Stardew Valley

04. So many questions

The next morning at 6:30 AM Jordy woke up very happy and ready to work. He put on his clothes and ran outside and grabbed his watering can. He watered the planted parsnip seeds and noticed... that they had already grown a bit. "Impossible..." he whispered. How WAS that possible? Plants, vegetables and such usually take MONTHS to grow... Right? Jordy had to ask around about that. He remembered Robin telling him that the soil is pretty good. Well, it sure looked like that. New item on the checklist: Meet more locals and ask Lewis or Robin about the soil. Maybe Gunther knew something as well. As Jordy walked in the direction of Pelican Town, he noticed he had mail. He opened his mail box and saw a very old, cracked up piece of paper with something written on it. It said: "Hello there, just got back from a fishing trip. You should come down to the beach some time. I've got something for ya. – Willy".

Very interesting. Jordy tucked the letter in his back pocket and grabbed the tools again. He continued cleaning the field—He even chopped a tree. It was very strange though: When the tree landed on the ground it almost vanished. A lot of wooden pieces were coming off it, but there was no tree anymore. Jordy added that to his checklist: "ask Robin/Lewis abt tree disappearing." What is going on with Stardew Valley? He went back inside his cottage and watched some TV. The weather report said it was going to be beautiful the next couple of days and other than that there was nothing interesting on tv. Jordy went to Pierre's store. "Good morning, Pierre", said Jordy. "Good morning, Jordy! How can I help you today?" Jordy was hungry, as his cottage didn't have a kitchen or something to store food. "Do you... Maybe have something to eat? I don't have a kitchen at home or any food with me" Pierre looked a bit shocked and said: "Oh yeah of course! I made too many eggs this morning so I have some left. I'll get one for you with some bread. Would you like one?" Jordy was relieved: "Oh yes that would be amazing, thank you Pierre!" Pierre nodded once and went to the back.

Jordy was trying to remember what else he went to Pierre for, but because of his hunger he couldn't remember... A woman came from the back door, saw Jordy and walked towards him and said: "Jordy?" "Yes. Hi" Jordy had no idea what to say. This woman also had red hair, but very light red hair. She was quite short, older than him, much older, but good looking. "You aren't exactly how I pictured you... But that's okay!" She told Jordy. "Oh...kay?" Was Jordy's answer as he tried to smile friendly, knowing even less what to say. He was very confused. The woman started laughing and said: "I'm so sorry, my apologies. My name is Jodi! Don't take that personally what I just said. It's good that you're here! It's a quiet little town, so it's very exciting when someone new moves in. Also having a new farmer could really change things." The way she talked... It was so familiar... As if Jordy already had seen someone talk like that before. "Well thank you very much, I do hope I can." Jodi smiled at him and left the store. Pierre came back with a fried egg on some bread. It smelled delicious. "Thank you so much" Jordy said and started eating. After a while Jordy looked over at Pierre and asked: "May I ask where that woman came from? Jodi? Does she live here as well?" "No, she came from the back", said Pierre. "There is a church back there. Some people here go there every now and then. And she is Sam's and Vincent's mother. Have you met them yet?" That's why Jordy recognised the way she talked. It looked and even sounded a lot like Sam's way of talking. "Sam I have, Vincent not yet." "Oh well. Anyway, what can I get you today, Jordy?"

Jordy bought some bean starters, potato seeds and cauliflower seeds. Jordy put everything in his backpack and was about to leave, but then he asked Pierre: "Hey Pierre, do you maybe know how the soil works here?" Pierre stood up straight and looked at Jordy intently. "I mean I- I planted some parsnip seeds two days ago and normally it would take months for them to grow, but in my farm they've already grown a bit. What..." Jordy didn't know what to ask or say next. "Haven't you been told?" Pierre asked. "That's almost entirely what Stardew Valley is known for: It's nature." Jordy kept looking at Pierre, waiting for him to explain some more. "The soil here is known for its strength, apparently no other place in the world has soil like Stardew Valley does. For example those potato seeds you just bought: they only take 6 days to mature, cauliflower seeds 12 days and parsnip seeds only 4. That's why farming and such is so important here, because it is so quickly done and ready for export." Jordy stood there, squeezed eyes and opened mouth. "Wow..." he said. He immediately wrote that down on his notepad. "And... That goes for everything here? Plants and trees?" "Everything", Pierre said smiling. "Isn't that amazing?" It was. So that's why Robert was so good at farming and always had so much to show in such a short amount of time: because of the soil here. Jordy had to ask Lewis so much more about that later at the saloon.