Oh Well - Nonsensically Speaking

Part one of the saga is here.
Part two is here.

By now you may have heard a little bit about a particular farm.  On this farm lived two people, five cats, some chickens, ducks, turkeys and a whole bunch of earthworms.  There were many vegetable and flower plants and even some fruit trees. The two people worked hard to be farmers and they even hired people to help them grow the vegetables, raise the poultry and tend the farm.  Sometimes, they asked others to join them on the farm to do a little work and then celebrate the day with good food.

While the farmers and the workers accomplished many things on the farm, they were visited by a Snort and a HAAAACK.  The Snort ate the farm's well and created holes that were big enough to swallow Durnik, the farm's small tractor.  The HAAAACK and its mate were kind enough to replace the well, but the ensuing mess was a bit slimy and caused the farmers, the workers, the cats, chickens, ducks, turkeys and even some of the earthworms to wonder what else could possibly happen.

Some things didn't work out.  For example, many plants in trays were no longer good enough to plant in the ground.  So, the farmers pulled them out of the trays and decided to turn them into compost, which is a good thing even if it wasn't the reason they planted these things in the first place.

And, wheels on the carts broke.  But, the farmers knew these sorts of things happened, so they moved one wheel to another so only one cart remained broken instead of two.  They expected that they would replace the wheels soon.

One of the things that reminded the farmers and the workers of the good things in life when bad things happened were the flowers on the farm.



And so, they continued to do things to make the farm a better place to live and work.  Mr. Jim helped organize all of the tools in the truck barn by making a farm tool wall.

And Mr. Tyler created a drip tape dispenser that dispensed, of all things, drip tape.  The farmers, Mr Tyler and the cats all agreed that "dispense" is a silly sounding word.  But, the farmers, Mr Tyler, Miss Rachel and Mr Denis all agreed that, despite the silly sounding word, the drip tape dispenser dispensed drip tape well, so they all suggested that the farm should not dispense with the dispenser.

Then, another good thing happened.  The ground was dry enough to plant for a few days and the farmers and the workers did their best to plant things in the ground.

Durnik the tractor avoided the Durnik sized hole made by the HAAAACK and he helped prepare fields for planting.  Some areas were still a little wet and made the ground a bit pebbly.  But, all agreed it was necessary to get the plants into the ground.

Trays and trays of plants went to the fields to be planted.

Summer squash and zucchini were planted between rows of garlic.  Some of the plants were planted into paper mulch and some were planted without paper mulch.  The farmers were doing some research to see if the paper mulch made  difference.  They even polled some of the earthworms to see what they thought.  The earthworms were too busy deflating their water wings and putting them in their closets to respond.

Hundreds of tomatoes were taken out of their plots and planted in rows.

 The farmers and workers even spent time weeding the beans and potatoes.

And many cucumber plants were given homes.  The farmers were pleased to see that the plants seemed healthy and the rows were almost straight!

But, the farmers and the workers were a little chagrined when they realized they would have to use the drip tape dispenser to dispense drip tape so the drip tape could dispense water to the new plants.  They found this ironic.  The farmers, the workers and the cats all agreed that "chagrined" and "ironic" were also funny sounding words, but not nearly as funny sounding as "dispense."

Mother Nature noted the dispensed drip tape and decided to dispense alot more rain.  The earthworms had to run to their closets to find where they had placed their water wings.  The farmers had to make more decisions about changes that would need to be made in order to keep growing good food on the farm.

The farmers received more dirt to place in the two raised beds Mr Denis built.  The truck driver that delivered the dirt looked at the biceps on the farmers and found them wanting.  So, he placed more dirt in each bed than was necessary.

"There, you can build up those muscles by shoveling," said the truck driver.

The farmers removed excess soil and added some peat.  Then they planted lettuce and onions.

But, the little cat named Mrrranda continued to look away from the farm. 

She continued to watch....  the SNORT!

One of the chickens said,
"Hey Mr. Snort, would you leave our new well alone?  We need the water it provides for us.  While the rain leaves us puddles, the puddles do not always stay."

But, the Snort did not answer.

The ducklings said,
"We love our water..."  slurp slurp splash splash
They were so distracted by their water that they didn't finish whatever it was they were going to say.

The turkeys said,
"Mr Farmer, will you please tell the Snort to leave our well alone?  We need the water from the well too.  Did you bring us more food?  What was I saying?  Did you bring us more food?  Food? Food!?"

The farmer realized that when turkeys talk, either the farmer needs to seek professional help OR he should do something to honor their request.

So he gave them food.

Then, he tried to scare the Snort away!

But the Snort did not respond.

So, the farmer asked Sandman, the cat, to talk to the Snort.

Sandman said,
"Mr Snort, your presence is no longer welcome here.  If you want water, we will pour you a large tub of water to drink.  But, we do not want you eating our new well.  So, we would like you to leave.

I, the Sandman, have spoken."

And so, the Snort took a cool drink.

And called for a cab.

So it could go home.

The Snort left the farm.  It left the farmers.  And the workers.
It left the cats, the chickens, the ducks and the turkeys.
It even left the earthworms to float in the fields wearing their water wings.

And once it had gone, they all started to wonder.

Did we remember to close the high tunnel door?

Yes.

And everyone was happy.