For three weeks, Jed and Lizzie worked from “can see to can’t see” to pick and store as many blackberries and blueberries as they possibly could. Jed thought it probable they would over-winter in the lodge, and he was doing all he could to prepare. If they were rescued before winter, it would be wonderful, but if not they had to be prepared. He noted the shorter evenings with misgiving, knowing the long, cold winter nights were pressing closer and closer.
Although they had been in close proximity to the old she-bear, and she had woofed threateningly at them on a couple of occasions, they had no problems with her. She was more concerned with preparing herself for winter than she was with them. They were cautious around her and especially the nearly-grown cub, careful to give them plenty of space and remain far enough away to not present a threat.
Smoking and drying fruit had become a full-time job, and Jed left it to Lizzie to accomplish. He was concerned about the lack of firewood he had stockpiled for winter. All of the deadfall wood close to the lodge had been gathered already, so Jed had to go farther, which made a lot of hard work carrying wood back to the lodge.
There was a chainsaw in the storage shed and a fair supply of gas and oil for the saw, but there was not a power wood splitter available, so he did a lot of work with a sledge and wedges. Lizzie noted, with a little thrill, the added muscle he developed by swinging the sledge.
Jed had contrived a travois of sorts for dragging loads, but it was still slow, hard, hot work. The rapidly changing leaves added urgency to their work. Frost on the roof in the morning made Jed’s heart lurch.
When Lizzie finished a gallon of preserves from each of the blueberries and blackberries, and dried and smoked the remainder, she started gathering hazelnuts. Deer and squirrels were devouring them, so she had to hustle to get what they needed.
Jed carried the hazelnuts to the lodge for her and spread them to dry on the extra bunks. When the husks dried well and the nuts were loosened in the husks, they took turns treading on them in the bottom of a barrel, separating the nuts from the husks.
“When we get back home, I’ll never complain how hard it is to do things again!” exclaimed Lizzie. “I never realized how much work went into doing things in the old days. My grandmother used to try to tell me how differently we had it than they did, and she didn’t even have to do all of this.”
“I know. It’s hard to believe people lived like this just a hundred years ago. We have it so easy!”