what a garden to be made ( OPEN )

[ethnobotany]

WHO: Beverly Crusher
WHERE: Hospital, outside House #15
WHEN: Second week of May
OPEN TO: Anyone, with one closed for Wanda
WARNINGS: Nothing for now, will update if necessary
STATUS: OPEN

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HOUSE #15

It was a strange box she'd found that morning. What was even more strange was what she had found inside the box. A bunch of seeds of all sizes and shapes stared up at her, glinting in the little bit of light filtering through. What startled her more than those were the gardening tools resting above the seeds. It was like someone knew she liked gardening, knew she would want to help out and wanted a garden of her own. Was this something those Observers she had heard so much about liked to do?

Pulling out the tools, she set them aside and began to sort through the seeds. There were so many, she barely even knew where to start. Two of most things, except one willow and four aloe. The willow made sense, though she hoped it was the seed for a smaller willow tree. The aloe plant also made sense. The more aloe they had, the better off everyone would be. Some of these would have to wait for a greenhouse or something of the sort. Otherwise, the climate here would kill them. But some she could go ahead and plant.

So for the rest of the week, she could be found outside when she wasn't on a shift at the hospital. With tools in hand, she's either working on getting some of the seeds into the ground or trying to remember how Annie and Finnick were doing their fence so she can make her own. The last thing she wants is to have her new garden get eaten or run over when it finally starts to grow. She makes a point of looking for anyone who might want to help on either one of these endeavors.


HOSPITAL

Her colleagues at the hospital are all very important here. Beverly doesn't know what each of them knows about herbal remedies, but she sees no reason not to offer what she does know to them. The more of a supply of those remedies they have and the more people who know what they are and how to use them, the better. So at some point during the day, she finds each of them, walking up to ask a few simple questions.

"I've just received a bunch of seeds for herbs and plants we can use for medicine and poultices when they finally grow. How much do you know about medicinal herbs?"


WANDA

Wanda is one of the people Beverly wants most to work on her garden with. Unfortunately, not knowing Wanda's schedule means she isn't familiar with the proper times and places to try to catch her. So Beverly sorts out a handful of the ones she wants to plant now, setting them aside so she can plant them with Wanda at a later date. It isn't until the end of the week that she finally happens to make it into the Inn at the right time to find Wanda. Making her way over, again being careful not to sneak up on her, she offers a small but very warm smile.

"I remember you being interested in gardening," she comments easily. "I've just discovered a whole bunch of seeds that I'd like to plant. If you're interested, maybe you could help me."

Comments

[ethnobotany]

Stream of consciousness or not, Beverly appreciates the insight. Fencing isn't exactly what she's good at, so every little bit helps. And if someone's willing to explain things to her, all the better. She nods at his words, turning over what he says and paying attention so she can replicate what he's suggesting when the time comes. There's no use in asking for help without actually taking the advice offered.

At the end, though, she tilts her head, wondering if she's heard right. "Maybe what would do it?" she presses. "Did you think of something to keep the small animals out?" Or did she mishear him? Anything is good, but keeping out the little ones would be better. As for the gate, she figures they can make one somehow, even if it's just lifting up a few pieces of wood in specific places.

[pretendtoneedme]

"Maybe." He's reluctant to say anything will undoubtedly work until he tries it, and sees it work, but there's a possibility here that they haven't really explored yet. This is one potential use, and he can come up with a lot of others. "Mud bricks. Sometimes called survival cement. You take mud and mix it with straw of some kind and kind of... massage it until it's all one big hunk of mess, then you shape it into the form you want and let it sit out to dry. The straw acts kind of like fibers in fabric, keeps everything going in one direction, and stabilizes it all. Once it dries, you can do whatever you want with it, and it lasts forever."

Getting back to his feet, Clint takes another look around the area she's cleared; it's really not too large to think about enclosing it all, although that would take a lot of bricks. But he's got another idea about that. "We could make a big batch of the stuff and shape it up along the line you've already got here as an earthen ridge, and before it's dry shove the fence posts into it so they dry in it. Then it'd just be a matter of adding rails higher up and you've got a fence."

[ethnobotany]

Clint might just be onto something. Beverly nods as he continues into a new explanation, her approval easy to see in the soft but determined look to her eyes. Survival cement sounds excellent and the way he describes the alternate use for it sounds perfect.

“It’s worth a try,” she agrees, her lips twisting jokingly as she continues. “Sounds like something even a non-engineer could figure out. I’ll have to give it a shot. Feel like getting your hands dirty?”

She won’t blame him if he says no, but it really will go faster with two people. Regardless, she's already appreciating what he's given her so far and if that's all he has time for, she'll be happy. At least now she knows where to start.

[pretendtoneedme]

His response is all practicality as he shrugs and pushes himself to his feet again. "I get my hands dirty all the time. But this time we can use a couple of strong sticks for most of it." The cement would have to be mixed in a bucket, bit by bit. He's not going to sacrifice more than one bucket to be a morass of mud and straw, and they need a lot more buckets in a lot more places than they readily have available.

Bev was jumping the gun a little, though, if she thought they were just going to start right in on the mixing, so that was the first thing to correct. "Come on down to the storehouse and you can pick out some fence posts and rails - that's where we're keeping stuff scrounged from the broken buildings for now, and there should be enough to give you a good fence. We can find you some hinges, too. Get the plans set up and easy to follow."

[ethnobotany]

This is definitely why she needs someone to act as a guiding hand, someone knowledgeable about this sort of thing. Were they talking botany, she would do the same. But this is so far out of her normal that she definitely has to have someone else to let her know what the best course of action will be. After the first time she'll have a better idea and that will help.

"All right. That sounds reasonable." Hinges, fence posts, rails, and a good plan sound perfect to her. She likes having a plan, but wasn't entirely sure where to start. Now that she has an idea, though, she can work on getting it all set out and then get to building herself an actual fence.

"And thank you for your help. This is going to be much easier than if I'd just tried to do it on my own."