Chapter 9
The previous winter, Xandry the livestock merchant, came to port with chickens. We ordered sheep. In summer of year 6, Ernice the seed merchant, returned with our corn seeds. Anything ordered cost considerably more trade goods to purchase. We told Ernice about the paint, he was not impressed. There was no market for the stuff, he sure wouldn't give us much, certainly not as much as we were paying for it at the painted wagon. We would bring a barrel to the trading post anyways, just to find out what the trade value would be but we needed all the paint we could get. We did not think to ask what trade value our gold would have. There were a few nuggets left in the bank, we would bring one of them to the trading post also before the next merchant arrived.
This year, instead of adding extra farmers to the fields, we began the harvests early. Next year 2 of the 4 fields would be planted with corn. Hopefully, our overall health would improve with more grain in our diets. We did not miss a chance to gather wild oats. We found a number of walnut tree seedling and thought south of the farm fields would be a good spot to plant an orchard of walnut trees.
While land was being cleared for the orchard, restoration began on the tall house behind yours, weary traveler. It was almost finished when it began to snow, work on your house had just begun. Both houses were completed by early spring of year 7 and they both looked fantastic. The run-down Ghost Town was looking pretty good. The bank, jail, and 4 single-family houses had been restored. That left the 2 barns, the 2 rooming houses, the town hall, and the building next to the town hall.
In spring the sheep we ordered arrived so building a fenced in pasture took precedence over other building projects. There was just enough room in town not far from the 2 tailors. We did ask the merchant what our gold and paint were worth and he said he would give us 10 units in trade for a sizeable gold nugget but the paint only 3 if there was something we really needed, he really didn't want the paint. There was no market for it. Who would want it? We would, we still had buildings to restore.