While a great many were enjoying some rather standard "Mother's Day" activities around Animalia, there was also the next part of the Mister and Miss Farmhand competition to get into. There had been some intention of getting a lot of these things done earlier as they moved through what counted for an actual "spring" after the abnormally long winter, particularly as the events that they were to move to generally ran in accordance with the plans that were drawn up in the first "event" in the competition. However, weather was one of those things that the farming industry was always at the mercy of, and a series of rather rainy days had limited when the Brown family, along with Samson, and a couple of the others that were routine workers on the Brown Farm could actually host the event. That meant that with Mother's Day being rather dry... they had to go on with the competition.
As with the first event, all the present competitors were gathered in the barn where the next event would be described and the parameters of the competition explained. As the competitors filed in, Abby stood by Samson and kept some count on those who came in. Many looked rather eager to actually be on with the competition as it would actually be getting into some of the sort of work that most farmers generally had to do. Though, inevitably there was the question that Abby half expected.
"This won't take too long, will it?" one of the competitors asked Abby hadn't noticed which, and turned her ears as he spoke, "I had some things planned for my mom on Mother's Day..."
"We all have things planned for Mother's Day," Martin Brown spoke as Abby turned her head to see that the one who had spoke was a male Bobcat Animalian, though Abby was pretty sure he'd been in the same classes with Sarah, Sophie, and Jessica when they'd been in Middle School before the outbreak, "but this is one of those places where nature and weather can and WILL interfere with the competition. In some respects, some things CAN'T be taken as a penalty... as farming is always at the mercy of the weather, but because of that, when there is the time and ability to do the work and follow through with the plans you put down in the first event... it's something that you HAVE to do if you want to have success. And today simply happens to be one of those days. If you don't like it... we can't stop you from dropping out of this event, but it WILL cost you in the overall competition."
There were a few nods and no one dropped out of the competition. Even the male teen who'd raised the complaint on the event behind held on Mother's Day did nod. Abby and Samson simply stood to aside to let her parents then move to the map where they had things laid out. Getting things set up for the competition had taken some work in and of itself, not to mention that Abby and Samson were also helping with the main parts of the farm work where they could. Some of the rainy weather had made that difficult, but so far they had managed. Josephine Brown then pointed out to the various points on the map and began to explain what the mission was.
"Now, we've arranged that each of you will have the material you planned on needing and that your sections to work are ready," Josephine spoke, "those of you that went with plans that will include working with the apple trees will go with Abby and Samson to these areas marked on the map when we dismiss to the individual competitions, and the trees you will be responsible for will be marked with ribbon with your name written on them. They will show you how to use the sprayers and how to properly spray each tree to make sure that they are healthy and free of pests for the coming season."
There were some nods, including from Sarah and Malice and the mare that was in the competition. In fact many of the competitors had actually put forward plans that related to working with the apple trees, likely a legacy of the previous fall and the harvesting of the apples that had essentially "inspired" the competition in the first place. At present, this meant putting down a natural repellant to keep insects that would do damage to the trees from getting into them. The key in this was to make sure the trees were sprayed once they had their leaves but before they began to put out flowers. If the flowers were out, the repellant would protect the tree but would also be absorbed into the fruit and become a potential poison. And while it was designed to be natural and didn't have the leaching problems that other chemicals had, the same principle applied as even natural substances had the potential to be dangerous.
"Those that planed for working with the wheat rows will go with my wife and I out to assigned lines were we will go through with the process of plowing the ground in those assigned rows and then the assigned planting," Martin spoke, "We will give you the specific instructions there with how to plow the ground and work with those that will be helping..."
"Helping?" Samantha asked, her nose twitching a little.
"Archeron IV and the uplifted Percherons have kindly volunteered to pull the plows for this part of the competition," Josephine spoke in answer, "the ground is dry enough to do the work and a lot of the work that Samson, Abby, and many of the others have helped with have removed what would make the ground hard to work with. In this, the plowing will be easy. All you'll need to do is give basic verbal directions to make sure the line stays straight."
"Ohhhh!" Samantha answered with a small smile, which grew weaker when Sammy looked to her.
It made Abby chuckle a little bit at the recognition that Animalia's new "knights" were quite impressive, and that she wasn't the only one to think so. Before her parents became Animalians, they'd actually managed to do this with some heavier equipment that she and Samson had helped guide. That had helped clear the soil and allowed for the irrigation system to clear things for the wheat fields that they had set up after Animalia came into being. There were a few other chuckles that were given as well, but things seemed to go fairly well in the sense of getting plans ready. Now, though, with the soil clear and help arranged there would be ready to go through the process of plowing the ground and readying it for planting.
"How will this be scored?" Sarah asked raising her hand.
"Samson and I will be keeping track on how the groups with the apple trees go," Abby answered, "the time taken will be part of it... but there will also be things that will relate to diligence and coverage. Which means if you get through quickly, but only use a third of what you have to use... you could lose points or if you use up all that you thought you needed and only sprayed half of the trees. There's a lot of this work that isn't a race... at least not in the way one would always think."
"And Martin and I will keep track on the rows that are plowed," Josephine added, "and with the seeds planted. Time may be part of it, but the rows must be as straight as possible and seeds properly placed, especially with how many were thought to be needed."
The others then nodded again and Martin stepped forward.
"Are we ready?" Martin asked, and waited for a cheer of "yeah" and then spoke, "then let's get to work!"
And the work went rather well. With the group working with the apple trees, the mare who had joined the competition and Sarah effectively managed a tie in terms of meeting all the requirements. The biggest hiccup that they'd actually run into was in the fact that some of the people were well shorter than the trees, including Sammy, but they were able to get some ladders and no one ran into any major point deduction in that regard. There were some point deductions, mostly coming from poor guesses at how much they would need for this part of the competition or using too much, and those were the biggest source of them. Though the competition was still early enough that Samson and Abby both agreed that they wouldn't be quite enough to really set up a clear leader yet.
With the plowing and planting for the wheat fields, one of the Human firemen from Lyre actually placed himself to take a fairly clear lead. All of the competitors who had taken that option had done rather well with regard to working with uplifted Percherons for the plowing, but they'd found that the plows that were arranged for the competition were a bit big for Sammy and Samantha to easily steady. They managed, but their rows gave a sort of slight curves to them as they tried to steady the plows. The fireman did better in that regard, though even for a human he was a fairly big man and was able to steady his plow. All of them did about the same in placing the wheat seeds.
The biggest success was that everyone managed to get through the day without a catastrophic error. It left Abby, Samson, Josephine, and Martin thinking that the competition was reasonably close at the moment. The Lyre fireman might have the immediate lead, but there would be later events that would relate to keeping things watered, some of the herding challenges that would also be done, and keeping attention to the weather and so on. The Mr. and Miss Farmhand Competition would have the potential to be a big contest for all involved and would go through the year with many of the same hardships that farmers everywhere generally had to battle, even if on a smaller scale. But the general balance between everyone in the competition looked fairly good for the moment.