When Lyddie’s mother decides to go to her sisters’ farm, what do Lyddie and Charlie do?

Lyddie and Charlie, although they are far too young to run the family farm by themselves, determine to stay behind and keep things going while their mother is away. Lyddie secretly hopes her father will return. Charlie goes with his mother and siblings far enough to help them board a coach; he returns to Lyddie after about two weeks.
Together they manage to take care of themselves in their own cabin through the winter by shooting rabbits and making soup from tree bark. They quickly use up what flour they had. They had taken advantage of their neighbor's bull to breed their cow, so in the spring, a calf was born. They worked together to harvest maple sap and boil it down for syrup. They didn't produce enough to sell, but they were able to supplement their own diet with it.
Just when Lyddie and Charlie are congratulating themselves for their self-sufficiency and beginning to plow their land to plant crops, a rider brings a letter from their mother. It informs them that she has hired them out to a miller and a tavern keeper in order to pay the family's debts. So Charlie goes to the Baker's Mill to work, and Lyddie goes to Cutler's Tavern.