Recording by Scribe Ellison
Treasure
Elder, you should have received with this recording a small package. I'm sure you will understand why I spent the caps to hire extra guards for the caravan carrying it; this is something we've been unable to find in any library in the Capital. Now I'll tell you how I came to have it.
The four older children of Sanctuary were summoned to help with a project at Abernathy Farm and I accompanied them. We made it down the hill without encountering any monsters, only some radstags off in the distance which Jimmy called "Future dinners." Which led to me asking how they'd find the herd again to hunt them. It turns out the local Brotherhood patrols will watch for herds of brahmin and radstags and report their location to the nearest settlers, who then go out and get dinner.
The Abernathy family has built a practical multilevel home around a power pylon, and carved out a productive farm around it, growing mostly tatos and melons, with a big mutfruit plot behind the house. Water comes from a well and the place is guarded by a phalanx of chugging turrets.
The new field has been marked out with stakes in the ground and Blake Abernathy is hitching up two of the farm's five brahmin. One of the brahmin is a new calf, still wobbly on its skinny legs and the kids are immediately off to see it. I'm more interested in Mr. Abernathy's harness. He's got a wide wooden yoke over the shoulders of the two brahmin, attached by chain and wooden poles to a small plow.
I've seen people try this, the "Republic of Dave" made some serious attempt to get their brahmin to pull a plow, but this time it actually seems to be working. Mr. Abernathy turns the two beasts and positions them, this takes a while since neither brahmin seems entirely happy to be attached to the other. A brahmin already has two heads to disagree; attaching them together results in four heads disagreeing and I expect them to pull the yoke apart and go their separate ways. Instead we get mooing from four mouths but the brahmin eventually get into place. Everybody has gathered around to watch.
"Now I just lean on the plow and… Gwim, Graceful, walk on!"
The brahmin stamp and take a few steps forward, then they're pulling ahead, dragging the plow through the soil. Mr. Abernathy leans hard on the handle on his end, and they make it to the end of the row. Everyone cheers. The children, both from Sanctuary and the Abernathy daughter Lucy, jump in to pull rocks out of the newly cut furrow, and break up clods of dirt with shovels. This is what they were summoned to do. I expect I'll end up taking a turn on the plow; I can guess it's hard of the person who has to keep it straight while holding it down.
"Don't celebrate yet, I have to turn them!" Blake laughs. "And this is hard! Somebody better spell me later!" he lines up for the next pass.
I ask Connie Abernathy, "How did you do it? I've heard of brahmin pulling carts but never seen it happen. And I've never seen a plow work so well!"
Connie's face glows with pride. "I found a book, in an old museum about how they did it in ancient times, long before the war. I've been putting yokes on Gwim and Graceful since they were born, always each one on the same side. Their names are important too, one has to be longer but I don't know why. As for the plow, Sturges made that for us. He said there was a perfect angle for the metal piece that digs into the ground so he did a lot of math and made one."
The second row is finished, to another round of whoops and Blake happily growling at everyone to stop scaring the brahmin and get back to work. The newly cut furrows need to be cleared of rocks and enriched with fertilizer from the stinking pile of dung rotting at the bottom of the hill. Pitchforks and shovels are being passed around to every able bodied adult and I accept one also. "Mrs. Abernathy, could you possibly record what you know about plowing? I can think of several people in the Capital who would pay for your knowledge!" All of you at Arlington were, of course, on my mind, as was the grand dame of Megaton.
Connie smiled and vanished into the farmhouse, reappearing with a small book made from homemade paper stitched together with thread. "I've made three of these so far. Consider this part payment for everything the General wants to trade for."
I opened the book long enough to see that it included pictures of how to measure a brahmin for a yoke and the math to make the plow. Then I wrapped the precious book and got to work.
Please set my fellow scribes to making copies as soon as possible.