Chapter 7


  The elves did not arrive that winter, but Lamarian returned in early spring with the covered wagon and more supplies for us from home.  He was greeted by his relieved wife and learned he was going to be a father soon.





  Eleonore, the General Goods Merchant, arrived shortly after Lamarian.  He had wheat and fish that we wanted but we had few logs that we could spare.  That was okay with him; he would not be able to take many logs anyways. Riverboat Depot special ordered a barge from the boat builder in Newburg to transport the logs.  He was happy to accept 100 firewood and 20 stone and 20 iron in exchange for 500 wheat and 50 fish.  We ordered more wheat plus wild oats, iron tools, warm coats, wool and down. We hoped to have more firewood for him next time he came.  He could not guarantee he would have the textiles; supply was low and demand was high; he would try.

  In spring of that 3rd year Lamarian and Harolyn's baby boy, Manni, arrived.  Lamarian said he would return the wagon to Newburg earlier that year so he would be sure to be back before the snow so Harolyn would not be left alone with the infant over the winter.



  In late spring, 3 sleighs dropped off 30 elves, 25 adults with 5 children, another was born shortly after they arrived.  We did not expect quite so many and were a bit concerned at first but they got right to work gathering wild foods and firewood so their arrival would not cause any shortages.  They began building houses of gingerbread back in the woods north of town.

Chapter 6


  The temperature took a nose-dive as Lamarian loaded the firewood unto the wagon.  It would only take a day or 2 to get back to Newburg with the wagon compared to the 4 days it took us to get here on foot.  Lamarian's wife, Harolyn, was worried especially when it began snowing again a few days later and continued snowing heavily into the beginning of winter.  The frigid temperatures continued also and had outside workers huddling around the spit to warm up.   We convinced Harolyn that Lamarian was alright, he could take care of himself, he was not an inexperienced youngster, he would stay in Newburg until it was safe to make his way home.



  We built a nut roaster in town by the road that led back into the forest to the chestnut trees; folks were sure to enjoy warm roasted nuts especially on the coldest days.  We roasted walnuts instead of chestnuts because we had so many more of them.



  Despite the weather, St. Nick came as usual to fill the children's stockings with an orange, a big Christmas cookie, and some sugar plum candies.  Infants got a small stuffed animal instead.  He came earlier that year, right after the children were tuck-up in bed; St. Nick wanted to talk to us because he had a request from Santa.  There was a shortage of wood here in the North the last few years, and Santa's elves were struggling to get all the wooden toys made in time for Christmas now.  Since we were sure to have plenty of wood here in Woodlands Wood, Santa wondered if we would allow his elves to set up a Santa's Village to make wooden toys for the children for Christmas.  The elves would do all the work, they just needed wood to make the toys. 

  Glendo and I were there to talk to St. Nick.  How could we refuse Santa; we said we would welcome the elves when they arrived.  I was given an official Santa Helper hat.

A great set of mods:being able to build a movie theater(showing silent films)u need 2-3 people to run it one for the piano,one for the film projector and one for handing out snacks and seating people

the 2nd mod is the merchant ship will give you silent films in exchange for goods

Chapter 5


  A haven house was built for a family of 4 and another one for a single female; both houses were in town on the road by the tailor.  A tree topper for another family of 4 was also built in town near where a new road now extended back into the woods where a patch of spices and 2 chestnut trees were found.





  Another haven house was built for yet another family of 4 on the road between town and the forester.  A stockpile just for logs and a covered one for firewood were built next to and across from the new woodcutter's yard.  Next to the firewood stockpile another haven house was built for one of the couples; Lamarian would soon take the horse and wagon back to Newburg.  Our trading post on the river was built too.

  A second forester's workstation was built down the road from the first one; we would now have 4 foresters working in the riverside woods.  A haven house was built for the last couple and their 9-year-old adult son.  The first snow of the season fell just as they were moving in.



  The hunters had some luck hunting in fall and venison was now roasting a large spit by the first forester where woodland workers could take a break and have a hot bite to eat.  The covered wagon was empty and the horse was hitched up and ready to go.  Lamarian only had to load some firewood to take back with him.  The tools, clothes, and food he got was much appreciated.  We hoped no more snow would fall before Lamarian made it back on foot from Newburg.

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Chapter 4


  By early spring of year 2, we built a gatherer's hut next to our house.  As soon as the snow melted, I was out gathering roots, onions, mushrooms, and even a few wild oats. 





  A town hall was built near the storage barn to keep an inventory of what foods and supplies we had, and to keep records of the town statistics.

  A shed and a tailor's workplace was built by the tree house closest to the hunting tree. No more reindeer were spotted, but Corence, who lived in that tree house, would make some hide coats from the leather we now had. 





  In spring we got a pleasant surprise when some friends and family members arrived from Newburg with a wagon of supplies.  There were 18 of them.  They brought some iron tools, hide coats, apples, potatoes, and flour.  What was the most surprising was the horse that pulled the wagon.  They said the fur merchant from the west coast brought a few horses with the promise of more in exchange for more furs.  After we unloaded the wagon, it would be taken back to Newburg before winter with as much firewood we could spare and the wagon could hold.  It would return with more needed supplies in spring.

Chapter 3




  It was very cold and snowing in early winter before the last 3 families got their homes finished in town.  One family built a haven house at the other end of the hedgerow where their single young adult son had built his house.  He was now chopping firewood on the tree stump next to the stockpile.  Another tree house was built near the parent's house.  The last house was built on the road by the stockpile.  All 3 families had a newborn.  The population of Woodlands Wood was 37.



  We were all missing are friends and families back home, and we were all concerned with our food supply for the winter.   Our overall health was a bit low.  We were cold and a bit hungry.  The only food in our pantry was fish and potatoes and a few berries.  Our supply of coats was getting low; we had no leather to make more.  We only had a few hide coats and they were not very warm.  Finally, a small herd of deer was spotted southwest of town; it was the closest any deer had come.  We promptly built a hunting tree and assigned 2 hunters but only 1 got a reindeer.  We had some venison and a few pieces of leather.  Only 1 hunter would remain on watch hoping for the return of more reindeer.







  Meanwhile in town, a small storage barn was built to store the supply carts in.  The foods stored in the carts out in the open were froze solid, and there was sure to be more snow.  We took more home to our pantries; we could not afford to lose any of our food supply.

Chapter 2




  Two families and a single male who just became an adult built houses in the clearing where we built a stockpile and parked our carts.  The houses were centrally located so others waiting for houses to be built could stop in and eat and warm up and bed-down for the night.  Yes, one of the houses is a tree topper tree house; a half-elf couple would live there.



  To the east of town toward the river, a haven house, a forester workstation, and a tree house were built.  That area there by the river would provide the needed logs and firewood for trade.  We planned to build the trading post there.  There was a fallen deadwood tree extending into the river that would serve as a fishing pier for the time being.  One of the half-elves was out fishing even before his tree house was built.



  Glendo and I also built a tree house by the river but south of town where the river turned west before flowing south again.  Our house was finished just before our son Farette was born in summer.  We had a porch where we could sit and look out over the river.  At night we fell asleep to the hooting of the owls who perched in the pine trees nearby.  You must look carefully to see them, eager explorer.

Chapter 1

  We left Newburg heading southwest; the hills were steep and the woodlands were very thick with mostly pine trees.  Finally, from the hilltops we could see a wide river in the distance and headed in that direction.  We were happy to see a mix of trees in the valley by the river.  Pine trees provide a soft wood that is good for building and for outside burning but for inside the pine sap can cause chimney fires and the firewood burns hot and fast, you would wake up cold in the morning.  Firewood is best when cut from hardwood trees like oaks, fruit and nut trees, and birch, all of which we could see in the valley ahead of us. The hardwoods burn slow and provide a steady heat. There was also a lot of deadwood trees in the valley which would cut and split easily. 





  Why yes, eager explorer, I am an elf, half-elf actually.  There were several of us in the group of Nords from Newburg.  I'm Garnestie, a half-elf, and my husband is Glendo, a Nord.  We were the youngest couple in the group and were expecting our first child.  There was another couple that had no children and one couple with only 1 child.  There was 1 couple who had 2 children, and the other 4 couples each had 3 children; that was a lot of mouths to feed.  We saw very few reindeer, but the river would provide fish and there appeared to be a lot of wild foods and fruit and nuts to collect.  We brought plenty of potatoes with us.  This valley would be a good place to settle.