|
Post by Skylos on Mar 10, 2020 12:37:21 GMT -6
The avian squints at the small cup of deep red juice, set before her. It smells a bit sour to her senses. "Freshly squeezed pomegranite berry juice." the juice bar keeper says jovially, a squat dwarf wearing florals with her hair pulled up in a Helga-style bun. "Perfect choice for those suffering from those seasonal allergens." A bit of pink flares at the tips of Ridelys' ears. She hated her allergies. Surviving with allergies in the spring was about as bad as harvest season, when EVERYTHING goes into bloom. "If you like it, I'll make you a bigger glass." 'Better if it can cure me then make me feel better.' she thought, nodding and downing the small cup. Oh. God. Blech. A pinched expression. Disgusting. The dwarf lady looks very happy. Her eyes watering a bit, Ridelys paid her for the bigger glass. If it helped with her sinuses, all the better. Because she was headed out to help out with planting a bunch of trees. 1
|
|
|
Post by Skylos on Mar 10, 2020 12:57:10 GMT -6
Gulp gulp gulp. BLeeeeech. Not the worst thing (hint: unsweetened spruce tips tea), but if it helped. She had no reaction anymore with using the little white herb pellet that the local herbalist claimed would help her allergies. The problem was, something in her immediate area gave her a CONSTANT case of allergies. Perhaps she was allergic to some animal she kept and not just some of the local flora. "Fffhanks." sniffling and trying not to think about the gross juice, she left the popup juice stand and headed out to the planting zone. This month, the local flora people, oh what was their name, Nature people of sorts, had gotten the quest folks to offer some of that point stuff to people to come plant trees with them. Sounds fun; an old pasttime of her tribe was to plant new trees in the spring. So she knew the basics of planting trees. You didn't 'need' a shovel, but it made the job easier. 2
|
|
|
Post by Skylos on Mar 10, 2020 13:29:19 GMT -6
Out on the field, Ridelys noticed there were more people out this spring then out in this usual time of year. There were rumors that she heard that the latest tournament was wrapping up, but the contest hall seemed to be in full swing. If you liked dogs, that is. The houlou were adorable puppies, but she truly didn't have the time for their energy. She had so many creatures and not enough time or attention for them all. However, she knew very well that animal shop in town was overstocked, and still filling up. But perhaps she could take a few to the local adoption agency. Later though. The Nature people had set up on the edge of their cordoned off area. Giving out saplings, spare shovels, and pamphlets of how to plant a tree. The line had just depleted, and soem people had even brought their creatures. Cool. 3
|
|
|
Post by Skylos on Mar 10, 2020 13:38:24 GMT -6
"Heyo!" a human in browns, from their skin to their clothes to their hair waved her over. "Happy Nature month!" She nods. "Here to help the cause?" Another nod. "Great, we can use all the volunteers as needed. Its hard to advertise sometimes, so having the questing association give us both a prize and advertising is really great. Best turnout of planters yet. SO!" they clap their hands together eagerly. "Really quite simple, and no need to sign anything or writing down stuff. Lotta people concerned about privacy or getting advertisements sent to their home. So. Here's soem saplings, and grab a shovel. Each tree has a little tag on what species it is. The trees need to be about ten feet apart in planting. Your shovel is half that, so two shovel lengths from trunk to trunk is how far apart to plant these babies. After your trees are planted, come see me for a way to water your seedlings. 4
|
|
|
Post by Skylos on Mar 10, 2020 13:43:03 GMT -6
Clever idea, Ridelys thought. Keep the water away until the volunteers were done planting their initial batch of seeds, or saplings. To start off, the nature month human passed her a six pack of tiny little saplings. She smiled inwardly, these were tiny little pines. Pines smelled so good when they were trimmed. She nodded to the human and trekked off to where nobody else was planting yet. If she had been digging for any stones, CG would've been very smart to bring along. Except he dug very quickly. erratically. To be more specific on how to dig would tak emore then she had the ability to control him to do. Except point? He didn't dig on command though. A long shovel, about as tall as she was was passed over too. Glancing over at the others, there were many who were much taller then she was, using these shovels. 5
|
|
|
Post by Skylos on Mar 10, 2020 16:01:17 GMT -6
Granted, the farther up on a shovel handle one held, the less control on a shovel was had. She'd learned this the hard way with mining and also digging at home. Each shovel was made to be strong and sturdy, but anyone who hadn't handled a shovel previously, like that sap over there attempting to dig a hole and push down on the very end of the shovel. That... yep. There went the shovel handle. Snapping clean in half when they had the idea to jump on the handle. Well done person. She almost wished for her mining spade, but that one wasn't nearly as sharp as these appeared to be. Yes, you can grind shovel edges on a grindstone, and its not easy to do, or at least hammer out the edges to flatten the spade adn make it useful again. Now where should she put these little seedlings... no idea. 6
|
|
|
Post by Skylos on Mar 10, 2020 16:32:43 GMT -6
Each volunteer had been given a 20 meter by 20 meter plot of area to plant their trees in. With ten feet inbetween th saplings, there wouldn't be much space, right? Only way to figure this out would be to measure by shovel lengths. The giver outer of saplings enclosed a package of stakes as well, to help mark where the trees go. But not only that, it would be for bracing the sapling so it didn't break or fall over. Even this small, but these would need to be protected from giant feet. From the stake that started off her plot, Ridelys laid her spade down flat, and used a thicker stake to draw a line in the ground at the ten foot mark. She repeated this, over and over until the corner, then turn sideways. Continue, and all the lines would be the saplings location. Many more then six. 7
|
|
|
Post by Renathan on Mar 10, 2020 17:57:11 GMT -6
Someone walks past, carrying a sapling in a pot and looking for somewhere to plant it. Not right here, it would seem, since someone was already here planting! They move on, with some difficulty.
|
|
|
Post by Skylos on Mar 12, 2020 13:26:34 GMT -6
Well that didn't go properly. Learning the basics of measurements in two languages was hard enough, because a 'length' didn't get you far in the smithing business, according to her former master. She'd been making double the marks because it was ten foot lengths, which accounted into being two shovels, not one. Get a bit too into the marking and you have to do it all over, or melt the project back into a puddle to start over. The more time spent on an item made in mistake, the more time and potentially resources spent. Like the crabfire debacle. Exhaling in frustration, Ridelys had to scuff out half her marks, and double measure the first one to make sure it was indeed TEN feet in between each mark. Measurements weren't even hard, but replanting a tree would be, if she wasn't careful. Alright, measurements looked to be proper. Going off the size of the sapling... about three times the root ball size was enough for the size of the hole. 8
|
|
|
Post by Skylos on Mar 12, 2020 17:54:15 GMT -6
This iwas the reason she thanked learning how to plant saplings as a child. That and the usage of digging rocks and such out with her sovel here in Pethia. Because it showed among some of the helpers that... they had no clue how to use a shovel! either that or stood by while their acompanying beast dug a rough hole for them. Hmph. Stabbing the spade into the dirt, she pressed her booted sole into the spade's top, sending it deeper with her weight, but not too deep. Well that happens with hollowing bones. She had to jump on the shovel to send it deeper, and pull up hard to perform groundbreaking. The dirt is not that heavily tamped down and lifts thankfully relatively easily. Perhaps it was even prepared earlier, but the light layer of grass and weeds spreading over the ground told her not the case. Probably just cordoned off. 9
|
|
|
Post by Skylos on Mar 16, 2020 23:15:42 GMT -6
The first shovel is alwasy the hardest. The next one sinks in deeper and comes up with more ease. This job required a rhythm and without that, made the work boring and difficult. Granted, the children of the tribe didn't get to dig the big holes. that was an adult job. the children carried the small trees into the wood, either by hand or with little rolling carts made just for children size. Running small to medium sized baby trees out to the adults digging holes, and then getting to run about and water them. a cute job. the first sapling she was given wasn't very large, and barely a pot deep. so that much deep, and that much wide, tripled. alright, this wouldn't take too long. adjusting her grip some, the avian got back into her rhythm and made slow but short work of making her hole the proper sizing. 10
|
|
|
Post by Skylos on Mar 18, 2020 17:05:50 GMT -6
The next part could be considered a child’s favorite thing. Tearng up the root ball of the sapling so the roots would spread out properly when planted. digging your fingers into the roots and pulling them out. Dpending on the density of the roots, the tearing up made great and messy fun, scattering tiny to larger roots, dirt and other plant matter in thesoil all over the place. Squeals of laughter and fun while th adults dug holes. Ridelys frankly relished the feelingo of sinking her fingers into the dirt again, to pull the roots apart and help the sapling grow big and strong. The saplings weren’t root bound so the job of pulling the roots apart went pretty quickly. Soil dribbled out from the roots into the hole as she dug. Finally, Ridelys took the root unbound tree and placed in on a small ount in the middle of the hole. 11
|
|
|
Post by Skylos on Mar 18, 2020 17:13:11 GMT -6
The little tree looke so little sitting in the big hole, but this was how to plant a tree, at least how she was taught. “Oi, are we able to dig deep heref?” Someone called out to hte volunteers. “Ohyes, the proper authorities were asked, and there are no gas or water lines running here. You are fine to dig deep, but be careful on reaching stone, these baby trees don’t have the stgrength to break through rocks yet.” The darker brown volunteer says cheerily. They never drop that smile, and its downright creepy. well that wasn’t something to worry about in her tribe. Ridelys came down on her hands and knees, pushing the soil up and around the sapling. There needed to be a watering ring around it, but the soil went up and around the trunk as a sort of mountain. The water would sink in, and she’d make sure of that. 12
|
|
|
Post by Skylos on Mar 27, 2020 14:31:09 GMT -6
The thing about making time to plant trees, the first one is always the hardest. Bits of dirt, wet dirt, cling to her fingers as Ridelys pats the soil around the sapling into its miniature molehill mountain. There, not so bad, right? She sits back on her heels, giving a smile to her work. Not bad for being years rusty. I twisted around and found my watering can, more like a watering pail with a trio of small gashes in the side, covered by a small bit of tape? Not a very useful item. The tape is already moist and pulling away from the metal of the bucket. Water slops out and splatters me, the tree and the dirt. Grumble. I can hear someone swear loudly on being slopped on themselves, and whomever closeby or even whatever giggling at them. Was this a prank? Probably not, its too badly executed. I should know, my faeron is a pranker. prankster. 13
|
|
|
Post by Skylos on Mar 27, 2020 14:38:44 GMT -6
Next came the mulching. I liked doing the mulching as a child. Have to use gloves though, because a lot of mulch has splinters in it. Plinting splinters aren't fun. The removal is worse. Thankfully, there are gloves available for volunteers. They are not leather, funny enough. To not offend the beast races, perhaps? Thats stupid, everyone uses some sort of leather product in their home or their training stuff. I've got a set of leather training gear myself. The mulch is given out in pails, and the gloves are made iwth some sort of manmade material. Like... frog skin without the mucus. Mulch goes around the tree for a good few inchest down, and it helps to conserve the water. Taking handfuls of it with gloved hands does help, even if it still fels a bit slimy. There were a few worms in the mulch, I'm positive. Go figure, it IS mulch. 14
|
|