Chapter Twenty

Rebecca walked briskly toward the brickworks where Jacob Yoder stood watching several apprentices unload another kiln of freshly fired stoneware.

His familiar corncob pipe rested comfortably in the corner of his mouth.

He smiled as Rebecca approached.

"Morning, Rebecca."

"Morning, Jacob."

She didn't waste any time.

"How many five-gallon crocks do you have empty?"

Jacob pulled the pipe from his mouth and grinned.

"How many do you need?"

Rebecca laughed.

"I was hoping you wouldn't answer my question with another question."

Jacob shrugged.

"I've found that's usually the safest answer."

The apprentices chuckled.

Rebecca looked toward the rows of glazed crocks cooling beside the kiln.

"In all this hustle and bustle..."

"...we forgot to pick our first early produce."

Jacob raised an eyebrow.

"What came in?"

Rebecca's face brightened.

"The cabbages."

Jacob slowly looked toward the waiting crocks.

"I believe you've come to the right place."

Within the hour, wagons rolled toward the cabbage field.

The broad green leaves stretched across the hillside like a sea.

Here and there enormous cabbage heads pushed proudly through the outer leaves.

Children scattered among the rows.

One little boy stopped beside a cabbage nearly as large as his own head.

"Rebecca!"

"Come look at this one!"

Rebecca knelt beside him, slipped a sharp knife beneath the head, and twisted gently.

The cabbage broke free with a satisfying snap.

She handed it to him.

He struggled to hold its weight.

The whole field laughed.

Samuel picked up another cabbage.

"I believe these are the finest I've ever seen."

Rebecca smiled.

"Cabbage is miracle food."

Samuel looked surprised.

"It doesn't seem very exciting."

Rebecca laughed.

"Maybe not."

"But it'll feed us fresh today..."

"...and through the winter."

She pointed toward the wagons.

"Fresh cabbage."

Then toward Jacob's crocks.

"Sauerkraut."

Finally she motioned toward the pile of outer leaves.

"And nothing the people don't eat goes to waste."

"The livestock will enjoy those."

Samuel nodded.

"So one field feeds everybody."

Rebecca smiled.

"Exactly."

The wagons creaked back toward the kitchen.

Long wooden tables quickly disappeared beneath mountains of fresh cabbage.

Women removed the coarse outer leaves while apprentices sliced the firm heads into thin ribbons.

The room filled with laughter and the crisp sound of knives moving steadily across cutting boards.

One young apprentice stopped slicing.

"We're never going to eat all this."

Rebecca smiled.

"No."

"We're going to save it."

She sprinkled coarse salt across another layer before several women packed the cabbage firmly into one of Jacob's stone crocks.

Wooden pounders compressed each layer until the cabbage released its own juice.

One little girl looked inside.

"We didn't add any water."

Rebecca smiled.