More Wood, Your Majesty
1488 Words
The fun was over and now Gracehaven had once again steered its attention to the deforestation that was recommended by the engineers from the Shadows.
Actually, there was not a need for deforestation behind the domain but the engineers were looking at the issue from a different angle. By deforestation of all the non-profitable trees, the ground could be turned into a large orchard instead and the barricaded area could be well extended 300 feet across.
Right now, it was only some feet beyond the domain and we had covered the deforested area with fruit-bearing trees. Deforestation and replacement of the fallen trees would be a good idea since the sawmill and woodcutter area would be busy in performing their tasks.
We would have more planks to trade and also Firewood for our kitchen and baking areas. The plan was given a go-ahead and today is the official start of business.
"Your Majesty, it seemed the job to clear all the trees at the intended area would be achievable within a month. Besides, the trees are almost barren and all it left would be just a bit of light snow on its branches, that's all."
"Yeah, and this time we have Priestess Wendy on our side that would somehow lighten our load. Once we had sawn off the bottom and middle logs, the top logs would directly go to the woodcutter area."
"With the load being lightened, the logs could be transported by one person at a time. Could you imagine how many trees they could fall and get them ready for the process at both the sawmill and woodcutter area?"
Ben and Frank were ecstatic to begin their work right after the morning meeting. When I signalled for the work to commence, the engineers along with more than 30 able-bodied men went about to fell the trees one at a time.
After the trees had been felled, Wendy immediately imbued her special abilities on the timber and then to the sweet surprise of everyone, a single person would be able to slightly lift the timber off the ground and push it to the area where those timbers would be sawn off at 5½ feet in length first.
The timber could literally be lifted off the ground due to the weightless manipulation done by Wendy on each tree than had been felled. It was a tiresome job to go and attend to each timber but overall it speeds up the whole process by as much as 4 fold.
Minutes after a tree was fell, it was made to be weightlessness and hauled aside to be sawn accordingly before it was distributed into its specific locations for the process. The whole process could be said to be completed under 10 minute per tree managed by 2 people.
In a short span of one hour, close to 30 trees were fell and processed. By looking at the speed of things, the lumberjacks could clear at least 250 trees per day and in a month at least 7,000 trees would be deforested.
Besides once the land had been cleared, the tree stumps and roots would be cleared for the new fruit trees to be planted. This would be the job handled by Walter and Penelope as well as Earl when he manipulated the earth to uproot those tree stumps.
Earlier, I might have heard the engineers wrong when they mentioned around 50 trees for processing in a day, but I guess the work rate after the first hour would be recalculated again.
"Would we be scaring away our source of meat in this way? I mean, deforestation means the animals would be pushed away further from here and with the barricades installed, no wild beasts would want to forage for food closer."
I asked Eagle as he monitored the process of the work and informing the men to stop for an hour in midday for lunch and continue all the way by around 5 in the evening.
"It's already hibernation period for most of the wild beast and game at the moment except for hares in the evenings and rabbits in the daytime. Even though deforestation does sounds like a big word, but Earl is doing a great job in uprooting the tree stumps, while Walter will be helping to nourish the ground and Penelope to help hasten the growth of the fruit trees."
"Whatever we take from Mother Earth, we would quickly replace them and furthermore it won't do much damage at all. Only in Spring, we would need to keep a lookout for animals who had hibernated and to wake up in a totally new environment."
"Hahaha... I can see what you mean, Eagle. They would be looking lost and confused and they would be starting to ask your guys where they are at...!"
Eagle "..."
=*=
The whole process when about without a hitch and I went back to the domain and sat at the two-seater bamboo throne with the study desk in front of it. Old Kayla was sitting at the study desk with sacks of seeds at her side and Heather was helping to take account of all those seeds based on type and quantity.
"Dear, Old Kayla suggested we can start making these seedlings ready by making pockets of the earth for them to grow first. Once after a month that the deforestation is complete, the ground would be treated and we could get the helpers to plant these seedlings accordingly."
"Seems like a good idea. How are you going to do about it?"
Old Kayla soon explained that the seeds would be placed inside bamboo cups that had been noted at the bottom and also filled with earth. Penelope would imbue her abilities for each seed and each of the bamboo 'pots' would be labelled.
Once Penelope had used her abilities, these seedlings would be able to sprout accordingly and then planted directly inside the ground when it was marked later on.
"By the coming Spring, the whole orchard would have grown to a substantial height and would be able to bear fruits within a few weeks thereafter."
"Good... Good... Good... Its a terrifically great idea. Old Kayla, you can get as much help as possible to make these bamboo 'pots' and Heather would be helping you to keep track on the number of seeds and grouping those pots according to their types."
"Thank you, childe. We would be returning what we had taken from Mother Earth after all."
After looking at the list that Heather had made, instead of going by weight, she goes by the quantity and from the seeds we had bought much earlier before and also had gathered through foraging, we would be comfortable enough to have each seedling to be planted even at a 4 feet distance apart.
At least for the general planning, Gracehaven won't be left hanging without fruits and nuts much longer. I looked across the riverbank and saw that there were lots of cane sugar clumps and that could be regrown once again after the banana plants had been removed from thereafter they had borne fruit.
The only thing left was the shoots near the parent's base and that makes the difference in cultivating more banana trees in the future.
I scrutinised around and discovered we would be able to be self-sustaining in the months and years to come. To increase our source of food to compensate for a sudden influx of population to come was a must.
I ran through the records for the grains drying kiln as well as the grains storage barns and discovered that our stock level had more than enough wheat grains to sustain us till next Summer and our corn that had been processed from its cob would last right till about the same time.
I went to the grains storage barn and had gotten some help to remove a vat containing the professed corn bits over to the fireplace. I asked the ladies if they have any idea on how to make this corn as a snack during high tea and they suggested that these corn bits could be steamed with brine and then eaten with some fat.
I smiled and nodded at their suggestion and told them to take another vat if its not enough to go round. The ladies, however, told me that a single vat that contains about 340 pounds of corn bits would be able to make sufficient steamed corn in bamboo cups for everyone.
All the ladies would be needing were lots of steamer baskets as they require a single layer to steam these corn bits for the best effect.
I laughed and thanked the ladies as they got down to prepare lunch as well as the steamed corn in a cup for everyone in the mid-afternoon.
At least there's something warm and nice to munch to chase the winter chill away.
- Writer
