The sun was beginning to set in Dublin, making the sky a beautiful range of glowing oranges and pinks that shone over top of the many potato fields we had. From the window of my room, I could see Rian, my younger brother by three years, begin to come back inside after a day worth of work with my uncle Angus and father. The group looked utterly exhausted with their clothing stained from the mud and tools dragging behind them. It was the time of year that required the most work. There was a lot of tilling that needed to be done so the plants would have good enough soil to grow in. After last year's crops, the field was a mess from the dead plants everywhere. It did good for the soil, but it was an absolute pain to try and get the field back to a state where things could be planted again because of all the debris. Not to mention how much of it there was since we had quite a big field. Nevertheless, the men of the house always did well cleaning it up for the new year’s crop.

We grew numerous things, from cabbage to pumpkins to carrots. However, the one thing we grew the most of was potatoes. They were cheap and the soil we had suited them perfectly. Not to mention they were delicious. Especially raw, which nobody else seemed to understand. Seed was also a lot easier to get ahold of since we could just use the smaller ‘seed potatoes’ we never used for food and throw them in the ground. By the time we planted the next year's batch, they would already have the eyes growing on them anyway, showing they were ready to be planted. Just by looking at the fields, I could tell they would be planting this year's crops soon. The crop of 1876.

“Bailey!” I heard my Mam call out from downstairs. “Come help set up the table!”

“Coming!” I replied. Quickly, I grabbed the small watering pail I had and generously watered the few plants I had in my room. I’ll admit, I was a bit of a plant lover. My light green bedroom walls were all painted by me to show that. Lilacs, daisies, and black-eyed susans decorated the walls. It was something I had done not too long ago, and I loved it. Sometimes I wasn’t too proud of my paintings, but that was one painting I was definitely proud of and would always be. 

After giving my plants their share of water for the night, I hurried downstairs and helped my Mam and granny set up the table. Dinner time was always family time, and skipping it was a big no in this house. We were a very close-knit family. Despite having a large field we could grow everything in, we really didn’t have much. We had enough money to scrape by, which usually came from my Dad’s job or from the food we sold. Mam and my granny would also go out and sell pies or small baked goods, which made a decent amount of money as well. Our house was a small but cosy one. Yeah, we had a lot of things that usually needed fixing, but my uncle did his best to keep up with things before the leaks caused us too many issues. Living not too far away from a pretty middle-class town lead to people seeing us as low class and poor. I guess they forgot we have each other and don’t need to be living in a mansion to be happy.

Moments after the table was set up, the men of the house came in. As expected, they were pretty eager to get to the table and eat. A bit too eager.

“Rian!” Mam scolded Rian for coming to the table with muddy hands. “Go wash up first! You know the rules!”

Being 13, he did forget a lot of the rules, especially about muddy hands. Sometimes he was just a bit too eager to do things. Apologetically, he hurried away to wash his hands before hurrying back. We always ate as a family, so everyone waited for him to sit down before we dug in. 

“Well, the fields are almost all prepped!” Dad exclaimed proudly. “We oughta be planting next week!”

“That’s good to hear!” Mam smiled. “Hopefully this year does just as well as the last one.”

“I have a good feeling about this year.” Angus nodded. “If the weather is good, then we should be all set.”

“Let’s hope.”

“What have you been up to today?” Dad asked me, ruffling my ginger hair that he loved a bit. Most of us were redheads or blond. By some luck, I had my Mam’s ginger hair, but with a strip of my Dad’s blond hair in my bangs. Rian had the same as well. Honestly, if it wasn’t for him being a boy and me being a girl, people wouldn’t be able to tell us apart. We had the same hair with similar bangs in the front, mine was just longer and always up. We also both had the same freckles, tan skin, and facial features too. 

“Painting,” I replied with a giggle. “I made some little ones for the fair tomorrow.”

“Ah. Going to sell them?” 

“Aye.”

“With how talented you are, I don’t doubt they’ll sell well!” 

I smiled. I was pretty lucky to have a family who supported my artistic side. There were a few kids in town who didn’t have that. Art was seen as pointless to their families so pursuing it was never an option; putting them into the family business was the safer option. Thankfully, my family let me go for what I wanted, even if it went against the norms. Women weren’t really supposed to work, let alone in big industries, so my desire to work in the field of psychology would’ve been shot down years ago if I had been with a different family. It wasn’t a huge moneymaker or anything, and it was still a developing profession really, but I knew if I managed to nab a decent job, then I would have enough to support myself and give some to my family who could put it towards something enjoyable. With all the work they did, they deserved it. Besides, it was the least I could do after the amazing childhood they gave me.