Abandoned - Riverboat Depot - Story 6 NWT

[Abandoned]

Chapter 13


   The beans would not make the best trade good, only for stops that were very close, but they would add more variety to our diet.  We were all in good health and hoped to keep it that way.  The carrots, on the other hand, would keep very well and certainly would be a much-requested item.  The beans and carrots were planted in new patches next to the strawberries and the squash in early spring of year 7.





  Flour too would probably be a very popular food item.  We built a tiny mill next to the patches not far from the market where the barley was stored.  The first sacks of flour and a few baby chicks left with the boatman in early spring.

  Shortly after, 18 migrants arrived in town.  There were 14 adults with 4 young children.  They were from the mountains to the north and were tired of being cold and hungry, they were headed south but they would stay with us at least for now.  This got us thinking but first we had housing to provide, there was not enough room in the boarding house for everyone. 



  Ryana, the builder, said she had to chase one of the goats away from the house she was building.  Stela from the farmyard nearby said it was hard to keep track of all the goats when she had 2 young children and an infant to take care of; there were twice as many goats now than there were to begin with.  To rectify the overcrowding, a small pasture was built by the patches and mill for half the goats.  Two more houses were built there closer to the river by the hedgerow, one of the families would tend the goats.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 14




  Barret, the herdsmen, said two of the sheep managed to mate in the small sheep shed and now the lamb was getting big, and it was overcrowded there too.  If we wanted more sheep, we would need to move the pair to a pasture where they would have more room.   We built a large pasture next to the goats for the pair of sheep.  The lamb would stay in the sheep shed with the third original sheep. 



  By then it was late autumn and it had begun to snow.  The harvest was almost complete; some cabbages and potatoes were still in the fields.  The patches produced a good amount of vegetables.  The last of the migrants were in their own houses. 



  A workplace cabin was built by the goat farmyard for a family with 2 children, a single 9-year-old girl named Emalsette moved into the cabin next to the family.  Aramintie, who was now 11, decided it was time she moved out of the boarding house too.  She moved into the upper level of Emalsette's cabin and the two became best friend for life.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 15


  In order to always be able to fulfill the boatmen's requests for flour we needed more barley; we planted another patch next to the other patches.  To be sure to have enough potatoes to fulfill our idea, we planted a patch of potatoes.  Next to the 2 patches we planted a half size crop field where we planted cabbage.  Maybe next year we would plant the potatoes there and the cabbage in the patch.  We might need more potatoes.



The last migrants that came to Riverboat Depot were not sure they wanted to stay here rather than going further south where it was warmer.  Our idea was to sponsor expeditions like Smallville did by supplying them with starting supplies.  Every expedition or family group that left Smallville left with plenty of potatoes.  They were also given some iron tools and hide coats; we built a tailor workplace next to the tiny tailor and hide coats were now being made there and taken to the warehouse with iron tools. 



  Our family that raises the chickens set up another coop and were hatching more eggs rather than gathering them for our food supply.  Families leaving Smallville were often given a sack of seeds for farmyards, a few sheep, chickens, and sometimes even a cow.  We had sheep and goats and would soon have more chickens.  We had plenty of room for more patches, farm fields, and pastures to the east and south of town.  Our hunters and foresters were to the north.  There was room for more houses for our workers without overcrowding.  The expeditions would also prevent overcrowding in the future.  In a few years we would need houses for young singles wanting to pair up and start families of their own.  Our 2 youngest children who were here with us are growing up, Arteis was 16 and her brother Elber was 13.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 16


  We lost some of our cabbage and potatoes again that 8th year because of snow. We lost more cabbage the previous year because the snow had been earlier that year.  We added another farmer to that far potato field for next year, the other potato field was always harvested in time.  We thought it was the distance to the storage barn or market that was causing the delayed harvest and loss; if the extra farmer didn't solve the problem, we would build a small barn closer to the field.





  Despite the loss, our harvests from both the farm fields and the patches were good. Our warehouse and our trading post had a good supply of foods for the river boatmen to pick up for their customers.  The crops would last quite a while in storage and on the riverboats.  We had plenty of potatoes and a nice supply of iron tools and hide coats.  We had goats, baby chicks, and a newborn lamb.  If one or more families wanted to go, they would have a good start wherever they went.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 17




  In early spring of year 9, Jenser and I and the children took the houseboat back to Newburg to visit our 3 daughters and their families like we've done almost every year since we've been here.   We had just returned when another group of migrants arrived.  They had 3 milk cows with them, we had not seen cows since we were swept away from the other side of the world.  The migrants did not want to stay but asked if we would take 2 of the cows.  We agreed and gave them a crate of baby chicks in return.   A pasture was built next to the sheep pasture for the cows.
 


 We gave the migrants potatoes, seeds, and other supplies as well.  We told them if they settled by a river rather than a small stream, our river boatmen were sure to find them.   We told them the river boatmen will accept just about anything in trade but they may want to specialize in one or more of the most need items.  We named a number of items saying we had dwarves providing stone, iron, and tools but tools would always be needed, so would seeds and seedling especially ones we don't already have.  We gave them tips on hunting, fishing, gathering, and farming and after they left we decided to build an outdoor survival school like they had in Smallville and in Newburg.



  That summer of year 9, eager explorer, Riverboat Junction had a population of 101, 69 adults, 14 students, and 18 young children.  We had several groups of migrants arrive since then, some stayed but most left to settle elsewhere.  It would be nice, eager explorer, to have someone visit those settlements to see how they are doing, someone who has done some traveling and knows the main rivers and trade routes and keeps in touch with us here.  Why yes, eager explorer, I guess that would be you.  Oh, wonderful, I am glad you agree.   But before you go, you must tell us all about the dwarves' settlement that you recently visited, we are eager to hear.



The End




 Mod note:  During this test of Kid Patchwork, the soil color of the patch was improved and is in the released version. 

[Glenn]

Thank you, another lovely story

[Abandoned]

  Thanks Glenn 

[Abandoned]

Kid Patchwork has been released.  Find info and link to download here:

https://worldofbanished.com/index.php?topic=4436.0