As soon as the metal roof was on the second barn, we pulled people to start on the repair shop. John had drawings ready for it, and the crew finished construction in six days. The dry food and miscellaneous articles storage building was our final large endeavor prior to moving all our people from Deliverance. It was almost complete in two weeks, so four people drove to the nearest Walmart store to disassemble commercial shelving units in the warehouse and bring them back to the storage building. Since the building wouldn't be heated, we divided the perishable foods among the families and let each take responsibility for their own food supply.
We'd conducted weekly update meetings with the entire group in the resort's main building. The lobby area was too big to heat, and it would be torn down at our leisure to salvage the lumber.
A wood burner was installed in the new warehouse to be used only during meetings, and the big room was designated the official meeting place. At the Wednesday morning meeting in the first week of December, there was a lot of discussion about the remaining work.
Kira opened the meeting by saying, "Okay everyone, listen up. John says trimming out of the major buildings will finish this week. That means more people will be shifted to building pens and sheds for the smaller livestock: pigs, sheep, goats and chickens. Vince is leaving in the morning for Deliverance with the convoy. He'll get with Shane and a crew, then take an eighteen-wheeler to Chicago. They'll leave the following morning for the Walmart warehouse we've gone to before. Their goal is to pick up the rest of the survival food our last foray found there. We expect them back here within a week." She paused for comments amid groans about the survival food most joked about but would eat, then continued.
"The five hundred gallon diesel tank is going back to Deliverance to be filled and returned here in three days. That should keep the trucks and heavy equipment running until the remaining fuel is brought down in the tanker. When the other drivers return, they'll be hauling the last of the food we canned, plus straw and hay to start filling the barn lofts. After this initial run, they'll return to Deliverance to haul livestock and the corn for the new corn crib that will be completed by then. We're still on track to have everything moved here by the end of the year."
I stood. "The members of the Leadership Committee who are here have agreed to move all perishable items from Deliverance before Christmas. That eliminates the need to maintain heat in the building; then all remaining personnel can move here. We'll start running trucks between the two sites until the livestock, hay, straw, corn, and commercial feed are all moved. We expect that to happen quickly, hopefully by the end of December."
A loud "Hooray!" was followed by vigorous clapping.
"We'll need people from here to make runs to nearby towns to bring back more furniture. It can be stored in the main room of the lodge for the Deliverance crew to select from when they arrive. Questions or comments?"
A few scheduling questions were asked and answered before Marcie Alton asked a question. "Has anyone seen a problem with the food we canned this year?" Side conversations came to an abrupt halt as everyone quieted and several shook their heads.
"Maybe it's only the batches we have, but I found mold inside two jars of pickles and one of peaches. Looking at some of the others, I think I see small specks that may be the start of mold. You should all check the jars carefully."
Dejection showed on the faces in the crowd and murmurs of, "Oh shit," could be heard.
After the meeting, I talked to John and Anthony about any work they wanted to schedule before the end of the year. They both said the work on buildings was on schedule and going well, and they and the two people assigned to them could handle it. They both felt my building project to expand my family’s cabin could start in the next few days.
I left them and went to the office to meet with Kira. We'd barely started when people began stopping in to say they, too, had bad food. We finished an hour later and corralled our brood to take them home. Kira went straight to the food pantry. She held several jars beneath the kerosene lantern before closing her eyes as tears drifted down her cheeks. "Over half the jars I'm looking at are spoiled."
For the remaining three weeks of December, our endeavors went smoothly. Deliverance was stripped of everything we wanted, livestock was moved to the new barns and pens, and the remainder of our people moved into their new homes. The fuel tanker arrived from Deliverance with six thousand gallons of diesel. We would conserve it and eight hundred gallons of gasoline as best we could. When it ran out, our electric power would be cut off, and the vehicles would be abandoned in deep gullies.
Several women organized a Christmas Party in an attempt to cheer people up. The failed canning endeavor dragged many of us down; the worst part was that we didn't know what had gone wrong. A Christmas tree was erected in the meeting space and trimmed with handmade decorations. It looked nice, but Kira and I didn't feel it was a joyous occasion. The unknowns ahead of us distracted us and consumed our attention. A frivolous attempt to forget the problems we faced wasn't our way. But, for the sake of our children and friends, we attempted to join in.
A week into the New Year, Ed found me at the south barn. "A good bit of the explosives we had was used to
