Not A Farmer by EM

Word Count: 981

#2 in the Teaching Sons Series

A Fish out of Water challenge

‘What?’ Johnny wasn’t sure he’d heard his father correctly.

Murdoch had been trying to meet his sons halfway after realizing he had to give them more than just a third of the ranch on paper.

Almost losing Johnny due to a wild horse, made him realize that there was more to calling the tune with these two independent sons, then giving orders and expecting to be obeyed.

”Did you hear me son?”

Shaking his head, “You want me to be a farmer?”

“No, of course not. We grow feed for the horses and cattle. Now that we have the alfalfa replanted, I want you to take over from this point on. It’ll be your responsibility to take care of it, get it bailed up and stored so we’ve got feed in the winter.”

“Murdoch, I don’t know anything about growing alfalfa or anything else.”

“I’ll help you and you can ask Sebastian for help as well.”

“Isn’t there something else I could do?” Johnny made a last ditch effort and was discomforted with his voice which sounded a bit more like a plea rather than a logical question.

“Sebastian’s got a bum knee and he’s well over 70, so he can’t take this over and Gasper was killed by Pardee.  He used to oversee our hay fields. We’ll head out to the fields after breakfast so I can show you what you need to do.”

Later, looking over the flat acres, Johnny was starting to feel a little bit overwhelmed.  “What about Scott?  I bet he’d be a good farmer.”

Smiling at the poorly designed ruse, “No, I’ve got something else for Scott to take charge of.” His voice brooking no argument. Getting back to teaching his son, he continued,   “One thing to remember son, alfalfa likes two things, water and sun. If we’re lucky, we might get three or even four cuttings this year. We usually don’t get any rain from about June through at least September, and sometimes even later, so we try to get as many cuttings out of this field as possible.

“How many bales do you usually get in each cutting?” Johnny asked.

“It varies every year.  In a good year, we may get 80-100 bales per acre.  In a bad year we might get half that.”  Murdoch pushed his hat back, pleased Johnny was taking an interest and asking questions.  “You will need to check the fences around this field, because we certainly don’t want the cattle or horses to get into it. They’ll tear it up pretty badly.”

“Sure. I’ll get at that today.”

Nodding, Murdoch continued, “Once we get the last cutting off this field, we can turn some cattle in here to clean it up. Later, when we get a rain or two, we can bring in the team with the cultivator to turn the soil over so it’s ready to be replanted next year. We don’t want to let the alfalfa go to seed.”

“How come? Wouldn’t it just grow again?”

“No, I’ve tried that and it comes up sparse and it turned out to be a complete waste of time and water.”

“I want to show you how to irrigate this field.” Mounting up, they headed for the stock pond that was located above the field.

Dismounting next to a sluice box, Murdoch continued to explain. “Depending on how hot it is, you’ll need to come up here and open up this valve. The water will go out into these irrigation ditches, and flood these fields. We try to put between two to three inches of water on the fields depending on how hot it is.”

“How am I gonna know that?”

“You can talk to me or you can ask Sebastian.  Sebastian is certainly capable of coming up here in a wagon with you to check the soil. He’ll show you how to test it for moisture.  Once summer sets in and it’s hot, you’ll likely need to irrigate every other day.  It’s best to get out here early morning.  The plants do best if they are dry by nightfall.”

‘Great, another early morning chore,’ Johnny looked over the vast field and wondered if he was up for the task.

“Now it’s important that when you turn the valve on, you keep track of the time.  It takes about an hour to put one inch of water per acre on the field.  Right now, since it’s still cool, we are putting two inches out, so that’s two hours.  You’ll need to come back in two hours and turn off the valve.”

“How am I supposed to know when two hours is up?”

“Where’s your watch?”

Sighing, and blowing out a breath, knowing this was not the answer his father was looking for, he confessed, “I left it in my room.”

“Why would you leave it in your room?”

“I didn’t want it to get lost or broken.”

“Johnny, that’s a working watch. You should be carrying it with you. It’s not made to be sitting on your dresser.”

“I know. I’ll get it.”

“Here, use mine for today.” Murdoch handed over his watch. 

“Are you sure?” Johnny licked his lips and snapped open the cover, noting the time.

“Of course, I know you’ll take good care of it.”

“Thanks, Murdoch.”

With the water flooding the fields, Johnny rode slowly along the fence line, stopping here and there to make repairs.  ‘No ornery cows were getting into his field.’ He thought with a grimace. His next thought made him realize that his father had put him in charge of something that was important to the well-being of the ranch. Straightening his shoulders and sitting a little taller in the saddle, he was going to do his best to be the best darn farmer the ranch ever had.

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End
March 2025

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