Holly Hornblower makes a great pie
After carrying out some farming chores, sprinkling some seeds in the fields of Hobbiton in order to obtain some ingredients for my cookery classes, I got word that a local farmer was having a few problems with Wolves eating their chickens so I promised to lend a hand and collected the chickens in return for a few pieces of silver. I do prefer the less dangerous tasks around the villages, such as collecting apples in the orchards for Gaffe Ganagee or filling up holes that have been made by those mischievous shrews, but you never know what each day will bring and helping out people who really need it does fill me with warmth and satisfaction. I once had to travel to the Greenfields you know, where giant wood bears are on the look-out for fresh Hobbit meat. Word has it that there is a Goblin fortress up there too and local folk have been saying that a battle may be brewing, I sincerely hope not.
Anyhow, there’s no point worrying about these things, but it is wise to be prepared and equipped with the necessary armour and weapons in case it does happen and the only way I’ll do that is by earning more money or hoping that one of the Shire-folk may offer me an item in return for helping them out. Luckily, there’s plenty of work around the Shire and in the afternoon I heard that the local brewer needed an important task carried out. He was desperate to get their Inn’s ale into the Four Farthing Brewery moot, but he needed a special barrel to hold his ale. He'd heard that a local merchant was attacked by spiders near OverHill and, furthermore,that the merchant’s cart had been overturned in the attack and a barrel is lying on the road ready for the taking. It’s a simple job, delivering or collecting items, but there is a wide range of interesting tasks around the villages that I’m always happy to carry out.
Click for larger image
Click for larger imageThere’s always time in the day to carry out another task, especially when your belly thinks your throat has been cut and you need to earn some cash for new cooking supplies or ballads. I’ve been burning the candle at both ends every day in the Shire and there’s nothing more satisfying than carrying out a simple task for a few pieces of silver. Holly HornBlower makes a great pie and she’s always looking for some poor Hobbit to carry out her dirty work of delivering her pies to one of the Shire-folk. On this occasion, she asked me to bring it to Gerd Whitfoot at the Green Dragon Inn in Bywater. I only have a certain amount of time to deliver the pie otherwise it will get cold, so the task wasn’t as simple as I initially thought. The job was made more difficult because along the way there were plenty of hungry Hobbits looking to steal my pie, so I had to travel off-road in order to keep the meaty aroma away from their impressive sense of smell. Gerd was decidedly un-impressed with pie, so much so that, when he sank his teeth into the warm pie, he pulled a face that would have scared a dog out of butcher's shop. He seems to think the pungent taste might because the berries are off, so he certainly won't be paying Holly this time.