Read Online Angela's Hope (Wildflowers) by Leah Banicki - Free Book Online Page A

explained that next year they wanted to begin an olive grove. There was so much to do and Angela could see a bright future for the new Grant couple.
    “We have need for more orchards than we can grow but we are starting. We will be trying to make contact with other growers to buy their harvests. We are not sure if the almonds can survive the climate here. We have a few ideas. Clive is very helpful and we talk to other farmers for input. Just telling Clive of having of the potential for olive oil and almond oils in a few years has helped spread the word among the other growers. We already have orders and the trees are still infants.” Corinne said as she rode.
    “I do not think infants is the proper term, Cori.” Angela teased.
    “Oh hush, they are my little infants and don’t you say another word. I sing to them often and call them my little babies. They like it.” Corinne said and nodded emphatically. She was not to be discouraged.
    The land spread out and the mountain views were a healing balm to Angela’s rumpled spirit. The weariness was easing out of her as the day progressed.
     
    * * * * *
     
    Lunch was a hurried and loud affair with harvesters in from the edges of the field. Some piled into Corinne's kitchen and snacked on the loaves of bread and cold chicken. There were homemade pickles and pies loaded up. The ones that couldn’t fit inside huddled outside, picnic tables were carried around from the back of the cabin. The men carried the food as Corinne passed it to them, the tables outside were loaded down.
    "Cori, I am so impressed at how well your cooking has improved." Angela praised her friend.
    "Oh, I can take no credit. Chelsea Grant brought the bread and chicken last night, I pay Chelsea to keep me supplied on harvest days. Marie made the pies and the amazing briny pickles and she stubbornly refuses to be paid. But somehow a few bushels of fruit just find their way to her front stoop, frequently.” Cori's laughter tripped through the room. “Today is abnormal for me, usually I am busier, and I want to make sure you are rested. Tomorrow I am back in my greenhouse planning and plotting for my lab. I have so much to get done before the snow flies. I must have everything in working order.” Corinne took a few plates that needed refilling.
    “Oh my, you are a busy gal.” Angela saw more men approaching. There was a need for more tables.
    Corinne pointed to a few men who had arrived about more tables that were near the greenhouse. It was a few hundred yards away but the men were happy to do it.
    “We all are thinking of how to improve this process for next year.” Corinne went back inside for more food as the tables arrived.
    “Harvest time is not the only thing to worry about too. I have lists upon lists. It is rewarding work though.” Corinne said.
    “I remember that Lucas went to school for agriculture, right?” Angela asked. She was drawing from a memory from sitting near the campfire on the trail.
    “He gets excited about irrigation and soil, I get excited about my next shipment of seeds and lab equipment.”  Corinne smiled. Angela and Corinne stood talking and watched the men eat their lunch.
    “I would love to see your lab soon. I am certain it will be full of wonders.” Angela was pleased to see Corinne’s excitement.
    “Still waiting for some supplies to arrive from London, there are always new methods and breakthroughs in science and discovery in the plant world. I am so proud to be a part of it.” Cori’s face was beaming.
    She could not see Corinne slaving away in a kitchen if herbs or her medicinal oils had a pull on her. Even in Boston under her Aunt's iron rule Corinne had to be dragged away from the Boston greenhouses nearly every day. Corinne had her strengths and she would stick to them, it was the way it should be.
    “Will you be ok on your own tomorrow if I need to be away?” Corinne looked worried for a minute.
    “I will be just fine, I have to go through my bags