Lex helped him to get rinsed and Forest was grateful. Not yet with his pants though because wrestling them onto a wet body would likely only result in uncomfortable failure. Forest was alright with that. They moved into the sun so he would dry quicker and the farm boy reclined in the lush grass.<br/><br/>“I feel a lot better just gettin’ clean,” he said. “Don’t usually mind being filthy. Pretty used to that. Would play naked out in the pond as a boy. Ask Mason about that. Don’t know how city livin’ changed him but he was a filthy country boy at one point too. Pretty much raised in this home. Ma played a role in raisin’ most of the neighbor boys. We would try to sneak back into the house covered in mud. Momma would paddle my behind for messing her rugs if she could catch me. Send us out to the hose.” Forest laughed, remembering what a fit he would throw about the cold water. Thankful for it now because it was filtered by the natural sediments underground and clean.<br/><br/>“We’ve got some of last years harvest. Needs to be ground to brew. Gonna have to do that manually but that’s what we have the grain mill for. Always argued about why we just couldn’t do it the electric way. Glad I learned most things the old-fashioned way.” They weren’t dependent on much and most things on the farm could be done manually.<br/><br/>“If you ain’t afraid of putting a little elbow grease into it, by all means. I’ll be happy to help once I’m back on my feet. We got a little downtime before we have to harvest this years.” That would be a trying process. It had been the last year but now there were a few more able bodied men around.<br/><br/>It wasn’t much longer that Forest was back on his feet. Slowly at first, and he needed his breaks, but enough that he was back to work the next day. Nothing had perished under the care of the other boys, and nothing was left that couldn’t wait for Forest. Some work needed to be done in the garden, something Lex didn’t mind helping with. Vegetables had ripened and were ready for harvest. Potatoes, more carrots, a few fat tomatoes.<br/><br/>“Will be nice to start makin’ something out of the usual. Don’t know about you but I’m about sick of stew.” Which seemed to be one of the few things Forest knew how to make because you just threw ingredients into a large pot and let them do the work.<br/><br/>“Some of those peaches much be ripe enough too,” he said, pointed out behind him to one of the trees.