Chapter 8

The next couple months started to settle down for the boys. They were finding that everything was going nice and smooth now that they had learned all the main things, and while they continued to learn a lot, it was not quite so frantic as it had been. The boys had really settled down into their new lives as farmers, and it was really starting to show how happy they really were. They had both celebrated their birthdays not too long ago, and within only a week of each other, they turned nine and nineteen, and their only friends were there to celebrate with them. All the animals on the farm were really doing well, they really seemed to love the boys, and were known to follow them wherever they went.

Tanner and Owen had also really gotten to know each other a lot more over the past couple months, they were truly boyfriends now. They called and talked to each other each night, they spent time at each others houses as often as possible, and even their parents could tell that the boys were in love, but were okay with that. They did not tell the boys though, just left them to tell them when they felt that the time was right. They had also spent a few weekends at Nick and Rhys', always having a great time there whenever they were there.

Their gardens were really taking shape and were now producing lots of great vegetables. They had been planting more and more in the greenhouse, about once a month, so that they had a steady supply of fresh vegetables throughout the fall and winter months, and it was starting to look like they would never have to worry about that sort of thing at all. All their fruit trees were also flourishing, the ones that were growing wild, as well as the new ones that they had planted, and it looked like they would have no need of fruit either for quite some time.

Jim and Tom had both come out three weeks ago as well for the weekend, and they both loved how everything had turned out, and were proud of how well the boys were doing in their new lives. They had a nice visit, just playing around mostly, but the boys showed them what they did, and they helped where possible as well. They swam and played, rode horses and relaxed, all in all, they had had a really nice visit.

"Hey Nick, what do you think about going and getting more animals. I think that we are ready to take more on, and I want to try making our own cheese now. We will need more milk than we are getting to make any decent quantity, as well we will have to buy some new equipment for that."

"Okay baby, we can do that. What did you have in mind?"

"Well, I was thinking about another ten or so milking cows, another six or eight milking goats, and I was even thinking of a couple dogs and cats."

"Okay, I can understand the cows and goats, but why the dogs and cats?" Nick asked curiously.

"Well, we seem to have an awful lot of mice in the barn, trying to get into the animals feed, well a few cats should clear up that nasty little problem. We will want to have them fixed so that we don't end up with a hundred cats running around here, but that shouldn't be a problem. I also was reading up on wolves and coyotes, because we have been hearing an awful lot of them lately, and it seems that they won't normally come into a dogs area too much, if it can be helped, so with a couple dogs, and our fences, it should be enough to keep them away. Plus they both make great pets too." Rhys smiled.

"Okay, good points on both. I think the dogs and cats we will go to the local SPCA and get some good ones, but we'll do that after the livestock auction. I assume you want to go this morning to the auction then?"

"For sure. Let's get up and dressed, go get the animals fed and cleaned real quick, and then we can go." Rhys said happily. It was only five am, so they had plenty of time to get all their work done, and make it for the nine am opening of the auction house.

"Okay baby, let's go then. So, with your wanting to make cheese now, have you found anywhere that carries what we will need to buy to make the cheese?"

"Yeah, one of the farm supply stores in Penticton carries everything we need. Apparently they carry it because there are at least two larger scale cheese production plants in the area, and a few smaller ones as well. It's that smaller one that we have only been to a couple times, but I called yesterday to make sure, and they have everything that we need in stock."

"Okay baby, that sounds good, so we will go there after the auction, but before the SPCA."

"Sounds good to me." Rhys smiled.

They quickly got each other dressed and ready for their morning chores, went and had a good filling breakfast, and then went and got to work. With how good they were getting at doing everything, it now only took them just a little over an hour and a half to get all their work done. They did spend the time though with their animals, giving them each a nice petting and talking to. After they were all fed, the animals were let out of their pens to wander around.

Once everything was done, the boys went and hopped in the Humvee to head to the auction. They were both still in their work clothes, but at a livestock auction, that was dressed up. They got there with plenty of time to spare, got themselves registered, and this time the lady never even questioned Nick, because it was the same lady as the last time. Once that was taken care of, the boys headed to look at the animals.

"Hey boys, don't get too close to that cow, she's mean spirited, and is likely to bite you." A man barked at the boys when they were looking at a nice looking Jersey.

"Thanks for the warning, we'll be careful. Is she a good milk producer though?" Rhys asked.

"Yeah, she produces just fine, my best producer in fact, but she's too mean tempered, and has bit three of my ranch hands now." He said, and then stood in shock as Rhys started petting her, and she became as docile as a kitten.

"Any idea why she is so mean?" Rhys asked.

"No idea, but the last person to try and pet her got kicked, so I have no idea how you are able to pet her like that. She was going to be sold as meat, because with how her temperament is, she is no good as anything else." The guy said.

"That's okay girl, we'll buy you and you can come and live with us. You're just upset about something, maybe someone isn't treating you right, isn't that it." Rhys said calmly to the cow.

"She's never been abused." The guy said adamantly.

"Maybe not that you've seen, but animals usually are only mean if they are treated poorly. We'll buy her though, and she will have a nice home." Nick said this time.

"That is true, but none of my other animals are like that, so I don't believe that it is any of my hands doing anything."

"Maybe they are just too harsh for her. I know milkers can sometimes have to get a little tough with the cows to get them to cooperate, maybe she just doesn't like any rough treatment at all, and retaliates when it happens." Nick stated simply.

"Possible I suppose."

"Thanks, but before we go, do you have any more of her family that may be for sale, she looks as if she has good bloodlines, she's nice and sturdy and big?"

"Three of her younger sisters are here on auction today as well, and they all just calved, so are now producing as well. They are going to go for a pretty penny though, because they are expected to be top producers when they get up to full production. They only just started you see. Do you boys know anything about milking, and where's your dad?"

"Our dad is dead, the farm we own, we bought and built from the ground up, and we already have twelve cows."

"Oh, I'm sorry. You just don't normally see farmers quite as young as you boys are."

"That's okay, we're used to it." Nick smiled.

"And as for your cows going for top dollar, because they are the best, well that's the reason that we will be buying them as well. Do you have any others?" Rhys asked.

"No, I only have the four cows today, but I do have more at the ranch that were going to be coming next week. If you buy these ones today from the auction, come and see me, and maybe we can come to some sort of an agreement." The guy smiled. He wanted to make sure the boys were actually going to buy them before he committed to anything, and both boys knew this as well.

"Then we will be seeing you tomorrow I guess." Rhys said confidently.

"What other animals do you have, and are any of them for sale?"

"Mostly just cows, but I do raise a few horses, but they are workers as well, and we won't be selling them."

"Okay. Know of anyone who has good milking goats for sale?" Rhys asked.

"Yeah, there's a guy over there, about twelve or so stalls down, who has a family of twelve that he is selling, there are two males, but the rest are full milking females. I know him, and he's good with his animals. There's another guy down that way though, he's selling eight, but I don't think I would buy his animals, no telling what he has been feeding them."

"Thanks for the heads up. We'll go and check them out then." Nick smiled, and they headed off.

They looked at all the other animals that were there, and they saw a further three cows that they decided to buy as well, because they were very nice looking milk producing cows as well, and would add well to the farm. They also saw the goats that the man had told them about, and they agreed that they were nice looking goats, and while they didn't necessarily need the males, they would be nice to have, that way they could breed some as well if and when they wanted to. Any babies that they got though, they figured that they would sell.

As soon as the auction was announced to be starting in ten minutes, the boys went and found themselves a good seat, and then proceeded to buy all the animals that they said they would. The mean cow, as expected, went for a very low price for what she was, because they were essentially selling her as meat, but her sisters did go for the very top dollar, and the boys had no problem paying it either. They got the other three cows that they wanted, and all twelve of the goats as well. They even added another six laying hens to their collection, just so that they had more eggs to give away.

"Well, that was a nice trip, so I guess it's cheese making equipment buying time now!" Nick smiled as they hopped in the truck after arranging payment and delivery.

"Yep, let's go."

So that was where they headed to next. There they found all the equipment and supplies that they would ever need in order to make their own cheese, and they bought it all. Once it was all loaded int the back seat of the Humvee, they headed to the SPCA.

"Hello gentlemen, what can I help you find today?" The lady asked as they walked in.

"We're looking for some good farm cats and dogs please?" Rhys asked.

"Okay, we have a number of animals that would suit that purpose. You're going to looking for good mousers then, and some animal friendly dogs. How many of each would you like?"

"I say two dogs and four cats?" Rhys sort of said, sort of asked all at the same time.

"That sounds about right to me as well." Nick smiled.

"Okay. Follow me then please, and I will show you what we have. I have two slightly oder cats, and two fairly young ones that would be perfect for you, the rest are mostly indoor cats, so not really suited for what you need. I also have four dogs, but one of them is getting quite old, so you probably wouldn't want him." She said as she led them back to the kennels.

"Oh, and we would like them to all be spayed or neutered please, we don't really want them over running our farm." Nick added as they were heading back there.

"Good idea. I know that one of the dogs is already fixed, but none of the others are yet, so you will need to take them to a vet to have that done. We can refer you to a number of them, but there is one that I suggest, because he is the best."

"Thanks, we will get that information from you later then." Nick said.

She then took them back and showed them all the animals, and she had picked well, because the boys liked all six of the animals as well. The cats were good and lean looking, looked like they were good and fast, and not lazy, the dogs were good sized dogs, not overly large, but nowhere near small. They too would make an excellent addition to their farm.

"Okay, we'll take all six of them please." Nick said.

"And if you have them, we'll need to buy carriers for them for the ride home." Rhys added.

"We have them for sale, so I can get you set up with that."

"Good."

They went and took care of all the payments, took the carriers out to the truck, they bought three of them, one for each dog, and one for all the cats, got them set up, and then the boys went back and retrieved their new animals and took them out to the truck. It took some coaxing to get the cats back inside a cage, they certainly did not want to, but eventually they did. The dogs had no problem with it though. Nick had also bought a few bags of the dog and cat food that they had there, so that they didn't have to make another stop, and he also added a five hundred dollar donation, because as with all SPCA offices, they were totally dependent upon donations for their operating, so the lady was quite pleased with that on top of all the sales.

They did make a stop at the veterinary office that the lady had told them about, and the doctor said to just leave the animals, and that he would have them all set in a few days time. They left all the animals there, even the one dog who had already been fixed, because they were all to be given full checkups, and get all their shots.

They headed back home, the cages still in the back, and got everything all loaded into the house, but left the cages where they were. As soon as the boys had everything in the house, they went for a much needed diaper change, but instead of getting redressed, they just stayed in only their diapers. They headed back out to the kitchen and got started on unpacking all their new things and getting them cleaned and sterilized. They planned to start probably on the weekend, and they would probably save up a few days worth of milk to use.

It was three days later that the veterinary office called to say that all their animals were ready to be brought home, so they went out to pick them up. Their livestock was scheduled to be delivered that afternoon as well, so they had to hurry. So far they had not gone to visit the farmer that they had bought the few cows off of, because they were kept a bit busy. They did call him though, and arranged to come out on the weekend.

"Good morning Doctor, anything to report on the dogs and cats?" Nick asked when they arrived and the doctor came out to talk to them.

"They have all been spayed or neutered as requested, they have all been given full checkups and all their shots, and they are all doing very well. They were all in really good shape, except the one cat had worms, and a few of them had fleas, but both were taken care of right away."

"Okay, that sounds good. Thanks a lot. I trust that we can just pay your receptionist for the services?"

"Yes please, and then I'll help you bring them all out. Most of them are still a bit groggy, and none of them like their head cones at all, but they'll all be just fine."

"Thanks a lot Doctor, we appreciate it. We have to get going though real quick, because the livestock auction will be bringing the rest of our animals out today."

"Okay, then let's get this all settled right away." He smiled.

They got everything taken care of, the large vet bill was settled, all the animals were loaded into their cages in the back of the truck, and then they were headed back home. As soon as they got there, all the animals were offloaded and put into the barn, because that was to be their new home. They were all situated into a couple pens in there, and there was no hope of them getting out. The cats could not jump or climb out with their head cones, and the dogs were too big to get out either.

"Well boys and girls, this is your new home, I hope you like it." Rhys said to them all, giving each one of them a little loving, petting them nicely, and giving them some food.

All the new animals seemed to really like their new home, and their next new animals arrived not even an hour later. They were all offloaded into their pens, given some nice grain and hay, and they all settled in nicely on a nice bed of straw. Once the delivery trucks were gone, they got down to getting to know all their new animals, and teaching the new cows and goats how to go and milk themselves. They all seemed to understand this right away, and because the cows were all already getting full, they really needed it as well. Even the cow that had been miserable before, really seemed to like her new home, and she looked very calm and relaxed. They had no problems with her whatsoever, and she took to the milking machines the fastest.

"Hello again. Sorry that we couldn't come out right after the auction like we had planned, but we were a bit busy with things." Nick said as he and the rancher shook hands.

"Not a problem, trust me, I understand. How are the cows doing, especially the stubborn one?"

"They are all doing well, and she's doing great. I think that she is going to like the freedom that she has at our farm. They are free to roam the land during the day, and are in heated stalls at night, and they get to go and milk themselves when they get full." Nick answered.

"Wow, you boys have one of the automated milking stations?"

"Two actually, one for cows, and one for goats, and each one can accept up to four animals at a time."

"Wow, very nice. I looked into getting a few of those myself, and they are incredibly expensive. Even with all the cows I have, and all the hands that I need, it would still take over three years for me to make any money back."

"Yeah, we decided that we may as well go with the best there was, so that's what we got."

"So, you boys are here to look at a few more milking cows, so let's go take a look at them. These are all young milkers, just starting up, same as the others I sold you, so they should give you a good long time of milk production."

"Thanks, lead the way."

The boys were shown the cows that they were to be buying, and they both really liked the looks of them.

"Okay, they all look really good. How much would you like for them?" Nick asked.

"Why not just go for what I would make off of them at the auction, so their auction selling price, minus the auction commission." He told them, and gave them the price.

"Okay, that sounds more than fair. Will you be able to deliver them for us, because the one thing that we do not have yet, is a livestock trailer?"

"That won't be a problem at all. We can load them up right now, and then I will follow you to your farm"

"Okay, that sounds great to us." Nick smiled.

So that was what they did. Nick wrote out the check for the farmer, then the three of them got the cows loaded into the trailer, and they were off. They only lived about half an hour away from each other, so it was not a very long drive.

"Wow, you boys sure have some spread here. How much land do you have here anyways?"

"Thanks, we have a little over a thousand acres here."

"Impressive. I only have a little more land than you have, and I have a couple hundred head, and four hands to help out."

"We're just going to stay pretty small, this will probably be it for a while, but it is just the two of us running it all."

"Wow, then those milking machines really do work well, don't they?"

"Oh yeah, we have it fully automated. It pumps the milk, pasteurizes and separates it, and then stores it all. Then after it is emptied, we can run the automated cleaning cycle on the entire system, and it only takes half an hour to do everything all on its own."

"Wow, that's really nice. So your daily chores must be really quick then?"

"We are usually done in two hours or less, but with nearly doubling the animals that we had, it will probably take three to four hours now."

"That's not too bad for two people doing all the work, even with as few animals as you do have. I'm kept busy all day long most days."

"Oh, we keep busy as well, trust me. We make our own butter, and the reason for the new animals was so that we could make our own cheese, well and we just wanted more, we could have done cheese with what we get from them as well. We also have a large garden and a greenhouse that we are always in, and then Rhys does his schoolwork and I usually do some reading in the evenings."

"Sounds like you boys do keep good and busy. How long have you boys been doing this then?"

"What, six months now I guess." Nick shrugged.

"Wow, that's pretty good then. Well, should we get these girls unloaded, and then I'd love to see your barn?"

"Sure, let's go then." Nick said.

They were right next to the barn already, so they just opened the rear door to the trailer and attached the harnesses to each of the cows and each led one into the barn and to a new pen.

"Wow, nice barn, it's nice and warm in here, but smells nice and fresh too. No wonder your animals love it here."

"Thanks. The floor is heated, so it keeps the whole place nice and warm, and the animals sure do appreciate it. We also have the best air movement system there is, it keeps the air fresh, without letting it get too cold or too warm in here."

"Nice, and is that an automated feeding system I see?"

"Sure is. That's probably one of the main reasons that we can do all this by ourselves. We don't have to worry about the feed, it takes care of itself." Rhys said this time.

"Very nice, and yes it is. Easily half of my day is spent on feeding the animals I swear."

"Yeah, again we just went with the best there is." Nick smiled.

"I'm actually kind of jealous." He grinned.

"Probably more than a few people are." Nick grinned back.

"I'm sure of it. Well, I should be heading out, so you boys have a good day, and call me if you want or need anything more."

"Thanks, we will." Both boys said.

Soon he was gone, and the boys were once again getting the new animals acclimated to their new surroundings. As with all the animals they had, they too were comfortable right away, and really seemed to like their new home and owners. They were also shown the milking station, and because they were all getting full by then anyways, they all enjoyed the milking. So they too were now almost fully trained. All the animals were then let out, and they wandered around. The dogs followed at a leisurely pace, one of them still a little groggy from the sedatives and pain killers, and the other just stayed with him. The other new animals just followed the others for the most part, which were following the boys while they rode a pair of their horses. The new cows and goats sure seemed to enjoy the freedom to really roam around, and when the boys took the horses in to remove the saddles, and rub and rush them down, all the others stayed outside. The two horses went out with the others once they were free to go, not that they wanted the rubdowns to end.

The boys stayed outside for the rest of the afternoon as well, tending to all their plants and trees, getting everything cleaned up. It was pretty much harvesting time, and they had already gotten some good fruits and vegetables, but they would need to start picking in just a few days.

"Well, it looks like the next week or two is going to be spent with a lot of fruit and vegetable picking and packing in some way." Nick said when they were finished all their chores there.

"We can start that on Monday, because I want to start making some cheese tomorrow and Sunday, we can just use all the milk that we get each morning and make what we can." Rhys said.

"Okay. I hope you know what you're doing, because I haven't even read the cheese making books yet?" Nick smiled.

"I think I've got the hang of it, but I guess we'll find out. The sucky think is for the cheddar we will have to wait up to a year to know if it really turned out or not, because I like aged cheddar. We can make a few others that we can try right away too though, but cheddar and mozza are the ones I want to make this weekend mostly."

"Yeah, and it's not like it's a huge deal if we screw up the first time or two anyways. So, I think that we should can and freeze as many of the fruits and vegetables as we can, what do you think?"

"I think that'd be fine, but I think that we'd better go and buy a whole bunch of jars and other canning supplies, cuz we don't have any of that stuff."

"Good idea. I'm sure that the mega store has everything that we will need, and then some. So why don't we just go there right now?"

"Okay, and I'll pick up a few extra things for doing the cheese as well then."

So with that all decided, the boys headed out for another large shopping trip. They got to the store and each grabbed one of the large carts and started looking for what they would need. They found the canning section, and piled Nick's buggy as full as they possibly could in the half litre jars. Into Rhys' buggy, they piled everything else that they would need. They grabbed lots of pectin for jams and jellies, extra sealers for just in case, two more bags of sugar, another large bag of salt, four large jugs of vinegar, four canning pots and a few canning accessories, two pressure canners, a food vacuum bag system and an entire armload of freezer bags for it, and the couple extra things Rhys needed for his cheese. Once both of their buggies were at maximum capacity, they went and paid for everything, and then headed out. The lady at the cash counter was more than a little surprised at the amounts that the boys were buying, but was also surprised that Rhys could even push his buggy, because she was certain she couldn't have, but then a few of the customers thought the same thing.

Once they were back home, they got everything loaded into the house and got the first load of jars in the dishwasher to wash, and with the sterilize setting, they would be good and ready for them. Once that was done, they got down to making and eating a much needed dinner, because they went and forgot about lunch again, it had been too busy a day for them, once again.

"Do you think that we could ask Owen and Tanner to come for the weekend and a few days next week to help us out? We can tell them to bring their computers with them so that they can still do their school work, because I think we might need some help." Rhys asked as they were sitting down to do their work for the night, Nick grabbing the book on making cheddar.

"I don't see any reason why not. Why not call and ask them. Don't tell them, but we can pay them as well. Owen might not be able to though, because this is his families busy time as well, so he might be helping them."

"I know, and okay, but we can always ask." Rhys smiled.

Rhys quickly made the calls, and both boys asked and were told that they could, and could stay until Tuesday if they wanted to, and they sure seemed to. Both boys said that their moms said they would drive them this time, because Nick was always picking them up. Nick of course knew that they just wanted to see the house to see if it really was as nice as their boys kept saying it was. So with that all set, the boys got back to their work, and worked until bedtime.

When bedtime rolled around, which was eight pm, they shut everything down for the night, went to their room, removed each others clothes, and sucked each other to relieve the pressure. Before too long though, both boys were passed out cold until the next morning.

Owen was the first to arrive the next morning, just after the boys had finished their daily chores, and were still carrying into the house all the milk and eggs. Owen and his mom got out of the truck, and came up to meet the boys.

"Hello again ma'am, nice to see you. I trust that you wanted to drop Owen off so that you could come see the house?" Nick smiled.

"Wow, Owen said you were really smart, but how did you know that?" She asked, but never once denied it.

"With as much as I'm sure he tells you about it, I sorta figured that it would eventually get to you, and that you'd want to come and see it. So come on in and we can take you on the dime tour." Nick grinned.

"Thanks." She smiled back and they headed into the house.

For half an hour the boys showed Owen's mom around their home, and she absolutely loved it, and couldn't stop telling the boys so. Just as she was leaving, Tanner and his mom were pulling in, so the same thing happened all over again with his mom this time, and she too loved the house.

"Well boys, should we get comfortable and ten get started on making some cheese?" Rhys asked once they were all alone.

"Okay." Everyone said,and then headed to the boys' room and stripped down. They were all wet, so they also got changed at the same time.

"Okay, this is mostly Rhys' game here, so he gets to tell us all what to do. I tried reading the cheese making book last night, but it doesn't really make much sense to me, so I hope Rhys knows what he's doing." Nick smiled while rubbing Rhys's back lovingly.

"I had to read that book twice to understand it, but I think I do now. I have to go grab it though for the recipes I want. We might be able to make a couple different types today, or we could just do up a whole bunch of cheddar today, and do mozza and something else tomorrow. The mozza is faster and easier to make, and it doesn't take near as long to cure, because it is ready to eat almost as soon as it's made. We'll freeze most of it, and you two can take some home with you as well." Rhys said.

"Cool." Everyone said, and they got to work.

Using the book as his guide, Rhys started telling everyone what they needed to do and when, and they all got to work. It was a good thing that the stove was large, and in the island, because all four boys were able to be positioned around it for the cooking stage. They worked together almost the entire day making cheese, and they got a lot started, there were ten five kilogram blocks of cheese now in their cheese curer.

They had also used nearly every drop of milk that they had collected that day, but none of the cream almost, because they made a lower fat cheese. Nick had just made a whole bunch of butter during the times when they were not really doing much. He did that because the butter also froze well for storage, Tanner and Owen would be able to take a bunch home with them, and a bunch could go to the soup kitchen.

"Well boys, I think that that is more than enough work in here for one day, I say we go downstairs and watch a movie before bed." Nick said, and the boys all agreed, so they did.

The following day the boys all got up early in the morning, and all worked quickly to get all the animals tended to, all the food collected, and then back into the house to make mozzarella cheese today. They got to work again, and again they worked well together. They got almost the exact same amount of mozzarella cheese as they had cheddar, and they were all pleased when they tasted it, to find that it was nice and creamy and smooth, and had a great flavor. They had used only the cows milk for this, because the recipe had warned them that goats milk was not really suitable for this cheese, but they had also only used the cows milk for the cheddar, keeping the goats milk for other cheese and drinking. They did end up freezing a bunch of the milk though to keep it fresh.

"Nick, are we going to have enough room in the freezer for all the vegetables that are going to end up in here? I know this is the largest freezer that you can get, but it's already getting full." Rhys asked when he had put the final jar of milk into the freezer.

"Um, probably not. Why not take the goats milk all out of there, we can make more cheese tomorrow with it, and I will call and order another two freezers, and we can put them in the pantry. It's certainly large enough, even with the cheese curer in there. We will probably still have plenty of storage space in there, not that we need it."

"Okay, that sounds good to me. Why don't we split up into teams tomorrow though, two getting vegetables or fruit picked, and two in here making cheese, because we probably don't really need all four of us to do it, we could have easily managed with two."

"That's probably not such a bad idea. We really have to get that corn picked before it's useless, and that was going to be the first, because it was ready the day before yesterday, and we only have like ten days to use it before it won't really be any good."

"Right, I forgot about that, so we had better do that then. So I'll stay in here, you can be outside, and Owen and Tanner, you can decide which you want to do, or you can trade back and forth."

"I'll stay inside, I prefer the kitchen to the garden anyways." Tanner said.

"And I'm the opposite, so I'll go outside." Owen smiled.

"Excellent, that's all settled then. So, you guys want to go swimming tonight?" Nick asked.

"Okay." They all said, and that was what they did until bedtime.

The next morning the boys all got up, had breakfast, just sitting around in their soggy diapers and chatting, then went and got changed, and all went to the barn to do the morning chores. Once all the animals were tended to, and all their dairy collected, the boys headed back into the house. Rhys and Tanner stayed inside, while Nick and Owen headed back outside. Nick realized halfway out that he had forgotten to call and order the freezers, so ran back in and took care of that right away. They were scheduled to be delivered the following morning.

"So, I guess we really should start with the corn first, seeing as how it really needs to get done the most." Nick suggested.

"Okay, I'm game for that. We should grab the tractor and throw all the picked corn into the bucket as we go, it'll be easier that way." Owen suggested.

"Good idea. We'll just give the bucket a quick wash out, and then we'll be ready to pick." Nick said happily, not even thinking about how they were going to store the corn, or carry it.

They went down to the shop and grabbed the tractor, and quickly washed out the bucket, then went and started picking the corn. As they picked the corn off the stalks, the stalks were pulled from the ground and thrown into a pile that would later be put through the shredder for mulch, and all the corn was tossed into the bucket of the tractor. There were well over a hundred plants to pick, and they were all ripe and ready to be picked, so they picked it all, and by the time they were finished, a little over an hour and a half later, the bucket was actually getting pretty full.

"Well, now we need to husk it and get it in the house, because I don't want to try and husk this in the house, it will make a huge mess. Any ideas for this one?" Nick asked.

"Yeah, grab the other tractor, clean out the bucket, grab a bunch of plastic bags, and as we husk the corn into the pile of stalks, we can just put the husked corn into the bags in the other bucket." Owen answered simply.

"I like that, nice and simple, and easy too." Nick said, so that was what they did.

It actually took them longer to husk the corn than it had to pick the corn and pull the stalks up. It took just a little over two hours.

"Well, now I guess we get this all into the house and start getting it prepared. I hope the others are finished with the stove, because we will need it real soon."

"If not, I have an idea. My mom has a large outdoor propane cooking stove that we use for camping, but she uses it for canning as well. She doesn't like to do the canning in the house, because she doesn't have enough room, and it makes the house so hot, so she does it outside. I bet we could run over there right now and pick it up."

"That's a great idea, and it would make life so much easier. Won't your mom be needing it though for her canning?"

"No, she does her canning later, because the fruits that she uses are later ones. And I think that she said she wasn't going to be doing any this year anyways, because we have plenty left from the previous few years to use up first."

"Okay, let me just go tell the others real quickly what we're going to be doing, and then we can go. You know what though, I really like that idea, instead of getting your moms, I'm just going to buy my own. No need to borrow other peoples things if you don't have to."

"My mom wouldn't mind, but if you want to buy one for other times, then you may as well. Ours sure has come in handy when the power has gone out."

"True, but we have the trailer if we ever needed that, but we really wouldn't ever need that anyways, not with the backup generator we have for the place."

So Nick and Owen went into the house and told the other two what they were going to do, and asked them if they wanted to come, or if they needed anything, to which they said no to. So Nick and Owen went out and hopped in the Humvee and headed out. There was a really nice camping supply store in town, so that was where they headed, both figuring that they would surely have what the boys wanted. When they arrived, they were not disappointed to find that they did in fact have what they were looking for. Nick looked at the few models that they had, and chose the three burner model. The entire thing was cast iron and steel, it was ridiculously heavy, and came with a few accessories, he picked two of them. The store also carried propane tanks, so he picked out four thirty pound tanks, and then went and paid for it all. They of course now had to stop at a gas station for the propane, so that was where they headed next.

Before too long the boys were back at the house and unloading everything. They got the two large stoves set up near the workshop, because there were tables in there that they could use, and there was plenty of running water for them as well.

"Well, now I guess we need all the pots, jars, and ingredients that we need." Nick said, and they headed to the house to get everything that they would need.

It took more than half an hour, and numerous trips to do, but soon they had everything there that they needed. The tables were covered in plastic to keep everything nice and clean, and four huge pots were filled with water and put on to boil. They wanted to blanch some of the corn before they did anything, because this was the preferred method for freezing it. They would not need to do this with all the corn though, because they were doing frozen corn, canned corn, and creamed corn, and the two canned ones were cooked in other ways.

Half of the corn though was destined to be frozen, so half of it was blanched, but while that was being done, the boys got down to cutting corn off the raw cobs for the two canned corns. Once everything was done, it was time for bagging or canning of it, and all told, this took the boys a good many hours to do. All told, by the time they were finished, they figured they had about forty pounds of frozen corn, they had a little over fifty jars of canned, and about forty jars of creamed corn. It was long and tiring work, but at least at the end the boys could stand back and say they accomplished a great deal.

***********************

In the house, Rhys and Tanner were also having a great time. Today they were making three different cheeses, because they were all more simple. They were making ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, and cream cheese. They used almost all of the goats milk for these cheeses, because they had lots, and all three of the recipes said that that milk worked well for them as well.

All throughout the day the boys had fun, laughing and talking, joking around and cooking. And they too worked very hard throughout the day.

As it turned out, both groups forgot totally about lunch, having worked right through it. So by the time that Nick and Owen stumbled into the house, with their first batches of corn to store, they were all starving. All the corn that was to be frozen was brought in first, and it was stuffed into the freezer.

"We're just finishing up here, just have to finish cleaning up, so while you two finish bringing everything in, we'll get some dinner started." Rhys offered.

"Okay baby, that sounds nice. We saved some fresh corn for cooking tonight though, so make sure and make that. We'll bring it in next." Nick smiled.

"Okay. That will be nice with dinner for sure. You two look exhausted though, so as soon as you finish bringing everything in, you can just sit back and relax, and then after dinner, we will go and relax in the hot tub."

"Thanks, that would be nice." Nick said and Owen nodded his agreement. They went out and starting bringing the rest of the corn in and got it stored.

It took nearly an hour for everything to get done, and Nick and Owen were just finishing up their chore as dinner was being set out, but boy did it look and smell good. All four boys sat and ate greedily of the delicious meal, each having two fresh ears of corn, and large helpings of everything else as well, which happened to be country fried chicken and mashed potatoes. Once they were finished eating, Nick and Owen were instructed to go ahead and go sit in the hot tub, Rhys telling them that he and Tanner had the cleanup. They both could tell the other boys were very tired, because they had been working very long and hard.

Rhys and Tanner joined Nick and Owen in the hot tub a short while later, and they all told the other group what all they had done. They were all suitably impressed with all the work that had been done, because they had gotten a whole lot accomplished in the one day. The boys pretty much stayed in the hot tub until it was bedtime, so when they were ready for bed, they all got out, got dried, got diapered, and then headed upstairs to bed. They each went to their separate bedrooms, and none of them even bothered to put pajamas on, they all just crawled in, cuddled up, kissed their boyfriends gently, whispered goodnight to each other, and then passed out for the night.

"Good morning babies, you look a little more alive this morning." Nick greeted the two boys when they entered their room the following morning.

"Yeah, I think we both feel a lot better. We slept great, how about you guys?" Owen asked.

"Yeah, us too. Well, I suppose that we should get up and get breakfast, get changed and dressed, and then go tend to the animals." Rhys sighed and stretched, and then he and Nick crawled out of bed.

"Man Rhys, you're even more wet than I am, and I'm soaked." Tanner giggled, Rhys' soaking diaper was actually drooping so that there were actually gaps at his leg bands.

"I know, ain't it great." Rhys giggled back.

"Come on you little soakers, let's go get breakfast." Nick laughed, Owen joining him.

They went and had a nice filling breakfast together, and then went and got into clean dry diapers and got dressed, so that they could go and feed the animals. Once in the barn they got down to the daily chores, getting them done nice and quick, just as normal when there was the four of them doing the work, and when they were done, they took everything into the house. Not long after they got in the house, the delivery truck with their new freezers arrived, so the boys let him in, and soon he had the freezers into the large pantry. The boys had to clear the shelves that were in the way, and then remove the shelves, but that was real quick work, and got it done before the guy even had the first freezer in the house. As soon as the delivery man left, and the two freezers were plugged in, the boys got started on the rest of their chores.

They got down to picking the beans, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and peas, all deciding to just load them into the tractor bucket again, because it really was the easiest way. Once all the vegetables were picked, they took them over to the preparation area, again deciding to just do the work outside, easier that way. They got one vegetable at a time prepared, they got it cleaned and bagged, and then got all the air out of the bags and then heat sealed. This took the boys until just a little after five, and they were supposed to have had the boys back to their homes by fiveish, so that meant that as soon as they cleaned up, they had to head out.

"You boys had better call your moms and tell them that you're going to be a bit late. I think that we're just going to go out for dinner, so if your parents are good with it, you're welcome to join us." Nick told Owen and Tanner.

"Okay, thanks." Both boys said, and then went and called their homes. Both were allowed to go out for dinner with Nick and Rhys, so they all headed into the house, got changed and dressed, and Owen and Tanner packed up the rest of their things, then all four headed out to a nice restaurant for some much needed dinner. They had once again worked right through lunch, but at least they had all snacked a little on the fresh garden vegetables, so they were not as hungry as they would have been otherwise.

After dinner, Nick drove Tanner home first, and he and Owen kissed goodbye in the back seat, and then they drove Owen home. Both boys told Nick and Rhys that they had had a great time, even if they had worked most of it, and then Nick and Rhys headed home.

“Nick, it's been a few days, I need you in me please, make love to me?” Rhys asked softly when they made it back home.

In answer, Nick said nothing, just smiled warmly, took Rhys' hand, and led him to their bedroom. When they made it there, they slowly undressed each other down to their soggy diapers, and then began a slow sensual kiss. They were laying on their bed, on their sides, their hands just softly caressing the others side with just the very tips of their fingers. For a long time they kissed and caressed each other in this fashion. They were both painfully hard inside their diapers, but as much as they wanted to get on to the main attraction, they both did not want this to end either.

Quite a while later Nick broke the kiss and rolled Rhys over onto his back and started kissing his way down. He worked his way down until his face was buried in the soft squishy material in Rhys' crotch, he sniffed deeply, and then rubbed Rhys' young erection through the diaper with his cheek. He kept this up for quite some time, and then continued the kissing down the rest of Rhys' body. Down and down he kept working, until he came to the very tips of Rhys' toes, and kissed those as well.

Then reaching up, Nick released the tapes holding Rhys' only garment on, and removed the wet diaper from his front, but left it under him. Now with the proud young boner waving in the air, Nick went for the prize with his mouth, taking the entire tasty morsel into his mouth, balls and all. Slowly he sucked and tongued Rhys, trying to prolong the pleasure, but sadly it was not to be. Rhys was just simply too close. A combination of the incredible foreplay, the five days without any release, and all the intense feelings, and it happened far too quickly for either.

With a loud grunt, and then multiple squeals of pure pleasure, Rhys came and came and came again. It was probably one of the longer orgasms that he had had yet, but it was still not his most powerful, because he stayed awake for this one. It was incredible though, to say the least, and his entire body felt as if it were on fire with passion. It felt as if all time stopped at that moment, and he basked in the glory of that perfect cum for what felt like hours, days even, but was probably no more than seconds.

Once Rhys was down from the intense orgasm that he had caused in Rhys, Nick crawled his way up Rhys' heaving body, licking and kissing as he went. Being careful not to apply any unneeded pressure to Rhys' much smaller body, Nick laid on top of his little lover, and started their kiss all over again. It took a few moments for Rhys' still hazy mind to realize that he was being kissed, and then he joined in, and they kissed just like they had when they started to begin with. They kissed for a good while longer, but before too long, Rhys was pushing Nick off and onto his back, so that he could repay the favor.

Rhys rolled with Nick, and ended up on top, and then started kissing his way down as well. He hit all the same spots, kissed all the same areas, mashed his face into Nick's diaper just as Nick had done, took a deep whiff of the pungent aroma, and then worked his way down further still. Working his way back up, Rhys also reached up and released the tapes holding Nick's painfully tented diaper on, pulled the front down, but left the back in place.

As Rhys swallowed all of Nick down to the root, minus his balls of course, sadly they did not fit, his hand was behind himself working a couple lube coated fingers inside his wanting ass. He had made sure to grab the lube on the way in, and it was already on the bed, waiting for the fun to begin. It seemed that Rhys wanted the fun to begin, because he was working quickly to prepare his anal entrance for penetration.

It took Nick almost no time at all to cum a massive load, that Rhys was barely able to contain. He too had been very hot and horny, and fully loaded as well. He had not had any release in the same amount of time as Rhys had, so he was actually starting to feel uncomfortable by the time they started to play.

With gasps and grunts of pleasure, Nick came like he had not cum before. It was so good, it burned so bad, but felt so incredible. As soon as the main orgasm passed though, and Rhys had all the tasty treat that he could siphon out, he started crawling up Nick's heaving body, kissing as he went.

By the time that Rhys reached Nick's lips with his, Nick's still half hard member was brushing the outer entrance to the hole it wanted to bury itself in. It also took a few moments for Nick to come down enough for him to realize that Rhys was kissing him. By the time that Nick knew what was happening at his lips, his dick was once again hard from Rhys rubbing it with his ass. Rhys had been kissing Nick and Rubbing his ass up and down Nick's love pole, so as soon as Nick was ready for it, Rhys got himself into position, and then slid Nick inside himself with ease. He was already well prepared, he was more than loose enough, and he was so horny that it caused him to open wide and take all of Nick easily.

Both boys moaned lowly during the entire insertion, both enjoying it a great deal. When Rhys was down as far as he could go, as soon as Nick was buried in him as far as he could be, Rhys pushed himself up so that he was sitting more than anything, because he was now too short to continue their kiss comfortably. Once he was seated, but still leaning forward, Rhys started moving slowly, very slowly in fact, making slow tender love to his baby brother.

With slow sensual moans of pure love, they slowly rose towards their shared orgasms. It took a long time for them to cum again though, because they had already sucked nice loads out of each other, so they enjoyed the slow ride. They got to enjoy the slow love making for at least ten minutes before they were both too close to hold off any longer, and with grunts, they came, Nick spraying deep inside Rhys. Once they were finished that orgasm, Rhys fell forward and just laid there, Nick still buried deep inside him, but not totally hard either. They were both out of it for a while, just laying there, luxuriating in the incredible orgasms that they shared.

“Oh baby, that was so nice.” Nick sighed out a little while later, still mostly inside his little baby brother lover.

“Yeah, it was.” Rhys whispered dreamily. “Now it's your turn.” He smiled warmly.

“Oh goody, roll over and let me do everything.” Nick whispered warmly.

“Okay baby.” Rhys smiled. He pulled all the way off of Nick, crawled off, and then laid down on his back. His little half hard dick looking a little worse for wear, but both knowing that it was more than ready, willing, and able to continue on.

Nick rolled over as soon as Rhys was laying there, with a silly little smile on his face, legs slightly spread, little dick almost hard again, and Nick started their tender kissing all over again. Starting at Rhys' soft and tender lips, Nick kissed his little baby brother tenderly once again. He held the kiss for a long time, before breaking off and kissing his way down Rhys' body once again. Nick only stopped at Rhys' little pulsing erection long enough to make the little boy really groan, and then continued on his way down.

When Nick got as far down as he could go, he reversed direction and worked his way back up. All the while he had had two of his own lube coated fingers deep in his own ass, getting himself prepared for the entry that he desired. So by the time that Nick was back up and kissing Rhys' lips again, his own ass was ready for Rhys to slip right in. Kissing for only a few seconds, Nick stopped and positioned himself, and slipped Rhys' young erection as deep inside himself as the young member could go.

Both with low appreciative moans, Nick started a slow gentle motion, once again making slow and tender love. Now with two good sized orgasms out of the way, they were able to last even longer this time. But still they both ended up cumming long before they really wanted to, Rhys dry pumping, and Nick spraying a nice load right up to Rhys' chin. Nick too collapsed, but he did so to the side, so as not to crush his little baby.

“Wow, that was nice.” Rhys sighed out a while later.

“Yeah, it was.” Nick sighed as well.

“I think that we had better get babied up baby, before we both fall asleep and pee the bed.” Rhys sighed again, not really wanting to move, but knowing they had to.

“I agree, I just don't want to move, it's so comfy laying here with you.”

“That's just what I was thinking too, but I think we haveta.”

“Yeah, we better.” Nick sighed and crawled out of bed. He grabbed their diapers and jammies and then came back, where they lovingly diapered and jammied each other.

“Good night baby, I love you so much.” Nick whispered.

“And I love you so much too.” Rhys whispered back, and they kissed tenderly for a few minutes, before curling up together and falling fast asleep.