Overview
A whimsical guide to farming berries in One Hour One Life, cast as a teaching song. I believe music has great power to assist in memorization.
Introduction
So my brain works weirdly. Odd little tunes and snippets of lyrics constantly float to the surface of my mind. Usually, they’re either songs I’ve heard, or parodies of songs I’ve heard… many times, about my cats. This time, the idea of a teaching song for berry farming in One Hour One Life stuck in my head. And then I started humming a tune, and fitting little bits of farming lore into a rhyme scheme… and so, I’m inflicting my agony on you. 😉
The Berry Bush Song
(An original song by Sean Roberts aka Starknight_One aka starkn1ght)
Listen up children and pay me heed
For here is knowledge that you need
Farming is a way of life
Feeds the hungry, eases strife
Let me tell how you can succeed…
Pick the berries when you can
Put them in bowls near at hand
The berries we grow aren’t like in the wild
They will not regrow with time Wild berries regrow over time… it’s just slow.
Which is why I sing this rhyme
To teach the truth to each and every child
When the bushes start to brown Picture below, bottom right
Don’t you worry, don’t you frown
Gather up your farming bowl and hear me
Scoop some dirt up from the pile
Sitting nearby all the while
And dump it on the roots of that poor berry Picture below, bottom middle. Well, that’s after watering actually. Otherwise it looks like the brown one but with the dirt of the green one.
I’m singing you the berry bush song
So you will know the right from wrong
And teach your children properly
To farm the beautiful berry
Now that the berry has been fed
Find for it a drink instead
Water carried back inside your bowl
A shallow well or bucket made
A pond will work, if you wade
So give the bush some water for your soul Food is good for the soul, right?
Now you have some time to wait
(8 years of your life, such a fate)
Soon you will be proud of all your labors
The berries spring back, seven proud Domestics have 7 instead of 6. The Centauri are jealous.
A green and purple speckled cloud And the Drazi are confused.
Lovely gems to feed both friends and neighbors
I’m singing you the berry bush song
So you will know the right from wrong
And teach your children properly
To farm the beautiful berry
Sometimes people scream and shout
“Time to make new bushes sprout”
An easy task that everyone should know
Put two bowls of soil down One breaks hoes faster. Three is wasteful.
In a pile upon the ground
Grab a hoe and till a brand new furrow
Pick a berry ripe and plump
Use a flint chip on that lump A knife works too, but is dangerous if there are people around
Take the tiny seed and plant it deeply
Water then and just some time
Twelve long years, such a crime
Your new berry bush awakes from sleeping
I’m done singing the berry bush song
I’m sorry that it took so long
But I will not apologize
For trying to make you all wise
Outro
Well, there you have it. It’s trite and simple, but I think it has a certain je ne sais quoi, don’t you?
(It’s not meant to be deathless prose, after all.)