Chapter 11: Bees and Farming (2)
TL: Hanguk
Late morning, filled with an endlessly blue sky.
“You know we’re going out for volunteer work today, right? Everyone get on the bus waiting at the main gate!”
For American high school students preparing for college, volunteer work is essential. American universities value not only an applicant’s academic performance but also leadership, social responsibility, and contribution to the local community, and they require a certain number of volunteer hours (community service) to graduate.
In addition, if you want to enter a specific university or a specific major, having volunteer experience that allows you to directly experience jobs in that field and build connections with working professionals and peers makes a very big difference when it comes to admission.
So for normal high school students who worry even a little about their future, it was natural to participate in volunteer work even if it was annoying and tiring.
Seen in that light, the fact that Jacob, who showed hostility toward Asians from the very first class, followed along without complaining meant that at least the basics were there.
“Hmph! Guess this is your first time seeing an almond farm?”
He was still sulking because he had taken a hit before and was picking a fight because of it.
“Sorry, but I’ve probably seen more than you?”
“What did you say?”
“Why don’t you quietly review what you learned? So you don’t get scolded by Mr. Miller again like last time?”
“......”
Seeing him open a book right away on the bus when told to study, maybe he wasn’t bad by nature? The little punk, he's kind of cute?
At that moment, an attractive female voice came from behind.
“Do you know a lot about almonds too?”
The owner of the voice was Chloe. Lately, she had been showing an unusual amount of interest in me, probably to win the cherry competition. So I answered while looking out the window without even turning around.
“A little?”
“I heard you weren’t interested in farming before. Then why did you only join our club now?”
“I was going to do tax or accounting before. I just changed my mind.”
“Ah... that’s interesting. Even farm uncles didn’t tell me about the hints you gave them either.”
“That’s not because I’m amazing, but because your farm uncles don’t really pay much attention to scientific approaches. Or maybe they deliberately left it alone so you could grow on your own.”
“Do you think so?”
“...”
I didn’t answer and only thought about how to maximize farm profits. It takes roughly four to six months to complete vinegar, and that means the winery has to sit idle for at least six months. In the meantime, if we bring in cherries and make wine, we can run the winery for six months and produce roughly a thousand bottles of cherry wine.
Since a bottle of Napa Valley cherry wine is roughly in the 35 to 45 dollar range, if the timing works out well and the results turn out as expected, the profit margin would be four to five times.
Of course, this assumes that Chloe wins and brings in one ton of cherries at a low price, so if she loses, we would have to give up the profits from cherries.
When I didn’t say anything, Chloe naturally closed her mouth as well, and we arrived at the almond farm about an hour away.
As we passed through the entrance of the farm, endlessly stretching rows of almond trees greeted us. It wasn’t the season for blossoms yet, so we couldn’t see the white flowers of the almond trees, but the sight of trees standing in neat rows across the vast land was spectacular no matter how many times you saw it.
After getting off the bus, a middle-aged man who looked like the farm owner approached and greeted us, taking off his hat.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Jeffrey Holland. You look like a pretty promising bunch.”
Jeffrey, who looked to be in his mid to late fifties, was a typical American farmer with rough work clothes and sun-tanned skin. He looked fondly at the dozens of Agriscience Club students and said,
“There won’t be anything too difficult for you to do today. First, when operating the tree shaker, remove small branches or fallen debris under the branches and clean the area so branches don’t get caught in the binder or chains. And then, gather the almonds that have fallen on the ground with forks or rakes and put them into baskets.”
A Tree Shaker is a piece of machinery used in nut orchards to harvest efficiently, mainly used for nut-bearing trees such as almonds, walnuts, and hazelnuts.
At that moment, Jacob shot his hand straight up.
“Can I try operating the tree shaker?”
It was clearly something said out of his mind, but the reason he could say something that fearless was that, unexpectedly, there are cases where heavy equipment operated on American farms can be used without a license.
“Nope!”
As expected, the farmer wasn’t an idiot. He waved his hand and refused with charisma, and Jacob put on a disappointed expression.
After that, the students split into groups and started their volunteer work while looking around different parts of the farm, and I ended up in the same group as Chloe, Jayden with dreadlocks, and the scatterbrained Jacob, starting the task of picking up almonds that had fallen on the ground.
Honestly, it was uncomfortable being in the same group as Chloe and Jacob, but for some reason, Chloe stayed glued to my side the whole time, and Jacob had picked a fight for no reason and then gotten stuck in the same group.
“California almonds are the best in the world. Do almonds even grow in your country? Where did you say you were from? China? Japan? North Korea?”
“It's so childish that for a moment I thought I’d regressed back to elementary school. If it’s still at this level now, how on earth did you tease your friends in elementary school? Don’t tell me it was something like, ‘He pooped his pants! Hahaha!’”
“...... I used my fists instead of my mouth. Want me to use them here too?”
Honestly, looking at Jacob’s build, there wouldn’t be many people who wouldn’t be intimidated. With a face that looked like Brock Lesnar’s and turning red all the way to his face when he got angry, wasn’t he practically a monster?
“Stop it, Jacob!”
Unexpectedly, Chloe stepped in again and shouted. Jacob flinched for a moment at the school queen’s command and then shut his mouth. Acting like a man, of all things......
Sweeping up the almonds that had fallen along the path where the tree shaker had passed wasn’t that hard. Since students were doing volunteer work, the tree shaker hadn’t been moving fast to begin with.
After moving around like that for about an hour, our clothes became damp with sweat and conversation gradually disappeared. You need stamina even to pick fights.
Just when I was starting to check my wristwatch from time to time, wondering when this would end, I saw something lying on the ground and bent down.
“What is it?”
Chloe was the first to approach, and
“You think people work because they want to? Those lazy immigrant bastards...”
At the sight of Chloe whipping her head around, Jacob flinched and shut his mouth, and even Jayden came over and asked.
“What is it? Huh? It’s a bee.”
“A bee? You’re making a fuss over just a bee?”
Jacob spoke as if he still didn’t like it, but I didn’t even listen with half an ear and picked up the dead bee with my hand.
“There should be beehives nearby...”
“Beehives?”
“Bees are the key to almond farms. Almond trees can’t self-pollinate, so without pollinators like honeybees, pollen transfer is difficult and they can’t bear fruit. That’s why it’s not strange for a farm to have beehives.”
After explaining that, I immediately started running with the bee carcass in my hand.
“Where are you going?”
Chloe asked as she followed behind,
“There’s something I need to ask the farm owner!”
Because the farm was ridiculously wide, it took a full twenty minutes of running before we finally arrived at the warehouse where the farm owner was waiting.
“Huh? Brian? Why are you here?”
As the kids arrived one by one behind me, panting for breath, Mr. Miller widened his eyes and asked.
“There was a bee... lying dead. Do you happen to know where the beehives are?”
“A bee? Oh, good catch.”
As Mr. Miller looked at the bee I handed him, his face immediately stiffened, and he turned his head toward the farm owner Jeffrey, who had just come outside.
“Where are the beehives?”
Jeffrey’s face also hardened as he stepped forward.
“Follow me.”
We got into the pickup truck he was driving, the students climbed into the back of the truck, and we traveled for about ten minutes, feeling the warm breeze.
When we arrived, we could see dozens of beehives standing in a row, and I jumped out of the truck and ran over there. Sure enough, when I looked down at the entrance of the hives, countless bee carcasses were scattered across the ground. A significant number of them weren’t dead, twitching and crawling around without being able to fly.
“There are so many...”
With an uneasy feeling, I quickly checked the other beehives, and Mr. Miller came up beside me.
“A lot of bees have died.”
“That’s serious. Did you know about this?”
The farm owner, Jeffrey, shook his head with a grave expression.
“Why on earth would this happen...?”
Mr. Miller patted my shoulder and said,
“As expected, Brian, you were sharp. You discovered a big problem in advance. It almost turned into something serious.”
Jeffrey, also looking genuinely grateful, firmly grasped Brian’s hand.
“You’re a student? That’s impressive. With such sharp eyes, you’ll become a good farmer. But...?”
Praise was praise, but the problem right in front of him was more pressing, and Jeffrey’s face twisted deeply as he stared at the beehives. At that, Mr. Miller scooped up a handful of dead bee carcasses and said,
“We’ll need to investigate. As quickly as possible...”
At that moment, I cut in.
“Is there another farm not far from here?”
“Huh? Why do you ask?”
I knelt down and lightly swept my index finger across the front of the beehive to inspect it. Fine white powder clung to my fingertip. Then I picked up one bee carcass and examined it closely.
“It looks like neonicotinoids.”
Mr. Miller stared at me in shock, and Chloe, unable to contain her curiosity, asked,
“What’s that?”
“A pesticide for pest control.”
Everyone was startled by my answer, and Jacob, who had somehow come over and was sitting next to the beehives, stared at me with his mouth hanging open.
“How do you know that?”
I didn’t answer and asked Uncle Jeffrey again.
“There’s a farm not far from here, right?”
“Uh... yes.”
“Where is it?”
“Silveroak.”