Chapter 440.


    <strong>Chapter 440. A Father and Some Stupid Horses: A Crash Course on Farming. (5/5)</strong>


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I mean… I’ve seen them on a field before… I just didn’t know what they were actually for. I thought they were just making the holes or little trenches for the farmers to go back and drop the seeds inside by hand and buryter on.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Haaaaah. Whatever. I’m sure there are kids more ignorant than yuh livin in the city. At least yuh didn’t think we harvested wheat by hand.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I did at least know that much…


    <span style="font-weight:400">“So after that, you collect the grain and store it away in a grain bin or sell it to a grain elevator, right?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah, that’s right.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“How long can it be kept stored for?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“In the case of wheat, six months under the appropriate conditions.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Which are?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“As I previously mentioned, moisture is naturally one of them. The other is the grain temperature. If one or both factors are not properly managed, the risk of spoiled grain increases significantly. The safe storage range depends on the crop. The temperature to keep it stored below varies with the initial seed moisture. There’s a chart yuh can reference for each crop.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“So the grain storage bins have fans and venttion?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah, that’s what keeps the grain dry in good quality while it''s in storage. When the grain is too moist, it’s put into a special bin called a dryer. Warm or hot air is pushed through the grain in order to dry each seed to an appropriate moisture level.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I see… what about irrigation? How do you go about watering your crops?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“That can also be a beast of a topic itself. Yuh sure yuh wanna know?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yes please.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Alright, prepare yerself. I’m gonna st through it quickly.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“There are a variety of different types of irrigation techniques used to improve crop yield. They’re practiced based on the different types of soils, climates, crops, and resources. Each method has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Some conserve on water, results in less waste by using water more efficiently, and saves money, while others are just outright wasteful, but less demanding on the farmer.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Surace, localized, sprinkler, sub, drip, center pivot, and manual. These are some of the more prominent types of irrigation you’ll hear about.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“<b>Surface</b><span style="font-weight:400">, no irrigation pump is involved, water is distributed across thend by gravity. Flooding is very cheap but very wasteful. If yuh opt to surge flood, water is released at prearranged intervals, which reduces unwanted runoff. These are more efficient at leaching salts, which is important if salts are a problem.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“<b>Localized</b><span style="font-weight:400">, water is applied to each nt through awork of pipes under low pressure.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“<b>Sprinkler</b><span style="font-weight:400">, water is distributed from a central location by overhead high-pressure sprinklers or from sprinklers on a moving tform. Frequent use can result in rapid disease development.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“<b>Sub</b><span style="font-weight:400">, water is distributed through a system of pumping stations, gates, ditches, and canals by raising the water table.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Huh? W-Water table?” My head was spinning trying to keep up with his rapid-fire exnations.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“A water table is an underground boundary between the soil surface and the area where groundwater saturates spaces between sediments and cracks in rock. Yuh got that, kid?” He was quick to exin, but I felt like I understood absolutely nothing.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Y-Yeah.” It’d been quite a while since I felt so out of my element.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Bullshit yuh got it. Just imagine ayer of groundwater, then above it is ayer of unsaturated soil, the dividing line between those twoyers is the water table.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Oh, when you put it like that, I think I get it.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Then I’ll continue.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“<b>Drip</b><span style="font-weight:400">, drops of water are delivered near the roots of the nts; it is rarely used as it requires more maintenance.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“<b>Center Pivot, </b><span style="font-weight:400">water is distributed by a sprinkler system moving in a circr pattern.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“<b>Manual</b><span style="font-weight:400">, is verybor-intensive and time-consuming, the water is distributed through watering cans by manualbor.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I stared at the ceiling in a daze. I never knew there were so many methods of watering crops. The image I had in my head of using a garden hose and walking around the field spraying water on crops had been shattered. Farming was seriouslyplicated. There were so many things to take into consideration. It gave me a headache.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“A-Among the irrigation methods you listed… which one is typically used for wheat?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It really depends on the situation, but if you want to save on water, I’d rmend using sprinkler or drip. If water is not a concern and you’rezy, go with a surface flood system or a center pivot one.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I see… haaaaaah.” It seemed there was much to learn, too much.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Well, I think that about does it for this little crash course on wheat. Yuh got any more questions?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Uh… I think I’m good for now.” I’d honestly learned a lot from talking to him in the short time we’d spoken and I had to take the time to process it all.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Kay…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“...”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Now that we’d finished my lesson on wheat, an awkward silence descended upon us until Dawn’s father spoke up and broke it himself this time, “Hey, kid.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I didn’t really want to pry, but... how far did you get with my daughterst night?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Huh? W-What do you mean by that?” Where the hell did thate from all of a sudden?


    <span style="font-weight:400">“The sweater she had on when she showed up with you and your girlfriend… was a man’s... That was yours, wasn’t it?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Uh… yeah, it was mine but it’s nothing like what you’re thinking.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Why’d she be wearing it then?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Well… it’s a weird story actually.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Try me.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“If I said my girlfriend identally…” I hesitated to say it.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“identally what? What’d she do?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Peed... on her… a little.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Huh? Peed?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah… peed.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Pffftthahahaha! What? How the hell did that happen?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Well we were sitting in a tree for a few hours talking and by the time we decided to climb back down she had to go. She couldn’t climb back down without relieving herself… so I left first and returned to the tent. I didn’t see it happen, but somehow it happened while she was up in the tree and Dawn walked under and got some on her shirt.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Dawn’s father broke downughing, covering his face while pping his leg.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“That’s quite the story.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Please don’t tell Dawn, she still doesn’t know and thinks it was a squirrel in a tree or something taking a leak.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hahahaha! That’s rich. Kid, stop. You’re going to kill me here.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It’s been an hour and the two of yuh are still talking? How long do you n to chat for?” Dawn’s voice suddenly echoed through the barn.


    <span style="font-weight:400">When I turned my head to the entrance, I saw Dawn and Rosa together. Their hair was still a little wet and hadn’t fully dried yet.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What the hell, it’s already been an hour?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah, we’ve been waiting forever for Ran to get back. We started to think you went and took him to the barn to kill him or something. I didn’t think we’d find you on your kneesughing hysterically. Seriously, we had enough time to not only shower but wash my shirt.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Wash… your shirt?” Dawn’s father asked hesitantly.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You mean... the one you had on yesterday?” His lips twitched back trying to contain hisughter while he stared at his daughter.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Is it the one you have on now?” Dawn’s father locked onto the shirt she had as his body trembled.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah, are you okay?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Pfft. Yeah… nothin’s wrong. I’m… absolutely… fine.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">His face turned red from holding it in as he kept his mouth covered.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’ve gotta see... about something now. You… can have him back. Enjoy… riding.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Dawn’s father rose to his feet and did his best to maintain a coolposed expression when he walked past Dawn out of the barn.


    <span style="font-weight:400">When he was halfway back to the house, he broke out into hystericalughter we could hear from where we stood beside the barn.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Dawn raised one brow and asked in uncertainty, “I don''t get it, what’s so funny? What’s heughing at? What’d you say to my dad, Ran?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It’s nothing… don’t worry about it.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah, Dawn, that’s not important, let’s go horse riding already.” Rosa was quick to change the subject. She shot me a discreet re, it seemed she’d put two and two together and figured out the joke. She was naturally unamused that her embarrassing ident had been revealed.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Right… if you say so.”