Working the Land: Getting Started

Gonyaul was busy these budding spring days. He would wake well before sunrise so that he had time to himself to meditate and practice the different variations of Ikogu. If he was fortunate he might have a brief interaction with Alexis or Islana should they be awake. He would then be out the door to travel to work, which was done at a casual runner's pace. He would always stop and turn back to face their new home, currently under construction, right before it would fade from his sight lines. He would smile, bow, and sign and then continue on his way. He also did this each time it came into view.

Once at work, there was never a down moment. With all the new quotas the other farmhands were busy with various tasks of plowing and planting while Gonyaul was primarily assigned to the repairs and tending the fungal tunnels beneath. In addition, he was to build and make ready new tunnels in the barren field of the three crop rotation farm. This field had been left alone this past year, but now it was time to transition making use of it while giving one of the current yielding fields a rest for this upcoming year. At times he would imagine he lived up to the more recent nickname of "Rabbit" from the large amounts of time he spend burrowing.

He would enjoy the meal, provided to them, alone in peace and quiet. If he finished eating early, before it was time to get back to work, he made use of it by beginning to get the small garden up and running again. When it was time to leave Gonyaul would run back home, usually covered from head to toe in dirt and dried mud.

---

Whenever he wasn't at his day job, Gonyaul was busy working on the land given to Alexis Greyriver. The two of them had scoped out the territory and made a decision on where best to place the farming fields. After Alexis approved of the design and layout, Gonyaul got to work. There would be four big fields where different kinds of crops would be planted. One section was allotted for wheat in the winter, the second one would have rye sown on it, while the third smaller section would have barley and or oats during springtime. Meanwhile, the last field was going to be left empty to allow the soil to recover its natural strength and nutrients. He planned to use the technique of crop rotation and plant different kinds of crops on each segment each year.

Gonyaul cleared the areas by this point and had prepared the markers for the large fields; however, he had only prepared several strips on each which constituted a fourth of each field. He would eventually come back and turn those markers into stone walls about knee high. There were only three of them living there at the present so this would be much more than enough for them once harvest time came, with the understanding that the rest of the fields would be completed in due time. Perhaps they would be able to feed an entire village in the future, or even make an enterprise that could supply Ostarium and Aquilos?

In addition to the farming fields, Alexis approved of where the Orchard would be placed on the property. For now Gonyaul just placed stone markers for its boundaries because he had not yet gotten the lion fig seeds to grow for transplanting. The landscaped ideas from Alexis, including the designated pastures, meadows, and other future growth areas, were well thought out and designed. Gonyaul would sometimes use his imagination and try and picture how everything would look once it was all completed in the distant future. Sometimes, this would cause his mind to wonder if he would still be there. Would life every take him back to his people?

He pooled his resources of 27 gold, his saving, along with some of the others' funds to help get things started. He purchased enough for one person an effective axe, jointed flail, scythe, harrow, haymaking fork, wheeled plough, rake, shears, sickle, spade, and a few winnowing baskets (he could make more when he had more time himself). They didn't have any livestock yet, so he would strap himself into the harnesses of the wheeled plough to do the labor. The plow could invert the soil and turn a true furrow, thus making a better seedbed. He had come up with a new idea for integrating the fungus into the root system that he wanted to try as well. It would not require building structurally supported tunnels.

It was not uncommon to see Gonyaul, already covered in dirt from working at the farm to be out there until late in the evening struggling and straining to pull the plow through the soil. When he first started he could only move it very slowly, he was no ox or horse; and that was him being in great athletic shape. After weeks of struggle and toil he was getting himself into amazing shape and was able to move it at a decent albeit still slow speed. He would never take off his work clothes, not even the shirt when he felt hot. But his intermittent fasting, healthy eating, running to and fro work, regular labors on the existing farm, martial arts practice, resistance training with the plow made his lean body naturally-toned and well-defined more than ever in his life.

In addition, prior to any of this farm work Gonyaul helped get a well built using a manual percussion drilling technique used from back home in the Kru'll Jungle. It consists of repeatedly dropping a heavy weighted rod and bit connected to a rope in a hole partially filled with water. The bit loosens the soil, or chips off pieces of rock. Once enough cuttings have collected in the hole, the bit is pulled out and a bailer is lowered to collect the cuttings. The bailer is a fabrication with a one-way valve or flap at the bottom that lets cuttings into itself but not out. When brought to the surface, the bailer is tipped up to empty the cuttings.

Gonyaul taught Alexis and Islana about it, explaining how the technique is faster and much safer than making a hand dug well. Working diligently together over time, they were successful in reaching just over 20 meters deep to strike water. This depth would be effective for ground filtration to remove impurities and provide some benefits of minerals. He constructed a borehole that could be sealed to prevent surface water from entering the well and Alexis commissioned a simple covered structural frame, with rope and bucket, that Gonyaul installed so now they had a good supply of safe water; another advantage over a hand dug well.

In regards to organizing the volume of work, Islana helped him with writing down the proposed schedule for the basic farming tasks for the year on their land, aside from special projects:

January: Planting & Weaving (Repairs as needed)
February: Ploughing & Fertilizing
March: Sowing, Weeding & Ploughing
April: Pruning, Weeding, Scaring Birds, Insects and Animals
May: Weeding, Scaring Birds, Insects and Animals
June: Harvesting
July: Ploughing & Gathering
August: Harvesting, Tying, & Winnowing
September: Harvesting, Tying, Winnowing, & Milling
October: Sowing, Milling, & Weaving
November: Weaving (Butchering, Salting, Smoking if necessary)
December: Collecting, Digging & Weaving

When his day eventually came to an end, he was usually exhausted. It was eat, meditate, and to bed. He would sometimes wash up, yet other times he just slept "as is" because he was too tired to bathe. Whenever he went to bed in this way, he would make sure to sleep on the floor. One thing was for certain, on the days he brought home manure or collected it from the outhouse he built for them to fertilize the soil he was working with, he would always clean up after before entering the house.