of the past half hour, both Ethan and I had signed paperwork for our first major purchase other than replacing and updating old farm equipment. Essentially, we had taken out a mortgage and while it was against our own funds, we would need to pay it back through income created by our own hard labor.

Mrs. Janssen had come in with Marge from their sit-to on the porch, suggesting refreshments were in order, and that we should see if we could find our trio of renegade miscreants. As I got up to leave the room with Ethan, I noticed that Luke had quietly disappeared. Spotting him as we walked down towards the lower barns and stables for the draft horses, he held up his hands and indicated we were to approach slowly.

Mary had all six of them lined up as if an assembly line as she and the boys were currying them. They stood there, gentle as lambs as our munchkins worked to make their coats shine. As I took a closer look at each of them, it was then I noticed that Maria seemed to be a bit large in the belly, then it hit me, I don’t know how I missed it earlier…she was obviously very pregnant. While I wasn’t any expert on animal husbandry, I had been around the farm long enough to notice the way pregnant farm animals looked.

What I didn’t fail to notice was the individual personalities each one of the horses displayed. Rufus clearly was the boss of the bunch, and if I had to guess, most likely the father of the foal Maria was carrying. Rufus and Rosco were quiet, proud types, basking in the attention they were getting. Levi, Samwise, Frodo, and Maria were much younger and their playful personalities shined. Levi seemed to dance in place as he was groomed, Samwise proved to be the most playful of the bunch as he had Sam pegged for the rascal that he was.

Samwise would nudge Sam with his nose, looking for carrots, I knew he was hiding in his pockets. Frodo would watch with a vested interest as the carrots came out and then the two of them would try to maneuver Sam as to gain preferential access to the hidden source of treats. Pietro had connected with Maria, once Mary had shown him the basics of grooming that morning, they appeared to be inseparable.

As we stood there, Ethan had gone back up to let the folks know what was going on. By the time Ethan had returned, Mary had the horses lined up by two’s and had them following her around the paddock. I reminded myself that Mary had some equestrian training, dressage if I had remembered correctly.

She had all of them stepping out lively as they pranced for her. It was a sight to see as each horse weighing in a bit more than a ton each followed her around like puppies. Mr. Janssen let out a soft whistle and shook his head. As they took the last lap around the paddock, I suggested that they finish up and meet us back up at the house for some refreshments!

~~~

Ethan and I along with Luke, had spent considerable time up at River View, taking a detailed inventory and condition of the stock. We were surprised to see the condition of the rolling stock that came with the horses Mr. Janssen had rescued from the failing circus. There were a couple of fancy wagons in exceptional condition. They would need some care and cleaning but overall, appeared to be in showroom shape. One, a dray or what would be called a freight wagon, has all sorts of huge barrels as if it were delivering for a brewery. The other was a fancy wagon, set up as if it were used as a city pedestrian mover.

Alongside of those in the carriage barn, was the equipment for hauling logs. One was a sled you could roll a couple of logs on, the other was a harness type set-up, that would be hooked by chain to the log and the harness attached to the horse. The last was the cordwood sled. Depending on the season, it either had tires or skis. I supposed it made sense but, hanging on the wall were horseshoes to be used in winter. Obviously, there would be many winter days when you wouldn’t take a team out to haul wood, but these shoes had nubs on the surface that faced the ground to give them better traction.

Mary was enamored with our acquiring River View, not so much the farm but the horses that came with it! While she couldn’t be down there every day, she found ways to get down there several times over the following days. Work was steadily progressing out on the island. The pace was incremental given the care they were taking to conduct their dig professionally. It was much slower than I had expected and sweet agony for Sam and of course by extension, Pietro!

Our birthdays, both Sam’s and mine had come and gone, the equinox was fast approaching and while the financing wasn’t an issue, all the other various and sundry details concerning the purchase of the farm, generated vast volumes of paperwork, title searches, establishing deed restrictions and the covenants Mr. Janssen required. Finally, it was done, the paperwork completed, it was time to meet the Janssen’s and review and sign the documents.

As we met in the dining room of Rivers Edge to sign the paperwork and have everything notarized, we fell into a general discussion of what we had been up to. Was it true, Mrs. Jansen asked that we had some college students conducting a dig out on the island? That of course, led to the story of Sam and his stone. Mr. Janssen alluded to the fact that he had seen it at the library and would like to come up to look the dig site over. He found it to be of some interest. That in turn, begat an invitation for both he and the Mrs. Janssen to come out to lunch the following day.

It had taken some considerable assurances by Marge, that our means of conveyance was safe and sound to convince Mrs. Janssen to come out, and we made plans to meet both down at the farm dock. I nudged Sam, reminded him it had been a been a couple of days, both the cabin and the outhouse needed some freshening up! I had an inkling that our next couple of days were going to be hectic and very busy, little did I know just how crazy our lives were about to become.