One fun fact: Heaven's representative on earth still had to eat and drink.
Country priests and monks without other means had to rely on donations from the faithful or work with their own hands to meet their needs. Larger monasteries, and even the Church's centers of power in the cities, generally owned property of their own.
These estates came from a variety of sources. Much of their land had been acquired through reclamation or purchase, and included wheat fields, plantations, and forests, along with the labor force needed to keep them running.
They provided a steady stream of income, operating much like a fief. The only difference was that the center was a monastery, protected by high walls just like a castle. With no outsiders to disturb it, it was almost a semi-independent little kingdom.
Thanks to certain advantages in personnel, technology, and management, the Church's operations were often far more efficient than those of some families.
Kraft was one of those "some families," and he knew it well.
So when he arrived with Brother Wadin at Father Green's temporary residence, he was impressed, but not especially surprised.
They had set out on the first day the weather cleared, reaching a small hill less than half a day's journey from Dunling. Pleasing green curves followed the contours of the land, arranged across the sunny, terraced slopes with a neatness that would have delighted anyone with obsessive-compulsive tendencies.
As they followed the route used by the freight wagons uphill, they took a look at the growing grounds. Vines clinging to wooden trellises flourished, their broad, palm-shaped leaves spread wide and overlapping to shade clusters of berries nourished by the summer rains and heat.
The half-ripe fruit, blue-green with a hint of purple, was still building up its sugars. The growers were