Chapter 34: Act 1: Chapter 27

Fifth day, Second Moon, 241 AC

A vast blanket of white hung heavy over the farmyard before me. The rain had stopped some hours ago, leaving a wet world, cloaked in white. The fog lay heavy and still in the air; oppressive and thick. The air had that clean, after-rain smell, but it was mixed with the damp and humid fog. I held out my hand and let the fog flow around it – there was no resistance but looked like there should be.

It wasn't an unusual scene, as we were close to the ocean, but I still liked to marvel at it. It always reminded me of movies that were set in rural England or Scotland. There was always thick fog rolling over the hills, with no people in sight. Lonely and heavy, but timeless in its beauty.

The harvest was nearing, and the crops looked good. The season had been perfect so far – a far cry from the previous harvest. Another week or so, and the main harvest would begin.

The fields we had under plow were large now, not as large as back on Earth, but certainly larger than the typical farm in the area. It was hard to tell without accurate measurements, but I figured my fields were about 12 acres, while the average farm – the ones that I didn't deal with – were about 5 acres or less. My neighbors' farms were larger than average as well, probably in the range of 7 – 10 acres, on account of my help and farm machines.

Normally, under the four-field crop rotation system you had four different fields of different crops growing simultaneously and you would rotate the crops each year to ensure good yields and soil quality.

However, in Westeros since we have abnormally long seasons things need to change a bit to compensate. Obviously, the major thing is that we can plant multiple times in a summer. This requires a bit more planning since there is so much variability in the length of each season.

That, and the lack of modern grocery stores, I decided to split my fields a little differently. I couldn't quite handle just eating 3 types of food all the time. Now, most people in the area had gardens to produce things like carrots and onions, to help feed their families but these plots were significantly smaller than their main crops.

My field is split into two four-field systems. On one, I have the traditional choices of wheat, turnips, barley and clover. This field is larger than the other, since this is the main fare of my family and farm animals. The other, for sake of variety, is potatoes, peas, bok choy, and corn. Keeping each field rotating ensures that we have good soil, which leads to good yields. It also reduces pests and diseases, of which, we've mercifully had few in my years farming here.

Walking through the mist, I head over towards our gardens where we grow a large variety of food, but in smaller quantities. I stopped at the berry section first and look over the bushes. The two blackberry bushes had been harvested already; the red currant bush was still growing, the blueberries, strawberries and raspberries had all been harvested. We also harvested a small amount of ginseng mainly for tea.

Continuing my walk, I walked beneath the orchard I had grown over the years. Even wreathed in fog, I could see the trees clearly enough, as I had walked beneath these trees for years. We had a few apple and quince trees now, along with black walnut trees. The apple and quince had been growing for years, but the walnut trees were fairly new. Back on earth, black walnut trees were a very fast-growing tree that provided excellent wood as well as the walnuts themselves. They appeared to be the same in Westeros, as they had grown very quickly and already started to provide walnuts. I had planted a lot of these, as I knew I would get a lot out of them. I had planted hazelnut trees alongside them, though fewer in number, but they grew much slower than the walnuts and had yet to produce any sizeable harvests.

I planted a few plum trees a few years back, but they were still too small to produce any fruit, and they were struggling to grow. I might end up having to move them to a different location if they continue to struggle, but I hoped I would not lose any trees. I had also found some pear trees, but they tasted awful and I wasn't sure what breed they were. The tree flowered beautifully, but it wasn't worth planting. I hoped to find a good tasting pear tree eventually, but it looked like all the ones in the area were the same poor-tasting breed.

Closer to the house, we also had a little cellar outside to grow a few varieties of local mushrooms. I usually left most of that work to Nyra, as she had grown up in the area and knew not only how to farm them, but also what types were edible. She had been shocked when she first moved in and realized I didn't have any mushrooms growing. On Earth, I had never grown any myself and typically bought them from the store. And when I came to this farm in Westeros, I didn't even know which ones were edible, and didn't feel like poisoning myself to find out.

As I continued my walk, the sun started to shine through the overcast sky and break up the fog slowly. I eventually made my way to our gardens, where we kept a large variety of food. Things like carrots, onions, squash, lentils, celery, kale, and beets. We also had a section for spices; things like coriander, chives, thyme, rosemary, oregano, mustard, mint, sassafras, tarragon and wintergreen. I had picked them up throughout my travels and hunting trips and done my best to cultivate them to spice up our diets a bit.

Trying to get a healthy, balanced diet was a difficult thing, even back on Earth. But we did our best to grow what we needed to thrive, even if things like the celery didn't last us the winter. The spices were pretty important too, since I couldn't handle going the rest of my life without seasoning. Nyra certainly enjoyed the spices and did her best to come up with new recipes and new flavor pairings. Just last week for dinner, we had some delicious gnocchi, which she discovered all by herself, with a wonderful mushroom sauce. She had mixed butter, mushrooms, garlic, beef broth, cream, and a few other personal touches and we had a mouthwatering meal. Mmm, my mouth is watering even now, just thinking about it.

It was a huge change from my life in King's Landing, and even from when I first moved to the farm. We were established now. Our work was never done, and we still had more we wanted to do, but we had achieved a lot and we could now reap the benefits of our labor.

By the time I finished my walkthrough, the fog was noticeably less dense, and I could start to see across the field. This was going to be the second harvest of the summer, and I was unsure how many more I would get before winter hit. Back on Earth, it was simple and predictable. Here, it was completely uncertain and could be risky. If the summer was long enough, the fall would likely be long grow a full harvest before winter hit – though it would be with reduced yields. But a shorter summer, may leave a fall that is too short to support a full harvest.

Even without a full harvest our family should be fine; we had plenty of food in storage and did our best to prepare for any disaster. Our fields were larger than we needed, so we were able to grow our stores of food. Though, with my fields continually growing and harvests getting bigger I will need to either build a new storage silo or expand my current one. And, if my fields get bigger I might need to hire someone to help me on a more permanent basis. Ryden was just under a year old and wouldn't be able to help me do the more serious work for many years yet. Violet was old enough to help her mother, and to help watch over her younger siblings, so she was unable to help me. Eve was too young and would still end up helping her mother anyways.

Nyra and I will have to sit down at some point and plan this out a bit better. With two more children I would be more comfortable if we increased the size of our farm a bit more.

I walked back to the house, where Nyra had already set out some warm tea on the porch for me. I could hear her inside corralling the children, but before I could go inside to help, Eve came outside. She was pouting as she sat down on her chair grumpily. She had the same coloring as her mother, with blonde hair and ice blue eyes, and looked close to what Nyra did at her age – according to Nyra's parents. She had my nose, but everything else was all Nyra. As a not-quite-4-year-old, her pouts always made me want to comfort her, even when she was pouting because she was being punished.

"What's the matter Eve?" I asked.

She didn't look up from her lap as she replied, "Want to play with Dacey and E'fan."

Ah. Ethan was Zane's three-year-old son and Dacey was Koryn's three-and-a-half-year-old daughter.

"But we need to finish today's chores early, so we can do our lessons later."

She just muttered, "I know. Want to play."

I scooted over to her and gave her a hug. "Sweetie, we can't always play. Sometimes we have to work hard, so that we can play later."

She still looked unconvinced. "But later is lessons, not play."

Damn, she's not wrong. "Later doesn't always mean tonight. Don't worry sweetie, you can see them before harvest, and you will see them at the harvest festival as well."

She brightened a bit at that and started to sip at her tea.

I relaxed into my chair and looked over the landscape. It was mid-morning now, and the heat of the day was finally burning off the fog. From where I sat, the closest field in front of me was taken up by corn, which blocked my view of the fields behind it. It was a comforting sight, to see the results of my labor.

After she finished her tea, I sent her back inside to help her mother. She went off reluctantly, but happier than when she came outside.

As I sat there on the porch looking at the corn a song popped into my head, one I had not thought about in years.

Slowly I began to sing, trying to remember all the words. "As we sat on the front porch, of that ole gray house where I was born and raised…"