Continued From Day 16…

During the drier months of the year, the night crawlers at Stan’s were pretty thin, not only in number, but in size.  That’s when Jeff figured he could make the most money with his worm farm.  You see, Stan’s paid handsomely for good bait, and Jeff’s worm farm produced the biggest, fattest night crawlers in the Midwest.  Stan’s paid anywhere between ten and twenty-five cents a dozen, depending on how lively, big, and numerous the supply was.

Jeff’s crawlers always brought twenty-five cents per dozen, and when the locals knew he sold a bunch to the Bait & Tackle, the crawlers didn’t stay in stock long.  One year, Jeff’s worm farm was getting a bit crowded, and the weather had been exceptionally dry, so the supply at Stan’s was scarce.  Jeff decided that was a good time to sell.  In all, he sold one-hundred-forty-four dozen in one day.  At twenty-five cents a dozen, you can do the math, but he really cleaned up!  It was a great way to earn money for the Tri-County Fair, too!

Jeff spent a good many hours painting the barn, dreaming about the Friesians, and, of course, fishing.  It didn’t take long before the barn had two fresh coats of paint, ready for the often harsh Kansas winter.  Preparations at the fairgrounds were well underway, and many “practice” pies were baked in anticipation of the big competition.  John was an honorary judge every year, which made Christine ineligible to enter her famous pumpkin pie in the competition.

Quite often during the summer, different pies were delivered to Big Sky Ranch.  John had said that the competitors were not only “tuning up” their pie-baking skills, but they had hoped to sort of “sway” the judge before the competition.  There was always pie in the ice box of one kind or another.  Whether it was apple or cherry pie, mincemeat or peach pie, blueberry or pecan pie, the only kind of pie that was never delivered to the ranch was pumpkin.  Out of respect for Christine’s “Perfect Pumpkin Pie,” to which only she held the secret recipe, pumpkin pie was eliminated from the competition.

To Be Continued…