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Part Five

After breakfast Mel followed me into my office andsat very attentively as I went through my morning routine. I kept a running commentary as a way of explaining the minutia of my operations pausing every now and again to answer questions. The more I encouraged her, the more interested she became, and a stream of questions flowed from my eager Mousey, which pleased me greatly.

Printing off the pick lists, I sent out the confirmations touched base with my customers tosee if there were any last minuteadditions, then threw on my work clothes. Mel went up to her room and went through Bree's old clothes smiling sadly atthe amazing morph she would never get to know. Holding a lovely breezypiece of what Mel would call 'Gift Wrap' up to herself. She admiredthe reflection in the dressing mirror andthought Breeanna was one lucky morph, and that this might look nice on her as well...Sighing she found a pair of well loved overalls with a loose fitting long sleeved shirt, that must be Bree's farming outfit.

A few minutes later she was adjusting the straps for a better fit, the tail hole was a little loose owing to the fact Mel didn't have a floofy tail, but other than that, the fit was a good one. Appearing in the kitchen she smiled at her human partner; she had braided back her auburn trusses secured with a green bow.

"Farm Mousey Mel, reporting for duty, Sir!" she announced. I looked up, smiled at her,and for the briefest of moments saw my beloved Breeanna; blinking I saw My Mousey ready for her first day. She looked wonderful, all she needed was a sun hat which Bree always kept in the mud room.

"Well don't you look lovely! I see Bree's things fit you well enough, yes?" I asked returning her playful salute.

"Yes Sir! Just had to adjust the shoulder straps a little. She had some lovely clothes that look like they will probably fit me. I can tell you Sir, her wardrobe was farfancier than my own, and I thankyou for letting me inherit it from her."

"You are quite welcome Mel, when she chose to wear clothing, she did indeed wear it well. Now hersun hat and footwear are in the mud room, they are designed for comfort and should fit you, if not, we will get a set that will. Now let me introduce you to my world." I said taking her paw leadingher through the kitchen and into themud room.

"This is what we call the 'mud room', a place to transition between the house and the garden. We kept the work boots coats and hats in here. Sit on the bench and try on those rubber boots. Bree loved sunflowers, so we found her a set with sunflowers on them. There are both cold weather coats as well as rain slickers in here. The sun hat will really help in the hot summer; let's see if it fits you?" I asked taking the straw hat with the ear slots in the brim to my new Mousey. It looked very cute on her.

"How's the fit?" I asked slipping on my own boots.

"A little loose, but I have some wiggle room for my ears." she smiled at me.

"Good good, I can place some filler in the sweatband that should make for a better fit. Good thing morphs were designed with plantigrade feet, it makes finding footwear for them easier." I said with a smile. As we stepped out into the garden the morning sun was just breaking the horizon, it looked to be another perfect day. I had my clipboard at the ready. Stepping over to the production area that held the washing station and sorting table as well as the boxes for the packing station. I placed the invoices on the packing stations document holder.

"This is the processing area, here we bring in the harvest, wash and sort it according to the weekly orders. The invoices are placed here, that let's us know what goes where. The pick sheets here." I said handing her a copy, it had a list of produce that needed harvesting. "This tells us what we need to harvest in order to fill the invoices posted at the packing station.." I said as she read over the list of produce.

"Um, why does it say three feet of parsley, twofeet of carrots half a row of tomatoes?" Mel asked somewhat confused by the pick sheet.

"Ifigured that witheach bed beingthirty inches wideby forty feet long, for example, one foot of bed should yield half a pound of product, but things like spinach a foot of bed will yield two pounds of product. I add up the orders multiply by the amount needed and divide by harvest to know how much I am going to have to pick to meet the day's order so I figured it would allow me to better manage my resources.

"When we get back we will have to replant the carrot bed we just harvested, so that way by the time we reach the end of the bed the next crop will be ready to harvest."

"That's brilliant. How long have you been doing this?" Mel askslooking over the garden area seeing it in a whole new light.

" I have been gardening off an on most of my life. I got into a more professional farm phase about ten years ago. When Bree came along I was running a weekend farmers market stall, as well as a few select CSA' customers.While Iwas doing okay with it, it was not my main focus. Bree changed all that." I paused with a fondly remembered smile.

" I met her at the market, she was really excited to find someone willing to not only sell to her, but share their passion for food with her. After a few weeks I gave her a shot working at my market stall. Then I brought her out to see the place, she fell in love with it, and could see the potential more than I could at the time. To be honest I thought I was just about at my limits with what I had, but she showed me a few new ways of intensivefarming I hadn't considered, we had some real fun working together at the market and she was a big help around the place so I offered her a companion contract. She gladly accepted and moved in with me... It was a very good five years..." I broke off looking at my new morph. "And I am looking forward to the next ten with you Mel, that is if you think you can stick it out with me that long?" I asked with a wink.

"Ask me again after today, but I think I can handle just about anything you'd care to throw at me. I love fresh produce and seeing it growing gives me a connection to the land I did not have living back in the city. I like the quiet that is out here. The idea of doing this for my new life brings with it a sense of contentment."

"Good good, I would like youto harvest the carrots for AnimaMundi, take this basket and come with me." I said handing her a mesh tote as we walked down the rows to the carrot bed. About one third of the way down the row I paused at where the tall bushy greens started.

"These are Persian market carrots, we grow them exclusively for the high end restaurant Anima Mundi." I said reaching down and pulling one of the small orange globes from the rich soil. Brushing the bits of clinging soil I polished it on the hand towel stuck in my belt and handed it to her. It looked like a perfect jewel of a carrot about the size of a radish, but vividly orange. Mel smiled.

"Oh my, that is absolutely adorable! I don't think I have ever in my life seen a carrot like this." she enthused admiring the perfect little carrot in her paw, sniffing it's pungent aroma.

"Eat it. I want you to have an intimate understanding of everything we grow here." I instructed, my Mousey made short work of it, including the vivid green tops. She hugged herself in joy.

"Oh my lord! I have Never tasted such a sweet vividly intensely flavored carrot in my life, Keven, those arewonderful! Even the greens aren't really bitter, they are pungent but I couldn't stop myself from eating them, I can see why such a high end eaterywants them, they are amazing. Thank you, so it says on the pick sheetit says twofeetof this bed."

"Yes, a two foot section of a thirty inch wide bed will yield a six pound box of these carrots, reach down and gently grip them at the base of the greens and give them a little wiggle they should pop right out of the bed, then lay them in the basket trying to keep them in rows, once you have what you need bring them back to the processing area and I will show you how to wash and pack them. You will see just how happy Chef Rico is when we deliver these to him. Now have fun, I will take care of the chefs herbs, meet me back at the wash table then we can go pick tomatoes." I said watching her start to harvest the orange gems from the soft garden bed.

"That's it, just lay them in the tote, you got it hon, well done, you may just be a natural at this. For me it is all about showing respect for your product." I said. Mel smiled and nodded.

" I can see that, it is almost a reverence for the land and the bounty it can provide." she mused as she laid the carrots in the bin.

"Yes, it's exactly that my dear, when you enjoy your job it ceases to become work, enjoy yourself, Mel."

I went off to quickly harvest the parsley, basil, cilantro, and other herbs for the order, Soon enough, Mel came back to the wash station grinning ear to ear looking quite content and satisfied with the direction her life was going. I showed her how to wash and dry them then trim them to order, weigh them out, and pack them into a six pound box. Then set that into the delivery tote tagged for Anima Mundi.

"They look so pretty." she mused. "What do we do with the leftover greens?" she asked nibbling on a few of the delicate fronds.

"We usually compost them, but we can make a very tasty salsa with them."

You're Kidding, really, how can you make salsa out of carrot tops?" she asked holding a pawfull of the green foliage.

" I'll show you, separate out a couple of large pawfulls of the best looking greens set it aside and dump the rest into the compost bucket next to the processing station. Then we will harvest the rainbow chard for them." I say watching her quickly separate out a nice pile of delicate greens and gather the rest and drop them into the compost bin.

Dusting her paws off she turned to me with a nod, a harvest tote in paw. "Ready for the chard, Sir!" she enthused with a giggle.

"Very Good Mousey Mine, this way," I said showing her the way to the deep green forest of rainbow colored stalks of chard. "Pick a stalk and tell me what you think?" I asked as she chose a lemony yellow stalked leaf of chard. Munching happily she quickly finished off the stalk smacking her lips.

"That was very nice! Juicy with a lovely flavor, thank you. I don't think I have ever had this before. I haven't seen it in the stores that I used to do my shopping at." she nodded looking at her list. "So a five foot section, that would be... eight pounds?" she asked.

"Ten pounds, with chard we get two pounds per foot, they want two cases that's ten pounds." I instructed. "Now take your harvest knife and gather a bunch and carefully cut across close to the ground you want a couple inches between your paw and the cut. These harvest knives are very sharp." I warned, then demonstrating the technique a few times, watching Mel take pawfulls of the greens and carefully cutting them free and laying them in the tote.

"Good good, well done hon, take your time and don't rush, it should take about ten minutes for us to harvest this load, but I would rather take a few minutes more than have you rush and hurt yourself. Speed will come with time." I said quickly harvesting a thirty inch wide row of chard in less than a minute.

"Wow, you are Fast!" Mel exclaimed. Taking her time to make sure she wasn't cutting herself.

"Ten years practice, Mousey mine. Give yourself the time to improve. And you will get there, you will develop a feeling for it." I said moving to the end of the cut and working back to Mel.

"Wow, ten pounds of chard really fills up one of these totes!" she beamed dunking it into the washing basin and laying it on the wash table before spraying it with the watering wand. As I got the cases ready.

Two hours later we were double checking the orders against both the invoices and pick sheets. When we were satisfied I brought the skimmer around and we loaded the cargo compartment. Setting the environmental controls to keep the cargo at the perfect temperature, Securing the latches we went back into the house leaving the boots and hats in the mud room then changed, have a snack and get ready for deliveries.

"Go pick out something nice, you are going to be meting people and morphs as well as we are going to be swinging by the rooming house to pick up your stuff. I will make us a snack." I said sending her up to her room as I got to work in the kitchen.

Mel slipped out of her outfit setting it in the hamper, she brushed out her fur and hair, then turned to the closet to pick out something nice.

"Thank you Breeanna, I am very grateful to you, even though I have never met you, and I wish I could have. You were a beautiful soul and brought Keven much happiness... When I get home tonight, I shall light a candle for you. I hope in some small way it shall bring you some comfort. Wherever you are." she said softly closing her eyes and sending this unknown morph all the love in her heart.

Kicking on the oven I quickly prepared a batch of kale chips, one of the easiest snacks in the world to make. By removing the stems and tearing the leaves into bite size pieces, then tossing them into a bowl with a bit of olive oil, and a variety of seasonings then laying them on a few parchment lined sheet pans then eight to ten minutes in a three hundred fifty degree Fahrenheit oven and you have a healthy snack. That packs easily and is a good one for 'in-flight' snacking.

Checking the fridge I grabbed a jar from the middle shelf thick and green, Ginger __S_ callion_ Sauce. Perfect to go with noodles; a great quick snack ready in as long as it takes you to boil up a pot of noodles. I was thinking something rib sticking, so I grabbed a package of thick Udon noodles from the pantry and dropped them into a pot of boiling water with a couple packages of instant dashi stock. Just to kick up the flavor . Yeah, I thought, this should be just perfect.

Mel sighed hoping her heartfelt prayers found it's destination, turning to the closet she marveled at the variety of outfits her predecessor had bequeathed to her. "Thank you Bree..." She said again pulling out an elegant knee length skirt in almost emerald green with a cream ruffled off the shoulder top, this would do nicely...

With a twelve minute cooking time for the noodles, that would give me time to pull the kale chips and let them cool enough to pack. I set out two bowls placing three heaping tablespoons of the ginger scallion sauce in the bottom, dipped out a noodle to test, a quick dunk under cold water and it was perfect.

A quick drain and then into the bowls. Giving the noodles a quick stir with chop sticks I added another tablespoon of sauce on top and gave them a drizzle of hoisin sauce to finish. _ Done! _ I thought.

Turning to the kale chips I sampled one, it was light and crispy. the Tuscan kale adding it's own savory layer of flavor. I nodded packaging the chips in a couple of zip lock bags setting them on the counter. Just as I heard Mel's door from the top of the stairs. Looking up my breath caught, she looked elegant. Mel smiled shyly, "Is this okay?" she asked almost unsure of her choices as she turned for me to see..

"Oh that is perfect hon, great choice. But you should probably strip out of that top if you are going to eat noodles." I suggested as she approached the kitchen

"Whatever you made smells heavenly! And I am soo hungry after that harvest run. What did you make for us Keven?" My Mousey asked. I noticed her hair was held at the back of her head with a butterfly clasp. I remember Bree had acquired that particular bauble at the Ren faire where she had so much fun singing in the tavern courtyard with the troupe of minstrels. It was the perfect accent for that outfit.

"Oh these look really good, what are they?" she asked seeing the sauce she nodded stripping out of the cream ruffled top and taking a seat in the dining nook.

"What I have prepared for us today is a hearty dish of Udon noodles with a ginger scallion sauce. Garnished with a drizzle of hoisin. Enjoy!" I said with a flourish handing my Mousey a bowl. She brought it to her muzzle and inhaled deeply.

"Oh Sir!... This makes my mouth whatter." Thank you." she gushed digging into the flavorful noodle dish.

"Oh my gosth! Sooo Yummy!" Mel enthused as she attacked her bowl with a vengeance, I smiled with a smirk glad she appreciated my cooking.

" I will have to show you how to make it when we get back. It's super easy, and if you have ginger scallion sauce on hand you will never go hungry." I replied digging into my own bowl.

End Part Five

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