Puppy Pie Read Online Free Page B

hemp? Isn’t it a weed?’
    â€˜Nope,’ Harry says happily. ‘But it grows like a weed. It’s got so many uses that I’m going to leave your cousins to fill you in. I can hear Ted and Jimmy bringing their Harvesters in now. Don’t forget to clean up everybody. And set two extra places for lunch, will you Jake?’ he calls out as he and Helen head out to the big shed. He shouts cheekily, ‘Ted and Jimmy might look like a couple of bean poles, Gull, but they can put away a whole puppy pie.’
    â€˜Oh, Harry,’ Helen says loud enough for the children to hear. All the way to the big shed they can hear Harry and Helen laughing.
    â€˜Only kidding!’ the cousins say quickly in case Gull takes her uncle seriously.
    â€˜I’m getting used to it,’ Gull sighs. ‘Now, tell me country cousins, what can you do with hemp?’ she asks as she helps Jake stack the dishes in the sink. He turns on the hot water.
    â€˜Thought you’d never ask,’ Lucy laughs as she shakes the tablecloth on the other side of the screen door. ‘You see, Mum says we buy lots of stuff from overseas that’s made of hemp so she reckons we should grow it ourselves and make that stuff here.’
    â€˜Now are you ready for the list?’ Jake asks laughing. ‘We can recite it in our sleep we’ve heard Dad and Mum so many times.’
    â€˜Just picture a plant,’ Tom begins, ‘that you can use not only for food and clothing…’
    â€˜But run a car on it,’ Lucy adds.
    â€˜Make rope with it,’ Jake says.
    â€˜Make canvas out of it,’ Lucy says.
    â€˜Even make jeans out of it. In fact, the first jeans were made out of it. Even the drafts of the United State’s Declaration of Independence were written on it.’
    â€˜On canvas?’ Gull says, her head spinning.
    â€˜No. On paper! On paper made out of hemp.’
    â€˜Wow! Am I the last person in the world to know all this?’ she asks amazed.
    â€˜Ah, no, not quite,’ Lucy laughs. ‘However, as almost every country in the world grows hemp, you’d think more people would know all about it.’
    â€˜That’s why almost all the farmers in the district have turned their farms over to hemp this year to see how well it grows.’
    â€˜And how profitable it can be. The farmers have already organised all the processing and baling.’
    â€˜And they’ve got mills around the countryside waiting to turn it into cloth.’
    â€˜And retailers in New South Wales and Victoria ready to sell it in their shops. Even the big stores are selling it. You know, it’s very big in Europe.’
    â€˜Don’t forget,’ Jake says, stacking the last of the plates for drying, ‘you can use hemp oil on your salad.’
    â€˜And put hemp with other materials, like cotton, when you’re making clothes,’ Lucy adds.
    â€˜Oh, boy,’ Gull says impressed. ‘Next, you’ll be saying you can build a house out of hemp. Or weave chairs out of the fibres.’
    â€˜But you can. You can do both those things,’ Jake says eagerly.
    â€˜Now there’s an interesting thought,’ Lucy says. ‘Maybe I could weave some art for a change. Thanks Gull. I’ll keep that in mind.’
    Gull grins at Lucy, happy to help her. ‘What will this crop do?’
    Lucy says, ‘It’s for hemp cloth. There are more sheds behind the big shed, so we’ll sort it here and when it’s ready, the teams of locals working in the sheds bale it and cart it to the railway, put it on the train and then it’s sent off to the mills and made into clothes.’
    Sensing there are no more crumbs to be had, Useless wanders out of the kitchen and ambles into each of the rooms in the farmhouse gently goaded by Ma. Satisfied that the threat isn’t in the house, Ma sits back while Useless saunters outside to the various farm enclosures.