15 Vhalar 721
The berries were ripe now, so Dan rounded up a group of people to pick them. Most of the settlement's children came, and enough of the adults to keep an eye on them and stop any disasters from happening.
Two of the adults had been in the group that he had taught to make fish traps. They had gone away and expanded on the lesson themselves by making and bringing large baskets with them to put the berries in. That way they could pick and carry more than just a bowlful.or a pouchful. Emily was also there helping to carry the baskets.
He headed first to the bramble patch he had found with Emily. "For every berry that goes in your mouth," he told the children solumnly, knowing that there was no point at all in forbidding them eating the blackberries entirely, and letting Emily translate for him, "at least five need to go in the basket. Other people want berries too. Don't eat anything you don't recognise." He waited until they were all engaged with picking, and then left some there with Emily to keep an eye on what they were doing, and took some off to the blueberry bushes he had spotted when he was tracking Lily.
He gave them the same instructions, and joined in their picking, watching with hidden amusement as Lily solumnly counted berries into the basket with one hand and picked with the other. She popped the sixth berry into her mouth with a triumphant gap-toothed grin and started again.
Dan started picking, but unlike when he was working alone, there were constant interruptions and problems to solve. Someone got too close to a nettle and ended up stung. (He found a dock leaf to soothe the stings for them) Someone lost their balance, fell in the bush, and had to be hauled out. (Dan was just glad that unlike blackberry brambles, blueberry bushes didn't have thorns. It could have been much nastier.) One of the smaller children decided they didn't like blueberries and started to cry in protest at having to pick them.
The blueberries weren't bad, actually, Dan thought, finally getting to pop his own sixth berry into his mouth. But he liked them better as a flavouring or as a garnish rather than as the main ingredient. When he could get them, he preferred blackberries, but, despite the fact that blackberries grew in abundance at this season, they were a rarer treat on his dining - situation. (He could hardly say they were a rare treat on his dining table when he didn't really have a dining table. He ate his meals from a bowl cradled against him, next to the cook fire.)
The thing was, that blueberries were easier to dry than blackberries, which meant they were easier to store. Blackberries had to be either mashed up and dried as a sheet of fruit paste or, if you had the time and equipment (he didn't) boiled down to a thick syrup and stored in jars or bottles. Blueberries could be dried as they were, cut in half at most, with far less effort and mess involved, and then stored in simple bags. It was, in general, why he picked far more blueberries than blackberries, even though he liked blackberries better.
Lily tapped his arm to get his attention, then fluttered her fingers at a cluster of berries that was just out of her reach (but not out of his, since he was taller) and gave him a hopeful look. Dan reached up and pulled the branch down to a point where she could reach, waite unil she had picked all the berries off it, and then let the branch go so that it bounced back up to its previous height. There were other berries up there too, some out of even his reach. But he knew how to deal with that.
He cut himself a stick with a natural barb or hook left from another branch veering off at an angle, and used it to pull higher branches down within reach of smaller arms and hands, so that they could pick the berries from them. It was only a small patch of blueberry bushes though, and they had soon picked everything that was ripe. Carrying the now rather heavier basket, they headed back to see how the blackberry pickers were getting on.
The blackberry thicket was rather larger than the clump of blueberry bushes, so the blackberry pickers were still working, although by this point, they had picked most of the berries that were easy to get at. Evidence that the pickers had eaten and enjoyed some of the berries showed clearly in the purple stains caused by the berries' juice that lingered on the pickers' fingers and mouths. However, when Dan peered into the basket, there were plenty of berries there too.
Evidence of the thorns on the brambles that the blackberries grew on was in plentiful supply too. It showed up as scratches on arms where the pickers had stretched past a thorny spray to reach a cluster of berries, and as pricked fingers where the pickers hadn't quite been careful enough as they picked the berries off the stem.
The group of blueberry pickers set the basket of blueberries down a short distance away so that the two kinds of berry were less likely to get mixed up and then joined the blackberry pickers again. Dan brought his hooked stick over and began to pull branches down for the others to pick, using the length of the stick itself to prevent himself from getting too scratched up in the process. Emily saw what he was doing, and she looked around, found a stick of her own, and joined him in pulling down the higher clusters of blackberries.
He glanced over at her, and gave her a nod of approval which in turn earned him a grin. "How did it go?" he asked, abbreviating the signs so that he could make them one handed while he used the stick in his other hand.
"Not as bad as I expected," Emily replied clumsily, clearly not as used to signing and working at the same time as he was. "Yours?"
"Pretty well, all things considered," Dan told her. The things to be considered included the fact that the berry pickers were mostly children, and even of those who were adults, almost none had any experience of this. Add in the communication diffculties, and his own lack of knowledge about how to lead or teach, and he reckoned they had done well enough. Nobody was badly hurt, anyway, and they had plenty of fruit, whch meant they had been successful at the whole point of the expedition.
Emily nodded, and then someone stepped in between them and they couldn't see each other enough to talk any more. Dan went back to keeping an eye out for other creatures who might want the berries. The noise that the berry picking group was making was enough to scare off most of the birds that would otherwise be all over the bramble thicket, and probably the mice too, but he had seen wolves picking low level berries off their stems and eating them before now, and wolves were a lot bolder, as were foxes that did the same. Deer liked grass better, but bears ate berries too, and bears weren't afraid of anything - with good reason. He didn't expect bears to be this close, but he wasn't particularly keen on taking the chance or assuming that it wouldn't be. Better by far to check, and find nothing, than assume and end up hurt.
They did all finish picking eventually though, and all that was left was to get all the fruit and all the people back to the safety of the settlement. He let the adults who had come with the group do the work of rounding up the various children and getting them started back towards Eureka, as they probably knew the children best and were most likely to be obeyed.
For himself, he went to help carry the baskets of berries. They were heavier than they looked, which boded well for a good harvest, but made them tricky to deal with single handed. There were two handles though, so he took one handle of the blackberry basket and Emily took the other, and they hefted it between them. Two of the other adults were doing the same with the basket of blueberries, so that was all right. They set out for the settlement, slow but steady, with a good trial's work carried in the baskets. Like the berries, life was sweet.
"Signed words" Spoken words
The berries were ripe now, so Dan rounded up a group of people to pick them. Most of the settlement's children came, and enough of the adults to keep an eye on them and stop any disasters from happening.
Two of the adults had been in the group that he had taught to make fish traps. They had gone away and expanded on the lesson themselves by making and bringing large baskets with them to put the berries in. That way they could pick and carry more than just a bowlful.or a pouchful. Emily was also there helping to carry the baskets.
He headed first to the bramble patch he had found with Emily. "For every berry that goes in your mouth," he told the children solumnly, knowing that there was no point at all in forbidding them eating the blackberries entirely, and letting Emily translate for him, "at least five need to go in the basket. Other people want berries too. Don't eat anything you don't recognise." He waited until they were all engaged with picking, and then left some there with Emily to keep an eye on what they were doing, and took some off to the blueberry bushes he had spotted when he was tracking Lily.
He gave them the same instructions, and joined in their picking, watching with hidden amusement as Lily solumnly counted berries into the basket with one hand and picked with the other. She popped the sixth berry into her mouth with a triumphant gap-toothed grin and started again.
Dan started picking, but unlike when he was working alone, there were constant interruptions and problems to solve. Someone got too close to a nettle and ended up stung. (He found a dock leaf to soothe the stings for them) Someone lost their balance, fell in the bush, and had to be hauled out. (Dan was just glad that unlike blackberry brambles, blueberry bushes didn't have thorns. It could have been much nastier.) One of the smaller children decided they didn't like blueberries and started to cry in protest at having to pick them.
The blueberries weren't bad, actually, Dan thought, finally getting to pop his own sixth berry into his mouth. But he liked them better as a flavouring or as a garnish rather than as the main ingredient. When he could get them, he preferred blackberries, but, despite the fact that blackberries grew in abundance at this season, they were a rarer treat on his dining - situation. (He could hardly say they were a rare treat on his dining table when he didn't really have a dining table. He ate his meals from a bowl cradled against him, next to the cook fire.)
The thing was, that blueberries were easier to dry than blackberries, which meant they were easier to store. Blackberries had to be either mashed up and dried as a sheet of fruit paste or, if you had the time and equipment (he didn't) boiled down to a thick syrup and stored in jars or bottles. Blueberries could be dried as they were, cut in half at most, with far less effort and mess involved, and then stored in simple bags. It was, in general, why he picked far more blueberries than blackberries, even though he liked blackberries better.
Lily tapped his arm to get his attention, then fluttered her fingers at a cluster of berries that was just out of her reach (but not out of his, since he was taller) and gave him a hopeful look. Dan reached up and pulled the branch down to a point where she could reach, waite unil she had picked all the berries off it, and then let the branch go so that it bounced back up to its previous height. There were other berries up there too, some out of even his reach. But he knew how to deal with that.
He cut himself a stick with a natural barb or hook left from another branch veering off at an angle, and used it to pull higher branches down within reach of smaller arms and hands, so that they could pick the berries from them. It was only a small patch of blueberry bushes though, and they had soon picked everything that was ripe. Carrying the now rather heavier basket, they headed back to see how the blackberry pickers were getting on.
The blackberry thicket was rather larger than the clump of blueberry bushes, so the blackberry pickers were still working, although by this point, they had picked most of the berries that were easy to get at. Evidence that the pickers had eaten and enjoyed some of the berries showed clearly in the purple stains caused by the berries' juice that lingered on the pickers' fingers and mouths. However, when Dan peered into the basket, there were plenty of berries there too.
Evidence of the thorns on the brambles that the blackberries grew on was in plentiful supply too. It showed up as scratches on arms where the pickers had stretched past a thorny spray to reach a cluster of berries, and as pricked fingers where the pickers hadn't quite been careful enough as they picked the berries off the stem.
The group of blueberry pickers set the basket of blueberries down a short distance away so that the two kinds of berry were less likely to get mixed up and then joined the blackberry pickers again. Dan brought his hooked stick over and began to pull branches down for the others to pick, using the length of the stick itself to prevent himself from getting too scratched up in the process. Emily saw what he was doing, and she looked around, found a stick of her own, and joined him in pulling down the higher clusters of blackberries.
He glanced over at her, and gave her a nod of approval which in turn earned him a grin. "How did it go?" he asked, abbreviating the signs so that he could make them one handed while he used the stick in his other hand.
"Not as bad as I expected," Emily replied clumsily, clearly not as used to signing and working at the same time as he was. "Yours?"
"Pretty well, all things considered," Dan told her. The things to be considered included the fact that the berry pickers were mostly children, and even of those who were adults, almost none had any experience of this. Add in the communication diffculties, and his own lack of knowledge about how to lead or teach, and he reckoned they had done well enough. Nobody was badly hurt, anyway, and they had plenty of fruit, whch meant they had been successful at the whole point of the expedition.
Emily nodded, and then someone stepped in between them and they couldn't see each other enough to talk any more. Dan went back to keeping an eye out for other creatures who might want the berries. The noise that the berry picking group was making was enough to scare off most of the birds that would otherwise be all over the bramble thicket, and probably the mice too, but he had seen wolves picking low level berries off their stems and eating them before now, and wolves were a lot bolder, as were foxes that did the same. Deer liked grass better, but bears ate berries too, and bears weren't afraid of anything - with good reason. He didn't expect bears to be this close, but he wasn't particularly keen on taking the chance or assuming that it wouldn't be. Better by far to check, and find nothing, than assume and end up hurt.
They did all finish picking eventually though, and all that was left was to get all the fruit and all the people back to the safety of the settlement. He let the adults who had come with the group do the work of rounding up the various children and getting them started back towards Eureka, as they probably knew the children best and were most likely to be obeyed.
For himself, he went to help carry the baskets of berries. They were heavier than they looked, which boded well for a good harvest, but made them tricky to deal with single handed. There were two handles though, so he took one handle of the blackberry basket and Emily took the other, and they hefted it between them. Two of the other adults were doing the same with the basket of blueberries, so that was all right. They set out for the settlement, slow but steady, with a good trial's work carried in the baskets. Like the berries, life was sweet.
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