"That's generally how business works."
Mary Ann sighed. "I thought if I could grow something good, the rest would be simple."
Evelyn pulled up a chair. "You used to run cattle. Was any of that simple?"
Mary Ann looked at the forms, then laughed. "No. We just knew the complicated parts so well that they stopped surprising us."
That realization gave her a useful kind of patience. She had not become a worse farmer because she needed help understanding regulations, just as she had not been a bad tomato grower because her first crowded seedbed failed. There was a difference between ignorance and refusing to learn. She began treating the licensing work as another crop with its own calendar, deadlines, and inspections.
The first construction project was a modest hoop house built on higher, well-drained ground near the barn. She had priced larger greenhouses and immediately set those brochures aside, unwilling to take on a debt that depended on perfect harvests. Instead, she bought materials for a simple covered structure that could protect seedlings and extend the growing season without pretending to eliminate the risks of Colorado-style hail or every change in spring weather. Larry brought a trailer, Owen helped with the frame, and Mary Ann paid both for the hours they worked, although Larry protested the arrangement.
"Family doesn't charge family to raise a few hoops," he said.
"Family also shouldn't be expected to miss a day's work because I'm stubborn about asking."
"You sound more like Walter every year."
"He would've started three arguments about which end of the frame goes up first."
Larry laughed. "And he would have been wrong about two of them."
The structure took longer than expected. A missing bracket delayed one weekend, strong wind postponed another, and Mary Ann discovered that the south side of the chosen site was not as level as it appeared. They corrected the problems before covering the frame. When the final plastic was secured and the door closed properly for the first time, Mary Ann stood inside listening to the faint sound of wind moving across the covering. The place smelled of new material and damp soil, unlike the sour heap behind the old shed where the project began.
She used the hoop house to start plants earlier and protect sensitive young growth from weather, not to force tomatoes through impossible winter conditions. She also planned late-season crops that might extend fresh sales on the other end of summer. The added weeks would be useful only if she could manage temperature, humidity, ventilation, and labor without creating new problems. She checked the structure twice a day at first, recording what worked and what needed changing.
Hollis visited when the first seedlings were growing beneath cover. He settled into his chair and stared at the tidy rows of trays, the labels, and the small fan Mary Ann used to keep the air moving. He seemed pleased and troubled at the same time.
"You've come a long way from dumping seeds on dirt," he said.
"That's a low starting point."