Before World War I, Britain had an empire around the globe. When war was declared, many people were conscripted into the army. There were lots of people who had to leave the countryside because they wanted to fight for their country. In 1916, they started conscripting young men from farm families, too.
It was considered to be a big achievement to serve in the war, but Duncan, David Garnett, and Vanessa didn’t want to do that. They decided to find another way to stay out of the war. They went back to farming. Vanessa helped them to raise rabbits, homoerotic art chickens, and cows. Duncan kept bees, while David Garnett looked after the fruit trees. They didn’t mind doing this work because they were happy just being together and having fun.
They enjoyed it even more because they helped people, too. One of their neighbors was a boy named Jack, who lived next door to them. He was a soldier who was training to fight in the war. One day, he came to visit them to ask them to do some gardening for him. This gave them a chance to meet someone else who needed help. He told them that he and his friends had been having lots of trouble with their crops and were very short of money.