starhuevalley | Network Post

Alright, to anyone who was looking for cuttings or saplings from my apple tree, I have several ready and potted to bring home. Please come to [INSERT FARM HERE] at your earliest convenience if you still want them. Any spares will be planted here to continue the growth of the orchard.

Speaking of which, I've branched out- [Martel] into oranges as well. Thank you to everyone who's purchased one of my apples or anything else from my farm, I wouldn't have been able to do it without you. Certainly not so quickly. Next on my list is peaches, so watch for those!

Anyway, aside from orchard-related news, I've been thinking about something. I've encountered quite a surprising amount of people with abilities and skills related to healing and medical treatment in general, several of us from very different disciplines. [From pure technology to magical healing hair, the valley's got it all, it seems.]

Yet, to the best of my knowledge there's no real organization among us. Allow me to be the first to advocate for everyone who has any sort of medical skill to come together, have a meeting, perhaps, where we can share information and let each other know who we are, where we're located, and how to get in contact with us. We certainly can't take over the hospital itself, but with a bit of effort, we might be able to head off many difficulties, and I'm sure we have much to learn from each other.

That's all for the moment! Thank you all for listening, and remember to come by as soon as you can if you're looking for an apple sapling!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Is that what he was so reticent about? Martel can't help but giggle a little.]

Oh heavens, dear, don't worry! I'll help you as much as you need to ensure the tree grows up properly.

Aside from that one thing, of course. I haven't forgotten your request.

[It isn't a particularly mean sort of giggle. That doesn't stop the tips of his ears from beginning to go pink.]

--thank you, ma'am. I can-- be there soon.

I'll be here most of the day! Just get here before evening and you'll be fine.

[She'll probably be picking apples when he arrives, that or fashioning or attaching tappers to some of the pine/maple/oak trees around.]

[Before very long, she'll have one (1) very eager young man trotting along with his personal and highly muted brand of excitement twitching at the corners of his lips. He'll also be offering her one (1) jar of blueberries, because they've been growing so well that everyone ought to be given some indeterminate number (??) of them whenever he sees anyone.]

[And of course she greets him with a smile and a wave as she's attaching a tapper to one of the maple trees.]

Hello there- Oh my, what do you have there?

Blueberries. [And, in case holding them out almost sheepishly isn't enough of an indication:] For-- you.

[Look. There's enough food here to share freely.

That's definitely as (if not more) amazing than tree-related half-elf magic.]

Oh my goodness, thank you! That's so kind of you.

[She accepts them with one hand and finishes the tapper with her other, setting a small bucket beneath it to collect the syrup. That done, she turns to go lead him out towards behind her house]

Come then, let's go get you your cutting.

[It's a pleasant enough moment of waiting as she finishes fussing with the tapper. This is one of the farms that feels wonderfully productive, after all.

It's pleasant enough to trot along a half-step behind Martel as well, a soft hum of appreciation briefly seeming to substitute for words.] --thank you.

[She just smiles at him as they make their way behind the house to where a large group of cuttings and saplings is sitting there, potted and ready to be taken home.]

Here we are. Pick any one you like.

[She knows he's going to spend the next, like. hour or two. examining all the cuttings, right?]

They're already rooting?

I may have helped things along a little bit.

[She gives him a wink. Yeah, he'd asked her not to help him out like that, but technically these saplings aren't his until he pays for one, sooooo...]

[His soft 'hm' as he studies the cuttings isn't particularly accusatory, but it is there.]

Still grow like-- any unhelped ones?

[Or is there a copy of Growing A Tree With Minimal Magical Assistance For Dummies lying around or what.]

I'm afraid not. It's more efficient to spread my efforts out across all the ones I'm growing, so that's what I do. You'll find that at this point they're basically the same as one grown without assistance.

[Save that she can't accelerate them again for a while without risking damaging them.]

So... just-- treat them like trees?

[To be clear.

Look, he's nervous about killing his very first actual tree.]

Absolutely! Which brings us to our next topic... what do you know about caring for a tree?

[Because if she has to drop some knowledge on you, you better believe she will.]

[Listen: knowledge-drops are his fave. But first, there's his week of book-reading to stumble his way through.]

Decently big hole away from the house or other roots. Backfill around the roots with-- loosely packed soil. Stake while it's getting settled. Deep watering when it's planted and-- every day for the next few weeks?

That's an excellent start. Ordinarily I'd talk to you about finding the right soil, but in this valley I'm quite sure you'll find great soil anywhere you look. So we can skip that.

[So very lucky for everyone here, given how complex trying to find good soil could become.]

Cover the roots with hay or straw for mulch, and make sure the tree is planted where it will get a great deal of sun. Apple trees want as much light as they can get.

--hay or straw.

[Right. That's easy enough. That does slightly distract from his minute inspection of the nearest cutting, because zeroing in on instruction has to be more important.]

Sunlight-- all day? Or is morning or night more important?

When they say "full sunlight", what they mean is about eight hours a day. What's most important is that when the sun's up in the sky, it's shining down on the tree. If it gets put in the shade for an hour, that could stunt its growth significantly, so be careful.

[There's a brief duck of his head, mental calculations being shifted and resorted to be certain they comport with that advice.]

How d'you... grow them together, then?

It's just a matter of finding the right amount of space around each tree. When they first go in, it will look immensely wasteful, but soon enough it will become obvious why they're planted the way they are.

Okay.

[Another pause, another moment's rearrangement, and then the left field comes.]

Closer to or-- farther from bees?

Bees? I suppose that doesn't matter much. If you have bees on your farm they will find the flowers at some point no matter where you plant the tree. Bees can travel a surprising distance in search of nectar.

Flowers near it all right?

It depends on what you mean by "near". I wouldn't advise planted any other plants too close to them until you're certain they've started to take, even grass, but then I've always been protective of my trees. Once it starts to grow, most of the trees roots will go deeper than the roots of the smaller plants, making it less of a problem.

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