This story has a long build up. Patience is necessary.
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It was my third week at the farm, and I had built plenty of trust. The owner was an old Swedish-American, a second generation immigrant's daughter. She and her new boyfriend, an engineer from La Crosse, lived on a small 40 acre plot in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin. As a WWOOF volunteer, I provided manual labor and they offered room and board in the ancient, three generation farmhouse.
Life was fun. I was between jobs and took a long summer off to reconnect with the Earth. The couple was in their early seventies and while they were fit and trim -- I could hear them screwing every night in the main bedroom below mine --they needed a younger body to do some of the more challenging chores. I mulched, weeded, ran the mower and splitter, pruned, tilled the soft earth, and as a treat picked plums and aronia berries. I felt far away from the hospital where I had spent most of my waking hours for the past few years.
"Asher, come look at the pheasants" called out Gerianne from the main room. She wore a sweeping summer dress that twirled as she turned around and handed me binoculars.
"I didn't know we had these," I replied.
"I keep them in the cabinet next to the mantle here. Always fun to spy on all the creatures."
"Very beautiful birds," I exclaimed before they ran into the thick blue grass prairie.
"That praire is ripe for a burning this year. But I'll probably get to it next year," she nodded. Soon after Bill bumbled out of the study with an empty cup of coffee. It was time to work.
The farm was a well-oiled operation. North of the house stood a large plot of garden vegetables while north of that was the old chicken coop-turned-Airbnb property. To the east was the one-room artist retreat. This lodge was a vision Gerianne had in the 90s that she built with the help of an Australian architect. Neither building had any septic tank so between these two rentals stood a thick plot of hedge where the latrine and bucket shower for the two buildings stood. In addition she had installed a plunge trough for icy dips on hot days.
In theory, the hedge provided some additional privacy for bathing guests. But with a bad plague of Japanese beetles in the county, the barrier was getting thin and leafless. After working all morning, we went back to the farmhouse for lunch. Gerrianne provided an outline for the next few days. She and Bob were going to a weekend conference on Friday afternoon; I would manage the farm by myself. Tomorrow morning I would clean out the chicken coop rental after the current guests left. Then I would pick fruit in the orchard. Gerianne would prepare the artist's lodge for her friend who would be staying the weekend as well. Then she and Bob would leave for the airport after lunch.