Chapter 28: Act 1: Chapter 22

Seventeenth day, Third Moon, 240 AC

I took off my hat and wiped the sweat off my face with a cloth. I had just finished another row of wheat seed planting, and I was about halfway done. As usual the seed drill made the wheat planting easy and efficient, even if I miss my old tractor.

But it was a truly gorgeous day, so I let that thought out of my mind easily enough. The sun was bright, it was warm without being uncomfortable, and there was even a slight breeze to help cool me down. As I got the drill into position, I urged the horses forward and began to work again. When I first built the seed drill, it took a while to decide on the design of it, but I ended up going fairly minimalist. Instead of being a wagon that I could sit on and hold a lot of seed, I decided for something smaller without a seat. Since it was my first time building something like it, I figured easier the better, especially when it came time to fix something that had broken and over the years that decision had been vindicated.

Now though, as I looked at my constantly expanding field it looked like I might have to make a bigger one soon to help cut down on time again. I had made an additional bigger plough already, and that was a big help when I hired a few villagers to help with getting the fields ready. They had already made their way to Zane's farm, and would be helping there before moving on to the next farm. By the time they were done at Zane's, I would hopefully be done with the seed drill and it would be passed on. We had a fairly good schedule, and the past few seasons we had been on track each time. If there was any overlap, the others would start planting potatoes or whatever else they were growing that did not utilize the seed drill. Our system had worked for us the past few years, even if Torrhen still didn't adopt our methods, and there was even a new farm from one of those who lost everything in the floods.

As I went down the row, I saw that Nyra, Violet, Eve, and my newborn son had set up a seed stand. My son had been born only last moon, and since he was born in the spring Nyra let us name him right away, and we ended up naming him Ryden. Nyra and Violet were setting up a stand to begin to clean the potatoes in preparation for planting, while Eve played with her dolls and Ryden was mercifully sleeping. The potatoes needed to be washed before planting, since they were stored with the uhrplant, and it seemed to mess up the sprouting capabilities of the potatoes. But a quick wash before being cut and planted allowed them to sprout once again.

To me, there was no end to the surprises that the uhrplant provided. Most of my experiments with it failed, but it was still an interesting plant, one that I hoped didn't have any major non-obvious downsides. Live and learn I suppose.

Mercifully, I had yet to hear of any raiding so far since the past winter was over. But I supposed it was early yet, with spring just ending, though I haven't seen Rodrick come through the village since winter ended and he usually brought news with him. Although, with the blacksmith in the village I suppose the new merchants might also bring news. Now that I thought about it, I hadn't met the new merchants yet and I wasn't even sure how many actually came here. Hmm, I'll have to ask Nyra later if there's anything we need from them if they even have enough room in their wagons for anything other than coal or iron.

Once I had finished the row, I noticed that the seed tank on the drill was near empty, so I walked over to the barn to grab a sack of seed. As I neared the barn Eve called out for me, "Papa! Play dolls!"

I laughed quietly, trying not to wake Ryden and walked over to her. I whispered, "I can't right now sweetie, I've got work. We can play with your dolls later tonight."

She gave the same pout Violet always gave me. Clearly, she was learning. I walked over to Nyra and Violet and saw them scrubbing the potatoes clean.

I asked, "How goes it?"

Violet looked up at me and said, "Good papa. But Eve took forever this morning."

Nyra responded, "She took as long as she normally does. You were just impatient this morning."

"I just want to go swimming today! If we finish early we can! You said!" Violet exclaimed.

I rolled my eyes and replied, "Yes, we did say that yesterday. That just means you have to work hard today, and that includes helping your mother with Ryden and Eve."

Violet shrugged as she continued to scrub the potatoes. She said, "Rye was okay this morning. And I did help."

Nyra smiled and said, "Yes you did." She turned to me and said, "And how goes the seeding today?"

"Good, the soil is well drained and my tests from before are accurate, so I haven't had to use any more fertilizer."

She nodded and said, "Excellent. Is the rest of the field the same?"

"The area for the turnips is good now. The application of lime last week brought down the acidity to a good level for them. But I am thinking of changing up the field of clover again. Since the flooding, we haven't gotten quite the harvest from that field as I had hoped for. I think an application of feather meal and manure would be good."

She tilted her head in thought, "What type of manure were you thinking?

I replied, "A mixture of chicken, cow and sheep I think. Something fast acting to complement the slow nature of the feather meal and would benefit from the strengthened soil structure from the feather meal. I will think on the mixture while I finish the wheat seeding."

Nyra shrugged and said, "If you think it best. The concept of 'soil structure' still seems odd to me." She gave me a wink and continued, "But I suppose at this point I've got to trust you."

I rolled my eyes at that and said, "Your confidence warms my heart, my sweet wife. Anyways, I should finish the wheat seeding today and I will get started on mixing the manure today."

She nodded and went back to work, while I walked back to the barn to grab that sack of seed and returned to the seed drill. It took most of the day, but I managed to finish seeding a few hours before sunset. Nyra and Violet had finished washing the potatoes and readied them for planting before swimming for an hour in the river. Afterwards, Nyra, Eve and Ryden went inside to start dinner while Violet sat with Max under a tree and played with the guitar. I had been teaching her for about a year, mainly getting her used to it and how to take care of it. I hadn't really taught her sheet music since I thought it a bit unfair to pile so many lessons on her in the little time she had available.

I waved to her after I returned the horses to their stalls and exited the barn. She sat there gently strumming the guitar, not necessarily playing a song but just making a gentle noise. It was a very adorable sight, and one that really showed how great the summers were. Something that was greatly appreciated in these messed up seasons.

The manure pit was divided by the type of waste and held a mixture of other composts. There were many specifics from Earth I had forgotten over the years, especially some basic things, like what exactly the different manures did differently. I remember that sheep and chicken manure were very good and had high level of nitrogen and phosphate, but cattle was also good, but in a different way. Farming without technology was a lot different than I was used to, and I could only problem solve so much. So, I found myself in this type of situation often; trying to experiment to get the best results. This time I would use a 40/40/20 split of chicken, sheep, and cattle manure respectively.

Shoveling and mixing the manure was hot and stinky work, but the area of the field I was worried about wasn't that large. It was mostly the area in which the field rose up a bit and the soil didn't retain the nutrients as well as the surrounding area. By the time I was finished, the sun was almost set, and it was getting hard to see in the darkness.

I put away my shovel, grabbed a bar of soap from the house quickly and jumped into the river for a quick wash before it was too dark. Our sauna got a lot of use, especially in the winter, but during these busy times when I worked from sun-up to sundown I couldn't always find the time. As I scrubbed with the soap, I did my best to rinse away the smelly evidence of my day's work. As the years went by, Nyra had tried and succeeded in adding a variety of scents to the soaps like lavender, wintergreen and sassafras. Winter rose was also an excellent addition, but very rare for us to use. The winter rose was a project of Nyra's, one that was very difficult for her. Winter rose was a difficult plant to grow and cultivate and turning it into an oil for use in the soap also took a lot of time. We had a few precious bars of winter rose soap, and usually on kept it for special occasions or as a wedding gift.

When I entered my house after the bath, the smell of warm delicious food greeted me, and the sounds of my family washed over me. Nyra and Violet were just setting the table for dinner when I came in, so I rounded up Eve and Ryden and brought them to the table and got the settled.

Tonight, we were having egg noodles with sausage in a vegetable sauce. Dinner was fairly quiet as we all ate – well as quiet as a dinner with a 3-year-old and a 1-month-old can really be. We were all hungry from a long day and were quite content to eat, sit and relax at the table. Nyra and Violet began to clean up the dishes, while I went and put Ryden in his crib and gave him a few of his toys to play with. Eve went in front of the fire and played with her dolls, and I went to go update my journals with the manure mixture I was going to use tomorrow. Record keeping was difficult without computers or even proper paper, but I made do with birch bark.

After I finished with my journal, I went to play with Eve and her dolls as I promised earlier. It was mostly nonsensical games, tea parties, and random conversations, but it was enjoyable spending time with my daughter regardless. Eventually, Violet and Nyra finished their chores and joined us. Violet took my place and I went to sit with Nyra. We sat on the couch, cuddled together before the fire and watched out children play. It was a good feeling.