Under the scorching afternoon was Mrs Williams in front of her big farm. Worried, she stared at her hard work as the leaves wave their stems, amidst this was a woman's battle with her farm and bandits who won't let her harvest her crops.
Mrs Williams' farm flourished with ridges of crops. In the village a group of unknown bandits who go about terrorizing farms. Hungry for plunder, Mrs Williams farm was the only option they had because of her large farmland.
Memories flooded Mrs. Williams' mind as she could still feel the texture of the soil under her bare feet, the caressing of the sun on her skin as she labored with her parents from morning till evening. The scent of the earth is what shaped her into the hardworking farmer she had become.
Despite facing lots of challenges among which are bandits. She refused to let the bandits be her discouragement. As she stood in the farm, she thought of ways to scare these bandits out of her farm. Her concern was for her farm and nothing else but she needed something that would add fear whenever these bandits visit again.
After all work on the farm, she returned home to inform her two daughters about the damage these bandits had done to her crops.
As Esther entered the sitting room with her handbag slung over her shoulder, she met her mum and sister discussing. "Honestly, mum," she sighed, "can't we have a different discussion in this house other than farming? I can't contribute to this right now as I have a meeting in the city tomorrow, and I need to get ready.”
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July, a teenager and last child was mummy's signature who loved assisting her mother in her farming activity whenever it's holiday season.
She had this sense of naturally solving problems. Her suggestion to mount a "keep out" sign in front of the farm made sense to only her mother.
"I think that's a good idea but you know how these villagers are, they need something that would really scare them off the farm, when I was a child little things like scarecrows scared both humans and animals but today's world is different" their mom said.
"Okay, fine. So it won't look like I don't care or don't show concern, why not build a tall fence," Esther suggested.
"That's nice but that might still not work and the cost of fencing that big land would be exorbitant. That's out of it, think of something else," their mom said.
After their conversation, she left for her farm the next day with a sign that clearly declared, "Keep Out, Be Aware of Danger."
After some weeks of mounting the sign, she decided to visit and see the outcome of it. As she surveyed her farm her heart was too heavy seeing that there was no change as half of her maize were uprooted.
"I can't bear this any more," she said to herself, her voice tinged.
With the unceasing onslaught, she found herself at a crossroads. The thought of quitting crossed her mind.
"Should I continue with this farming or give up on this farming activity?"
But just after she thought, an idea came. With a burning flame never to quit, she journeyed to her co-farmer, Mrs Judith to inquire how she safeguards her farm. Mr Judith, a determined and overprotective farmer, hinted at what she needed to do to keep her farm safe.
Mrs Judith informed her of employing care takers, building a small house for them near the farm and buying two to three dogs.
"These are just what you have to do and those bandits would never cross your farm ever again. I would have suggested fencing but they go as far as jumping high fences just to get in and destroy people's farm produce and go Scot free with all they have achieved."
Getting home she involved her daughters and they assisted her financially in achieving her aim. Together they were able to build a comfortable one room apartment for the two caretakers, provided them with the basic things they needed and their job began. A new sign was mounted with the declaration, "Keep Out from this farm and beware of dogs."
One fateful day, the bandits visited the farm as usual but the watchful and vigilant dogs sighted them from afar and waited to see their actions. The bandits sensing the security measures adopted ignored all that and made effort to sneak in and succeeded. As they were about to begin operation the three dogs began barking and ran towards their direction. Helter skelter they ran and the caretakers chased after them. Being able to run faster, they escaped and never visited the farmland. As she enjoyed peace, Mrs Williams remained happy that at the end, she found a permanent solution to her problem.
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Quite an interesting read. A little extra beyond the keep out surely added some serious security to the bandits. Glad she got her farm back eventually
Yeah, that's the one of the challenges farmers who plant in large quantity face. In so many localities, many have quit farming because of bandits. Leaving only the determined and resilient ones in the system. Is always good to face our fear by imploring measures that would proffer permanent solutions to our problem.
You're right, a way of problem solving rather than giving up
Yeah dear.
These days no one is scared of sign posts anymore. Judith's idea was excellent just that the life of the care taker might be in trouble you know. Nice fiction ma, I enjoyed reading through
She found the solution to her problems. The dogs and handlers were very effective in repelling the invaders.
Thanks for sharing
Happy new week.