Crop Circles

Gharret had wanted to help me hop the fence, but I had beat him to climbing over it on my own. Leigh whimpered and followed us after a moment. His brother, meanwhile, was quite graceful about it.

Once again, I felt the need to dust myself off while Isabella waited patiently for me. When I gave her the thumb's up, she grinned and began following the path just inside the fence. I followed as well.

"So!" she began and I made sure to have my pen and pad ready. I'd flipped to a new page, just in case. "The vegetables we'll have available soon are radishes, peas, spinach, artichokes, and rhubarb. We'll also be having some salad greens available, but those mostly go to the bunny family. Believe it or not, carrots are rather bad for us. Oh, we should be seeing those at the end of the season, too! And asparagus, though it's a very short period for that."

I jotted down as much as I could as fast as I could. She mentioned a few other crops, as well as what they'd planted and what would be available in the summer as our trio followed. While they didn't have a medicine garden, per se, they were still growing various herbs, many of which could be dried and stored for later use, which was better than I had expected.

After a moment we stopped and she turned, hands on her hips.

"Unfortunately, the harvest quality and amount for veggies have dropped, though no one's listening to me. I suggested expanding our fields to the east and west for optimum planting."

I frowned and tapped the end of my pen on my chin.

"Well…just how badly have they declined?" I asked. She thought for a moment before answering.

"One pound per acre or so comparing last year and the year before…and almost two pounds between the year before and the one before that."

My frown deepened. That was quite the steep decline. It seemed whatever method they were using to fertilize wasn't helping. I closed my eyes for a moment and began thinking back to a brief time period where I had dreams of one day having a garden of my own, as well as the many hundreds of hours I'd indulged in watching gardening videos on Youtube.

"There are a few methods you could try," I said slowly, still thinking. When I opened my eyes again, she had spun around and started beaming at me. I chuckled a little.

"Well?" she asked.

"Have you tried rotating the crops?" She tilted her head in response and I got the feeling she didn't quite understand what I'd meant.

"Like…turning them in circles???" I laughed a little and shook my head.

"What it means is changing where you plant certain crops per year. Sometimes it's not enough to just plant different things per season in one patch. The idea is to expose a plot of land to different kinds of plants and fertilizers in order to keep the soil fresh and healthy. That way, whatever you plant there will have access to all the nutrients it needs."

While she followed along very closely, bobbing her head as I spoke, she gasped when I finished as though what I'd said were remarkable and groundbreaking. It really wasn't. Once farming was figured out, they learned fairly early on to rotate crops and plant cover species between harvests. I continued.

"Another method would be to swap your fields with the animals every season after local grasses and plants have been planted. The herd gets new foliage to graze on and becomes healthier while the crops you plant in the old animal fields will have plenty of fresh manure on an already rested plot of land. It might also save you time in cleaning and transporting manure." At this one, she clapped in response.

"I hadn't thought to do either of those things! You're so smart!" She then paused and began rubbing her chin, her other hand cupping her elbow as she thought. "Would it be possible to employ both methods?"

I nodded with a grin. "It would make a bigger difference to do both. Good call."

Once again, she beamed proudly, sticking out her chest and planting her hands on her hips before pausing and completely shutting down. Some thought or realization bothered her to the point of almost dissolving into tears.

"B..bu…but…No one will listen to me because I'm…u..u…ugly…," she sniffled loudly.

Damn. The people of this world could be cruel, couldn't they? Well, you know what they say! Lead by example! BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE! Before I could say anything, however, Gharret stepped forward.

"You don't have to worry about that. I'm the Chief. They'll do as I say," he said simply. The entire time, he'd been rather mute…I'm assuming just to observe my interaction with another who wasn't directly related to him. I glanced at him and he wore a no-nonsense scowl.

"Wuh…really?!" she gasped, instantly cheering up. It was like dumping a flood of water on a poor, withered flower.

"Of course. You're clearly an expert in your field and the fact that no one had taken you seriously before simply due to your appearance speaks more to their incompetence than it does to you." He shrugged, then smirked a little. "I'll gladly have a talk with the entire village regarding this particular bad habit."

He then looked at me and smirked even wider. Before I could say anything, he scooped his arm around my waist and pulled me in tight to his side. For the first time since…this morning…I felt like a piece of meat.

"Don't look at me like that. We're in public," I huffed and he only chuckled.

"Besides," he continued, as though I hadn't just growled at him. "Our Otherworld Princess, here, will back me up. Anything she says goes."

I found myself caught between being flattered for being considered a prized jewel in his tiny village crown, and being insulted that I was also considered an object. I grumbled at the conundrum and his confident smile shifted into a gentler one. Oh, bother…

"I guess…if it's for the good of the people…"

He grinned widely, flashing his fangs, and I melted a little.

Just a little, though…