SPRING PLANTING

Two Voices asked the Cheese if anyone knew how to plow with horses, the Cheese asked Jo, Jo asked Vickie, Vick asked Bill, Bill asked Chione. Chione asked Jimmy. Jimmy laughed. "Dude!" So, as the Six figured would probably happen, Jo called a town meeting.

"I hate town meetings," said Jo. "Cheese, you're supposed to be in charge. Why don't you do it."

That was much more a command than a question. (which tells you who is really in charge) The Cheese addressed the assembled thong...er.. throng.

"I've been wondering if any of you have any idea what the hey we're doing here. If I hadn't been in on the choosing I wouldn't know where here is.

" I can tell you what I know. This particular place, right here, is the safest spot, geologically, on the continent for the next Ten Thousand years. The Two Voiced One has what she/he calls a map. It maps time too. Way cool map.

"The last Ice Age is just over. Yeah, yeah, I know... What the fuck! The Native American precursors aren't here yet.

"We ARE IT! No police, no parents, except Carol, and Carol's Mom and her Mom's sister. Hi Carol... looking good, Carol! Besides them is there anyone over 25? How about 24?...23? (the Cheese's hand went up) You mean to tell me I'm the oldest person here? ... Shit fire, ain't that just groovy.

"Well, we claim we want to change the world. Tune in Turn on Drop out! I guess we get to do it. It's just us. THERE ARE NO OTHER PEOPLE ON THIS CONTINENT!

"Your parents are 17 thousand years in the future. No running home to mommy. No cars, no trucks, no contrails in the sky, no roads, no gas stations, no taxes, no crime unless you're the criminal, but we get to vote.

"My wife is sitting there laughing at me. I think the first thing we need to do is choose a Chief. Chief's aren't dictators. The Chief is the person who says, "We need to have a meeting." I'd like to throw the idea up for a vote. I nominate Jo for Chief. Oh no, you can't decline the nomination. Yup, I'm a rat bastard! Who else?"

Jo said, "If this isn't a dirty rotten stinking turn of events, I don't know what is. Unanimous my ass, I hate you all! There is an upside though...Hey ladies, We're in politics! And we're President!

"I don't suppose anyone has noticed, but there's no supermarkets here. Heck ... there's not even a MiniMart. Hey, it's spring. Two Voices has been pretty decent about supplying our needs and is planning to keep doing it until harvest. So ... I guess it's time we thought about planting crops. Growing our own.. We were given some cut and dried rules by the Two Voiced One about how this is supposed to work. My first reaction to cut and dried rules is always "Fuck no! I'm not doing that." But then I got to thinking that I like to eat and Two Voices is planning to leave after Samhain. The Cheese is going to start digging today. Sit back down, Cheese. Two Voices has seeds of damn near anything that grows. I figure we can plant a small garden big enough to feed me and mine with fresh vegetables all summer and dried veggies during the winter.

"There is another way, though. We have horses. Is there anyone who knows how to use a horse drawn plow? Gran?! Aunt Beckie? I never even considered it. Folks, Aunt Beckie looks 18, Two Voices did that. She's really 70 and Grans older sister. She was given a choice and she chose starting over but keeping her experience. That's true bravery. I'd be terrified.

"OK, we can have individual gardens and the hassle of keeping the bugs and rodents out 50 or so small plots. We can group together and have several like minded larger gardens and share the weeding and keeping the bugs and rodents away. We can have one big garden and share equally. One big garden means we can use the horses and plow and that sounds good to me, The Cheese hates shoveling. Poor baby. It's hard on his delicate hands.

"We need to discuss what things you like ( well duh). Tomatoes are the number one thing, and they are easy to grow and don't take much space if you use cages to keep them vertical rather than sprawling. Some people can't do without corn, but they have a longer growing season taking up space, and you really can only count on one ear per plant in a garden. However you can plant melons, pumpkins, squash, potatoes or sweetpotatoes in the same space and pole beans will use the corn stalk for the pole. Okra, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, are also in the garden a long time but produce a continuous supply of food.

"Vegetables for a garden, because of the space and the amount produced, are bush snap and lima beans; leafy greens such as lettuce, spinach, mustard, and turnips; green onions; tomatoes; sweet peppers; and eggplant. If space permits, add broccoli, cabbage, hot peppers, okra, summer squash, and Southern peas. Cucumbers, which normally take a lot of ground space, can be trellised.

"Radishes are easy in looser soils and great for a first garden because they can be planted early and sprout and mature quickly, preventing boredom. Two or three crops might be planted before it gets too hot, then something else can be planted in their space.

"Some people are Vegans, you have that right. Two Voices has soybean seed, but because of the space and water involved, he/she has designated the third meadow below the beaver pond for soy. The first meadow below the pond is for rice. Anyone wanting to work with rice, soybeans, barley, or wheat should take note that the average farmer working with horses spends 80 to 100 hours a week farming. Up before sunup so you can be toiling with your crops at daybreak. "Sun to sun" is the truth and a farmer's mate works harder than that. Another problem with farming is the farmer needs to feel he OWNS the land and that's not going to happen here. Two Voices owns the land and she's not selling.

"Personally I'm sticking to gardening and gathering, that's about 20 hours a week, while the Cheese is depending on hunting to supply our needs. Meat belongs to the hunter but most hunters will share to prevent spoilage. The hides become clothes, bedding and lodges. We have no cloth. If you want to cover up but won't wear leather or fur, I'm sure you can come up with something. We have been promised year round temperatures no colder than 33 degrees or hotter than 88. I can live with that."

Gran and Beckie gave lessons on plowing. Bill amazed himself by being a natural. With extreme confidence, Vickie said, "Bill can drive anything." and he could. His rows were straight and even, and his horses worked like magic.

"It's like I'm in their heads, man. I really don't need to speak to them. We just do it."

"Dude!" exclaimed Jimmy, "you're the Dude!"

The Tofu radicals were pissed that the soybean field was so far away, pissed because they had to do all the work, pissed because Two Voices wouldn't force the rest of the group to work their fields, and really upset that Two Voices said her supply of the curd was rapidly disappearing and she had no more beans.

"You used them all for that huge field of soy plants. And the rice...If you can't handle a few leaches...well!...No I won't, Jo needs them for her medicine. The last of the wheatflour is for bread to make antibiotics. The survival of the group outweighs the whims of the few. and that's my final word. No...wait a minute, my final word is you can go back. I'll erase your memory of this place and you can go be tofu radicals 17000 years from now. Nope, not another word or you're gone. So mote it be! Cheese!!"

"Yes ma'am/sir?"

"Don't you yes ma'am/sir me meekly! You,.. you,.. you... You MALE!"

"'samattau?"

"The tofu radicals are gone. I sent 'em back. That pair made me so mad I almost...well, you know, I almost erased them. All that labor wasted plowing and planting soy. So, we're short 12 females and 6 males. I need to replace them."

"Don't ask me! Talk to Jo and Gran. Gran has the experience and Jo has the common sense."

"Jo, Gran! Hi Gran, Babysitting again?"

"You know, this child spoke to me, not with words, but in my head, and said we were coming to visit." Gran smiled. "You didn't spook me this time!"

"What do you need, Two Voices?" asked Jo, she looked around for a minute, "Ah, never mind. You couldn't stand the Tofu radicals another minute. I'm so glad!"

"We need to replace them, and this time you two get to choose."

"Really? You're going to let me chose? Well, my brother Paul, he's good with horses, and my sister Judy. I'd love to have Dave and Joan but they wouldn't like it here (no motorcycles). We need the smart kids of backwoods farmers."

"Who else?"

"Gran?"

"I don't know these kids. I have ten or so widows who drink coffee at the restaurant who are always talking about mistakes they made in life and what they would do if they could do it over. Stick your grubby fingers in my brain and get names. Make them 12 or 14 years old. We don't have any youngsters. If all these hippies get in the family way at the same time, we're going to have serious trouble 15 years later. We need some Orientals too."

"You should ask Carol, she's so alone. There's no one her age or even close. You're going to have to do some adjusting though."

The Cheese said, "We need garden people, and blackpowder hunters. Archers, too. Ya know, We need more people period. Can you come back on a regular basis to fill us up?"

"I can do that."