"Good harvest?"
He smiled. "Different kind."
The legal fight had ended before the ecological project truly began.
That distinction mattered because Warren still could have chosen to restore the lower acreage to intensive farming once the upstream drainage was corrected. The settlement did not force him into mitigation. Claire's company did not own the land. Cornerstone no longer had the same leverage. For the first time, the decision about the eighty acres belonged mostly to Warren again.
He found that freedom unexpectedly difficult.
One cold morning in December, he walked with Casey along the edge of the low ground. Frost silvered the dead stems, and thin ice covered the quietest pockets of water. The high fields beyond were bare and familiar.
"If we fix the old ditch and spend enough money," Warren said, "I could probably get part of this back into beans."
Casey nodded. "Probably."
"Might take two seasons."
"Maybe."
"You want me to say it, don't you?"
"Say what?"
"That I'm thinking about leaving it."
Casey smiled. "I figured if I waited long enough, you'd say it yourself."
Warren looked across the reeds. "Your great-grandfather would think I'd lost my mind."
"He also farmed with mules."
"Don't insult a good mule."
They walked farther.
"I'm not doing it because the bank said the ground was bad," Warren said. "You understand that?"
"I know."
"I'm doing it because if the land can earn its keep this way without me spending another twenty years trying to drain it, then maybe that's not quitting."
Casey stopped beside him. "I don't think it is."
Warren looked down at the water. "Still feels like it."
The formal mitigation proposal went into agency review after the new year. Claire's company would act as sponsor. Warren would retain ownership of the farm while granting a conservation easement over the approved project area. The agreement gave the sponsor responsibility for restoration work, monitoring, financial assurances, agency reporting, and credit marketing. Warren would receive an upfront easement payment followed by defined shares of credit-sale revenue as credits were released and sold.
Harlon reviewed the agreement line by line.
He made Casey sit through every session.