"A Satisfied Mind" Summary

Apple season brings much pleasant work for Ada and Ruby. Ruby sets off with two jugs of profitable hard cider to trade for beef, leaving Ada to split logs and burn brush, which is a good initiation into timberwork, which will be essential to winter survival. Patience, pacing, and rhythm are needed more than pure power. Work as long as you can and still be able to get up in the morning and resume--no more, no less. Ada slits logs first, dry and hard after 2 years on the ground. Ada does as Ruby had showed her and enjoys the sound and rhythm. She takes pride in having 40 pieces ready to haul to the house, but then she calculates that this will last just 3-5 days. Their winter needs are beyond calculation.

Drying out from the work, Ada...