Diary of a Farmer
Chapter 1
Jack woke up early the next morning. Today was Jack's first official day on the farm. He made himself with the few groceries he had; cereal and milk. After Jack finished his bowl of cereal he went out onto the porch and surveyed the farm. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. For a moment in his mind he could see the farm as it was. Cows grazing contently in the pasture, the field full of newly planted seeds beginning to sprout…Jack's dream was ended abruptly when he opened his eyes and saw now all the work that needed to be done. Jack turned his blue hat around and tightened the straps of his jean overall's, let's get to work, he said to himself.
Jack decided the first thing he would fix up is the field. I need the field to plant crops in so I'd better clear it up first. He could pick the weeds by hand but he needed a axe to chop up the wood and stumps in the field, a large hammer to break up the stones so he could throw them in the river, that ran south of the farm, and a hoe to till the soil after he had cleared the land. Thomas had said there were still a few tools in the old tool shed so Jack went to look for what he needed. When Jack went to open the old rotting wooded door it came loose from its hinges and almost fell on Jack. He recovered form the shock of almost being flattened momentarily and entered the shed. There were tools in the shed but Jack was quite disappointed at the sight of them. The tools hadn't been used in years and beginning to rust. There was hoe, a hammer, a small watering can, and a dull axe and sickle. It could be worse, Jack thought. It was better than having no tools. Jack took out the axe, hoe, and hammer and headed back to the field. I'll chop up the stumps and branches and first, Jack decided, he could use the wood he chopped up for fire wood.
Jack lifted the axe over his head and brought it down on with all his strength but only made a small dent in the large stump. "Aww man!" Jack said out loud "This is a lot harder than I thought." Jack, after only one try was frustrated. But then Jack imagined his mother looking at him, saying once again "I told you so. Why don't you listen to me Jack, I know what's best for you." The thought of letting his mother say those words one more time was enough to make Jack pick up the axe again, and again, and again.
By the end of the day Jack had cleared almost the whole field and was exhausted. Jack tried to lift the axe one more time but dropped it and let himself fall into the dirt beside it. He looked over at the wood shed and the tall pile of wood he had stacked in front of it. Jack smiled to himself. "My first day of real work." He still had one last corner of the field to finish, but it would take him at least two hours and he was too worn out to start. I'll finish tomorrow, he thought.
The sun had just begun to set when a tall muscular man with tall brown hair walked through the gate and towards a large box at the corner of the field. "Can I help you?" said Jack, confused "I'm Zack" the tall man said "I'm here to take the produce from your shipping box." Produce? Shipping box? Jack was confused. Zack shook his head and sighed. "You put what you want to sell in the shipping box over here." He said "You can ship your crops, milk, eggs, etc. I come everyday at five to pick up shipments. I'll ship it to town and bring you the money. Simple, right?" Jack nodded. "Yeah, ok, but its my first day so I don't have anything to ship, sorry you had to come out here." "Its ok" said Zack. "You should go buy seeds and plant them as soon as possible. If you plant them too late they'll cross into the next season and die, so all the money you spent was wasted. Don't want that to happen." "Thanks" said Jack "I'll remember that." "You can buy seeds at the supermarket in the northern part of town. You shouldn't have trouble finding it." Zack said.
Jack thanked Zack once again for his help then went back to the farm house. Jack was hungry but too tired to fix dinner so he just put on his pajama's and crawled into bed. He was asleep almost instantly.