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 Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 12:01 am
+++ Natsume Orchard +++ A quaint little fruit farm that's already been blessed with a fully grown apple tree near the small cottage where the owner of the farm, Loyal Tachibana, resides. The farm is in its first year. The fruit trees are still considered just young saplings providing minimal produce. Since its the first year at the Orchard, Loyal really needs an extra hand to help out. She has the goal of building a green house by winter. Everyone is up and at work in the Orchard by 5 a.m. and turn in for the day just before the sun is sets, usually around 6 p.m.
Hiring Farmhands!! +++ Spring +++Apricot (Tree)
Strawberries
Blueberries
Raspberries+++ Summer +++Orange (Tree)
Cherry (Tree)
Honeydew
Watermelon+++ Fall +++Apple (Tree)
Coffee (Tree)
Grapes
Cranberries
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Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 12:06 am
+++ Tachibana Store & Cottage+++ A rather small cottage that's in somewhat poor shape stands on the grounds of the Orchard. When you first walk in it has a den area that has been furnished to act as a shop. Crates of fresh produce sit for display while a small counter sits at the back of the room for people to make their purchases. A hallway leads from the den to the rest of the house. Three bedrooms, a washroom and kitchen makes up the rest of the house. The cottage could use quite a bit of fixing up with its squeaky doors, creaking floorboards and drafty windows. There is a fireplace in the den, but it looks as if it hasn't been touched in over a decade.
Den is open for business from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. Please ring the bell for service if not greeted immediately.
There are also two other buildings standing on the Natsume Orchard; Shed & Storage. Out near the fields where the seasonal plants grow is a tool shed with clippers for keeping the trees trimmed and other handy tools found on almost any farm. The storage building is bigger than the cottage and is just one big room. Its suspected to have once been a hay room, but has long since been cleaned out to store fruits. Loyal hopes to get a cooling system put in someday as well as some insulation.
+++ Loyal's To-Do List +++
~ Bring Modest Gifts to: Sonata Clinic, Sleeping Dragon, Winery, Meri's Bakery, Tepes, Hard Bean Cafe...
~ Insulation for Storage House
~ Cooling System for Storage House
~ Fence for Garden
~ Fix Up Den
~ Get a Delivery Horse
~ Build Greenhouse
+++ The Work Load +++
05:00 ~ Weed the Garden & Orchard
06:00 ~ Water the Garden & Saplings
07:00 ~ Harvest Ripe Fruits
08:00 ~ Sow Seeds
09:00 ~ Clean Harvested Fruit
10:00 ~ Brunch!
11:00 ~ Package Fruit for Shipment
12:00 ~ Lunch!
13:00 ~ Delivery Rounds & Den Stocking
14:00 ~ Delivery Rounds & Den Stocking
15:00 ~ Tea Time
16:00 ~ Till Garden
17:00 ~ End of Day!
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Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 12:26 am
 ~ 8 a.m. ~
The morning dew was a breath of fresh air on the newly planted Orchard. A young woman with jet black hair and milky white skin stood out in the fields. She had a bright orange linen tied over her head to save her scalp from the rising sun. Wearing a pair of tan capris and a dusty sky blue t-shirt, it was clear that the novice farmer had been out in the fields well before 8 a.m. She was planting seeds for the summer season by hand. Unfortunately, Loyal had gotten to the island late in the season and was afraid that the strawberries she planted wouldn't grow before the hot weather. Fortunately, there were some wild blueberries and raspberries growing in the field that Loyal could tame and sell. She had been working at her Orchard for nearly a week now and hadn't gotten a chance to introduce herself to anyone except the city workers since she arrived.
Loyal was counting on her first batch of ripe berries to be gifts to the local businesses in hopes to gain partners in the selling of her fruit. There was still so much to do around the Orchard that she really didn't want to take a leisure trip to town. There wasn't much money left over in her savings though, so Loyal would have to start selling her produce. After planting the last seed for summer, Loyal stretched her arms over her head. The pull of the muscles in her back felt good as it loosened up some tension from being hunched over and crouched down.
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Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 12:32 am
~ 9:00 a.m. ~
Washing her hands off at a small well pump, Loyal headed to the storage house where'd she clean the fruit off and prepare a few gift boxes for the local businesses. Since Loyal didn't use any type of chemical to keep bugs away, she knew that her fruit was good to eat straight from the garden. A little wash always made the fruits shine to show off their true glory and flavor. Leaving the door to the warehouse open just in case someone would swing by, Loyal began cleaning any dirt off the berries she had harvested this morning. The Orchard was rather quiet, save for the songs of a family of birds in one of the rafters, so Loyal began to hum to herself.
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Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 4:05 pm
~10:00 a.m.~
Grabbing a nearby towel, Loyal began to dry off her hands once all the fruit was washed with water. It was finally time for some brunch. It had been hard working by herself all morning, so she was more than ready for a break. She'd of course bring the clean fruit inside with her in order to get started on the gift boxes for the local businesses. While walking towards the den, she spotted someone coming up the path to her Orchard.
A lone man approached the Orchard. he carried a large messenger bag that was stuffed full. Even though it was spring he had a jacket on amongst other layers of clothing. When he spotted Loyal wheeling berries towards the den, he quickly brought up his hand to greet her. "Yo~!" he said before he started to jog over towards her. "Here, lemme get that for you," the man said as he offered to take the handles of the wheel barrel for her. Luckily, she surrendered it. "My name's Takeshi Gouda. You're the owner here right? I heard you might need some help. I used to work at my family farm when I was younger," the young man explained with a smile on his face. Once he got the barrel up on the deck for her, Takeshi suddenly felt very light headed. Before he knew it, the world around him blacked out and he fell to the wooden floor.
Loyal was surprised at Takeshi's upbeat attitude and eagerness to help her, a stranger, with the barrel of fruit. He kind of reminded her of a puppy... Following him up the steps, Loyal flashed him a very pleased smile. "Of course! I'd be very grateful for your help. I'm actually- Gounda-san!" Loyal reached out to try and catch him before he hit the floor, but she only caught the jacket of the Japanese man which didn't help much. Bending over, she rolled him to his back and tried to wake him up, but it was no use. Going inside, Loyal grabbed some water. She got his jacket it off and made a pillow out of it. "Gouda-san..." Loyal said over and over as she knelt down by him. Maybe she should go into town and find the doctor...
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 11:50 pm
The walk through the field to get to the orchard was rather quiet, with Romane focusing all of her energy on surveying the area for anything out of the ordinary. There were a few children here and there, some people heading into the church, a visitor to the Wind Fairy shrine, and then they reached the farms. Romane had lead him through the empty ranch where the Delacruz twins once tended to the animals there, but he didn't seem to recognize the place as anything important. So, she moved on to the barren vegetable farm plot – again, nothing. It was odd, but Romane didn't give up! She headed onto the poultry farm, wary that the man who was caring for the chicken should come out and greet them, but no one had come. Yet again, Auguste hadn't seemed to see the place as anything important, outside of probably enjoying the clucking and sight of the chickens as the freely wandered around their coop.
Finally, they came to the orchard, which seemed just as empty, aside from the apple and coffee trees and the grapes winding their vines off beyond that. She supposed that the woman who was supposed to be running the place was out to lunch.. Ah, well. She paused outside of it and looked to Auguste, pointing out the small home off to the far end of the orchard, “The woman who runs this farm appears to be safe, however there is not many who have yet to interact with her as she seems to be unsocial. I do not have much warning outside of caution.” She disliked having nothing to really tell him about the resident, but she didn't know much about the woman here or her farmhand. They seemed to be quiet citizens, though, and that did please her to some extent.
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High-functioning Marshmallow
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High-functioning Marshmallow
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 3:56 pm
..Damn it. Again? Romane was slowly getting frustrated by how this seemed as though it was going nowhere. She should have grabbed some coffee at her house while they were there, but it was too late for that. She would have to rely on determination to get her through the next places – hey, it wasn't that hard. After all, it was giving her dogs a nice, long walk out and she did go around the town several times a day. This walk was child's play in comparison to her usual routine. Though, it was more taxing on her mentality than anything. She nodded at the man as he replied to the orchard comments, finding him to be far too similar to Cid for her to be comfortable. Well, she had issues lately relaxing around the monk, but that didn't mean much, right? No, it didn't. She should be more focused on worrying about what Auguste was saying. Honestly, if he did turn out innocent as it seemed (she wasn't making any promises to herself, though), then he was being an idiot.
“Considering, Mr. Vineyard, that the most social of people in this island appear to be prone to being kidnapped, molested, assaulted, and/or their property vandalized, I believe it is not sad as it is wise.” ..Pessimistic much? Oh, well, she was speaking from experience there. She glanced at the home at the far end of the farm once before looking to Auguste. If what she said was true, she doubted they would come out to greet them unless they knocked on the door. So, instead, she took out the map she had tucked into her pocket and glanced over where was next. ..The mountain seemed to be the closest. “I will inform you that we will be going over less simple terrain in a few moments. I hope you are in good health.” She told him as she folded the map and set it away in her pocket again. She would have waited a little longer and perhaps bought some fruit to eat on the way, as it was around lunch, but the owner didn't seem to be willing to come out and Romane wouldn't steal. She started to head off of the farm, taking a sharp turn to the left as she went to the sole mountain on the island. It would feel a bit off to lead someone alone into the wilderness, but she was the one with the gun and a pair of well trained rottweilers. She should be fine.
~Exit to Mountain!~
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