[Warrick] Rags or Riches

The seven Duchies of Central Rynmere and their respective baronies, cities, towns, villages, and landmarks each overseen by a Duke of one of the seven noble families and ultimately controlled by the King of Rynmere.
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Lazuli
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Joined: Wed Feb 03, 2016 5:09 am
Race: Ithecal
Profession: Farmer
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14 Ymiden 716
The book was non-fiction, like most of the books in her collection, Lazuli seldom had time for fairy tales, and perhaps this was why she had convinced herself of the fact that exciting things didn't happen to normal people. She was plain, boring, work orientated, and of a mind few shared. Still, the book was interesting. Sweetcorn is pollinated by the wind and should therefore be planted in blocks rather than spread out, maximising its potential to grow well. If left too long before picking, the natural sugars will turn to starch, diminishing the quality of the harvest and the well received sweet taste.
Her eyes followed the text quickly and she made notes, jotting down important observations, such as the planting depth of the seeds, which was to be no more than an inch, while each plant should have at least three of four inches between itself and next, in order to optimise productivity and give the crop room to grown nice cobs and long leaves used to absorb the sun's energy. Sweetcorn should be watered well after the seeds are planted, and prefers a long, dry growing season. Perfect, Lazuli thought, if she got the seeds in the ground today, they would have the early rain of Ymiden to help them germinate, followed by the intense heat of the season of Saun, and the long dry-spells of Vhalar to finish the growing process before the corn would be ready to harvest, with most of it going to the city of Andaris, while the rest would be stored, dried, and the seeds kept for the following year.
The young woman put her boots on and went in search of her gloves, finding them just beyond the front doorstep where she had left the large sack of corn, stood upright against the wheelbarrow she had struggled to lift it into the day before. One last heave saw the sack go into the wheelbarrow and she cut the top open just enough to be able to reach in without trouble and take up the seeds when she was ready for them. The fields had already been prepared, and the soil looked dark and rich, freshly turned by the ox and plough.
In long narrow rows, Lazuli walked back and forth, bent over the raised earth with pockets stuffed with the sweetcorn seed, two tiny pellets deposited into each inch deep hole she pricked with her gloved finger, ensuring that something would come up. For an hour she did this before stopping to look back at her work and go inside in search of a hat or an old t-shirt she could wear on her head to protect the back of her neck from the sun. Passing the wheelbarrow on her way back, she filled her pockets again and returned to work, a quarter of the way through the field, but ready to speed up, having gotten the hang of this now.
The plan was to stop midway for lunch, but Lazuli had a habit of going until the job or the day was done, whichever came first.
word count: 524
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Lazuli
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Joined: Wed Feb 03, 2016 5:09 am
Race: Ithecal
Profession: Farmer
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Even Jared, her father, had managed to con a few of the neighbours into helping him whenever it came time to plant the sweetcorn, and though she wasn't quite as confident as the man she aspired to walk in the footsteps of, Lazuli wasn't afraid to ask for help or admit when she was defeated, and with the back-breaking work starting to take its toll while the pain settled in. She was thankful to think that her sister Lei'lira would now be helping her run the business, for a small cut of the profit of course.
Whenever the two of them worked together, time just seemed to fly by, but Lazuli couldn't help but steer her thoughts towards the idea of expanding. The neighbour west of their property had put his land up for sale, or had intended to before his chat with the young woman, where she had offered to buy the land in stages, not because it was anymore valuable than the government owned land to the east of them, free for anyone to put an offer in on, but because he had successfully grown grapevines on his plot for years, at least as long as she could remember, and taking on a few paddocks of well established grapevines would save her the hassle of planting her own one day in an attempt to break into the market people from Venora and Andaris had all but claimed. Warrick Farms would one day produce the kind of wine served to kings, she was sure of that.
With her work in the field complete, and all of the seeds in the ground, save for what was left in the sack, Lazuli set about getting the seedlings watered. There wasn't much to go around with restrictions placed on how much water the farmers were allowed to take up from the creeks this season, but enough to wet the ground and coax the corn seeds to germinate, hopefully. Carrying the watering can back and forth wasn't quite as bad as planting, and Lazuli enjoyed watching the small holes in the earth fill up with water, only to collapse in on themselves where they would remain closed until the seedlings broke through the soil and started to grow later in the season.
Having already purchased a section of land from the neighbour, and planning to buy another two or three more blocks the following season, Lazuli decided to climb over the stone fence and walk amongst the rows of grapevines, some of which produced big red grapes, while other rows were heavy with black and green grapes. Lazuli didn't exactly know what the difference between them was, so planned to head into the village for the afternoon to seek out the library and a book on growing grapes, and possibly even processing the harvest into her own homemade wine. Understanding how it all worked was now at the top of her to do list.
word count: 499
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Lazuli
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Settled down in a quiet corner of the library, Lazuli sat with a book she had found on grape growing which included some recipes and instructions on how to make wine and raisins. The book explained that wine could be made from white or red grapes, white being the true name of the green grapes most people preferred which lacked any colour, and more importantly, the ability to change colour, unlike red and black grapes. Both green and red grapes can be used to make white wine, the key difference between red and white wine is that white wine is made without the grape skins which is where most of the flavouring and aromas come from..
Lazuli made notes, making sure she wrote the recipes down and how to dry out grapes to make raisins correctly, there was also a process for making grape seed oil that had caught her eye and joined the rest of her musings in the notebook. As well as this, Lazuli also wrote down the growing times for each type of grape and what she could expect crop wise. Grapevines, she had discovered, were a long life plant that could live from fifty to one hundred years if well care for, and as far as her neighbour had explained, most of his vines were still younger than thirty, so she could expect many more years of good grapes for raisin, oil, and wine.

Later at home, the woman prepared some supper, carving a slice of bread for herself to down with a soup she had made from the leftover vegetables. She sat down at the table with her meal and opened her notebook to a new page, using both to map out what the rest of the growing year would look like and plan how to expand the business in that time. Lazuli wanted to be able to hire at least two more staff members to help out before Cylus hit, and knew she would probably have to house them, being so far from the capital which would mean putting another room on the house, or setting aside enough money from the business to build a second house somewhere on the property.
Quickly, Lazuli listed all of the assists assigned to the business and what she would be able to achieve with the right materials. She mapped out the farm, not only as it was but as she desired it to be, some years down the track and with enough invested to yield the best results. Not only would she buy the neighbour's grapevines, but the government owned land around the creek as well which she would be able to draw enough water from to keep the whole farm running. By the time she set her pen down beside the rough sketch, it dawned on the girl that perhaps dreams could come true, if one was willing to work for them.
word count: 487
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Vluharqih
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Joined: Sat Apr 09, 2016 10:56 pm
Race: Yludih
Profession: Apothecary
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[Warrick] Rags or Riches

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Lazuli

Skills
Collaboration 0/5
Structure 5/5
Story 5/5
Basic Knowledge
Agriculture: Share the Workload
Drawing: Can make Goals Realistic
Specific Knowledge
Agriculture: Sweet Corn grows best in Blocks
Agriculture: Sweet Corn Planting Depth and Spacing
Agriculture: Sweet Corn Prefers Long, Dry Seasons
Agriculture: White Wine is made without Grape Skins
Agriculture: Red Wine is made with Grape Skins
Agriculture: Grapeseed Oil Recipe
Agriculture: Raisin Making Process
Rewards/Injuries
None
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Remarks
:

An interesting read. I enjoyed finding out more about sweet corn, and I had no idea what the difference between red and white wine was.

There were several places where I noticed run-on sentences. For example, in the second post the entire first paragraph is one sentence. It makes it a bit easier to read if you divide it up into two or three smaller sentences.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to PM me!
word count: 154
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