#but she kept sitting in it and squashing the seedlings

[lake-lady]

She knock the pot

#she has a little bit of an evil streak hehe #im at my parents and my mom was lovingly trying to grow peppers in that pot #but she kept sitting in it and squashing the seedlings #and today she leaned too far in it and knocked it over #second pic is her fave after The Deed #me #pics #pictures #cat #kitten #layla #animal #pet #cute #evil #devious #gardening #pot #soil #dirt #seedlings

[snowdice]

Big Bang (Sort of) Editing Story [Day 66]

I started writing this fic while editing my Big Bang story, but am going to continue doing it for other things now that Kill Dear is out. I will write and publish 100 words of the story every time I finish doing whatever task I’m doing. If you’d like to block these proceedings, please feel free to block the tag proofread stories. I will reblog this post with the parts of the story I do today. Edited chapters are linked; everything else I’ve done so far is under the cut.

My Master Post Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26 Part 27 Part 28 Part 29

It’s editing time for me because I have not edited in way too long. I am so behind on the Study Fic and this one. Oof. Also I should do some blog organization maybe.

Chapter 30

After lunch, Patton and Logan took Virgil out to the garden to walk around. They let Virgil lead them around wherever he wanted to go in the garden. A bunch more flowers had died since the last time they’d been out here, and Patton felt sad despite having never felt very sad about that sort of thing before. But, Virgil seemed to really like the flower he’d found last time, so Patton thought he was probably sad on the boy’s behalf.

Of course, Patton thought, perking up, eventually it would be spring, and Virgil could get to not only see some flowers but all of the flowers as they grew. Patton couldn’t wait to see him amongst the garden then.

Virgil took them wandering through the orchard for a while, but most of the trees had been stripped of their fruits and the leaves were beginning to fall off some. They ended up in the vegetable garden after a bit, and Virgil finally seemed to decide on a direction instead of just ambling about.

A few seconds after Patton noticed Virgil seemingly decide on a destination, Patton noticed Mr. Deknis kneeling on the ground a few feet away. Had… had Virgil been looking for him? Patton wondered. That was adorable.

Mr. Deknis looked up as they approached and smiled at them.

“Hello, Mr. Deknis,” Patton said as they came closer.

“Hello you three,” Mr. Deknis said. “Getting into trouble?”

“No,” Virgil said, shaking his head.

Mr. Deknis gave him a flash of a smile. “I know, I’m joking,” he said. “Especially since there isn’t much left in my gardens for certain princes to destroy with experiments.”

“Oh, okay,” Virgil said. He tilted his head. “What are you doing?”

“I’m getting the last of the acorn squash out,” Mr. Deknis replied. “It’s the last crop to get finished. Good thing too, it’s supposed to start snowing soon.”

Virgil looked down curiously at the dark green squash.

“Would you like to help me pick a couple?” Mr. Deknis asked.

“Sure,” Virgil said, sounding interested. Mr. Deknis patted the ground beside him, and Virgil knelt down to watch him.

“They’re not too difficult to harvest,” he said. “You just cut the fruit off the stem. You want to leave about a hand’s width of the stem left over which will help preserve moisture. The earlier harvests I left in the field to cure in the sun for a couple weeks, but the frost’ll ruin these, so we’ll take them inside the green house and let them sit in the sun for a bit there. We also want to keep the leaves. You’ll probably be eating those for dinner tonight since they have to be cooked up within about 24 hours after they’re picked. Patton’s mom makes a good side dish with them and she’ll be making some curry tomorrow, probably. Maybe some stew if there are some left over. Put the squash in this wheelbarrow and the leaves into this pile, okay?” Virgil nodded and Mr. Deknis handed him the extra pair of gloves and shears he carried with him in case one set broke. “These might be a bit big on you, but they should work for now.”

Mr. Deknis looked up at Patton and Logan. “Would the two of you like to help?” he asked. “I can get some more equipment.”

“I can help out if you want, but you don’t need to stop and get more equipment just for me,” Patton said.

“The same for me,” Logan said.

“Well, if you’d like to help still, you can sort the leave. Give your mother a head start.”

“Sure,” Patton said. He and Logan went to do that while Mr. Deknis and Virgil worked on cutting the squashes from the vine.

“What do you do during the winter?” Virgil asked curiously. “If this is your last crop?”

“Well, at the beginning, I mostly will be working on making sure things are stored correctly along with some of the kitchen staff. There’s some drying to do and some canning. After that’s done, I’ll spend some time organizing and planning. Then, before the spring comes, I’ll start preparing seedlings in the green house.”

“Seedlings?” he asked.

“I let seeds start to grow in the greenhouse that I replant once it gets warm enough.”

“Why don’t you just plant them where they’re going?”

“I do for some,” he said, “but giving some a head start is good for them.”

Patton watched as Virgil continued to ask questions about gardening while working on harvesting the squash. Mr. Deknis continued to answer them in a calm, soft tone that Patton didn’t think he’d ever heard from the often gruff man before.

Patton wasn’t surprised when, after finishing getting most of the squash off of the vine, Mr. Deknis asked if Virgil wanted to help him with canning some pears in a couple of days. Virgil immediately looked over at Logan and Patton as though asking permission.

“Say yes if you would like to Virgil,” Logan said.

“Yes,” Virgil said as soon as he was given permission. Mr. Deknis smiled at him softly and started loading the last of the squash into the wheelbarrow. Patton offered to run the squash leaves to the kitchen while Logan and Virgil helped Mr. Deknis take the actual squash to the green house.

He dropped the leaves off to a kitchen worker since Mama was busy and headed back out to the garden. By the time he returned, Logan was already back from the green house and sitting by one of the more decorative trees near the castle.

“He’s exploring,” Logan said, nodding at a large patch of bushes.

Patton chuckled. “I see.” He sat next to Logan. Every so often he’d hear the bushes rustle, but he couldn’t tell if it was actually Virgil or an animal.

“He’s adorable,” Patton commented, keeping an ear out.

Logan hummed.

“I’m glad we kept him.”

“He isn’t a pet, Patton.”

Patton rolled his eyes. “I know, but I’m still glad. I’m glad he’s making friends with Mr. Deknis. Once he knows how to read better, we should get him a book about gardening. He seems interested.”

Logan nodded. “Having a hobby would be good for him. Clearly he has a fascination with the garden.” He nodded to the blur of dark hair that could be seen through the bushes. It seemed Virgil had stopped his exploration and was now laying down in the bushes a few feet away.

“I’m going to go see what he’s doing,” Patton said. “I’ll be right back.”

Logan nodded and Patton got to his feet. The bushes were part of a small maze that was filled with flowers during the spring and summer months but were mostly just green and brown bushes for now. Despite the fact that Patton had been able to see him only a few feet away, it took him a while to wind through the path to where he was. When he finally turned the last corner and he came into view, Patton gasped softly.

“Ghost kitty!” he said, making sure to make his voice as quiet as possible.

Despite how soft he made his voice, two pairs of eyes shot over to him. The completely black kitten was perched on Virgil’s lap like she belonged there. Ghost Kitty hissed slightly, but Virgil reached forward to pet her head gently.

“This is Ghost Kitty?” Virgil asked. “I thought you said she was hard to pet.”

“She is,” Patton said. He lowered himself onto the ground from a few feet away from them. “How did you get her to come to you?”

Virgil glanced down at the cat and shrugged, scratching one of her ears. “She just came over to me and let me pet her.”

“Wow,” Patton said softly. He looked at the cat. “Could I pet you sweetie?” he asked, holding out a hand in her direction. She hissed again.

Virgil frowned down at her. “It’s Patton,” he said as though he expected her to understand his words and the exasperation in his tone.

He pet the cat’s head to soothe her and then reached over to grab Patton’s hand. He pulled and Patton carefully leaned a bit closer until his hand was within sniffing distance. Ghost Kitty sniffed his fingers contemplatively and then bumped her head against it. He barely restrained a squeal, knowing that probably wouldn’t be taken well.

He carefully turned his hand over so he could stroke the top of her head. He gently scratched her ear, not daring to go for under her chin yet since she didn’t know him well. “Hi,” he said softly. After a moment, she started to purr softly. Virgil reached over and scratched under her chin and she purred louder. “Oh, you’re a good girl,” Patton breathed, letting a hand trail gently down her back once and then again. Patton settled himself carefully into a seating position continuing to pet her. After a few more moments of soft petting, she hesitantly stepped her front paws onto Patton’s thigh, so she was sitting in both of their laps. Patton laughed softly. “Hi sweetie.” He glanced over at Virgil who had a wide smile on his face as he pet the cat. This. This was adorable. They continued to pet the cat for a very long time.

  Chapter 31

Logan waited for a while after Patton left to check on Virgil, but the two never resurfaced. It was odd, Patton would usually remember to come back and get Logan or at least tell them where they were. With a sigh, Logan climbed to his feet to go find them. It took him a while to weave his way through the maze of bushes to them especially because they were suspiciously quiet (Well, suspicious for Patton. Virgil was often unnervingly quiet when alone.) Luckily, he knew the bushes enough after all of these years not to get lost and managed to find the two after a few minutes.

“Ah,” he said, immediately identifying the reason for Patton disappearing.

 “Logan!” Patton said, his voice excited, but also quieter than normal. “We found a kitty!”

“I can see that,” Logan responded, taking a step closer. The cat hissed at him in response. The hissing was so intense and wild that he’d suspect the thing was feral if it wasn’t happily on Virgil’s lap having had it’s head in Patton’s lap before Logan had approached.

“No,” Virgil told the animal as though it could understand words. “That’s Logan. Be nice.”

The cat still glared at him and swished it’s tail back and forth threateningly. Virgil pet the top of it’s head and it broke eye contact with Logan to purr.

 Patton seemed delighted by the purring, reaching to stroke under the thing’s chin carefully. “We should give her a name!” Patton said.

Virgil frowned. “I thought her name was Ghost Kitty.”

“That is ‘Ghost Kitty’?” Logan asked skeptically. From what Patton had said about that cat, it was terrified of people and no one could ever get near it, even him. Now it was in Virgil’s lap?

“But that was a temporary name,” Patton said, “for before we officially met her. Now we have to give her a real name.”

“Do not give it a name,” Logan said. “You will get attached.”

 “How do you name a cat?” Virgil asked.

“Do not name it,” Logan said.

“You give them names based on their personalities, how they look, or even just because it’s a cute name,” Patton explained. “Like, remember Mittens? I named her Mittens because she has white fur and black paws!”

Virgil looked at the cat. “She’s completely black,” he said.

Patton hummed. “So, we could give her a name based on that like Midnight or Shadow.”

“Those are fine,” Virgil said.

“No, no,” Patton said. “I’m just giving you examples. You get to name her yourself.”

“This is a bad idea,” Logan said.

 “Just throw out some names,” Patton said. “Anything you can think of.”

“Uh,” Virgil said. “Knife.”

“…Just Knife?” Patton asked.

“Nightmare.” Virgil seemed to think about it. “No, that’s mean.”

“How about things you like?” Patton suggested.

“Alfredo?”

Oh no, Logan thought, he was worse than Patton at cat naming.

“Good start,” Patton said. “Logan, do you have any suggestions.”

“Cat,” Logan said.

“Real suggestions,” Patton scolded.

Logan sighed and thought for a moment. “Aphrodite.”

“Catphrodite!”

Logan glared at him. “Helena.”

“Helenpaw.”

“Claudia.”

“Clawdia.”

“Persephone.”

Patton smiled at him, cheerfully.

“…Damnit!”

Patton turned to Virgil again. “Like that! They don’t even have to be serious. Like, uh, you could name her Madam Fluffywuffykins the Great!”

“Do not name her that,” Logan said, scrunching up his nose.

 Logan sat on the ground, the cat eyeing him, but no longer hissing. Logan gently guided them towards more sensible names despite Patton trying his hardest to drag them into stupidity.

Virgil still didn’t quite get it. He mostly tried to name it after foodstuff, and often not even appropriate foodstuff such as “Corn” and “Acorn Squash” and “Sandwich” and occasionally would drop in semi violent ones such as “Razor,” “Nightshade” and “Void.” Patton suggested names like “Fluffers,” “Bobette” and “Darling” as well as some that were puns. Logan tried to direct them towards more sensible ones like “Salem” and even went so low as to suggest the contrary “Snowball.”

 It quickly seemed to become less about actually naming the cat and more of a game. Patton had taught Virgil about playing with cats and had even gotten out a ball of yarn he cared around for his crafts. Both Virgil and the cat seemed to find endless entertainment with that. Logan hoped Patton had another ball of yarn that color because, he was never going to get that ball back.

The barrage of names fizzled out into naming things around them like “Leaf” and “Bush” until they stopped suggesting names altogether. Patton and Logan sat back and watched Virgil play with the cat.

 Logan watched as they stopped playing suddenly and Virgil and the cat squinted at each other. “Marisol,” Virgil said, pulling the name out of nowhere. “That’s her name.” He said it with a certainty that was surprising considering how he’d treated the naming process with confusion and caution earlier. If Logan did not know better, his tone of voice would indicate that the cat, or Marisol he guessed, had gotten bored of them coming up with stupid names and decided to tell him her actual name herself.

The cat made a sound and batted at Virgil’s face without claws to grab back his attention.

 He turned back to it and bopped its face with a finger in kind. It attacked his finger, but in a clearly playful matter as it still did not extend it’s claws and its teeth did not draw blood.

“That’s a great name, Virgil,” Patton said.

“Much more pleasant than any that Patton suggested all afternoon,” Logan said. He received an elbow to the side for his quip.

“A pretty name for a pretty kitty,” Patton said, scooting over to where Virgil was sat and attempting to pet Marisol’s head. Marisol, however, was too keyed up and batted at the hand.

 “I love you too!” Patton said.

Logan rolled his eyes, but he had long since resigned himself to watching the two of them play with and coo over the cat for the rest of the day.

Eventually, though, it started to get darker. Even after Logan pointed this out, it still took over an hour for them to relent and leave the bush maze to go to the door. The problem was of course, that the cat had managed to grow very attached to Virgil in the last few hours and she followed them all the way to the door with manipulatively heart breaking mews.

 “You’ve got to stay out here,” Virgil said, when they got to the castle door. He pet her ear softly and she shoved her head into his hand. “I’m sorry. I don’t have anywhere to put you.” He sounded horribly sad about that fact and Logan felt himself shift uncomfortably. “I basically live in a closet and Logan doesn’t like cats in his room anyway.”

Logan immediately felt unreasonably guilty, probably more so because Logan did not think Virgil was trying to make him feel guilty. “…Bring the dammed thing inside.”

Virgil blinked up at him. “What?”

“It will get cold soon anyway,” Logan said.

He frowned at Logan from where he was crouched. “But you don’t like fur in your room…”

“I will have to find a potion that works,” he said with a sigh, “and we’ll have to say it’s mine to the guards and Father since it will be staying in my room, but it is yours in every other way. That means you are going to feed it, clean it, and clean up after it.”

Virgil nodded immediately and swooped Marisol up in his arms. The cat went without complaint. “Thank you!” he said. “I love her.”

“I know you do,” Logan said, already regretting it already. Yet, he couldn’t bring himself to even consider recanting the offer considering how happy Virgil seemed to be. They had a cat now, he guessed.

  Chapter 32

“What are you doing?” Helen asked a few minutes after her son walked into the kitchen and started looking around as though he were trying to find something. It was a few hours into the afternoon, and she and a few workers were already prepping for dinner.

“Uh,” Patton said. “Have you seen Virgil?”

“No,” Helen said. “Why.”

“Er… Logan and I sorta, lost him,” Patton said. He was wringing his hands anxiously. Helen put down the knife in her hand.

“What do you mean you lost him?” she asked.

“Well, see, we were trying to teach him how to play hide and seek, um, but then we didn’t think to tell him that he eventually had to come out if we didn’t find him, and now we haven’t seen him since breakfast.”

 “He didn’t know what tag is?” she asked. That was just one more thing to add to the list of why Helen worried about Virgil and where he came from. Every morsel of information she’d managed to wring from Patton despite his evasions made her lists of concerns grow larger, even little things like him not knowing about simple childhood games. Actually, thinking of concerning things having to do with Virgil. “Wait, so he hasn’t eaten lunch.”

“Um, we don’t know that,” Patton’s mouth said while his eyes said ‘no.’

“He needs to be on a consistent diet, especially when he’s still taking the malnutrition potion,” she scolded.

 “I know, Mama, I know,” Patton said. “I’m trying to find him. I’d kinda hoped he’d gotten hungry and snuck down here. He probably wouldn’t want to risk being caught stealing food though.”

Helen grimaced. Yet another concerning thing.

“Wait! I have an idea, I’ll be right back.” Patton turned and ran out of the room. Helen frowned at the space he’d been and finished chopping the carrot on the cutting board in front of her. If it had been any other person in the castle missing, Helen wouldn’t have worried, but she had literally never seen Virgil without Patton and/or Logan by his side. Even when he’d gone to help Jeff can some fruit, Logan had reportedly hung around to read a book.

 Considering that Logan had never exactly been clingy even with Patton, she imagined that either Virgil asked, or Logan thought he should stay with him for his comfort. So, she was surprised that he was apparently hidden away somewhere in the castle where neither of the other kids could find him.

Still thinking about this, she walked over to the entrance to the cellar below the kitchen where they stored most of the vegetables, planning to grab some more carrots. She was confused for a moment when she heard movement from deeper in the pantry. She reached over and touched the panel near the door that controlled the magic lights.

 The newly illuminated figure startled as the lights came on, whipping around to stare at her with wide eyes.

“Virgil?” she asked.

“Sorry,” he said immediately, taking a step back.

“It’s fine,” she said immediately, “but what are you doing here?”

He considered her for a long moment, but apparently, she passed some sort of mental test, because he relaxed, at least as much as he’d ever relaxed in her presence. “Where are we?” he asked.

Her brow knit together. “The cellar under the kitchen,” she said, “You don’t know that?”

He shook his head.

“The only entrance is from the kitchen.” Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t seen him go through the kitchen at any point.

 “No, it’s not,” Virgil said. “There’s a tunnel.”

“A-a tunnel?” she asked. Actually, taking a closer look at him, he seemed a bit grimy. He had dust all over his front and dirt on his nose. She thought he might even have a couple of cobwebs in his hair.

“Yep,” he said.

“Where’s the tunnel?” she asked.

“It’s right over here,” he said. He took a couple of steps and pointed to the ground. There was an open square hole there that clearly had been made a long time ago but which she had never noticed in all of her time working here.

 “How did you find this?” she asked.

“We were playing hide and seek,” Virgil explained. “Logan said I could hide anywhere inside the castle. I hid on top of a dresser upstairs in some unused sitting room. There was a hole in the wall above it, so I climbed into it. Then, I crawled a little bit and it let out into a hidden passage in the walls. I wandered around in it until I found another hole in one of the walls. I thought it was a way out, so I squeezed into it, but it took me to a different hallway where I found an old room. There was a different hole in that room that had probably been covered by something because it was in the floor but whatever it was had rotted away. I crawled though it into a tunnel and came out here.”

 She couldn’t help but laugh a bit at his explanation. “Well, it sounds like you went on an adventure,” she said, “but Patton and Logan have been trying to find you. You missed lunch.”

He tilted his head at her. “I know. I was supposed to hide.”

“Yes,” she explained, “but you are supposed to come out at some point if they can’t find you for things like food.”

“Oh,” he said.

“They probably should have explained,” she said. “For now, why don’t we get you something to eat? You must be hungry.”

Virgil frowned. “But I missed lunch.”

“You can still eat even though it’s not in normal hours,” she said. “You could even if you had made it to lunch.”

 “Really?” he asked, he looked tragically confused by this offer.

“Of course, sweetie,” she said. “In fact, I insist you get something good to eat right now. How about I made you a grilled ham and cheese sandwich? Maybe some cookies too!”

Virgil titled his head. “You are Patton’s mother,” he stated.

Helen laughed softly. “He gets its all from me,” she said. “We should probably go find him and tell him you’re okay. He was worried.”

“I didn’t mean to worry him,” Virgil said with a frown.

“I know,” Helen said. “It’s okay. He’ll probably laugh when he figures out where you’ve been, and Logan will interrogate you all about the secret passageways.” He seemed happy about the prospect of seeing his friends. “Come on, let’s go upstairs for a bit,” she said.

  Chapter 33

Patton’s mom had already made Virgil sit down at the small table in the corner of the kitchen and had handed him a sandwich by the time Patton barreled into the kitchen, Logan coming after him at a more sedate pace.

“Virgil!” he said, sounding surprised and relieved.

“Patton,” Patton’s mom scolded. “No cats in the kitchen.” Patton had brought Marisol in with him and had let her go as soon as he’d seen Virgil. She immediately plodded over to him and hoped onto the table to sniff at his face in greeting.

“But she’s the princess!” Patton argued.

“No,” Logan said.

 “Yes, she is!” Patton said.

“The stupid cat is not a princess.”

“Don’t be mean to your little sister, Logan.”

“I regret every life decision that has led me to this point.”

While Logan and Patton were distracted squabbling and Patton’s mom was distracted watching them squabble, Virgil tore off a bit of the ham in his sandwich and offered it to Marisol. Marisol gracefully took it from his grip and ate it.

“So, this is Logan’s new cat I’ve been hearing about?” Patton’s mom asked.

“Indeed,” Logan said, his lips thinned. He and Marisol were mostly amicable when alone with just them and Virgil, but Patton had a habit of cooing over the kitten and needling Logan into being irritated.

 “Mmm, yeah,” Patton’s mom said. She glanced over at Virgil right as Marisol basically slammed her face into his chin in a bid to get pets. “Your cat.” She shook her head. “But Princess Kitten or not, I do not want fur in dinner,” she said.

“Sorry,” Patton said, honestly not sounding sorry at all. Virgil was always a bit surprised when the insolent shrug garnered nothing more that a scowl that did not reach Patton’s mom’s eyes. “I thought she could help me find Virgil, but you already found him.” He turned to Virgil. “Where have you been all day?”

 “Found a tunnel,” Virgil said. He had to use one hand to hold Marisol back from his sandwich as he took another bite, but then gave her a bite of cheese.

“You found what?” Logan asked.

“There’s a tunnel under the cellar,” Virgil said. “It goes to an old closed up room and also to a set of secret passageways.” It was a bit of a security risk honestly, though clearly no one had used it in years by how dirty it was. He did plan to go back into it and make sure the sprawling tunnels didn’t go to anywhere more dangerous like the royal wing.

 “A closed-up room?” Logan said. He could see a bit of curiosity already building in his eyes.

“Yeah,” Virgil said. “Where the door used to be seemed like it had been bricked over.”

“Really? Can you show me.”

“Sure,” Virgil answered.

“Ah, perhaps we should be a bit more cautious about climbing through random tunnels we don’t know the stability of,” Patton’s mom said.

Logan’s frown edged on a pout.

“Talk to your father,” she said. “I’m sure he can get someone who understands these things so you can safely investigate.”

“It was safe enough for Virgil,” Logan pointed out.

 “No, Logan.”

He sighed but seemed to concede. That was another strange thing about living here. By all rights Logan didn’t have to obey anyone except the king, but he often listened to those around him, not just the adults but Patton as well. It was interesting though it sometimes made the hierarchy hard to figure out. Virgil did sometimes stress out about the hypothetical situation where he got conflicting orders from two people, and he wouldn’t know which one to obey. So far it hadn’t been a problem luckily. They always seemed to work it out amongst themselves in some give and take social interaction that was a bit too complex for him to understand.

 Patton walked over to where Virgil was sitting. “I’m glad your safe,” he said. “We should probably put a time limit on hide and seek in the future, so you know when to come out.”

“Did I win?” Virgil asked. He’d honestly forgotten they’d been playing a game until Patton’s mom had asked how he’d found his way into the cellar.

Patton laughed. “I’d say so, yeah,” he replied. He leaned over to kiss Virgil’s forehead, but drew back immediately with a pinched expression. “You are… very dirty,” he said, rubbing his mouth.

Virgil nodded. “Your mom made me sit on a tablecloth,” he said gesturing to the fabric she’d laid over the chair.

 Patton snorted out a laugh. “We’ll get you into the bath when you’re done eating and you can tell us all about your little adventure.”

“I would also like to hear about your discoveries,” Logan said. “Though you are not allowed to sit on the bed until you do not have spider webs in your hair.”

Patton’s eyes widened and he jumped away from Virgil, startling both Virgil and Marisol. The latter hopped from the table onto Virgil’s lap. “Spiders?!”

Virgil tilted his head at him in confusion.

“He isn’t a fan of spiders,” Logan informed him, his voice amused at Patton’s reaction.

 Apparently deciding that she was no longer startled, but more confused by the noises Patton had just made, Marisol jumped out of Virgil’s lap to investigate, wrapping her way around Patton’s legs. He bent down to pat her back, though he still looked a bit startled.

“Your cat, huh?” Patton’s mom asked Logan once again. Virgil studied her. She had apparently missed Logan mentioning that he allowed Virgil on the bed. Or perhaps Logan was correct in his insistence that it wasn’t actually that big of a deal here. Virgil would rather not test that assumption, however, so was glad that it had been distracted from by Patton’s outburst.

 “Creepy, crawly death dealers,” Patton mumbled into Marisol’s fur, having picked her back up. Virgil made a note to not inform Patton of all of the different types of spiders he’d seen skittering around in the castle walls today. Maybe he’d talk about them with Logan once Patton left. He’d probably be interested. Virgil had seen some he’d never seen before! Logan probably could even help him figure out what their names were. “You’ll protect me, won’t you kitty?” Patton asked Marisol.

She made a little ‘burrrr’ sound in response, which Patton seemed to take a confirmation.

“Aw thank you, baby! Such a good baby.”

50234

Virgil popped the rest of the sandwich into his mouth. Patton’s mom turned away and grabbed a plate stacked with cookies. She handed it to Logan. “Take these, and please get the health hazards out of my kitchen,” she requested.

Logan took them without complaint. “Come on, Virgil,” he said. “Let’s go get you clean.”

“We’re going to need so much soap,” Patton said.

Virgil looked down at himself. “I can go outside and get most of it off if you get me a bucket of water,” he offered.

“Virgil, it’s below freezing,” Logan said as though that had a baring on what he’d just said. Logan sighed. “No. Bathtub.” Virgil shrugged. “Honestly,” Logan said. He turned with the plate of cookies in his hand, clearly expecting to be followed. “You’re not going to catch your death pouring a bucket of water over yourself in the cold when there are literally over a hundred perfectly good bathtubs in this castle. For goodness sakes.” And well, Virgil wasn’t going to complain.

  Chapter 34

Patton, to be completely honest, was not all that interested in the room that Virgil had found. Beyond just the fact that it would definitely have creepy crawly death dealers in it, he really did not understand the intrigue. If it had just been him, he probably would have just let a castle worker deal with it, but it was not just him. Logan was ecstatic with the prospect of investigating a secret in the castle. People who didn’t know him well may not believe it considering he spent most of his time with his nose in a book, but he was an adventurer at heart.

 Thomas had been easily swayed into finding someone to help tear down part of the wall into the secret tunnel near the room (so no one would have to crawl through the kitchen cellar like Virgil). It had taken a few days, however, and Logan was practically bouncing off the walls waiting. Virgil, despite having already seen the room before, also seemed excited, though if that was because of his own curiosity or because he was just excited that Logan seemed so exited remained to be seen.

“They are silly, aren’t they,” Patton asked Princess Marisol. He was laying on his stomach on Logan’s bed and Princess Marisol had just put her little paw on his nose.

 “Yes, I agree,” he said. “Don’t they know that we’re literally going to be 2 feet away from the normal hallway?”

“It is not silly,” Logan defended himself. “Any number of things could go wrong.” He sounded far too excited about the prospect of something going terribly wrong. “The tunnels could cave in and block off the exit or there could be some unknown pathogen in the air.”

Patton did not ruin his fun by mentioning that Logan’s dad had definitely basically baby proofed the tunnels for them ahead of time. Instead, he just said, “Don’t let Virgil hear you say that sort of thing. It will just stress him out.”

 “Yes, yes, of course,” he said, waving off Patton’s concerns as he mulled over two different weird green planty things (potion ingredients, Patton assumed) before setting one aside and sticking the other in his bag.

“So silly,” Patton cooed at the cat. Logan let out a huff but did not choose to say anything about it this time.

Speaking of silly, Virgil came back from Logan’s bathroom then, and Patton tried not to giggle. “Is this right?” Virgil asked, sounding and looking confused. Logan, in his overexcitement about adventure had commissioned Virgil an outfit that actually fit. Said outfit, however, very much made it look more like Virgil was going on a safari instead of a two-foot detour from the normal castle hallway.

 “Almost,” Logan said, “Here, let me.” Logan started straightening everything out and flattening the collar, reminding Patton of an overbearing parent on picture day. Virgil accepted the fussing without protest. It was adorable. Well, the outfit was ridiculous, but still, adorable. “There,” Logan said. “I think we’re ready to go now.”

It was about time. Patton was sure people were already waiting for them downstairs. Patton got up and patted Princess Marisol on the head. She looked up at them with interest.

“You can stay here, sweetie,” Patton told here. She seemed to consider it and then hopped down from the bed to go rub up against Virgil.

 Patton guessed she was coming. It didn’t matter too much since Logan had given her a magical collar that allowed her to open most doors in the castle and everyone knew she was the royal cat now, so if she decided she wanted to come back to the room and nap, she could. (She was very aware of the power she held.)

She pranced happily by Virgil’s side all the way down the steps to the first floor of the castle. She was such a good kitty.

Well, she did hiss angrily at everyone who came too close to them, but still, a very good kitty.

 Patton did lean down and pick her up so they could actually talk to the man waiting for them at the large hole in the wall. Logan went to talk to the castle worker while Virgil half hid behind Patton. He was clearly listening very intently to the conversation however, at least more intently than Patton was. Patton was busy shaking his head fondly.

“Yes, yes, Princess,” he said to the cat. “I know we do not trust the strangers, but I promise this stranger is perfectly safe.”

“How do you know?” Virgil asked.

“His name is Chester and I’ve known him since I was 9.”

 This seemed to slightly alleviate Virgil’s suspicion, but Princess Marisol still seemed antsy. Patton really needed to start slowly introducing the both of them to more people.

Logan finished talking with Chester after a few moments and it was time to climb through the hole in the wall. He wished he saw in the tunnel whatever Logan with his excited eyes and bounce to his step obviously saw. Or even that was more comfortable in the dark closed in space as Virgil obviously was. As it was, Patton’s nose scrunched up at the thought off all of the spiders that could be living everywhere in the secret tunnel, but he pushed through.

 The entrance to the tunnel had been made only a little bit from the room Virgil had mentioned and Chester had led them through it after only a couple of seconds. As Patton had suspected, the room was already lit up and probably cleaned a little bit by the people who had cut into the wall, not that he was complaining.

Virgil was still clinging a bit to Patton’s shirt, though it seemed to be less out of anxiety at this point and more out of a desire to stick close. He was peering around curiously at the lit-up space. He probably hadn’t seen much of it in the dark when he’d been here before.

 Yet, his curiosity was nothing compared to how excited Logan seemed to be. Now Patton may have not been interested in the room itself, but he was entertained by how interested Logan was and was happy to encourage that.

“What do you think this place is?” he asked Logan.

Logan hummed contemplatively, eyes looking around. “Well,” he said. “It’s a bedroom clearly, and old. Considering the location it is in in the castle, the size, the decorations, and it’s likely age, I’d imagine it was a bedroom of a royal family member. This used to be the royal wing three royal lines ago.”

 “Bearing that in mind, there are a couple of likely possibilities for the origin of the room as well as the reason it was sealed up, but we will need to investigate more in order to come to an actual conclusion.” He had already placed the bag he’d brought on the ground and was going through it, pulling out things that Patton did not recognize. He also got a piece of paper and sat on the floor to start to sketch.

“What are you doing?” Virgil asked.

“I’m sketching the floorplan of the room,” Logan said. “I will then put a grid on it so we can investigate while being sure that we aren’t missing anything.”

 Virgil seemed uninterested in this part of the adventure, instead electing to go poking around by himself. Princess Marisol squirmed out of Patton’s arms to go follow him. Patton swore that he only looked away from those two for 5 seconds, but the next thing he knew he heard metal clicking against metal.

“Oh,” Patton said, eyes wide when he saw what Virgil was fiddling with. “Honey, you probably shouldn’t touch…”

The old but fancy looking chest that had been at the end of the remains of the bed creaked open. Virgil sneezed as a cloud of dust puffed out of it. “Huh,” he said studying the contents. “There’s a skull in here.”

 “Oh, I don’t like this adventure anymore,” Patton commented.

Logan was on his feet within moments. “Let me see,” he said eagerly.

“What if it’s cursed?” Patton pointed out.

“Then I’ll just break the curse,” Logan waved him off. “Oh, it’s just a horse skull,” Logan said, sounding disappointed. “And also what seemed to be potion ingredients. Though they seem very fresh considering the state of the room.”

“Maybe we should get someone else to…”

Logan already had both arms inside the chest and was pulling things out of it. “This chest must have some sort of stasis effect to it.”

 He started pulling things out to look at them before setting them on the floor with no caution. “Well,” he said, “that answers the question of what this room is.”

“It does?” Patton asked.

“Ah, yes, between the horse skull and the potion ingredients, this is obviously the bedroom of Princess Marianne Elicia. She was the third child of King Simon IV and was quite the fan of horses.”

“…So she kept a horse skull in a stasis chest in her bedroom?” Patton asked.

“Of course,” Logan said. “Back when her family was in power, magic was outlawed and had quite the stigma against it, but she ended up learning magic and become quite proficient.”

 “It’s debated what exactly happened when her father found out about her activities. Some sources say that she was executed silently by her father, but others say she managed to escape with the head of the stables but not before putting a curse on the country of Prijaznia. That is until she or one of her bloodline sits on the throne, every royal line will end in madness and blood by the 5th seated monarch before an heir is born.”

“Isn’t that something you should be worried about?” Virgil asked.

Logan shrugged. “It’s just a myth,” he said. “Besides I’m 6th in the line, so there really isn’t any concern.”

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“There are a lot of interesting things in here,” Logan said, still focused on the chest. “Not to mention the books. We’ll have to be careful with those though since they don’t appear to be in stasis.”

Logan pulled the horse skull out and set it on the floor making Patton wince.

“Marisol no!” he said as Princess Marisol immediately went to go sniff at it. He swooped her up in his arms. “How long are we staying in this creepy room?” Patton asked.

“Patton, we just got here,” Logan said.

“We just got here and already found a skull!”

“Yes! Exactly!”

Patton groaned into Princess Marisol’s fur even as she tried wiggle away to go back and investigate the skull. This was going to be a long day.

  Chapter 35

Logan was surprised when he woke up alone in bed. He’d grown to anticipate waking to a smaller body unrelentingly clinging to his in the past couple of weeks. Confused he sat up and peered around his bedroom. He wouldn’t have seen Virgil with the way he melted into the darkness if it he hadn’t heard the sound of purring coming from near the window. He could just barely make out a dark blob shifting up and down at the cat kneaded at a different blob sitting mostly hidden behind the thick curtain.

“Virgil?” Logan questioned. “What are you doing?”

 “It’s snowing,” was the answer.

“That is not an answer,” Logan grumbled at the ceiling. With a sigh, he pulled himself out of bed. It was a bit chilly in here, he thought. The temperature must have dipped suddenly and intensely enough that the runes keeping the castle at a warm enough temperature hadn’t caught up yet. He pulled one of the blankets off of the top of his bed to wrap around his shoulders as he approached the window. There wasn’t much light outside, the stars and moon covered by clouds, but there were some lanterns lit for the night guard who patrolled the outside. “Oh,” he said in surprise. “It’s really snowing.”

 It had been colder but not quite cold enough for snow to stick the day before, so it came as a surprise when he saw snow was piling up quite high to the point where familiar paths outside his window had disappeared.

“I don’t like it,” Virgil informed him.

“Why not?” Logan asked.

“It’s cold,” Virgil answered. It was clear in his tone that in Virgil’s opinion ‘cold’ was a horrible insult to the concept of snow. Logan quirked a half smile and his attention was drawn to the fact that it was quite cold right here close to the window.

 Frowning, he pulled at the blanket around his shoulder so he could wrap it and his arm around the lump that was Virgil. He brushed the boy’s hand when he did so and found it was like ice.

“You’re freezing!” Logan said. “How long have you been by the window?”

“I dunno,” he replied.

Logan was already tugging at him. “You need to get back in bed,” he said.

Virgil obeyed the pulling at his arms even as he frowned. “I’ve been colder than this before,” he said.

“That actually doesn’t make me feel better,” Logan replied dryly as he shooed him towards the bed.

 He took the thicker blanket that usually stayed folded at the end of the bed and pulled it up over Virgil before climbing into bed beside him.

“There,” Logan said, rubbing Virgil’s arms through the fabric of the sweater he wore to bed. He was glad he wasn’t wearing a t-shirt at least. “The runes for heating the castle should catch up within a few hours, but until then this should do. Assuming we don’t sit by the freezing window for an undetermined amount of time.”

“I don’t like the cold,” Virgil told him.

Logan sighed. “Then why did you sit by the window?”

 Virgil shrugged and ducked his head a bit. Logan reached out to grab his hands to help him warm more but was surprised when one of the hands was much warmer than the other. He found his fingers were clutching a crescent shaped stone: the protection charm they’d made. Logan knew that he kept it in his pocket most of the time, but he didn’t normally see him holding it like this. It was warm to the touch, of course, indicating the safety of the room around them.

Logan looked over his face. “Are you…” he said. “Scared of the snow?”

 “I don’t like the cold,” he said once again.

“You’re scared of the winter,” Logan concluded. He looked at Virgil who was far too small for his age and seemed surprised at every casual act of kindness. It was clear that his basic needs were far from being met before he came here. Logan had to wonder what winter usually meant for him. His experiences were doubtlessly very different from Logan’s own. “That makes sense,” he acknowledged, “but you don’t need to be scared of it here. The castle is always perfectly warm and safe in the winter and Mr. Deknis and Ms. Heart work hard during the other seasons to make sure we have plenty of food. There is nothing to fear here.”

 He did not seem convinced.

“You don’t even have to go outside if you don’t want to,” Logan promised. “The castle is plenty big if you’d like to stay inside all winter long. It was made for the winter even without the magic devices that keep it warm. We have fireplaces and well insulated rooms even if those that ends up failing.” Logan pulled open the hand that had the protection charm just to transfer it to his other hand to warm it. “Though, while no one would force you to go outside, the snow isn’t always bad.”

“Yes it is,” Virgil said, his voice sure.

 “Not all the time,” Logan insisted. “Some people love the snow.”

“They’re stupid.”

Logan laughed. “It can be fun for a while with the right equipment if you have someplace to get warm again afterwards. Royal duties slow down during the winter and Patton tends to come up with all sorts of games for both the inside and the outside to pass the time. He’s particularly proficient at snowball fights, at least against me.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

“Play fighting,” Logan answered. “Like pillow fights, but snow.”

“I’ll stick with the pillows,” he replied.

“And then there’s a hill to sled down on the western side of the castle, and people like to build snowmen along the path.”

“What are snowmen?” Virgil asked.

 They’re temporary statues made out of packed snow,” Logan explained. “Typically, they’re made of three different sized balls of snow: the largest being the base and the smallest the ‘head’ though there are some variations. After building them one typically decorates them with different articles of clothing and objects found lying around. It’s usually sticks and rocks for the face and then things like extra hats and scarfs for decoration.” He smiled softly. “When my Pa was alive, we used to steal my Dad’s crown and fanciest robes. Sometimes Pa would steal it right off of Dad’s head and we’d run away. We’d find a secluded area of the castle yards and build the biggest snowman we could as quickly as we could before we got caught. He’d usually end up letting us keep the robes, but we’d have to give the crown back since some of the metals in it would rust when wet.”

 “That sounds…” Virgil’s nose twitched. “fun if you take away the touching snow part.”

Logan laughed. “It is fun,” he said. “Even with the touching snow part. Though, I admit that some of the ability for it to be entertaining does come from the fact that we could warm up afterwards with ease. You’ll enjoy Patton’s mother’s constant offering of hot chocolate during the season even if you never go outside, I’m sure.”

“Hot chocolate?” Virgil asked intrigued. His dark eyes shone brightly in the little light coming through the window. It was clear he could guess something about the drink just by the name and enjoyed the implications.

 Logan smiled fondly. “It is a hot drink,” he explained. “It’s a warm drink made out of milk and chocolate. I can get you some to try in the morning.”

Virgil nodded, eyes still wide with interest.

“For now, we should sleep though,” Logan said. “Are you warm enough? I can get more blankets.”

“I’m fine,” he said.

“Good,” Logan said, reaching up and adjusting the blanket over them once more, tucking it around Virgil a little bit for good measure. “Goodnight Virgil,” he said.

“Goodnight,” he replied softly. Logan reached under the blankets to grab the hand that was still slightly chilly from the window between his own. Virgil’s eyes slipped closed after a moment as he nuzzle his face into the pillow. At some point they both drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter 36

Thomas had already been well aware that winter was on the way, but he and the rest of the castle occupants had been surprised at how intensely and suddenly it had come on. Most things were ready for the winter, but not all of them had been initiated. The fireplaces that took some pressure off the castle heating runes were cleaned out and ready, but they hadn’t been started yet. The stables for different animals on the grounds had been checked over and staff assignments had been made, but most were still in far out fields. Staff that went home for the winter months had been dismissed, but there were a few stragglers that would have to be helped home before things got worse.

 He’d gone out to the main stable to talk to the three workers that were the heads of different areas of animal husbandry to make sure a plan to get everything to where it needed to be soon was in place. It took a while to figure out considering that they’d expected a little more time before the first major snowfall. Thomas also asked them to make sure all of the workers’ homes were in good enough condition for the weather. Ranch hands typically had homes on castle grounds but not in the castle themselves since they needed to be close to the animals. Thomas knew at least half a dozen of those who spent most of their times out in the fields were the type to forgot to maintain their homes because they preferred camping amongst the animals in the summer months and then would be in for a bad time when snow began to fall.

 There should be enough extra rooms in the castle if they needed a place to stay until repairs could be done.

Those conversations took a good couple of hours, before Thomas was satisfied. Before trudging back to the castle through the still falling snow, he made a point to stop at one specific horse stall in the main stable. The horse turned his head to see Thomas when he stopped in front of his stall and puffed out a rather disaffected snort before sticking his head over the gate so Thomas could pat his nose. “Hello, Mr. Apples,” Thomas said.

 The horse seemed to conclude he’d tolerated Thomas’s petting enough and ducked his head to nudge at his torso. Thomas rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes,” he said. “I brought you an apple. Some things never change.” He reached into his pocket to grab the red apple he’d brought the white Arabian. “At least you don’t bite me anymore.” He paused, apple slice in hand and eyed the horse’s nose suspiciously. “Do not bite me,” he said even though he hadn’t felt the animal’s teeth in a decade. It would be just like Mr. Apples to wait until his guard was down.

 After a bit of scrutiny, he offered an apple slice. It was snatched out of his hand and there was a loud crunch as it was bit into.

“It’s snowing out,” he told the horse. The horse seemed to roll his eyes at the statement of the obvious. “I’ll remind again that if you run out in a snowstorm, I’m not running after you, so you’d be out of luck.”

Mr. Apples snorted.

“You’re old now. You’d probably not survive long enough for people to find you. Besides, you blend in with that white fur of yours. They’d probably walk right past you a few times.”

 He went back to nosing for treats as soon as he finished his first and Thomas sighed, pulling out another apple slice. “What are they not feeding you enough?” The gusto with which the horse snatched the apple slice was a very clear answer. “Well, we both know that’s not true.” Thomas fed the horse a third slice of apple when he was done with his second. “I have to get back to the castle now. Don’t be a devil horse.”

Mr. Apples threw his head a bit, splattering apple smelling foamy spittle all over Thomas’s front.

“Understood. Have a nice afternoon.”

 He left Mr. Apples in his stall then, knowing he’d be well cared for no matter how ill-tempered he could be at times. He’d been a king’s horse once, after all, no matter that said king had been dead for more than a decade now.

Winters were hard.

Winters were the times when things always slowed down at the castle, where royal duties were often thin. There were a lot of memories in winter.

The trip back to the castle was not particularly long, but it was also not particularly pleasant. The snow had not been cleared away considering it was still snowing which meant his feet and legs were wet and cold by the time he made it to the nearest castle door.

 He wasn’t sure if, when he entered, the castle heating runes had started to work in earnest or if he’d just been so cold that any measure of warmth was appreciated, but he was relieved to be out of the snow either way.

He decided to check up on the progress of the castle staff lighting the fireplaces. With any luck, they’d be lit already, and he could warm up even more. That in mind, he headed towards the main foyer where the largest fireplace in the castle sat to take off the chill brought in by the large front doors.

 The main foyer was bustling with activity when he snuck in along the sides, giving the guards stationed around nods as he passed. The main fire in the room was burning brightly, though only one of the two smaller ones near the side exits from the room was lit. The other one was still being set up with safety mechanisms. It was good progress and assuming other areas of the castle were being set up as efficiently, he assumed they’d all be set up by nightfall.

He’d need to go check around to be sure, but for now, he walked up to the main fireplace to warm his hands.

 He’d gotten into the habit when he was younger to every so often glance upwards. There had been a certain stable boy who had a propensity for climbing trees. These days, he usually found nothing when he did so, often not even consciously noticing that he’d turned his gaze momentarily skywards. Yet, today, he was startled out of his own idleness by dark brown eyes looking back at him from a small ledge in the shadows high above him.

He froze as he met the young boy’s gaze. Virgil seemed as surprised to be caught as Thomas was to have caught him.

#proofread stories #not writing

[sadish-radish]

Farm internship 6/16 – 6/23 (because I traveled to Boston for my birthday and apparently can't keep up with my journaling when my schedule is Different)

6/16 – Harvested chives in the morning – I think I might be getting slightly faster, but they were so full of weeds and their own dead leaves/flower stalks that each bunch took a few minutes to make decent. I know the farm people want me to get faster and it stresses me out.

Didn't get to have lunch with the sheep, because Livestock Manager was getting an early start on their health checks, so I spent some of lunch helping her herd the sheep into the paddock and then I went to find a quiet place to sit by myself.

Helped with the health checks after lunch. Many of the sheep are really sick with parasites, because this past winter was so warm that last year's parasites in the fields didn't get killed off. Most of the lambs were dosed with dewormers, and a couple were so sick that they got nutridrench to try to give them enough of a boost that they wouldn't die. Later, a volunteer showed up – a girl who wants to become a vet and who volunteered with the livestock last year too. She commented on how the lambs are so friendly, and that last year they'd all just run away. LM said that their friendliness is mostly because of ME! I'm super proud of all my sweet babies. <3

6/21 – Harvested strawberries and snap peas for the farm store. The snap peas weren't ready yet when I left last week and now there are so many big fat ones! And they're SO GOOD right from the vine – apparently the sugars start converting to starches once you pick them, and it's amazing how sweet they are right off the plant. Strawberry season is already winding down, and it was a little hard to find good ones amidst all the bruised and bug-eaten and rotting ones. The whole area smelled of fermenting strawberries. Allllso I ate a ton of them because I kept picking ones that I thought were okay but then I'd see a bruise so it wasn't good for the store.

Dealt with CSA labeling, which is not the most fun but I don't mind it. Then LM asked me to clean out the chicken coop. Luckily now I know where dust masks are so I didn't inhale so much chicken... stench... dust...? Spent the afternoon transplanting tomatoes in the greenhouse out in the field.

6/22 – Transplanted lettuce and squash with Apprentice and Field Manager. Apprentice vaguely mentioned some kind of farm drama that's going down but I have no idea what it is?? She just said that last year everything felt like family and now everyone has different priorities and they're not on the same page. I caught bits of her and FM talking about stuff a couple times, and my best guess is that they're having a problem with Livestock Manager, but who knows?? I just like to know thingssss.

Anyway, the first of the blueberries are starting to ripen! I'm super excited for them. FM brought a bunch over in his hat while Apprentice and I were transplanting lettuce. Spent the afternoon seeding in the greenhouse.

6/23 – I harvested 106 lettuces first thing, which sounded daunting at first, but lettuce harvesting is super easy and fast. Finally, something I'm sort of fast at! Then harvested snap and snow peas for the store, which was great because it meant more snow pea snacking.

After lunch, I went into the farm store to start setting up the CSA stuff and Livestock Manager was there and told me, “hey, just so you know, the sheep are eating poison ivy, so watch out if you get lamb kisses because you can get it from them.” THIS IS WHY I'VE BEEN ITCHY FOR THE PAST 3+ WEEKS. OH MY GOD. I was worried I'd developed some kind of horrible mystery allergy, but no, the sheep just have poison mouths. Guess I'll just be itchy for the rest of the summer, because I'm not gonna stop hanging out with them.

Watered in the greenhouses and noticed that the tiny, 1-inch-tall husk cherry seedlings have fruits growing on them already??? I don't know how that's even possible but it was kind of amazing. Apprentice wanted to transplant cucumbers out into the field but it was threatening to storm. She decided we should do it anyway, and it downpoured on us, but it was actually really nice because I'd been dripping sweat all day due to the humidity. Did a bit of seeding at the very end of the day, too.

#radish farm adventures

[josephkitchen0]

Early Spring Vegetables List: Don’t Wait on Winter Waning

By Anita Stone, North Carolina – The snow is melting and daytime temperatures are calling you outside. Leaf buds swell on trees and your hands long to feel the soil once again. And you’re hungry. You want leafy greens, tender shoots, something … anything from your garden. Here’s an early spring vegetables list you can plant right now.

Birth of a Season

For months we’ve subsisted on autumn’s harvest. Winter squash ripened bright orange and sat patiently in storage until we cooked it. Sweet, crisp apples gave us vitamin C to battle the flu season. Dry beans simmered for hours in slow cookers for hearty, comforting meals.

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Mother Nature knows what she’s doing. We enjoy bountiful, nutritious vegetables in the summer. Carbohydrate-rich fall crops provide calories necessary for hard work and building a lipid layer which, until recently, has been crucial for human survival during the winter. Even the life cycles of lambs and chickens coincide with humans’ need for protein and fat during different times of the year. And as winter shrouds the land and crops refuse to grow, we consume food storage: grains and beans, long-storage squash, root vegetables, and what we have dehydrated and preserved from our gardens.

Then spring blossoms. The first plants on a spring vegetables list to appear are the healthiest. Dandelions and parsley, sprouting and growing despite frost and intermittent snowstorms, offer nutrients we’ve lacked all season. It’s a powerful reprieve to a long, lean winter.

Miraculously, the crops you can plant first on your spring vegetables list are also loaded with the nutrients you need most right now.

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Workable Ground

You can plant and harvest several months before your area’s final frost date. And though websites may tell you to plant onions in January and broccoli in February, this is location-specific. Your own garden may differ.

If you don’t already know your planting zone, research it. This will help determine when you should start herbs and when it’s safe to finally put tomatoes outside. Along the Pacific coastline, temperatures probably didn’t drop below 20 Fahrenheit so you may be able to start radishes after the New Year. Minnesota soil may still be frozen in March.

Seed packages recommend planting as soon as the ground can be worked. That means the dirt isn’t frozen, even if the ambient temperatures still drop below freezing. Soil doesn’t bind in wet clumps, refusing to fall from your shovel. It crumbles with a gentle touch. Water doesn’t stand on top of the ground so saturated it won’t sink further.

Plant spring crops as soon as you can. Time is critical because many cold-weather crops turn bitter or go to seed when it gets too hot. Find the sunniest, warmest location of your garden. If you use containers, placing them on a driveway or against a brick wall can draw in additional heat. Plant seeds as directed on the package, paying heed to depth and spacing requirements. If you sow and then a cold snap moves in, encourage germination by placing thick clear plastic or an old glass window over the ground, allowing enough room below for air to circulate.

If seed packages instruct you to wait until all danger of frost has passed, hold tight to those for several more months.

Early Spring Vegetables List

Salad Greens: Among the earliest crops are lettuce, arugula, and mesclun mixes. You’ll have success growing lettuce and greens when the soil is 55 degrees and many can be harvested within 30 days. And though they won’t flourish during long cold snaps, they won’t die unless temperatures dip below 28 degrees.

Spinach: Plant in the spring ground, harvest within 60 days, and get the most of this crop before it bolts. Most spinach cannot tolerate a hot summer. Some varieties are bred to thrive longer, but spinach is best enjoyed when it’s still springtime.

Asian Greens: Extremely hardy varieties such as bok choy and napa cabbage still look stunning when glazed with a thin layer of ice. And once the ice melts, they shine in the sun and continue to grow. Protect these from a hard frost but don’t worry if the nights still fall between 28 and 32.

Radishes: And if temperatures do still fall below 28? Your radishes will be fine. Growing radishes of a smaller variety such as Easter Egg mature within 30 days while larger, sweeter radishes like daikon can take 60 to 90. Root crops like radishes prefer to be direct-sown, planted right in the ground rather than started as seedlings.

Kale: This tough and nutritious leafy green sits beside radishes as one of the toughest brassicas you can grow. It can even thrive during mild winters with no snow pack. Sow early and protect seedlings from a hard frost to give them a little boost. Harvest the lowermost leaves and let the plant continue to grow through the summer heat.

Onions: Choose long day onions if you live in the north; short day varieties if you live in Zone 7 or warmer. To harvest sooner, purchase onion “sets,” tiny bulbs that have been started, pulled, and dried so you can replant and continue growing. Onion seeds are useful for growing rare varieties, though this adds several months to the maturity date. Start seeds inside to encourage germination and then plant the tiny spikes in the ground after hardening them off for a few days. Onions can survive a hard frost and poke right through the late snow.

Peas: Snow peas are aptly named. They’re among the first crops you can plant, and seedlings actually fare better in a hard frost than maturing plants. Both snow and snap peas can grace your table within 60 days. Direct-sow peas for the best results.

Beets and Swiss Chard: Silverbeet is the name for chard in Australia and New Zealand because they are in the same family. And they’re extremely nutritious plants which offer edible greens and roots that live in cold conditions. Direct-sow inside or out then carefully thin and replant after seedlings emerge.

Carrots: Though they can be planted as soon as the ground can be worked, carrots do prefer temperatures a little warmer. Often gardeners plant carrots during the second month of spring, after temperatures are higher but still freezing at night. Scatter in rows then thin after seedlings emerge. Remember that carrots only grow as large as the space you give them.

Starting plants indoors during the late winter will help you get a head start on your garden this year.

In the Greenhouse

May frost-intolerant crops thrive best if they are started in a greenhouse several months before the final frost date. Seed catalogs list “days to maturity” as 60 to 95 days, but this count starts after you transplant at about eight weeks old.

A sunny window usually isn’t enough for garden vegetables, as they need at least eight hours of direct sunlight. Growing within a house window can result in pale, leggy, unhealthy seedlings. If you have no greenhouse or sunroom, supplement with a strong ultraviolet light when sun doesn’t shine directly on the plants. Set the light very close to the plants, but don’t allow seedlings to touch hot bulbs.

Always harden seedlings off before planting outside.

Tomatoes: Start your favorite varieties within eight weeks of your final frost date. Healthy tomatoes grow fast, so be prepared to transplant a few times before they go outside. The best tomatoes have plenty of root space.

Peppers: The hottest peppers originate in the warmest climates. Give them more time to grow. Start bhut jolokia or habaneros 10 to 12 weeks before your last frost date; jalapeños or banana peppers should be started eight weeks before. Transplant often enough that plants do not get root bound.

Eggplant: Starting slow and tender and then growing fast, eggplant despise the cold. Even 40 degrees can make them wilt. Sow a few weeks before your tomatoes then keep eggplant in the warmest area of your greenhouse for best results.

Herbs: Most commonly used herbs are surprisingly frost- tolerant. Perennials such as oregano and thyme re-emerge soon after the ground warms. Hardier rosemary can live through the winter. Basil, however, blackens and dies before temperatures even drop to freezing. Start herbs indoors to encourage germination. Harden off all plants, especially those purchased from a greenhouse, placing permanently outdoors.

Sweet Potatoes: Seed companies sell sweet potatoes as slips: little green shoots just starting to form roots. They also ship sweet potato slips in April, which may or may not be warm enough for them to go outside. Sweet potatoes must have heat to survive. But you can start your own slips by purchasing organic sweet potatoes from a supermarket, setting them on moist soil or half-submerged in water, and keeping them in a greenhouse. It may take a couple months for decent slips to emerge from a supermarket tuber. Once sprouts form, carefully remove them and insert halfway into moist, fertile soil so they can take root.

Though squash, beans, and corn are sold within greenhouses as starts and seedlings, they fare best directly-sown within your garden. Root damage and transplant shock can stunt the plant. Seeds sown directly sprout and flourish within the location they were intended.

Whether you have a relish for salads topped with crisp sugar snap peas or want to add fresh greens to warm comforting soups, your garden can provide early in the year with proper selection of seeds and choice location.

Hardening Off

Greenhouse-grown plants have been pampered their whole lives. Kept warm, in high humidity and moist soil, they have never even experienced direct sunlight. Always ask your local nursery if plants have been hardened off; chances are, they haven’t. Staff in corporate-owned garden centers may not even know what “hardened off” means.

To harden off plants grown within your greenhouse or others, bring them outside for a single hour in unfiltered sunlight or for two hours during a cloudy day. Don’t forget them or they will sunburn! The next day, double the time spent outside. Double that again the following day. By the time your plants can spend eight hours in full sun without damage, and a chilly night without wilting, they are ready to live permanently in the garden.

Transplant in the evening to avoid shock. Heat and strong sunlight stress a plant and right now they need to recover as roots take hold. Dig a hole in your garden soil and fill with water. Transplant, fill in soil around the plant, mulch, and water again. Let the plant spend a gentle, cool night before the sun comes out strong again.

What About Potatoes?

You’ll hear conflicting advice regarding potatoes. Though some gardeners sow them in the early spring, potatoes are nightshades. The green tops cannot withstand a frost. If they emerge then must endure a cold snap, the tops will die back, which will stunt development of tubers. Potatoes mature within 90 to 120 days, which allows plenty of time during most growing seasons. If your season is shorter than most, plant potatoes early but mulch around tender new leaves and provide frost protection if temperatures drop.

Season Extenders

Cold frames, hoop houses, water walls, and frost blankets are all ways to extend the season and plant your crops sooner. Even cold-weather vegetables benefit from a little-added warmth.

Cold frames combine rigid sides with a glass or plastic top, set directly atop soil to add heat and light beyond the season. They can be permanent structures built of wood and old windows or makeshift enclosures of straw bales with thick plastic tacked atop. Hoop houses can be as simple as PVC pipe or livestock panels, arched over a raised bed and covered with plastic. If you don’t have the space or finances for either, purchase a frost blanket from a local garden center or online retailer. Suspend it above the plants for the best protection, as the frost may penetrate material that lies directly on leaves. Frost blanket still allows in at least 80% of the sunlight so you don’t need to remove it on cold days. But it does filter the light, so plants grown entirely under frost protection will need to be introduced gradually to full sunlight before the protection is dismantled.

Originally published in Countryside March/April 2017.

Early Spring Vegetables List: Don’t Wait on Winter Waning was originally posted by All About Chickens

[harryandmeghan0-blog]

Beaming Kate is hugged by adoring schoolchildren as she makes her (£1300) casual comeback to royal duties after ...

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Beaming Kate is hugged by adoring schoolchildren as she makes her (£1300) casual comeback to royal duties after ...

The Duchess of Cambridge was showered with cuddles from schoolchildren today who gave her a warm welcome back from maternity leave on a visit to the Sayers Croft Forest School and Wildlife Garden at Paddington Recreation Ground in West London.

The mother-of-three went for a casual look for her first official engagement, dressing down in Zara skinny jeans and a grey jumper and kept the autumnal chill at bay in a £175 khaki jacket from trendy Swedish outdoor brand Fjällräven.

She teamed the ensemble with a £395 silk shirt from Joseph and Penelope Chilvers £475 knee-high boots that she’s been relying on for well over a decade. 

The project gives inner city children a unique opportunity to learn about and engage with the natural world, something many rarely get the chance to do, and Kate was eager to help children search for spiders and other ‘mini beasts’ during the visit.

After crouching in bushes with youngsters to search for bugs, the royal told teachers at the school that she hunts for spiders ‘for hours’ in her own garden with her children Prince George and Princess Charlotte. 

Little Anwaar, four, from St Stephen’s Church of England School in Westbourne Park, West London, made a beeline for the royal, cuddled up to her and then larked around with a cup in her mouth, forcing Kate to stifle a giggle. 

The Duchess kept her look low-key for her visit to Sayers Croft Forest School and Wildlife Garden in Paddington. She  wore a £395 silk shirt from Joseph and Penelope Chilvers £475 knee-high boots that she was first seen in back in 2004

Embrace the great outdoors in Kate’s jacket by Fjallraven

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The Duchess of Cambridge returned to Royal duties today following the birth of little Prince Louis back in April and ahead of Princess Eugenie’s wedding next week.

She paid a visit to a children’s wildlife garden in London wearing a countryside chic ensemble, consisting of her favorite pair of Zara skinny biker jeans, her well-worn Penelope Chilvers boots and this new jacket.

It’s by Fjallraven, a Swedish label whose backpacks you would no doubt recognize. Kate has previously sported a jumper by the brand when on a Royal tour to Sweden, and we love the practical hood and tan leather details. It’s the perfect lightweight layer for this time of year, and it’s available to buy in khaki, as well as several other colors.

Follow the link (right) through to the Fjallraven site to shop the exact jacket now, or check out the similar options in our edit below, including this Troy London jacket that Kate also has in her wardrobe.

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Back with a bang! The Duchess was quickly in the swing of things after her six-month maternity leave as she bonded with young people on a visit to Sayers Croft Forest School and Wildlife Garden

Back with a bang! The Duchess looked in excellent spirits as she greeted wellwishers on her first official solo engagement since going on maternity leave in March this year. Kate cut a casual figure in a trendy £175 khaki jacket from Swedish outdoor brand Fjällräven.

The mother-of-three couldn’t contain her giggles as a young child played around with a purple beaker to catch the royal’s attention as they sat alongside each other 

Smiling Kate looked perfectly at ease as she slipped seamlessly back into royal duties this afternoon and enjoyed a funny moment with a youngster at the Sayers Croft Forest School and Wildlife Garden in London 

Showing her maternal side! The Duchess of Cambridge shares a hug with four-year-old Anwaar who she bonded with during the visit 

The Duchess of Cambridge looked in her element as she chatted to children and admired their crowns decorated with leaves. Kate was no doubt thrilled to receive such a warm welcome, receiving cuddles all round from pupils from St Stephen’s Church of England School

Story time! The Duchess sat on a log with children as they listened to a story called The Monkey Queen 

 Kate looked tanned and well after her summer break and was sporting a slightly shorter, straighter hairstyle

On arrival, the Duchess was greeted by a group of youngsters from St Augustine’s School, Paddington, and was given a beautiful posy by Janine Osman, four, who also gave the royal visitor a massive hug.

Kate who looked tanned and well after her summer break and was sporting a slightly shorter, straighter hairstyle, thanked them warmly.

Inside the Wildlife Garden Kate joined more children as they potted up pea seedlings in newspaper.

‘Can you show me what you are doing?’ she asked. ‘Do you enjoy it? Can you show me first? ‘

Welcome back, Kate! The Duchess was treated to enthusiastic hugs as she met with children from St Stephen’s Church of England School in Westbourne Park, West London. The Duchess joined the youngsters in a nature hunt, searching for bugs and spiders in the garden 

Kate helped the children as they made ‘leaf crowns’ and declared the results ‘so pretty’ as the youngsters modelled their creations

The Duchess of Cambridge chatted to wellwishers as she marked her return to official royal duties on a visit to Sayers Croft Forest School in West London

The Duchess combined two of her main interests – art and the great outdoors – as she helped children to make paper crowns decorated with autumn leaves

The delighted Duchess looked in her element as she chatted to youngsters about nature during her visit to Sayers Croft Forest School and Wildlife Garden in London 

Smiling Kate looked animated as she chatted to parents and teachers from St Stephen’s Church of England School in Westbourne Park, West London during her return to work after giving birth to her third child Prince Louis 

Making friends! A helpful youngster led the Duchess by the hand to show her around as she visited the Sayers Croft Forest School and Wildlife Garden in London

A fond farewell! Children lined up to say goodbye to the Duchess of Cambridge as she departed from the Sayers Croft Forest School in London

Mason, four, asked if he could show her where they got their water from and, carrying a blue plastic watering can, led the duchess to the tap.

‘Shall we go together?’ The royal asked him kindly.

They were interrupted by Lanwe, four, who had made a pendant from a thin slice of wood for Kate and wanted to give it to her.

‘Have you made another one?’ the Duchess asked.

‘It’s for you,’ Lanwe, said proudly, adding afterwards, ‘I’m going to make her three!’ Kate then took her by the hand.

Youngsters showed the Duchess where to get water from for tending to the garden during her visit to Sayers Croft Forest School and Wildlife Garden at Paddington, West London

Making new pals! The Duchess of Cambridge was a huge hit with children from St Stephen’s Church of England School in Westbourne Park, West London who were eager to give her cuddles and show off their leaf crowns 

Delighted Duchess! Kate couldn’t contain her laughter as she enjoyed storytime and bonded with school children from St Stephen’s Church of England School in Westbourne Park, West London

On arrival, the Duchess was greeted by a group of youngsters from St Augustine’s School, Paddington, and was given a beautiful posy by four-year-old Janine Osman

The Duchess took part in a ‘minibeast hunt’, looking for bugs and creepy crawlies with a group of youngsters and counting their legs.

The children had already found frogs, toads, woodlice, worms and spiders.

‘Hello, what are you doing here?’ she asked.

‘We are looking for animals and counting their legs,’ she was told.

‘Who has found a spider?’ Kate asked. ‘Has anyone found a spider? You have – a big one or a little one?’

‘I’m going to find a snake,’ one little girl told, her prompting the duchess to smile.

Walking across the park to the Forest Garden, Kate met another group of youngsters, this time from St Stephen’s, and sat down with them on a log. 

The Duchess of Cambridge made her official return to royal engagements today, six months after giving birth to her third child Prince Louis. The mother-of-three looked glowing and confident as she accepted a pretty bunch of flowers on arrival at the Sayers Croft Forest School and Wildlife Garden in West London 

A cheeky youngster was eager to get Kate’s attention as they sat together on a log at the Sayers Croft Forest School and Wildlife Garden

Glad to be back! The Duchess of Cambridge was all smiles for her first day back as a working royal following the birth of Prince Louis. The delighted Duchess greeted onlookers as she made her way to the Sayers Croft Forest School and Wildlife Garden at Paddington Recreation Ground 

The Duchess of Cambridge chatting to staff at the Sayers Croft Forest School and Wildlife Garden at Paddington Recreation Ground

The Duchess of Cambridge returned to royal duties from maternity leave today with a visit to a children’s wildlife garden in Paddington, London. The royal showed her prowess at casual dressing in a well co-ordinated ensemble in shades of khaki and grey with a spotted shirt adding a hint of pattern  

The Duchess of Cambridge greets a baby as she tours the Sayers Croft Forest School and Wildlife Garden at Paddington Recreation Ground

Anwaaar, sporting a pink jacket over her uniform, jumped up and run over to sit next to her, hugging the duchess.

Kate chatted with the children and their teachers handed round glasses of black currant squash but declined one herself, saying: ‘I’m ok, thank you.’

Anwaar drank hers down thirstily and made Kate laugh and she yelled out: ‘More!’

She then put her empty cup in her mouth and threw back her head, acting the clown.

Headteacher Simon Atkinson said the little girl had chattered eagerly all day about meeting ‘the princess ‘. ‘It was clear that nothing was going to stop her saying hello!’ He laughed.

Kate listened as the children were told a story about ‘The Monkey Queen’ and then helped them as they made ‘leaf crowns’.

Smiling Kate looked delighted to be back on official royal duty, six months after giving birth to her third child Prince Louis in April. The mother-of-three wore her famously bouyant brunette locks loose around her shoulders and dressed down in casual jeans and a khaki jacket 

Back in her royal stride! The Duchess looked relaxed as she made her comeback following a six month break from royal duties after the birth of her third child Prince Louis. Although she’s made a handful of appearances today marks her official return to life as a working royal  

She’s back! The Duchess of Cambridge enjoyed a successful first engagement following her maternity leave and looked in great spirits as she headed home from her visit to Sayers Croft Forest School and Wildlife Garden in Paddington, clutching a pretty bouquet of flowers 

Casual Kate is visiting a project that gives inner city children a unique opportunity to learn about and engage with the natural world. Today marks her official return to royal duties after giving birth to her youngest child, Prince Louis, who made his arrival in April 

Happy to be back! Delighted Kate was all smiles as she sat on a log with children and listened to a story about a Monkey Queen during her visit to Sayers Croft Forest School and Wildlife Garden in London

‘Look I made this!’ Said Omar, four, eagerly.

‘It’s so pretty, so pretty. Those leaves look like jewels. They are amazing,’ Kate replied.

After around ten minutes the children all lined up to say goodbye, Anwaaar leading them in giving her hugs.

Zoe Stroud, interim Head of Sayers Croft Forest School, who showed her around, said afterwards: ‘She was lovely – although she said the only minibeast she managed to find on the hunt was a slug! But she did see a frog under a log.

‘She really gets what we are doing here and said she often takes her children on spider hunts in their garden, which they love. They can spend hours out there.

‘She really understands the value of being outdoors for children, especially those in cities whose schools and homes may not have open space and sometimes never had the chance to get their hands dirty. They just love it here.’

Happy to be back! The Duchess of Cambridge looked on top form as she marked her official return to life as a working royal with a visit to an outdoor project for children in West London 

The Duchess of Cambridge was in excellent spirits today on an outdoorsy engagement in West London. It marked a successful return to work for Kate who has been largely out of the spotlight since giving birth to Prince Louis in April 

Kate is set to see first-hand the positive impact that the Forest School has on children’s emotional and physical wellbeing as she is shown the wildlife garden and meets children involved in exploratory and investigative outdoor activities

The Duchess looked delighted to be out and about again as she chatted to schoolchildren during a visit to Sayers Croft Forest School. Kate, who gave birth to her third child, Prince Louis , on April 23, has been seen in public a handful of times in recent months but this afternoon’s appearance formally marked her return to official engagements

The mother-of-three chatted to fellow parents and spoke with teachers as she learned more about the Sayers Croft Forest School and how it helps children who live in the city experience nature 

Garden designer Ruth Willmott, who created many of the open spaces from derelict ground, added: ‘The Duchess loved the fact that we get the children out here to learn about the seasons. We have created areas where they can see bluebells in the spring, which is fantastic for some who have never seen flowers in the wild. ‘

The duchess also met with Dr Paul Knapman, representative deputy lieutenant for The City of Westminster, who introduced her to members of the community.

These included Lindsey Hall, the Lord Mayor of Westminster, Andrew Durant, interim director of community services at Westminster Council, and Andy Davison, Westminster contract manager for Everyone Active. 

Following Louis’ birth, the duchess was seen at the Wimbledon tennis championships and attended Trooping the Colour in June and a service to mark the 100th anniversary of the RAF in July, but today sees her first hands-on public engagement.

The Duchess added a touch of bright colour to her outfit by accessorising with her green Monica Vinader earrings. Kate opted for a casual look for the outing in West London, which marks her official return to royal duty after having her third child 

The Duchess of Cambridge interacts with a pupil at Sayers Croft Forest School in London as they hunted for bugs and spiders

Smiling Kate looked in her element as she had the chance to spend the afternoon in the great outdoors searching for bugs with children from West London schools at the Sayers Croft Forest School

As exclusively revealed by the Daily Mail last month, the mother-of-three plans to launch a major campaign to help children failed by ‘Broken Britain’. 

Kate believes the right support, from birth, can help disadvantaged youngsters reach their potential.

She is bringing together experts from academia, education, health and other fields to work on how to help families tackle anti-social behaviour, addiction and mental health.

Researchers have highlighted the importance of early intervention and how children from disadvantaged backgrounds who do not receive the right help at school age can suffer lifelong problems. 

Smiling Kate looked animated as she chatted with school children and helped them make leaf crowns during a fun outdoor engagement in West London 

Nature walk! The Duchess was eager to get stuck in and helped children look for bugs and make crowns during her visit to Sayers Croft Forest School at Paddington Recreation Ground

The Duchess of Cambridge donned Penelope Chilvers boots she’s been sporting since 2004 for today’s outdoor engagement. Her whole look was a lot more casual than her usual glamorous dresses and was perfectly suited for a visit to a nature project with children in West London 

The Duchess of Cambridge had a fun afternoon in the great outdoors and received a very warm welcome from school children as she visited Sayers Croft Forest School in West London 

    Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-6231041/Kate-ends-maternity-leave-visit-wildlife-garden.html

[gaiatheorist]

Pumpkins, pigeons, and pizza.

I’ve been quiet on here of late, because I’m conscious that I have a tendency to whinge. Whinging serves no purpose, all of us are dealing with our own issues, and I made a conscious choice to ‘try’ to stop oversharing the “My life is a toilet.” constant background chunder of thoughts that occupy my mind. If I spend too much time thinking about my life being a toilet, the self-fulfilling prophecy element creeps in, and I’m effectively inviting people to use it as such. 

Tah-dah! All fixed with the power of positive thinking, and ‘just’ going outside more, and ‘just’ finding a hobby, and ‘just’ making best use of the resources I have available, and not wallowing in self-pity because I haven’t had a holiday or a haircut in four years. I’m like Mary Poppins, except when I rummage in various bags, I’m looking for loose change, or scraps of tobacco. (Yes, I stopped smoking in March, but I’d smoked for over 20 years, sometimes that craving comes on STRONG.) 

I’m Muttley-chuckling, because the well-meaning, but unfit-for-purpose IAPT counsellor that saw me for 16 sessions, against a usual limit of 6 somehow had it in his head that I enjoyed gardening. I’d never mentioned gardening, and then he kept pulling it out of the bag every session, there didn’t seem much point correcting him, maybe I look like ‘a gardener’? (With my ginge-ish hair, my one functional hand, my photo-sensitive grey eyes, and my whiter-than-white skin, that blisters and scars once the temperature is above about 23 celsius, if I’m not slathered in factor 50? There’s a new scab on my collar-bone, probably from a quick scuttle to the corner shop without sunscreen.) I don’t think it was subliminal influence from him that turned my house into a potting shed, or caused this current obsession with slugs and pigeons, it was more the fact that the UK benefit system is hideous. I’m on unemployment benefit, while I wait for the ‘work capability assessment’ (which should have been done at the start of the claim, but wasn’t), and the tribunal for the PIP disability benefit. I’m one of Jamie Oliver’s ‘poor people’, I don’t know how many inches that flatscreen TV is, the ex bought it, I don’t use it very much. I’m not sitting in front of the TV eating cheesy chips out of polystyrene cartons, drinking white cider, and chain-smoking. The smell of booze on me (at 11am on a Saturday morning) is because I’ve racked-off some home-brew to sink the sediment for slug-traps. Phone Social Services on me if you like, I’ll give you my Social Worker’s extension number to save wasting time. 

I’m poor-me-ing already, aren’t I? I’m also getting my pizza before my pumpkins and pigeons, which won’t do at all, routine and order are very important when you have brain injuries and mental health issues. The bottom line of my poor-me is that my unemployment benefit is £662 per month, £317 for ‘standard’ daily living, and £345 for ‘housing’, to cover my rent, which is £495 a month. I’ve limped along for over a year, ‘cutting my cloth to suit’ and such, but the benefit never covered my outgoings. I’ve had to buy a cheaper brand of champagne and caviar. I’m being facetious, dark humour being my default setting. 

Pumpkins. My man-sized-son REALLY likes pumpkin, but, living at the arse-end of nowhere, they’re only available to buy for about two weeks in October, for people to carve into lanterns. I’ll put my Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall hat on for a minute, that’s a tremendous waste. Pumpkin soup, pumpkin pie, pumpkin pakoras, pumpkin curry, rather than just scooping out the flesh and binning it. (Then leaving the pumpkin outside when it starts to smell ‘off’, where the local teenage hooligans will kick it in the face...) I could go off on a rambling anecdote about “We were so poor when I was young, we didn’t have pumpkins, we carved a swede with a teaspoon, and got blisters.”, but we were even more poor than that, there’s no way my mother would have allowed the waste of a swede that could be eaten. Swedes, not turnips, don’t argue. 

Pumpkins. My various disabilities pretty much rule out carrying pumpkins home from Tesco, it’s only about a mile, but it’s a long mile back carrying shopping, let alone a dirty great pumpkin. More often than not they’re ‘out of stock’ for delivery from Morrisons, IF I have the £40 available to make the minimum order for delivery, which, let’s face it, I don’t. What I do have, is a son who likes pumpkin, a garden, and plenty of time. The ex sent me some money before the kid was due back here for the Easter break, and told me that it was for ‘me’, that he would send more for the additional expense of having the kid home. (Then I had to remind him... I married a gibbon.) For ‘me’, I bought some plant seeds, and some home-brewing yeast. I’m nothing if not practical. Did you get that, Jamie Oliver? A little bit extra in my bank account, and I didn’t spunk it on 2-for-1 pizza. I daresay that, come the apocalypse, I’ll last longer than Jamie Oliver. 

We had an allotment years ago, well, we ended up with six allotments, because I married a gibbon. I’m not entirely sure why he kept renting more adjoining plots, I don’t remember him ever doing any digging, he hates vegetables, and wasn’t keen on cleaning out the hen-house. Gibbon. Initially we ‘shared’ the first two allotment plots with another couple, bit tense, that, due to their over-fondness for ‘Round Up’ weedkiller, and their under-fondness for paying for consumables. Also-tense was the issue with the Father-in-law, who ‘helped out’ on the allotment. He’s 493 years old, and very set in his ways. He wanted to plant potatoes. Now, I understand the reasoning in planting potatoes at first, that allotment plot had been vacant for ages, the soil, when we found it, under the shoulder-height weeds, was compacted, and hadn’t been dug over in years, potatoes would break up the soil, and make it easier to work the following year for... oh, look, the Father-in-law has planted MORE potatoes. Potatoes, onions, and those crappy-floppy ‘butterhead’ lettuce that only really served the purpose of transporting mud, and slugs into my fridge. 

The Father-in-law ‘knew better’, as did the incessant stream of other old men, who would come and chat with the ex at the picnic table, while I was up to my elbows in earthworms and guano. “You don’t plant ‘em like that, lass!”, and “You ought to be doing it his way, not that way.” A certain type of old man, who assumed that, as I had lumps in the front of my jumper, I couldn’t possibly think for myself. The Father-in-law gradually took up more and more of the growing space with his potatoes, onions, and lettuce. He was astounded at the fact that I seemed able to grow pretty much anything without being 493 years old, and marking my lines out with a ruler. (Yes, I did set some of my rows higgledy-piggledy JUST to annoy him.) He’d never seen parsnips grow like mine did, and, while he laughed at my comfrey-water and nettle-water fertilisers, and wanted to put Round Up on ‘my’ plots, most of my crops were successful. (Lamenting the entire row of salsify that he dug over, because he didn’t know what it was, and the utter abject misery when I came out of hospital after brain surgery to discover he’d torn down my soft fruit bed, because it was ‘untidy’, I liked it untidy.) 

That was a long and winding way of saying that I’m not bad at growing things. It’s guesswork and instinct, I’d already had a phenomenal success rate with planting some butternut squash seeds, and the ends of a few chillies and peppers that would just have ended up in the bin, the kitchen table was turning into a greenhouse. That could just have been fluke, though, I have an innate affinity with green things, BUT the pumpkin seeds, when they came in the post, were something else, they were special, they were ‘for’ my son, by way of apology for me being a terrible mother, and dragging him through levels of hell that even Dante wouldn’t have imagined. The pumpkin seeds were treasure, except I hadn’t bought top-end ones those ones were REALLY expensive. (Might put a tip-jar on my Twitter, for seeds...) Knowing that I hadn’t bought the most expensive ones, I knew there was a fair chance they wouldn’t all germinate, the chillies, peppers, and butternut squash seeds had been ‘mine’ from start to finish, they hadn’t been sitting on a shelf in a warehouse, or sprayed with pesticides, or preservatives, they just ‘were’ seeds, and I know how seeds work. 

Off the top of my head, the multi-pack of seeds I bought contained the pumpkin seeds, some melon seeds, some tomato seeds, some dwarf bean seeds, and some pea seeds, I only really wanted the pumpkins and the peas, but it was cheaper to buy the multi-pack than shell out on individual packs with postage. There were only 10 pumpkin seeds. There were 25 melon seeds, and only 10 pumpkin seeds. I live in Yorkshire, it’s hardly melon climate. There only being 10 pumpkin seeds sent me even more mental than I already was, I developed a somewhat unhealthy obsession with the pumpkins, I MUST grow pumpkins for the boy. (It’s me, I’m an all-or-nothing animal, I either don’t care about a thing, or I’m balls-deep into it, there’s no middle ground.) Cue obsessive paranoia about NOT killing the pumpkins. That I hadn’t planted. 

Six of the ten seeds germinated, five of them are out in my garden, and one is in a pot in my hallway, because I’ve promised it to a friend. I must not kill any of the pumpkin plants, The local slugs, snails, and birds haven’t had the memo about not killing the pumpkins, so there’s squash-tanamo bay happening at the top of my garden. I’d started with just the two strongest seedlings outside, a trial run. One of then is completely dead because the slugs or snails have been at it, and one is looking a bit sad because a bird jumped on it. Jumped on it. The bird didn’t peck the plant to eat it, she JUMPED on it. (It was a female blackbird, I’m not Bill Oddie, but I know some birds.) I had some butternut squash seedlings in the same bed, and I’d planted some courgette seeds, sent to me in a care package by a beautiful creature from the Twitter-land. Aware that birds might peck at the emergent seedlings, I’d thrown a layer of twigs on top of the vegetable plot, to give the tiny green things a chance to become established before the wildlife ate them. I have no problem at all sharing my produce, but, for it to become produce, it needs to grow, and I’m not a fan of chemicals. Twigs, and egg-shell, and then a border of longer twigs forming a frame around the plot, I’d laced some old fishing-line I found in the shed between the long-twigs, and tied strips of crisp-bag to the fishing line, to discourage birds-from-above. (The ex tried to chide me for using high-tensile fishing line, but if he’d needed the line, he would have realised that in the two years he’s been gone, he eats fish now, but he won’t kill or gut them, that was always my job.) That’s the obsessive determination of my poverty, doing everything within my power to protect the seedlings that I’m growing for food, not fun.

Three of the pumpkin plants are thriving, one is dead, and one is near-dead. Trapped in this toilet-life, I am paranoid about my pumpkins. (There’s other produce out there, too, to supplement the stockpiled food I have in the house, my dinner today was made on a bowl of salad leaves and spinach picked straight into my bowl, strangely rewarding, if a little weird, eating warm chicken liver on a bowl of greens, with last night’s pizza sauce on top.) I will grow pumpkins for my son, pumpkins are a clever fruit, even if I do end up with a glut, they store well if kept cool.

I thought I was being resourceful and eco-friendly with the twigs. I hadn’t reckoned on the pigeons. The Pigeon. It was the same pigeon, I’m not pigeon-racist, or anything, medium-sized adult male pigeon, grey, with a petrol-blue collar. I know it was the same pigeon I declared war on, because he went back to exactly the same branch of the elderberry tree behind my house after each raid. He was taking the twigs, most likely building a nest. Every year, pigeons nest in the elder-tree, and, every year, I hear the scuffle-and-squeals as the local cats kill the squabs. Nature is cruel, and pigeons are stupid.  He was picking the twigs out of the bed with the pumpkins in, and pigeons are a fair size, I didn’t want him trampling my pumpkin plants before they had a chance to set flowers. I dragged some more twigs out of the undergrowth, and dropped them in a heap, away from the pumpkin plants, hoping he’d take the hint. He didn’t, of course, bird-brain, he’d decided that ‘twigs’ were ‘there’, and paid no attention at all to the other pile of perfectly good twigs. For several days, I had periods of sitting outside, and lobbing clods of soil at the pigeon, but I couldn’t do that full-time. I wondered, applying human-logic, how long it would take the pigeon to learn that the big-thing only threw the brown-lumps when he was in that bit of garden, but then remembered that he’s a bird-brain, and probably had issues with object permanence, thinking that twigs could only be ‘there’. Pushing aside thoughts of pigeon-pie if I did accidentally hit the idiot-bird with a clod, I reinforced the pumpkin-patch with more twigs. Which the pigeon promptly walked through. 

For the best part of a week, I was a pound-shop scarecrow, either the nest is built, or someone in another garden has a better aim than I do, because the pigeon hasn’t been back in ages. 

That pigeon-pumpkin-paranoia does link to pizza. Bear with me, I’m not having another stroke. Jamie Bloody Oliver has been at it again, the pizza 2-for-1 fuss died down, and, possibly having a book, or a TV programme, or some other venture underway, Mr Oliver tweeted “Favourite go-to breakfast”, to generate publicity, clicks, and chatter. ‘Poor people eat rubbish, and it is bad for them!’, he’d declared previously, not quite grasping that ‘poor people’ often don’t have very much choice in whether they eat rubbish or not. His recipes are vibrant, and packed with flavour and nutrients, but they’re not suitable for a very low budget. (Mine being £18 per month for groceries and emergencies. Yes, a month, not a week.)  Jamie Oliver recipes can be a useful starting point, but, I’m not going to have ‘that’ type of poncey oak-aged Iberian ham, or ‘that’ particular type of cheese, so I substitute with the closest thing I have. Some people won’t have the time, energy, facilities, store-cupboard, or ingenuity to do that. The main reason I’m not subsisting on 69p frozen pizzas is that I can make pizza-dough from scratch, some people lack the facilities, time, knowledge, or confidence to do that.

The ‘go-to breakfast’ tweet generated a magnificent response from Twitter, I follow some brilliantly sarcastic bastards. I’m sure that there were the usual braggadocios responses from the types who like to chip into Guardian poverty article comments with “A bag of carrots is only 40p!” or “Buy some oats!”, I don’t follow Jamie Oliver, I don’t know. Yes, carrots are relatively cheap, but you need somewhere to store them, and facilities to prepare and cook them, unless you’re able to subsist for sustained periods on just raw carrots. ‘Rabbit starvation’, anyone? You ‘could’ survive for a while eating only rabbit, but your body would eventually start eating itself, because you’d be malnourished, with a full stomach. Oats are great, if you have the facilities to do something with them, I have 2 full bags of oats in my cupboards, and no milk, oats-with-water-porridge is going to happen before long. If I followed Jamie Oliver, I would probably have been the thousandth person to reply ‘pizza’, because that’s what I had for breakfast. It wasn’t leftover Dominos or Pizza Hut delivery pizza, it wasn’t even leftovers from one of the local take-aways, or a frozen one, it was home-made. 

This is where the seriousness of my situation can’t help but creep in. I’m growing food in my garden to eat. (I’m probably in violation of my tenancy agreement, digging up the garden, but, if I am evicted, they can just throw some bedding plants in.) A few weeks ago, I made a big fuss about having made a delicious pizza out of cock-all. I’d mashed a tin of sardines into the end of a carton of passata to make the sauce, and told Twitter it was an alternative to opening a jar of anchovies, in a way, it was, I’m ‘saving’ the anchovies for when the kid comes back from uni for the summer. Home-made base, fish-and-herb-and-garlic sauce, a few shrivelled mushrooms, a spoonful of olives... and dandelions. I ate weeds, because I was ‘saving’ the frozen veg for when the kid comes back. Jamie Oliver’s cheeky-cockney-chappie persona is supposed to make him ‘accessible’ to the masses. He says ‘bosh’, not ‘gently fricassee’, he did those 15-minute meal recipes for busy people, and he has no idea whatsoever what it is to be genuinely poor. The ‘cheesy chips in front of a massive fucking telly’ line only served to further demonise people-like-me, while he continued to hawk the wares of whichever supermarket chain he’s whoring for now. The ‘leftovers’ and ‘budget’ recipe sections on most of the branded websites are laughable, most require some obscure ingredient that ‘poor people’ just wouldn’t have in the store-cupboard. Oh, look, we need Albacore tuna, not shop’s-own, better pop to the supermarket, and GOODNESS, look at all the 3-for-2, and the familiar food, in case the tuna-thing goes wrong. (Hat tipped to Grace Dent, for her article un-demonising familiar convenience food in moderation.) 

I’m inventive, I’m resourceful, I had pizza for my breakfast, because it was ‘there’, and I didn’t have to think about opening something else, further eating into my dwindling stockpile of food. (Don’t ask about dinner, it was thoroughly disgusting, but contained protein, and vegetables.) I wonder if I could put pumpkin on a pizza, I bet I could, if I oven-roasted thin slices with some smoked paprika... I’m damned sure I could put pigeon on a pizza. 

[snowdice]

Big Bang (Sort of) Editing Story [Day 65]

I started writing this fic while editing my Big Bang story, but am going to continue doing it for other things now that Kill Dear is out. I will write and publish 100 words of the story every time I finish doing whatever task I’m doing. If you’d like to block these proceedings, please feel free to block the tag proofread stories. I will reblog this post with the parts of the story I do today. Edited chapters are linked; everything else I’ve done so far is under the cut.

My Master Post Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26 Part 27 Part 28 Part 29

Lets do a bit of this tonight. Probably won’t work on it long, but I have something to finish up.

Chapter 30

After lunch, Patton and Logan took Virgil out into the garden to walk around. They let Virgil lead them around wherever he wanted to in the garden. A bunch more flowers had died since the last time they’d been out here, and Patton felt sad despite having never felt very sad about that sort of thing before. But, Virgil seemed to really like the flower he’d found last time, so Patton thought he was probably sad on the boy’s behalf.

Of course, Patton thought, perking up, eventually it would be spring, and Virgil could get to not only see flowers but see all of the flowers grow. Patton couldn’t wait to see him amongst the garden then.

 Virgil took them wandering through the orchard for a while, but most of the trees had been stripped of their fruits. They ended up in the food garden after a bit, and Virgil finally seemed to decide on the direction instead of just ambling about.

A few seconds after Patton noticed Virgil seemingly decide on a destination, Patton noticed Mr. Deknis kneeling on the ground a few feet away. Had… had Virgil been looking for him? Patton wondered. That was adorable.

Mr. Deknis looked up as they approached and smiled at them.

“Hello, Mr. Deknis,” Patton said as they came closer.

 “Hello you three,” Mr. Deknis said. “Getting into trouble?”

“No,” Virgil said, shaking his head.

Mr. Deknis gave him a flash of a smile. “I know, I’m joking,” he said. “Especially since there isn’t much left in my gardens for certain princes to destroy with experiments.”

“Oh, okay,” Virgil said. He tilted his head. “What are you doing?”

“I’m getting the last of the acorn squash out,” Mr. Deknis replied. “It’s the last crop to get finished. Good thing too, it’s supposed to start snowing soon.”

Virgil looked down curiously at the dark green squash.

“Would you like to help me pick a couple?” Mr. Deknis asked.

 “Sure,” Virgil said, sounding interested. Mr. Deknis patted the ground beside him and Virgil knelt down to watch him.

“They��re not too difficult to harvest,” he said. “You just cut the fruit off the stem. You want to leave about a hand’s width of the stem left over which will help preserve moisture. The earlier harvests, I left in the field to cure in the sun for a couple weeks, but the frost’ll ruin them so we’ll take them inside the green house and let them sit in the sun for a bit there. We also want to keep the leaves. You’ll probably be eating those for dinner tonight since they have to be cooked up within about 24 hours after they’re picked. Patton’s mom makes a good side dish with them and she’ll be making some curry tomorrow, probably. Maybe some stew if there are some leftover.”

 “Put the squash in this wheelbarrow and the leaves into this pile, okay?” Virgil nodded and Mr. Deknis handed him the extra pair of gloves and shears he carried with him in case one set broke. “These might be a bit big on your, but they should work for now.”

Mr. Deknis looked up at Patton and Logan. “Would the two of you like to help?” he asked. “I can get some more equipment.”

“I can help out if you want, but you don’t need to stop and get more equipment just for me,” Patton said.

“The same for me,” Logan said.

“Well, if you’d like to help still, you can sort the leave. Give your mother a head start.”

 “Sure,” Patton said. He and Logan went to do that while Mr. Deknis and Virgil worked on cutting the squashes from the vine.

“What do you do during the winter?” Virgil asked curiously. “If this is your last crop.”

“Well, at the beginning, I mostly will be working on making sure things are stored correctly along with some of the kitchen staff. There’s some drying to do and some canning. After that’s done, I’ll spend some time organizing and planning. Then, before the spring comes, I’ll start preparing seedlings in the green house.”

“Seedlings?” he asked.

“I let seeds start to grow in the greenhouse that I replant once it gets warm enough.”

 “Why don’t you just plant them where they’re going?”

“I do for some,” he said, “but giving some a head start is good for them.”

Patton watched as Virgil continued to ask questions about gardening while working on harvesting the squash. Mr. Deknis continued to answer them in a calm, soft tone that Patton didn’t think he’d ever heard from the often gruff man before.

Patton wasn’t surprised when, after finishing getting most of the squash off of the vine, Mr. Deknis asked if Virgil wanted to help him with canning some pears in a couple of days. Virgil immediately looked over at Logan and Patton as though asking permission.

“Say yes if you want to Virgil,” Logan said.

 “Yes,” Virgil said as soon as he was given permission. Mr. Deknis smiled at him softly and started loading the last of the squash into the wheelbarrow. Patton offered to run the squash leaves to the kitchen while Logan and Virgil helped Mr. Deknis take the actual squash to the green house.

He dropped the leaves off to a kitchen worker since Mama was busy and headed back out to the garden. By the time he returned, Logan was already back from the green house and sitting by one of the more decorative trees near the castle.

“He’s exploring,” Logan said, nodding at the large patch of bushes.

 Patton chuckled. “I see.” He sat next to Logan. Every so often he’d hear the bushes rustle, but he couldn’t tell if it was actually Virgil or an animal.

“He’s adorable,” Patton commented, keeping an ear out.

Logan hummed.

“I’m glad we kept him.”

“He isn’t a pet, Patton.”

Patton rolled his eyes. “I know, but I’m still glad. I’m glad he’s making friends with Mr. Deknis. Once he knows how to read better, we should get him a book about gardening. He seems interested.”

Logan nodded. “Having a hobby would be good for him. Clearly he has a fascination with the garden.” He nodded to the blur of dark hair that could be seen through the bushes. It seemed Virgil had stopped his exploration and was now laying down in the bushes a few feet away.

 “I’m going to go see what he’s doing,” Patton said. “I’ll be right back.”

Logan nodded and Patton got to his feet. The bushes were part of a small maze that was filled with flowers during the spring and summer months but were mostly just green and brown bushes for now. Despite the fact that Patton had been able to see him only a few feet away, it took him a while to wind through the path to where he was. When he finally turned the last corner and he came into view, Patton gasped softly.

“Ghost kitty!” he said, making sure to make his voice as quiet as possible.

 Despite how soft he made his voice, two pairs of eyes shot over to him. The completely black kitten was perched on Virgil’s lap like she belonged there. Ghost Kitty hissed slightly, but Virgil reached forward to pet her head gently.

“This is Ghost Kitty?” Virgil asked. “I thought you said she was hard to pet.”

“She is,” Patton said. He lowered himself onto the ground from a few feet away from them. “How did you get her to come to you?”

Virgil glanced down at the cat and shrugged, scratching one of her ears. “She just came over to me and let me pet her.”

 “Wow,” Patton said softly. He looked at the cat. “Could I pet you sweetie?” he asked, holding out a hand in her direction. She hissed again.

Virgil frowned down at her. “It’s Patton,” he said as though he expected to understand his words and the exasperation in the tone he said them in.

He pet the cat’s head to soothe her and then reached over to grab Patton’s hand. He pulled and Patton carefully leaned a bit closer until his hand was within sniffing distance. Ghost Kitty sniffed his fingers contemplatively and then bumped her head against it. He barely restrained a squeal, knowing that probably wouldn’t be taken well.

 He carefully turned his hand over so he could stroke the top of her head. He gently scratched her ear, not daring to go for under her chin yet since she didn’t know him well. “Hi,” he said softly. After a moment, she started to purr softly. Virgil reached over and scratched under her chin and she purred louder. “Oh, you’re a good girl,” Patton breathed, letting a hand trail gently down her back once and then again. Patton settled himself carefully into a seating position continuing to pet her. After a few more moments of soft petting, she hesitantly stepped her front paws onto Patton’s thigh so she was sitting in both of their laps. Patton laughed softly. “Hi sweetie.” He glanced over at Virgil who had a wide smile on his face as he pet the cat. This. This was adorable. They continued to pet the cat for a very long time.

  Chapter 31

Logan waited for a while after Patton left to check on Virgil, but the two never resurfaced. It was odd, Patton would usually remember to come back and get Logan or at least tell them where they were. With a sigh, Logan climbed to his feet to go find them. It took him a while to weave his way through the maze of bushes to them especially because they were suspiciously quiet (Well, suspicious for Patton. Virgil was often unnervingly quiet when alone.) Luckily, he knew the bushes enough after all of these years not to get lost and managed to find the two after a few minutes.

“Ah,” he said, immediately identifying the reason for Patton disappearing.

 “Logan!” Patton said, his voice excited, but also quieter than normal. “We found a kitty!”

“I can see that,” Logan responded, taking a step closer. The cat hissed at him in response. The hissing was so intense and wild that he’d suspect the thing was feral if it wasn’t happily on Virgil’s lap having had it’s head in Patton’s lap before Logan had approached.

“No,” Virgil told the animal as though it could understand words. “That’s Logan. Be nice.”

The cat still glared at him and swished it’s tail back and forth threateningly. Virgil pet the top of it’s head and it broke eye contact with Logan to purr.

 Patton seemed delighted by the purring, reaching to stroke under the thing’s chin carefully. “We should give her a name!” Patton said.

Virgil frowned. “I thought her name was Ghost Kitty.”

“That is ‘Ghost Kitty’?” Logan asked skeptically. From what Patton had said about that cat, it was terrified of people and no one could ever get near it, even him. Now it was in Virgil’s lap?

“But that was a temporary name,” Patton said, “for before we officially met her. Now we have to give her a real name.”

“Do not give it a name,” Logan said. “You will get attached.”

 “How do you name a cat?” Virgil asked.

“Do not name it,” Logan said.

“You give them names based on their personalities, how they look, or even just because it’s a cute name,” Patton explained. “Like, remember Mittens? I named her Mittens because she has white fur and black paws!”

Virgil looked at the cat. “She’s completely black,” he said.

Patton hummed. “So, we could give her a name based on that like Midnight or Shadow.”

“Those are fine,” Virgil said.

“No, no,” Patton said. “I’m just giving you examples. You get to name her yourself.”

“This is a bad idea,” Logan said.

 “Just throw out some names,” Patton said. “Anything you can think of.”

“Uh,” Virgil said. “Knife.”

“…Just Knife?” Patton asked.

“Nightmare.” Virgil seemed to think about it. “No, that’s mean.”

“How about things you like?” Patton suggested.

“Alfredo?”

Oh no, Logan thought, he was worse than Patton at cat naming.

“Good start,” Patton said. “Logan, do you have any suggestions.”

“Cat,” Logan said.

“Real suggestions,” Patton scolded.

Logan sighed and thought for a moment. “Aphrodite.”

“Catphrodite!”

Logan glared at him. “Helena.”

“Helenpaw.”

“Claudia.”

“Clawdia.”

“Persephone.”

Patton smiled at him, cheerfully.

“…Damnit!”

Patton turned to Virgil again. “Like that! They don’t even have to be serious. Like, uh, you could name her Madam Fluffywuffykins the Great!”

“Do not name her that,” Logan said, scrunching up his nose.

 Logan sat on the ground, the cat eyeing him, but no longer hissing. Logan gently guided them towards more sensible names despite Patton trying his hardest to drag them into stupidity.

Virgil still didn’t quite get it. He mostly tried to name it after foodstuff, and often not even appropriate foodstuff such as “Corn” and “Acorn Squash” and “Sandwich” and occasionally would drop in semi violent ones such as “Razor,” “Nightshade” and “Void.” Patton suggested names like “Fluffers,” “Bobette” and “Darling” as well as some that were puns. Logan tried to direct them towards more sensible ones like “Salem” and even went so low as to suggest the contrary “Snowball.”

 It quickly seemed to become less about actually naming the cat and more of a game. Patton had taught Virgil about playing with cats and had even gotten out a ball of yarn he cared around for his crafts. Both Virgil and the cat seemed to find endless entertainment with that. Logan hoped Patton had another ball of yarn that color because, he was never going to get that ball back.

The barrage of names fizzled out into naming things around them like “Leaf” and “Bush” until they stopped suggesting names altogether. Patton and Logan sat back and watched Virgil play with the cat.

 Logan watched as they stopped playing suddenly and Virgil and the cat squinted at each other. “Marisol,” Virgil said, pulling the name out of nowhere. “That’s her name.” He said it with a certainty that was surprising considering how he’d treated the naming process with confusion and caution earlier. If Logan did not know better, his tone of voice would indicate that the cat, or Marisol he guessed, had gotten bored of them coming up with stupid names and decided to tell him her actual name herself.

The cat made a sound and batted at Virgil’s face without claws to grab back his attention.

 He turned back to it and bopped its face with a finger in kind. It attacked his finger, but in a clearly playful matter as it still did not extend it’s claws and its teeth did not draw blood.

“That’s a great name, Virgil,” Patton said.

“Much more pleasant than any that Patton suggested all afternoon,” Logan said. He received an elbow to the side for his quip.

“A pretty name for a pretty kitty,” Patton said, scooting over to where Virgil was sat and attempting to pet Marisol’s head. Marisol, however, was too keyed up and batted at the hand.

 “I love you too!” Patton said.

Logan rolled his eyes, but he had long since resigned himself to watching the two of them play with and coo over the cat for the rest of the day.

Eventually, though, it started to get darker. Even after Logan pointed this out, it still took over an hour for them to relent and leave the bush maze to go to the door. The problem was of course, that the cat had managed to grow very attached to Virgil in the last few hours and she followed them all the way to the door with manipulatively heart breaking mews.

 “You’ve got to stay out here,” Virgil said, when they got to the castle door. He pet her ear softly and she shoved her head into his hand. “I’m sorry. I don’t have anywhere to put you.” He sounded horribly sad about that fact and Logan felt himself shift uncomfortably. “I basically live in a closet and Logan doesn’t like cats in his room anyway.”

Logan immediately felt unreasonably guilty, probably more so because Logan did not think Virgil was trying to make him feel guilty. “…Bring the dammed thing inside.”

Virgil blinked up at him. “What?”

“It will get cold soon anyway,” Logan said.

He frowned at Logan from where he was crouched. “But you don’t like fur in your room…���

“I will have to find a potion that works,” he said with a sigh, “and we’ll have to say it’s mine to the guards and Father since it will be staying in my room, but it is yours in every other way. That means you are going to feed it, clean it, and clean up after it.”

Virgil nodded immediately and swooped Marisol up in his arms. The cat went without complaint. “Thank you!” he said. “I love her.”

“I know you do,” Logan said, already regretting it already. Yet, he couldn’t bring himself to even consider recanting the offer considering how happy Virgil seemed to be. They had a cat now, he guessed.

  Chapter 32

“What are you doing?” Helen asked a few minutes after her son walked into the kitchen and started looking around as though he were trying to find something. It was a few hours into the afternoon, and she and a few workers were already prepping for dinner.

“Uh,” Patton said. “Have you seen Virgil?”

“No,” Helen said. “Why.”

“Er… Logan and I sorta, lost him,” Patton said. He was wringing his hands anxiously. Helen put down the knife in her hand.

“What do you mean you lost him?” she asked.

“Well, see, we were trying to teach him how to play hide and seek, um, but then we didn’t think to tell him that he eventually had to come out if we didn’t find him, and now we haven’t seen him since breakfast.”

 “He didn’t know what tag is?” she asked. That was just one more thing to add to the list of why Helen worried about Virgil and where he came from. Every morsel of information she’d managed to wring from Patton despite his evasions made her lists of concerns grow larger, even little things like him not knowing about simple childhood games. Actually, thinking of concerning things having to do with Virgil. “Wait, so he hasn’t eaten lunch.”

“Um, we don’t know that,” Patton’s mouth said while his eyes said ‘no.’

“He needs to be on a consistent diet, especially when he’s still taking the malnutrition potion,” she scolded.

 “I know, Mama, I know,” Patton said. “I’m trying to find him. I’d kinda hoped he’d gotten hungry and snuck down here. He probably wouldn’t want to risk being caught stealing food though.”

Helen grimaced. Yet another concerning thing.

“Wait! I have an idea, I’ll be right back.” Patton turned and ran out of the room. Helen frowned at the space he’d been and finished chopping the carrot on the cutting board in front of her. If it had been any other person in the castle missing, Helen wouldn’t have worried, but she had literally never seen Virgil without Patton and/or Logan by his side. Even when he’d gone to help Jeff can some fruit, Logan had reportedly hung around to read a book.

 Considering that Logan had never exactly been clingy even with Patton, she imagined that either Virgil asked, or Logan thought he should stay with him for his comfort. So, she was surprised that he was apparently hidden away somewhere in the castle where neither of the other kids could find him.

Still thinking about this, she walked over to the entrance to the cellar below the kitchen where they stored most of the vegetables, planning to grab some more carrots. She was confused for a moment when she heard movement from deeper in the pantry. She reached over and touched the panel near the door that controlled the magic lights.

 The newly illuminated figure startled as the lights came on, whipping around to stare at her with wide eyes.

“Virgil?” she asked.

“Sorry,” he said immediately, taking a step back.

“It’s fine,” she said immediately, “but what are you doing here?”

He considered her for a long moment, but apparently, she passed some sort of mental test, because he relaxed, at least as much as he’d ever relaxed in her presence. “Where are we?” he asked.

Her brow knit together. “The cellar under the kitchen,” she said, “You don’t know that?”

He shook his head.

“The only entrance is from the kitchen.” Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t seen him go through the kitchen at any point.

 “No, it’s not,” Virgil said. “There’s a tunnel.”

“A-a tunnel?” she asked. Actually, taking a closer look at him, he seemed a bit grimy. He had dust all over his front and dirt on his nose. She thought he might even have a couple of cobwebs in his hair.

“Yep,” he said.

“Where’s the tunnel?” she asked.

“It’s right over here,” he said. He took a couple of steps and pointed to the ground. There was an open square hole there that clearly had been made a long time ago but which she had never noticed in all of her time working here.

 “How did you find this?” she asked.

“We were playing hide and seek,” Virgil explained. “Logan said I could hide anywhere inside the castle. I hid on top of a dresser upstairs in some unused sitting room. There was a hole in the wall above it, so I climbed into it. Then, I crawled a little bit and it let out into a hidden passage in the walls. I wandered around in it until I found another hole in one of the walls. I thought it was a way out, so I squeezed into it, but it took me to a different hallway where I found an old room. There was a different hole in that room that had probably been covered by something because it was in the floor but whatever it was had rotted away. I crawled though it into a tunnel and came out here.”

 She couldn’t help but laugh a bit at his explanation. “Well, it sounds like you went on an adventure,” she said, “but Patton and Logan have been trying to find you. You missed lunch.”

He tilted his head at her. “I know. I was supposed to hide.”

“Yes,” she explained, “but you are supposed to come out at some point if they can’t find you for things like food.”

“Oh,” he said.

“They probably should have explained,” she said. “For now, why don’t we get you something to eat? You must be hungry.”

Virgil frowned. “But I missed lunch.”

“You can still eat even though it’s not in normal hours,” she said. “You could even if you had made it to lunch.”

 “Really?” he asked, he looked tragically confused by this offer.

“Of course, sweetie,” she said. “In fact, I insist you get something good to eat right now. How about I made you a grilled ham and cheese sandwich? Maybe some cookies too!”

Virgil titled his head. “You are Patton’s mother,” he stated.

Helen laughed softly. “He gets its all from me,” she said. “We should probably go find him and tell him you’re okay. He was worried.”

“I didn’t mean to worry him,” Virgil said with a frown.

“I know,” Helen said. “It’s okay. He’ll probably laugh when he figures out where you’ve been, and Logan will interrogate you all about the secret passageways.” He seemed happy about the prospect of seeing his friends. “Come on, let’s go upstairs for a bit,” she said.

  Chapter 33

Patton’s mom had already made Virgil sit down at the small table in the corner of the kitchen and had handed him a sandwich by the time Patton barreled into the kitchen, Logan coming after him at a more sedate pace.

“Virgil!” he said, sounding surprised and relieved.

“Patton,” Patton’s mom scolded. “No cats in the kitchen.” Patton had brought Marisol in with him and had let her go as soon as he’d seen Virgil. She immediately plodded over to him and hoped onto the table to sniff at his face in greeting.

“But she’s the princess!” Patton argued.

“No,” Logan said.

 “Yes, she is!” Patton said.

“The stupid cat is not a princess.”

“Don’t be mean to your little sister, Logan.”

“I regret every life decision that has led me to this point.”

While Logan and Patton were distracted squabbling and Patton’s mom was distracted watching them squabble, Virgil tore off a bit of the ham in his sandwich and offered it to Marisol. Marisol gracefully took it from his grip and ate it.

“So, this is Logan’s new cat I’ve been hearing about?” Patton’s mom asked.

“Indeed,” Logan said, his lips thinned. He and Marisol were mostly amicable when alone with just them and Virgil, but Patton had a habit of cooing over the kitten and needling Logan into being irritated.

 “Mmm, yeah,” Patton’s mom said. She glanced over at Virgil right as Marisol basically slammed her face into his chin in a bid to get pets. “Your cat.” She shook her head. “But Princess Kitten or not, I do not want fur in dinner,” she said.

“Sorry,” Patton said, honestly not sounding sorry at all. Virgil was always a bit surprised when the insolent shrug garnered nothing more that a scowl that did not reach Patton’s mom’s eyes. “I thought she could help me find Virgil, but you already found him.” He turned to Virgil. “Where have you been all day?”

 “Found a tunnel,” Virgil said. He had to use one hand to hold Marisol back from his sandwich as he took another bite, but then gave her a bite of cheese.

“You found what?” Logan asked.

“There’s a tunnel under the cellar,” Virgil said. “It goes to an old closed up room and also to a set of secret passageways.” It was a bit of a security risk honestly, though clearly no one had used it in years by how dirty it was. He did plan to go back into it and make sure the sprawling tunnels didn’t go to anywhere more dangerous like the royal wing.

 “A closed-up room?” Logan said. He could see a bit of curiosity already building in his eyes.

“Yeah,” Virgil said. “Where the door used to be seemed like it had been bricked over.”

“Really? Can you show me.”

“Sure,” Virgil answered.

“Ah, perhaps we should be a bit more cautious about climbing through random tunnels we don’t know the stability of,” Patton’s mom said.

Logan’s frown edged on a pout.

“Talk to your father,” she said. “I’m sure he can get someone who understands these things so you can safely investigate.”

“It was safe enough for Virgil,” Logan pointed out.

 “No, Logan.”

He sighed but seemed to concede. That was another strange thing about living here. By all rights Logan didn’t have to obey anyone except the king, but he often listened to those around him, not just the adults but Patton as well. It was interesting though it sometimes made the hierarchy hard to figure out. Virgil did sometimes stress out about the hypothetical situation where he got conflicting orders from two people, and he wouldn’t know which one to obey. So far it hadn’t been a problem luckily. They always seemed to work it out amongst themselves in some give and take social interaction that was a bit too complex for him to understand.

 Patton walked over to where Virgil was sitting. “I’m glad your safe,” he said. “We should probably put a time limit on hide and seek in the future, so you know when to come out.”

“Did I win?” Virgil asked. He’d honestly forgotten they’d been playing a game until Patton’s mom had asked how he’d found his way into the cellar.

Patton laughed. “I’d say so, yeah,” he replied. He leaned over to kiss Virgil’s forehead, but drew back immediately with a pinched expression. “You are… very dirty,” he said, rubbing his mouth.

Virgil nodded. “Your mom made me sit on a tablecloth,” he said gesturing to the fabric she’d laid over the chair.

 Patton snorted out a laugh. “We’ll get you into the bath when you’re done eating and you can tell us all about your little adventure.”

“I would also like to hear about your discoveries,” Logan said. “Though you are not allowed to sit on the bed until you do not have spider webs in your hair.”

Patton’s eyes widened and he jumped away from Virgil, startling both Virgil and Marisol. The latter hopped from the table onto Virgil’s lap. “Spiders?!”

Virgil tilted his head at him in confusion.

“He isn’t a fan of spiders,” Logan informed him, his voice amused at Patton’s reaction.

 Apparently deciding that she was no longer startled, but more confused by the noises Patton had just made, Marisol jumped out of Virgil’s lap to investigate, wrapping her way around Patton’s legs. He bent down to pat her back, though he still looked a bit startled.

“Your cat, huh?” Patton’s mom asked Logan once again. Virgil studied her. She had apparently missed Logan mentioning that he allowed Virgil on the bed. Or perhaps Logan was correct in his insistence that it wasn’t actually that big of a deal here. Virgil would rather not test that assumption, however, so was glad that it had been distracted from by Patton’s outburst.

 “Creepy, crawly death dealers,” Patton mumbled into Marisol’s fur, having picked her back up. Virgil made a note to not inform Patton of all of the different types of spiders he’d seen skittering around in the castle walls today. Maybe he’d talk about them with Logan once Patton left. He’d probably be interested. Virgil had seen some he’d never seen before! Logan probably could even help him figure out what their names were. “You’ll protect me, won’t you kitty?” Patton asked Marisol.

She made a little ‘burrrr’ sound in response, which Patton seemed to take a confirmation.

“Aw thank you, baby! Such a good baby.”

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Virgil popped the rest of the sandwich into his mouth. Patton’s mom turned away and grabbed a plate stacked with cookies. She handed it to Logan. “Take these, and please get the health hazards out of my kitchen,” she requested.

Logan took them without complaint. “Come on, Virgil,” he said. “Let’s go get you clean.”

“We’re going to need so much soap,” Patton said.

Virgil looked down at himself. “I can go outside and get most of it off if you get me a bucket of water,” he offered.

“Virgil, it’s below freezing,” Logan said as though that had a baring on what he’d just said. Logan sighed. “No. Bathtub.” Virgil shrugged. “Honestly,” Logan said. He turned with the plate of cookies in his hand, clearly expecting to be followed. “You’re not going to catch your death pouring a bucket of water over yourself in the cold when there are literally over a hundred perfectly good bathtubs in this castle. For goodness sakes.” And well, Virgil wasn’t going to complain.

  Chapter 34

Patton, to be completely honest, was not all that interested in the room that Virgil had found. Beyond just the fact that it would definitely have creepy crawly death dealers in it, he really did not understand the intrigue. If it had just been him, he probably would have just let a castle worker deal with it, but it was not just him. Logan was ecstatic with the prospect of investigating a secret in the castle. People who didn’t know him well may not believe it considering he spent most of his time with his nose in a book, but he was an adventurer at heart.

 Thomas had been easily swayed into finding someone to help tear down part of the wall into the secret tunnel near the room (so no one would have to crawl through the kitchen cellar like Virgil). It had taken a few days, however, and Logan was practically bouncing off the walls waiting. Virgil, despite having already seen the room before, also seemed excited, though if that was because of his own curiosity or because he was just excited that Logan seemed so exited remained to be seen.

“They are silly, aren’t they,” Patton asked Princess Marisol. He was laying on his stomach on Logan’s bed and Princess Marisol had just put her little paw on his nose.

 “Yes, I agree,” he said. “Don’t they know that we’re literally going to be 2 feet away from the normal hallway?”

“It is not silly,” Logan defended himself. “Any number of things could go wrong.” He sounded far too excited about the prospect of something going terribly wrong. “The tunnels could cave in and block off the exit or there could be some unknown pathogen in the air.”

Patton did not ruin his fun by mentioning that Logan’s dad had definitely basically baby proofed the tunnels for them ahead of time. Instead, he just said, “Don’t let Virgil hear you say that sort of thing. It will just stress him out.”

 “Yes, yes, of course,” he said, waving off Patton’s concerns as he mulled over two different weird green planty things (potion ingredients, Patton assumed) before setting one aside and sticking the other in his bag.

“So silly,” Patton cooed at the cat. Logan let out a huff but did not choose to say anything about it this time.

Speaking of silly, Virgil came back from Logan’s bathroom then, and Patton tried not to giggle. “Is this right?” Virgil asked, sounding and looking confused. Logan, in his overexcitement about adventure had commissioned Virgil an outfit that actually fit. Said outfit, however, very much made it look more like Virgil was going on a safari instead of a two-foot detour from the normal castle hallway.

 “Almost,” Logan said, “Here, let me.” Logan started straightening everything out and flattening the collar, reminding Patton of an overbearing parent on picture day. Virgil accepted the fussing without protest. It was adorable. Well, the outfit was ridiculous, but still, adorable. “There,” Logan said. “I think we’re ready to go now.”

It was about time. Patton was sure people were already waiting for them downstairs. Patton got up and patted Princess Marisol on the head. She looked up at them with interest.

“You can stay here, sweetie,” Patton told here. She seemed to consider it and then hopped down from the bed to go rub up against Virgil.

 Patton guessed she was coming. It didn’t matter too much since Logan had given her a magical collar that allowed her to open most doors in the castle and everyone knew she was the royal cat now, so if she decided she wanted to come back to the room and nap, she could. (She was very aware of the power she held.)

She pranced happily by Virgil’s side all the way down the steps to the first floor of the castle. She was such a good kitty.

Well, she did hiss angrily at everyone who came too close to them, but still, a very good kitty.

 Patton did lean down and pick her up so they could actually talk to the man waiting for them at the large hole in the wall. Logan went to talk to the castle worker while Virgil half hid behind Patton. He was clearly listening very intently to the conversation however, at least more intently than Patton was. Patton was busy shaking his head fondly.

“Yes, yes, Princess,” he said to the cat. “I know we do not trust the strangers, but I promise this stranger is perfectly safe.”

“How do you know?” Virgil asked.

“His name is Chester and I’ve known him since I was 9.”

 This seemed to slightly alleviate Virgil’s suspicion, but Princess Marisol still seemed antsy. Patton really needed to start slowly introducing the both of them to more people.

Logan finished talking with Chester after a few moments and it was time to climb through the hole in the wall. He wished he saw in the tunnel whatever Logan with his excited eyes and bounce to his step obviously saw. Or even that was more comfortable in the dark closed in space as Virgil obviously was. As it was, Patton’s nose scrunched up at the thought off all of the spiders that could be living everywhere in the secret tunnel, but he pushed through.

 The entrance to the tunnel had been made only a little bit from the room Virgil had mentioned and Chester had led them through it after only a couple of seconds. As Patton had suspected, the room was already lit up and probably cleaned a little bit by the people who had cut into the wall, not that he was complaining.

Virgil was still clinging a bit to Patton’s shirt, though it seemed to be less out of anxiety at this point and more out of a desire to stick close. He was peering around curiously at the lit-up space. He probably hadn’t seen much of it in the dark when he’d been here before.

 Yet, his curiosity was nothing compared to how excited Logan seemed to be. Now Patton may have not been interested in the room itself, but he was entertained by how interested Logan was and was happy to encourage that.

“What do you think this place is?” he asked Logan.

Logan hummed contemplatively, eyes looking around. “Well,” he said. “It’s a bedroom clearly, and old. Considering the location it is in in the castle, the size, the decorations, and it’s likely age, I’d imagine it was a bedroom of a royal family member. This used to be the royal wing three royal lines ago.”

 “Bearing that in mind, there are a couple of likely possibilities for the origin of the room as well as the reason it was sealed up, but we will need to investigate more in order to come to an actual conclusion.” He had already placed the bag he’d brought on the ground and was going through it, pulling out things that Patton did not recognize. He also got a piece of paper and sat on the floor to start to sketch.

“What are you doing?” Virgil asked.

“I’m sketching the floorplan of the room,” Logan said. “I will then put a grid on it so we can investigate while being sure that we aren’t missing anything.”

 Virgil seemed uninterested in this part of the adventure, instead electing to go poking around by himself. Princess Marisol squirmed out of Patton’s arms to go follow him. Patton swore that he only looked away from those two for 5 seconds, but the next thing he knew he heard metal clicking against metal.

“Oh,” Patton said, eyes wide when he saw what Virgil was fiddling with. “Honey, you probably shouldn’t touch…”

The old but fancy looking chest that had been at the end of the remains of the bed creaked open. Virgil sneezed as a cloud of dust puffed out of it. “Huh,” he said studying the contents. “There’s a skull in here.”

 “Oh, I don’t like this adventure anymore,” Patton commented.

Logan was on his feet within moments. “Let me see,” he said eagerly.

“What if it’s cursed?” Patton pointed out.

“Then I’ll just break the curse,” Logan waved him off. “Oh, it’s just a horse skull,” Logan said, sounding disappointed. “And also what seemed to be potion ingredients. Though they seem very fresh considering the state of the room.”

“Maybe we should get someone else to…”

Logan already had both arms inside the chest and was pulling things out of it. “This chest must have some sort of stasis effect to it.”

 He started pulling things out to look at them before setting them on the floor with no caution. “Well,” he said, “that answers the question of what this room is.”

“It does?” Patton asked.

“Ah, yes, between the horse skull and the potion ingredients, this is obviously the bedroom of Princess Marianne Elicia. She was the third child of King Simon IV and was quite the fan of horses.”

“…So she kept a horse skull in a stasis chest in her bedroom?” Patton asked.

“Of course,” Logan said. “Back when her family was in power, magic was outlawed and had quite the stigma against it, but she ended up learning magic and become quite proficient.”

 “It’s debated what exactly happened when her father found out about her activities. Some sources say that she was executed silently by her father, but others say she managed to escape with the head of the stables but not before putting a curse on the country of Prijaznia. That is until she or one of her bloodline sits on the throne, every royal line will end in madness and blood by the 5th seated monarch before an heir is born.”

“Isn’t that something you should be worried about?” Virgil asked.

Logan shrugged. “It’s just a myth,” he said. “Besides I’m 6th in the line, so there really isn’t any concern.”

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“There are a lot of interesting things in here,” Logan said, still focused on the chest. “Not to mention the books. We’ll have to be careful with those though since they don’t appear to be in stasis.”

Logan pulled the horse skull out and set it on the floor making Patton wince.

“Marisol no!” he said as Princess Marisol immediately went to go sniff at it. He swooped her up in his arms. “How long are we staying in this creepy room?” Patton asked.

“Patton, we just got here,” Logan said.

“We just got here and already found a skull!”

“Yes! Exactly!”

Patton groaned into Princess Marisol’s fur even as she tried wiggle away to go back and investigate the skull. This was going to be a long day.

  Chapter 35

Logan was surprised when he woke up alone in bed. He’d grown to anticipate waking to a smaller body unrelentingly clinging to his in the past couple of weeks. Confused he sat up and peered around his bedroom. He wouldn’t have seen Virgil with the way he melted into the darkness if it he hadn’t heard the sound of purring coming from near the window. He could just barely make out a dark blob shifting up and down at the cat kneaded at a different blob sitting mostly hidden behind the thick curtain.

“Virgil?” Logan questioned. “What are you doing?”

 “It’s snowing,” was the answer.

“That is not an answer,” Logan grumbled at the ceiling. With a sigh, he pulled himself out of bed. It was a bit chilly in here, he thought. The temperature must have dipped suddenly and intensely enough that the runes keeping the castle at a warm enough temperature hadn’t caught up yet. He pulled one of the blankets off of the top of his bed to wrap around his shoulders as he approached the window. There wasn’t much light outside, the stars and moon covered by clouds, but there were some lanterns lit for the night guard who patrolled the outside. “Oh,” he said in surprise. “It’s really snowing.”

 It had been colder but not quite cold enough for snow to stick the day before, so it came as a surprise when he saw snow was piling up quite high to the point where familiar paths outside his window had disappeared.

“I don’t like it,” Virgil informed him.

“Why not?” Logan asked.

“It’s cold,” Virgil answered. It was clear in his tone that in Virgil’s opinion ‘cold’ was a horrible insult to the concept of snow. Logan quirked a half smile and his attention was drawn to the fact that it was quite cold right here close to the window.

 Frowning, he pulled at the blanket around his shoulder so he could wrap it and his arm around the lump that was Virgil. He brushed the boy’s hand when he did so and found it was like ice.

“You’re freezing!” Logan said. “How long have you been by the window?”

“I dunno,” he replied.

Logan was already tugging at him. “You need to get back in bed,” he said.

Virgil obeyed the pulling at his arms even as he frowned. “I’ve been colder than this before,” he said.

“That actually doesn’t make me feel better,” Logan replied dryly as he shooed him towards the bed.

 He took the thicker blanket that usually stayed folded at the end of the bed and pulled it up over Virgil before climbing into bed beside him.

“There,” Logan said, rubbing Virgil’s arms through the fabric of the sweater he wore to bed. He was glad he wasn’t wearing a t-shirt at least. “The runes for heating the castle should catch up within a few hours, but until then this should do. Assuming we don’t sit by the freezing window for an undetermined amount of time.”

“I don’t like the cold,” Virgil told him.

Logan sighed. “Then why did you sit by the window?”

 Virgil shrugged and ducked his head a bit. Logan reached out to grab his hands to help him warm more but was surprised when one of the hands was much warmer than the other. He found his fingers were clutching a crescent shaped stone: the protection charm they’d made. Logan knew that he kept it in his pocket most of the time, but he didn’t normally see him holding it like this. It was warm to the touch, of course, indicating the safety of the room around them.

Logan looked over his face. “Are you…” he said. “Scared of the snow?”

 “I don’t like the cold,” he said once again.

“You’re scared of the winter,” Logan concluded. He looked at Virgil who was far too small for his age and seemed surprised at every casual act of kindness. It was clear that his basic needs were far from being met before he came here. Logan had to wonder what winter usually meant for him. His experiences were doubtlessly very different from Logan’s own. “That makes sense,” he acknowledged, “but you don’t need to be scared of it here. The castle is always perfectly warm and safe in the winter and Mr. Deknis and Ms. Heart work hard during the other seasons to make sure we have plenty of food. There is nothing to fear here.”

 He did not seem convinced.

“You don’t even have to go outside if you don’t want to,” Logan promised. “The castle is plenty big if you’d like to stay inside all winter long. It was made for the winter even without the magic devices that keep it warm. We have fireplaces and well insulated rooms even if those that ends up failing.” Logan pulled open the hand that had the protection charm just to transfer it to his other hand to warm it. “Though, while no one would force you to go outside, the snow isn’t always bad.”

“Yes it is,” Virgil said, his voice sure.

 “Not all the time,” Logan insisted. “Some people love the snow.”

“They’re stupid.”

Logan laughed. “It can be fun for a while with the right equipment if you have someplace to get warm again afterwards. Royal duties slow down during the winter and Patton tends to come up with all sorts of games for both the inside and the outside to pass the time. He’s particularly proficient at snowball fights, at least against me.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

“Play fighting,” Logan answered. “Like pillow fights, but snow.”

“I’ll stick with the pillows,” he replied.

“And then there’s a hill to sled down on the western side of the castle, and people like to build snowmen along the path.”

“What are snowmen?” Virgil asked.

 They’re temporary statues made out of packed snow,” Logan explained. “Typically, they’re made of three different sized balls of snow: the largest being the base and the smallest the ‘head’ though there are some variations. After building them one typically decorates them with different articles of clothing and objects found lying around. It’s usually sticks and rocks for the face and then things like extra hats and scarfs for decoration.” He smiled softly. “When my Pa was alive, we used to steal my Dad’s crown and fanciest robes. Sometimes Pa would steal it right off of Dad’s head and we’d run away. We’d find a secluded area of the castle yards and build the biggest snowman we could as quickly as we could before we got caught. He’d usually end up letting us keep the robes, but we’d have to give the crown back since some of the metals in it would rust when wet.”

 “That sounds…” Virgil’s nose twitched. “fun if you take away the touching snow part.”

Logan laughed. “It is fun,” he said. “Even with the touching snow part. Though, I admit that some of the ability for it to be entertaining does come from the fact that we could warm up afterwards with ease. You’ll enjoy Patton’s mother’s constant offering of hot chocolate during the season even if you never go outside, I’m sure.”

“Hot chocolate?” Virgil asked intrigued. His dark eyes shone brightly in the little light coming through the window. It was clear he could guess something about the drink just by the name and enjoyed the implications.

 Logan smiled fondly. “It is a hot drink,” he explained. “It’s a warm drink made out of milk and chocolate. I can get you some to try in the morning.”

Virgil nodded, eyes still wide with interest.

“For now, we should sleep though,” Logan said. “Are you warm enough? I can get more blankets.”

“I’m fine,” he said.

“Good,” Logan said, reaching up and adjusting the blanket over them once more, tucking it around Virgil a little bit for good measure. “Goodnight Virgil,” he said.

“Goodnight,” he replied softly. Logan reached under the blankets to grab the hand that was still slightly chilly from the window between his own. Virgil’s eyes slipped closed after a moment as he nuzzle his face into the pillow. At some point they both drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter 36

Thomas had already been well aware that winter was on the way, but he and the rest of the castle occupants had been surprised at how intensely and suddenly it had come on. Most things were ready for the winter, but not all of them had been initiated. The fireplaces that took some pressure off the castle heating runes were cleaned out and ready, but they hadn’t been started yet. The stables for different animals on the grounds had been checked over and staff assignments had been made, but most were still in far out fields. Staff that went home for the winter months had been dismissed, but there were a few stragglers that would have to be helped home before things got worse.

 He’d gone out to the main stable to talk to the three workers that were the heads of different areas of animal husbandry to make sure a plan to get everything to where it needed to be soon was in place. It took a while to figure out considering that they’d expected a little more time before the first major snowfall. Thomas also asked them to make sure all of the workers’ homes were in good enough condition for the weather. Ranch hands typically had homes on castle grounds but not in the castle themselves since they needed to be close to the animals. Thomas knew at least half a dozen of those who spent most of their times out in the fields were the type to forgot to maintain their homes because they preferred camping amongst the animals in the summer months and then would be in for a bad time when snow began to fall.

 There should be enough extra rooms in the castle if they needed a place to stay until repairs could be done.

Those conversations took a good couple of hours, before Thomas was satisfied. Before trudging back to the castle through the still falling snow, he made a point to stop at one specific horse stall in the main stable. The horse turned his head to see Thomas when he stopped in front of his stall and puffed out a rather disaffected snort before sticking his head over the gate so Thomas could pat his nose. “Hello, Mr. Apples,” Thomas said.

 The horse seemed to conclude he’d tolerated Thomas’s petting enough and ducked his head to nudge at his torso. Thomas rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes,” he said. “I brought you an apple. Some things never change.” He reached into his pocket to grab the red apple he’d brought the white Arabian. “At least you don’t bite me anymore.” He paused, apple slice in hand and eyed the horse’s nose suspiciously. “Do not bite me,” he said even though he hadn’t felt the animal’s teeth in a decade. It would be just like Mr. Apples to wait until his guard was down.

 After a bit of scrutiny, he offered an apple slice. It was snatched out of his hand and there was a loud crunch as it was bit into.

“It’s snowing out,” he told the horse. The horse seemed to roll his eyes at the statement of the obvious. “I’ll remind again that if you run out in a snowstorm, I’m not running after you, so you’d be out of luck.”

Mr. Apples snorted.

“You’re old now. You’d probably not survive long enough for people to find you. Besides, you blend in with that white fur of yours. They’d probably walk right past you a few times.”

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He went back to nosing for treats as soon as he finished his first and Thomas sighed, pulling out another apple slice. “What are they not feeding you enough?” The gusto with which the horse snatched the apple slice was a very clear answer. “Well, we both know that’s not true.” Thomas fed the horse a third slice of apple when he was done with his second. “I have to get back to the castle now. Don’t be a devil horse.”

Mr. Apples threw his head a bit, splattering apple smelling foamy spittle all over Thomas’s front.

“Understood. Have a nice afternoon.”

#not writing #proofread stories

[josephkitchen0]

Early Spring Vegetables List: Don’t Wait on Winter Waning

By Anita Stone, North Carolina – The snow is melting and daytime temperatures are calling you outside. Leaf buds swell on trees and your hands long to feel the soil once again. And you’re hungry. You want leafy greens, tender shoots, something … anything from your garden. Here’s an early spring vegetables list you can plant right now.

Birth of a Season

For months we’ve subsisted on autumn’s harvest. Winter squash ripened bright orange and sat patiently in storage until we cooked it. Sweet, crisp apples gave us vitamin C to battle the flu season. Dry beans simmered for hours in slow cookers for hearty, comforting meals.

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Mother Nature knows what she’s doing. We enjoy bountiful, nutritious vegetables in the summer. Carbohydrate-rich fall crops provide calories necessary for hard work and building a lipid layer which, until recently, has been crucial for human survival during the winter. Even the life cycles of lambs and chickens coincide with humans’ need for protein and fat during different times of the year. And as winter shrouds the land and crops refuse to grow, we consume food storage: grains and beans, long-storage squash, root vegetables, and what we have dehydrated and preserved from our gardens.

Then spring blossoms. The first plants on a spring vegetables list to appear are the healthiest. Dandelions and parsley, sprouting and growing despite frost and intermittent snowstorms, offer nutrients we’ve lacked all season. It’s a powerful reprieve to a long, lean winter.

Miraculously, the crops you can plant first on your spring vegetables list are also loaded with the nutrients you need most right now.

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Even old pros say they got dozens of tips for their flocks by reading this guide. YES! I want this Free Guide »

Workable Ground

You can plant and harvest several months before your area’s final frost date. And though websites may tell you to plant onions in January and broccoli in February, this is location-specific. Your own garden may differ.

If you don’t already know your planting zone, research it. This will help determine when you should start herbs and when it’s safe to finally put tomatoes outside. Along the Pacific coastline, temperatures probably didn’t drop below 20 Fahrenheit so you may be able to start radishes after the New Year. Minnesota soil may still be frozen in March.

Seed packages recommend planting as soon as the ground can be worked. That means the dirt isn’t frozen, even if the ambient temperatures still drop below freezing. Soil doesn’t bind in wet clumps, refusing to fall from your shovel. It crumbles with a gentle touch. Water doesn’t stand on top of the ground so saturated it won’t sink further.

Plant spring crops as soon as you can. Time is critical because many cold-weather crops turn bitter or go to seed when it gets too hot. Find the sunniest, warmest location of your garden. If you use containers, placing them on a driveway or against a brick wall can draw in additional heat. Plant seeds as directed on the package, paying heed to depth and spacing requirements. If you sow and then a cold snap moves in, encourage germination by placing thick clear plastic or an old glass window over the ground, allowing enough room below for air to circulate.

If seed packages instruct you to wait until all danger of frost has passed, hold tight to those for several more months.

Early Spring Vegetables List

Salad Greens: Among the earliest crops are lettuce, arugula, and mesclun mixes. You’ll have success growing lettuce and greens when the soil is 55 degrees and many can be harvested within 30 days. And though they won’t flourish during long cold snaps, they won’t die unless temperatures dip below 28 degrees.

Spinach: Plant in the spring ground, harvest within 60 days, and get the most of this crop before it bolts. Most spinach cannot tolerate a hot summer. Some varieties are bred to thrive longer, but spinach is best enjoyed when it’s still springtime.

Asian Greens: Extremely hardy varieties such as bok choy and napa cabbage still look stunning when glazed with a thin layer of ice. And once the ice melts, they shine in the sun and continue to grow. Protect these from a hard frost but don’t worry if the nights still fall between 28 and 32.

Radishes: And if temperatures do still fall below 28? Your radishes will be fine. Growing radishes of a smaller variety such as Easter Egg mature within 30 days while larger, sweeter radishes like daikon can take 60 to 90. Root crops like radishes prefer to be direct-sown, planted right in the ground rather than started as seedlings.

Kale: This tough and nutritious leafy green sits beside radishes as one of the toughest brassicas you can grow. It can even thrive during mild winters with no snow pack. Sow early and protect seedlings from a hard frost to give them a little boost. Harvest the lowermost leaves and let the plant continue to grow through the summer heat.

Onions: Choose long day onions if you live in the north; short day varieties if you live in Zone 7 or warmer. To harvest sooner, purchase onion “sets,” tiny bulbs that have been started, pulled, and dried so you can replant and continue growing. Onion seeds are useful for growing rare varieties, though this adds several months to the maturity date. Start seeds inside to encourage germination and then plant the tiny spikes in the ground after hardening them off for a few days. Onions can survive a hard frost and poke right through the late snow.

Peas: Snow peas are aptly named. They’re among the first crops you can plant, and seedlings actually fare better in a hard frost than maturing plants. Both snow and snap peas can grace your table within 60 days. Direct-sow peas for the best results.

Beets and Swiss Chard: Silverbeet is the name for chard in Australia and New Zealand because they are in the same family. And they’re extremely nutritious plants which offer edible greens and roots that live in cold conditions. Direct-sow inside or out then carefully thin and replant after seedlings emerge.

Carrots: Though they can be planted as soon as the ground can be worked, carrots do prefer temperatures a little warmer. Often gardeners plant carrots during the second month of spring, after temperatures are higher but still freezing at night. Scatter in rows then thin after seedlings emerge. Remember that carrots only grow as large as the space you give them.

Starting plants indoors during the late winter will help you get a head start on your garden this year.

In the Greenhouse

May frost-intolerant crops thrive best if they are started in a greenhouse several months before the final frost date. Seed catalogs list “days to maturity” as 60 to 95 days, but this count starts after you transplant at about eight weeks old.

A sunny window usually isn’t enough for garden vegetables, as they need at least eight hours of direct sunlight. Growing within a house window can result in pale, leggy, unhealthy seedlings. If you have no greenhouse or sunroom, supplement with a strong ultraviolet light when sun doesn’t shine directly on the plants. Set the light very close to the plants, but don’t allow seedlings to touch hot bulbs.

Always harden seedlings off before planting outside.

Tomatoes: Start your favorite varieties within eight weeks of your final frost date. Healthy tomatoes grow fast, so be prepared to transplant a few times before they go outside. The best tomatoes have plenty of root space.

Peppers: The hottest peppers originate in the warmest climates. Give them more time to grow. Start bhut jolokia or habaneros 10 to 12 weeks before your last frost date; jalapeños or banana peppers should be started eight weeks before. Transplant often enough that plants do not get root bound.

Eggplant: Starting slow and tender and then growing fast, eggplant despise the cold. Even 40 degrees can make them wilt. Sow a few weeks before your tomatoes then keep eggplant in the warmest area of your greenhouse for best results.

Herbs: Most commonly used herbs are surprisingly frost- tolerant. Perennials such as oregano and thyme re-emerge soon after the ground warms. Hardier rosemary can live through the winter. Basil, however, blackens and dies before temperatures even drop to freezing. Start herbs indoors to encourage germination. Harden off all plants, especially those purchased from a greenhouse, placing permanently outdoors.

Sweet Potatoes: Seed companies sell sweet potatoes as slips: little green shoots just starting to form roots. They also ship sweet potato slips in April, which may or may not be warm enough for them to go outside. Sweet potatoes must have heat to survive. But you can start your own slips by purchasing organic sweet potatoes from a supermarket, setting them on moist soil or half-submerged in water, and keeping them in a greenhouse. It may take a couple months for decent slips to emerge from a supermarket tuber. Once sprouts form, carefully remove them and insert halfway into moist, fertile soil so they can take root.

Though squash, beans, and corn are sold within greenhouses as starts and seedlings, they fare best directly-sown within your garden. Root damage and transplant shock can stunt the plant. Seeds sown directly sprout and flourish within the location they were intended.

Whether you have a relish for salads topped with crisp sugar snap peas or want to add fresh greens to warm comforting soups, your garden can provide early in the year with proper selection of seeds and choice location.

Hardening Off

Greenhouse-grown plants have been pampered their whole lives. Kept warm, in high humidity and moist soil, they have never even experienced direct sunlight. Always ask your local nursery if plants have been hardened off; chances are, they haven’t. Staff in corporate-owned garden centers may not even know what “hardened off” means.

To harden off plants grown within your greenhouse or others, bring them outside for a single hour in unfiltered sunlight or for two hours during a cloudy day. Don’t forget them or they will sunburn! The next day, double the time spent outside. Double that again the following day. By the time your plants can spend eight hours in full sun without damage, and a chilly night without wilting, they are ready to live permanently in the garden.

Transplant in the evening to avoid shock. Heat and strong sunlight stress a plant and right now they need to recover as roots take hold. Dig a hole in your garden soil and fill with water. Transplant, fill in soil around the plant, mulch, and water again. Let the plant spend a gentle, cool night before the sun comes out strong again.

What About Potatoes?

You’ll hear conflicting advice regarding potatoes. Though some gardeners sow them in the early spring, potatoes are nightshades. The green tops cannot withstand a frost. If they emerge then must endure a cold snap, the tops will die back, which will stunt development of tubers. Potatoes mature within 90 to 120 days, which allows plenty of time during most growing seasons. If your season is shorter than most, plant potatoes early but mulch around tender new leaves and provide frost protection if temperatures drop.

Season Extenders

Cold frames, hoop houses, water walls, and frost blankets are all ways to extend the season and plant your crops sooner. Even cold-weather vegetables benefit from a little-added warmth.

Cold frames combine rigid sides with a glass or plastic top, set directly atop soil to add heat and light beyond the season. They can be permanent structures built of wood and old windows or makeshift enclosures of straw bales with thick plastic tacked atop. Hoop houses can be as simple as PVC pipe or livestock panels, arched over a raised bed and covered with plastic. If you don’t have the space or finances for either, purchase a frost blanket from a local garden center or online retailer. Suspend it above the plants for the best protection, as the frost may penetrate material that lies directly on leaves. Frost blanket still allows in at least 80% of the sunlight so you don’t need to remove it on cold days. But it does filter the light, so plants grown entirely under frost protection will need to be introduced gradually to full sunlight before the protection is dismantled.

Originally published in Countryside March/April 2017.

Early Spring Vegetables List: Don’t Wait on Winter Waning was originally posted by All About Chickens

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Early Spring Vegetables List: Don’t Wait on Winter Waning

By Anita Stone, North Carolina – The snow is melting and daytime temperatures are calling you outside. Leaf buds swell on trees and your hands long to feel the soil once again. And you’re hungry. You want leafy greens, tender shoots, something … anything from your garden. Here’s an early spring vegetables list you can plant right now.

Birth of a Season

For months we’ve subsisted on autumn’s harvest. Winter squash ripened bright orange and sat patiently in storage until we cooked it. Sweet, crisp apples gave us vitamin C to battle the flu season. Dry beans simmered for hours in slow cookers for hearty, comforting meals.

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Mother Nature knows what she’s doing. We enjoy bountiful, nutritious vegetables in the summer. Carbohydrate-rich fall crops provide calories necessary for hard work and building a lipid layer which, until recently, has been crucial for human survival during the winter. Even the life cycles of lambs and chickens coincide with humans’ need for protein and fat during different times of the year. And as winter shrouds the land and crops refuse to grow, we consume food storage: grains and beans, long-storage squash, root vegetables, and what we have dehydrated and preserved from our gardens.

Then spring blossoms. The first plants on a spring vegetables list to appear are the healthiest. Dandelions and parsley, sprouting and growing despite frost and intermittent snowstorms, offer nutrients we’ve lacked all season. It’s a powerful reprieve to a long, lean winter.

Miraculously, the crops you can plant first on your spring vegetables list are also loaded with the nutrients you need most right now.

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Even old pros say they got dozens of tips for their flocks by reading this guide. YES! I want this Free Guide »

Workable Ground

You can plant and harvest several months before your area’s final frost date. And though websites may tell you to plant onions in January and broccoli in February, this is location-specific. Your own garden may differ.

If you don’t already know your planting zone, research it. This will help determine when you should start herbs and when it’s safe to finally put tomatoes outside. Along the Pacific coastline, temperatures probably didn’t drop below 20 Fahrenheit so you may be able to start radishes after the New Year. Minnesota soil may still be frozen in March.

Seed packages recommend planting as soon as the ground can be worked. That means the dirt isn’t frozen, even if the ambient temperatures still drop below freezing. Soil doesn’t bind in wet clumps, refusing to fall from your shovel. It crumbles with a gentle touch. Water doesn’t stand on top of the ground so saturated it won’t sink further.

Plant spring crops as soon as you can. Time is critical because many cold-weather crops turn bitter or go to seed when it gets too hot. Find the sunniest, warmest location of your garden. If you use containers, placing them on a driveway or against a brick wall can draw in additional heat. Plant seeds as directed on the package, paying heed to depth and spacing requirements. If you sow and then a cold snap moves in, encourage germination by placing thick clear plastic or an old glass window over the ground, allowing enough room below for air to circulate.

If seed packages instruct you to wait until all danger of frost has passed, hold tight to those for several more months.

Early Spring Vegetables List

Salad Greens: Among the earliest crops are lettuce, arugula, and mesclun mixes. You’ll have success growing lettuce and greens when the soil is 55 degrees and many can be harvested within 30 days. And though they won’t flourish during long cold snaps, they won’t die unless temperatures dip below 28 degrees.

Spinach: Plant in the spring ground, harvest within 60 days, and get the most of this crop before it bolts. Most spinach cannot tolerate a hot summer. Some varieties are bred to thrive longer, but spinach is best enjoyed when it’s still springtime.

Asian Greens: Extremely hardy varieties such as bok choy and napa cabbage still look stunning when glazed with a thin layer of ice. And once the ice melts, they shine in the sun and continue to grow. Protect these from a hard frost but don’t worry if the nights still fall between 28 and 32.

Radishes: And if temperatures do still fall below 28? Your radishes will be fine. Growing radishes of a smaller variety such as Easter Egg mature within 30 days while larger, sweeter radishes like daikon can take 60 to 90. Root crops like radishes prefer to be direct-sown, planted right in the ground rather than started as seedlings.

Kale: This tough and nutritious leafy green sits beside radishes as one of the toughest brassicas you can grow. It can even thrive during mild winters with no snow pack. Sow early and protect seedlings from a hard frost to give them a little boost. Harvest the lowermost leaves and let the plant continue to grow through the summer heat.

Onions: Choose long day onions if you live in the north; short day varieties if you live in Zone 7 or warmer. To harvest sooner, purchase onion “sets,” tiny bulbs that have been started, pulled, and dried so you can replant and continue growing. Onion seeds are useful for growing rare varieties, though this adds several months to the maturity date. Start seeds inside to encourage germination and then plant the tiny spikes in the ground after hardening them off for a few days. Onions can survive a hard frost and poke right through the late snow.

Peas: Snow peas are aptly named. They’re among the first crops you can plant, and seedlings actually fare better in a hard frost than maturing plants. Both snow and snap peas can grace your table within 60 days. Direct-sow peas for the best results.

Beets and Swiss Chard: Silverbeet is the name for chard in Australia and New Zealand because they are in the same family. And they’re extremely nutritious plants which offer edible greens and roots that live in cold conditions. Direct-sow inside or out then carefully thin and replant after seedlings emerge.

Carrots: Though they can be planted as soon as the ground can be worked, carrots do prefer temperatures a little warmer. Often gardeners plant carrots during the second month of spring, after temperatures are higher but still freezing at night. Scatter in rows then thin after seedlings emerge. Remember that carrots only grow as large as the space you give them.

Starting plants indoors during the late winter will help you get a head start on your garden this year.

In the Greenhouse

May frost-intolerant crops thrive best if they are started in a greenhouse several months before the final frost date. Seed catalogs list “days to maturity” as 60 to 95 days, but this count starts after you transplant at about eight weeks old.

A sunny window usually isn’t enough for garden vegetables, as they need at least eight hours of direct sunlight. Growing within a house window can result in pale, leggy, unhealthy seedlings. If you have no greenhouse or sunroom, supplement with a strong ultraviolet light when sun doesn’t shine directly on the plants. Set the light very close to the plants, but don’t allow seedlings to touch hot bulbs.

Always harden seedlings off before planting outside.

Tomatoes: Start your favorite varieties within eight weeks of your final frost date. Healthy tomatoes grow fast, so be prepared to transplant a few times before they go outside. The best tomatoes have plenty of root space.

Peppers: The hottest peppers originate in the warmest climates. Give them more time to grow. Start bhut jolokia or habaneros 10 to 12 weeks before your last frost date; jalapeños or banana peppers should be started eight weeks before. Transplant often enough that plants do not get root bound.

Eggplant: Starting slow and tender and then growing fast, eggplant despise the cold. Even 40 degrees can make them wilt. Sow a few weeks before your tomatoes then keep eggplant in the warmest area of your greenhouse for best results.

Herbs: Most commonly used herbs are surprisingly frost- tolerant. Perennials such as oregano and thyme re-emerge soon after the ground warms. Hardier rosemary can live through the winter. Basil, however, blackens and dies before temperatures even drop to freezing. Start herbs indoors to encourage germination. Harden off all plants, especially those purchased from a greenhouse, placing permanently outdoors.

Sweet Potatoes: Seed companies sell sweet potatoes as slips: little green shoots just starting to form roots. They also ship sweet potato slips in April, which may or may not be warm enough for them to go outside. Sweet potatoes must have heat to survive. But you can start your own slips by purchasing organic sweet potatoes from a supermarket, setting them on moist soil or half-submerged in water, and keeping them in a greenhouse. It may take a couple months for decent slips to emerge from a supermarket tuber. Once sprouts form, carefully remove them and insert halfway into moist, fertile soil so they can take root.

Though squash, beans, and corn are sold within greenhouses as starts and seedlings, they fare best directly-sown within your garden. Root damage and transplant shock can stunt the plant. Seeds sown directly sprout and flourish within the location they were intended.

Whether you have a relish for salads topped with crisp sugar snap peas or want to add fresh greens to warm comforting soups, your garden can provide early in the year with proper selection of seeds and choice location.

Hardening Off

Greenhouse-grown plants have been pampered their whole lives. Kept warm, in high humidity and moist soil, they have never even experienced direct sunlight. Always ask your local nursery if plants have been hardened off; chances are, they haven’t. Staff in corporate-owned garden centers may not even know what “hardened off” means.

To harden off plants grown within your greenhouse or others, bring them outside for a single hour in unfiltered sunlight or for two hours during a cloudy day. Don’t forget them or they will sunburn! The next day, double the time spent outside. Double that again the following day. By the time your plants can spend eight hours in full sun without damage, and a chilly night without wilting, they are ready to live permanently in the garden.

Transplant in the evening to avoid shock. Heat and strong sunlight stress a plant and right now they need to recover as roots take hold. Dig a hole in your garden soil and fill with water. Transplant, fill in soil around the plant, mulch, and water again. Let the plant spend a gentle, cool night before the sun comes out strong again.

What About Potatoes?

You’ll hear conflicting advice regarding potatoes. Though some gardeners sow them in the early spring, potatoes are nightshades. The green tops cannot withstand a frost. If they emerge then must endure a cold snap, the tops will die back, which will stunt development of tubers. Potatoes mature within 90 to 120 days, which allows plenty of time during most growing seasons. If your season is shorter than most, plant potatoes early but mulch around tender new leaves and provide frost protection if temperatures drop.

Season Extenders

Cold frames, hoop houses, water walls, and frost blankets are all ways to extend the season and plant your crops sooner. Even cold-weather vegetables benefit from a little-added warmth.

Cold frames combine rigid sides with a glass or plastic top, set directly atop soil to add heat and light beyond the season. They can be permanent structures built of wood and old windows or makeshift enclosures of straw bales with thick plastic tacked atop. Hoop houses can be as simple as PVC pipe or livestock panels, arched over a raised bed and covered with plastic. If you don’t have the space or finances for either, purchase a frost blanket from a local garden center or online retailer. Suspend it above the plants for the best protection, as the frost may penetrate material that lies directly on leaves. Frost blanket still allows in at least 80% of the sunlight so you don’t need to remove it on cold days. But it does filter the light, so plants grown entirely under frost protection will need to be introduced gradually to full sunlight before the protection is dismantled.

Originally published in Countryside March/April 2017.

Early Spring Vegetables List: Don’t Wait on Winter Waning was originally posted by All About Chickens