This class is *mint* for me! on Herbology

Nathan Xavier

July 22, 2022 5:50 PM

Beginners: Greenhouse Basics by Nathan Xavier

Nathan welcomed the Beginner students into Greenhouse One (providing drying charms to those who needed them, given the rain). The first two weeks of classes, they'd mostly done outdoor classwork. They talked about the cultivated gardens where he and the elves and the gardening club grew food for the kitchens or potion ingredients for Mary, and they had toured the Labyrinth and found different classifications of plants both magical and mundane, but today the Greenhouse was just about cool enough to be tolerable (which meant it was in the mid eighties instead of the high nineties) and it was raining outside, so it was their first indoor lesson of the year.

"So today we're inside the Greenhouse," he began, which was admittedly a bit of an obvious statement, once everyone was inside and had gotten back their first graded homework assignment about what they'd seen in the Labyrinth, but it felt it was a good segue into talking about the building itself. "Sonora has two. This is Greenhouse One. It's bigger, and has a larger variety of plants in it, and much safer plants in it. Greenhouse One is used for both Beginner classes and Intermediate Classes. Greenhouse Two is just a little farther down the path - we passed it on our tour last week - and that is where the Advanced students have their class. It's much smaller, and nobody should go in there without adult supervision because the plants in there can be quite dangerous." He had both locks and wards on that greenhouse to ensure that was followed.

"Who can tell me why greenhouses are good places to grow plants?" He took answers from several students to get a variety of answers.

"Very good, yes. There's a lot of sunlight, a lot of humidity, and it stays warmer than the outside temperature, which allows us to keep growing things even through the winter. We already saw some herbs and vegetables growing in the outdoor gardens. Today, we're going to plant some in greenhouse planters so we will still have fresh food once those are all harvested and the frosts start to hit. First years, you can each take a pack of herbs to grow in one of the planters. Second years, you'll be planting vegetables." Herbs tended to be a bit more forgiving about planting mistakes, which is why those were assigned to the younger group.

"I have a mix of seeds up here but please only plant one type in your planter and label it with your name, the date, and what you are planting. We do want a variety, so if you see your neighbor is planting tomatoes you may want to consider planting peppers or carrots instead. Planters are available on that shelf there, soil is there, trowels and hand rakes and cultivators are hung up on that wall. You should have your own gloves but if you forgot them, there are extras up here. Fertilizer is there. Watering cans and the spigot are there. Feel free to wander around and familiarize yourself where everything is in the greenhouse. First years, if you can't find something, ask me or a second year. Alright. Get planting. You may talk amongst yourselves but everyone do your own planter. You should have all read about the best practices in your book for homework."

OOC: Hello and welcome to Herbology! This lesson is pretty straight forward and is just planting some basic non-magical plants. Second years should know their way around the greenhouse pretty well by now, but first years, it's pretty big and Nathan's not the most organized fellow in the whole world (things are sorted by where he randomly put them fourteen years ago when he moved in and then he got used to that being their spot) so some things may not be where you expect them to be if you missed him pointing it out (or forgot).

Subthreads:

This class is *mint* for me! by Lyla Holland with Nausicaa Scapetello

Is there a flexibility class? Cos I'm great at putting my foot in my mouth by Robyn Lundstrom

1 Nathan Xavier Beginners: Greenhouse Basics 28 1 5

Lyla Holland

July 23, 2022 11:56 PM

This class is mint for me! by Lyla Holland

Lyla quite liked Herbology, as far as classes went. Sure, most classes up to this point had been interesting, but Herbology felt both familiar and exciting all at once. Lyla had been fascinated on their tours of the Labyrinth Gardens, where she'd wanted to explore ever since orientation- though that particular dream had been promptly squashed when she learned about the highly dangerous plants in there. She was not interested in getting eaten by something that didn't even have teeth, and so she'd decided that the library was a much safer place to explore new worlds.

Professor Xavier seemed cool. He had a kind smile, and although he spoke at a regular volume, there was something soft about his voice, and it made him easy to listen to. Lyla did her best to soak up every word.

Today, it was raining, and although it was refreshingly cool outside, the greenhouse was several degrees warmer, and so humid, Lyla's hair poofed up like a poodle. She pulled as much of it as she could into a ponytail, but it hadn't grown long enough yet, and it stuck out at odd angles.

When the professor asked about greenhouses, Lyla raised her hand for the first time in any class. She stared at her hand in the air, as though it didn't belong to her. She didn't raise her hand, ever. She just wrote down the right answers. That was what she did. So what in the world was she doing now?

"It keeps the plants moist?" she said when he called on her, surprising herself again by actually having an answer. Other students gave different answers, and they all seemed to be what the professor was looking for. Lyla thought- after the panic of answering a question had subsided- that it was a rather easy question, one designed to get a lot of different responses. Realizing how easy it was, made her doubly glad she'd given a correct answer. She couldn't imagine if she'd said something like, to keep these plants away from other plants, or something else that didn't make sense.

Following instructions, Lyla chose a planter and set out her gloves. She waited patiently behind the other students to pick out her seeds. She passed over basil, as it wasn't a favorite of hers, and she didn't want to resent a plant that she was responsible for, and selected sweet mint. She put her seeds safely in her pocket.

Lyla carried her planter over to the soil and started shoveling. She would fill it halfway, add fertilizer, then finish off with more soil, to get an even mix through her planter, then she'd get her seeds, and-

"Sorry!" Lyla said as she bumped into a classmate. She had been so focused on her work, she hadn't been paying attention to anyone else. To her horror, she realized that she'd been hogging the soil bin.

"Do you need to get in here? Sorry," She apologized again, scooting as far over as she could. Her cheeks burned, and she wished she had left her hair down to hide behind.

64 Lyla Holland This class is *mint* for me! 1559 0 5

Nausicaa Scapetello

July 24, 2022 12:02 PM

Mint? Really? by Nausicaa Scapetello

Nausicaa was not enjoying herself. These 'beginner' classes just seemed inane to her, nearly remedial. Had no one else had any level of education before coming here? Was there a way she could get put into the intermediate classes? True, she hadn't done any wand work before coming here, that would have been illegal after all. But, she had been taught theory, she had assisted in making potions, and she knew more of the darker side of the magical world than others her age did.

So, some classes rated a bit higher for her than others. Charms and Transfiguation were tolerable, but Herbology? Really? So far they wandered around the grounds and looked at plants. This was apparently a core subject? She knew all of these plants, well at least the important ones. The rest she could learn for the assignments. They were meaningless, but she wasn't about to let her grades slip because the Professor was teaching unimportant things.

On top of all of that. They had to walk out to the greenhouse, in the rain. Was this some sort of humiliation ritual that the Professor was putting them through? They had to wear these horrid robes, and they weren't even charmed to keep the rain off! As such, since she couldn't lower herself to run through the rain, Nausicaa was soaked by the time she got to class and did her best to project an air of not caring. Such menial things should be beneath her notice after all. At least the greenhouse was warm inside.

Upon entering professor offered them to do a drying spell on her, an interesting power play on his end. 'I can do these things and you can't'. Fine, he wasn't wrong and she was used to other people taking care of minor things like this. The house servants at home regularly dried her off in such a manner. If he wanted that role, that was fine with her.

The professor then began speaking and Nausicaa had to strain to stay in control. Of course they were in the Greenhouse! Why would he even... she was beginning to see why the odd Professor Gray was in charge of the smart people. Then he... she couldn't, she just couldn't bring herself to even justify that question with an answer. How could anyone not know that? It wasn't even something that could have been an insidious trick question.

Then came the thing she had been dreading since the first class. He wanted her to touch dirt. Her. Nausicaa Scapetello. Was supposed to work with dirt. Dirt and common muggle plants? Merlin what was next, shoveling animal dung in magical creatures class? Did these people not have elves for this sort of thing? Once more, she did her best to keep her disgust, anger and contempt hidden away behind a nice, neutral facade. It nearly broke, again, once the Professor started pointing out the locations of what they would need in the greenhouse. On top of everything else, this place was an unorganized disaster area! Fertilizer?! They were going to... ugh. The first thing she did was to pull on her her very nice gardening gloves which had been required equipment and mentally apologize to them for what might happen today.

Nausicaa then moved with the rest of the class to get a planter. She was actually going to have to carry this around as well? Why hadn't father at least allowed her to bring one of the elves along for this sort of thing? This was just inhumane. The professor didn't care what they planted, so Nausicaa picked the closest pack of seeds, basil apparently, and moved on. This whole process was just ridiculous. Now she needed dirt and worse things. Lovely. Would it really be so bad if she failed out of this class? Yes, that would be a bad black mark on her otherwise perfect record. She would get through this, somehow. She just needed... hmm...

A thought struck Nausicaa as she surveyed the dirt bin. There were people coming and going around it, one girl caught her attention though. Lyla, she seemed to be enjoying herself. It would be cruel to stop her from enjoying herself and therefore it would be a good thing to allow Lyla to enjoy things even more. A brief smirk appeared on her face, then vanished into a perfectly pleasant small smile as she walked up behind Lyla.

The approach was good, just as Lyla was moving in the right manner Nausicaa brought her own arm into Lyla's path. "Oh!" she let out a quiet exclamation as the bump knocked the planter from Nausicaa's grasp. The Aladren tried to grab it as it fell and unfortunately seemed to get her one hand under it just as it hit the floor. There was the sound of the planter hitting glove and Nausicaa let out another mild yelp.

"No," replied Nausicaa wincing a bit as she grasped her glove (and worked her hand back into it properly), "It was my fault." She winced again as she moved her fingers a little then tried to pick up the planter. Sadly the hand didn't seem to want to cooperate. "I do need to get in there, yes." She responded, once more attempting to lift her planter. There was another little wince and she shifted the planter more into her arm to hold as she once again tried to flex her fingers. "I think I'll be alright, but..." she paused reluctantly and glanced at the dirt. "Do you think you could help me with this?"

OOC: Professor X's drying approved by his author, and might get updated into his post. It wasn't at the time of this post however.

2 Nausicaa Scapetello Mint? Really? 1561 0 5

Lyla Holland

July 24, 2022 10:42 PM

What a predica-mint by Lyla Holland

The girl Lyla had bumped into had nearly shattered her planter. It had seemed like time slowed down as Lyla watched the ceramic tumble to the floor, saved at the last moment by the girl it belonged to. Despite her classmate's smile, Lyla noticed her wince as she adjusted her grip on the planter.

'Are you hurt? Should we get the professor?" she said immediately, shifting her own jar of dirt to offer a free hand to the Aladren. She searched wildly over her shoulder for Professor Xavier, spotting him all the way on the other end of the greenhouse just as the girl said she was alright. Lyla settled upon hearing it, focusing on the other young witch. She was still wincing about her hand, but it was probably just bruised? Either way, she did not look thrilled about calling the professor over, so Lyla let it go.

Lyla happily helped fill her classmate's planter, shoveling dirt into it by the handful. She'd forgone her gloves for this bit, enjoying the feel of good, clean, dirt between her fingertips. She'd put them on for the fertilizer part, since that was pretty gross. She knew she was washable, but her nose simply wouldn't allow her to put a bare hand in the compost pile.

"You're Nausicaa," Lyla noted, remembering the way the girl had answered all the questions in Transfiguration, straight off the bat, "I'm Lyla. You're pretty smart, you know. I guess that's the whole Aladren thing, though, isn't it? Logic and learning, and all that. Crotaluses...Crotali? I dunno, anyway," she gestured to herself, "We're mainly quiet types."

Lyla paused, mid-dirt-shifting.

"Except me, I suppose. I think I'm quiet, but then I end up babbling nonstop. I think I get that from my mom. She was a Pecari, and let me tell you, those guys are a breed all their own. One time, we were moving into a new house, so it was all empty except for boxes, and my mom brought the garden hose through the front door and made a slip-n-slide in the main hallway. It was probably the most fun I've ever had when we were moving. It made an awful mess, though."

Brushing the excess soil off her hands, Lyla nodded, satisfied, at Nausicaa's planter.

"You probably already know that fertilizer goes in the middle, so let me grab my gloves and I'll help you with that, too. What seeds did you get?"

64 Lyla Holland What a predica-mint 1559 0 5

Nausicaa Scapetello

July 25, 2022 6:03 PM

You're telling me. by Nausicaa Scapetello

Thank Merlin Lyla calmed down a bit from 'the incident'. The last thing she wanted over here was the professor. While she wasn't entirely sure that the man could properly diagnose an injury, there wasn't any point in taking unnecessary chances. Although, if she could get sent up to the hospital wing, that would also get her out of touching dirt. It was a plan to work on and save for another time perhaps. The current one seemed to be working perfectly so far. Lyla seemed happy to shovel the dirt into her planter, with her bare hands. Lovely. Well, that just made Nausicaa feel happy as well that she was able to bring such joy to one of her classmates.

Nausicaa nodded while maintaining her small pleasant smile. It was a little difficult again though. By all rights, Lyla should be addressing her as 'Miss Scapetello', at least until given permission otherwise. That was only proper courtesy, although from watching the girl happily dig through the dirt Nausicaa thought that perhaps Miss Holland had not been brought up entirely properly. Would it set a bad precedent if she didn't correct her classmate? Would the girl take it poorly and stop doing her dirty work for her? Nausicaa really didn't want that, so she supposed it would be safer in that respects to be on more friendly terms.

"A pleasure." She responded automatically to the giving of a name and then, "Thank-you, yes that is one of our house attributes," She replied, "I believe Crotali is the correct term." At least that was the one she'd heard the most so far when referring to multiple people from that house. The Crotalus aspects had been one of the things that had drawn Nausicaa towards Lyla as a helper for this task. Sure one of the Teppenpaws may have been even more eager to help and be friendly, but then they might get more friendly and talk a lot. She wasn't interested in a talkative helper.

Then the girl just started blathering out nonsense. Nausicaa had no idea what to do with the random bits of information this girl was now verbally hurling her direction. She stood there, stunned during the verbal outpouring. Her mind was trying to make sense of it, Pecaris were strange yes. That made sense, everyone knew that, she did her best to stay away from them. Had Lyla gotten sorted wrong? Had she made a terrible, terrible mistake in employing this girl? She could well believe that ridiculous potion had fouled things up.

Nausicaa wasn't entirely sure what a 'slip-n-slide' was, but from context she could piece together a horrible mess created by someone who should have been teaching Lyla proper etiquette. Now some other things did make more sense. What had she gotten herself into? She was debating just abandoning the whole plan when Lyla brought up the subject of fertilizer. The Crotalus seemed happy enough to do that as well for her, which was perfect... as long as Nausicaa could withstand whatever this half-Pecari might throw at her next. If she was going to work on turning Lyla from 'helper' to 'minion' in the long term, there was going to be some work to be done. Unfortunately it seemed like some of that work was going to be getting to know more about her as well as their other classmates.

"Yes, fertilizer next. Thank-you again." There was no harm in showing appreciation for a job well done after all. Nausicaa briefly wondered if she could get Lyla to carry the planter for her as well, but that may be pushing it to much. If she claimed she couldn't because of her 'injury' that might convince her to pull the Professor in to take a look. As degrading as it was, she would need to carry it herself. Where was an elf when you needed one?

"I picked up basil," Nausicaa responded to Lyla's question. She could use this to find out some more about Lyla after all. "We use it quite a bit back home in Italy." The cook did anyway, she ate it which counted as well. "Tell me something, I didn't recognize this 'slip-n-slide' that you mentioned," then asked with all the innocence she could muster, "Is that an American thing, or a Muggle thing?"

2 Nausicaa Scapetello You're telling me. 1561 0 5

Robyn Lundstrom

July 28, 2022 7:35 PM

Is there a flexibility class? Cos I'm great at putting my foot in my mouth by Robyn Lundstrom

Robyn wasn’t totally sure what to make of herbology. So far, she was assuming that they were easing in with some orientation-level stuff, and it was going to get more complicated/sciencey/dangerous later on. She didn’t totally mind the brain break that came from doing gardening as a school subject, not when everything else was so new, but she felt ready for it to actually get challenging.

Today, the biggest challenge was how to stay dry on the way to the greenhouse. She had an umbrella in her backpack, so she wasn’t too wet by the time they got there. And then Professor Xavier offered to dry her by magic. Was this how wizards worked? Did they just let problems happen and then wave a wand to fix them? It still seemed like it was unpleasant and hazardous to one’s health to go about getting wet in the first place, however quickly it could be mended.

She took a seat, listening as he introduced the greenhouse. She raised her hand when he asked about why to use it, though some of the more basic answers went before she could be called on.

“It’s more consistent,” she added, remembering reading that in her textbook. “Like, you can keep it warm all the time, and control the amount of water plants get and stuff. Whereas, if they’re outside, well… it’s not like you can control the weath-” They were in a desert and it was raining. The entire school was surrounded by magic that did exactly that. “I mean… you do… but…. Um, it still rains and stuff,” she said, in a much quieter voice, her cheeks glowing as red as her namesake bird’s chest. Urgh. She was never going to answer a question in class ever again. She was supposed to be making a good impression to make up for being related to the school’s worst student. So far, in practical classes, she didn’t think she was trailing her peers as badly as her brother had done. Whenever she compared with a neighbour, she seemed to be doing similar or better, if they were a fellow first year. But who messed up a question in plant class, for crying out loud?

They were just planting seeds today, which she was pretty sure she’d done successfully every spring, so hopefully there wasn’t any more embarrassment on the cards. She wanted to opt for something Italian, but the girl in front of her (who was like… actual Italian Italian from Italy) took the basil. Oh well, there was still Oregano, which made its way into a lot of things and was very tasty. Robyn picked the packet up, and then followed the general tide of people to get a planter.

It was getting pretty crowded by the soil, so she hung back, not sure she really wanted to attract the attention of other people right now. Except, wrong again, standing back was apparently just as effective at doing that as barging in…

13 Robyn Lundstrom Is there a flexibility class? Cos I'm great at putting my foot in my mouth 1558 0 5

Lyla Holland

July 29, 2022 11:48 AM

I don't want to be a pest-o by Lyla Holland

Lyla felt a bit silly, rambling on, but that was just how her brain worked. One thought led to another that led to another.

"I think both," she responded to Nausicaa's question about the slip-n-slide, "It's basically a big sheet of plastic and you run water and sometimes soap over it to make it slippery. Lena-that's my little sister- likes to compete to see who can slide the farthest."

She cut herself off before she said anything about Mom knocking a hole in the wall during this particular incident, straight through to the bedroom. Cheap army housing, she'd grumbled as she fixed the hole before Dad got home.

She made quick work of the fertilizer and started helping Nausicaa mix it into her soil without asking.

"Basil's alright, I guess. I never really liked it too much. Is it savory, is it sweet? It's both, and it's weird. But I guess if you grow up with it, it's just normal," Lyla added quickly, not wanting to offend, "It's pretty cool that you're from Italy, is it very different from the U.S.?"

Dad had been stationed in Italy before she was born. Lyla frowned at having little to no information about his time there. She made a mental note to write and ask him about it.

Dusting the excess dirt off of her gloves into the compost bin, she gave Nausicaa a smile. While Lyla didn't mind helping, especially since she'd practically crushed her classmate's hand, she was kind of getting nervous about Nausicaa not doing her own work. What if Lyla messed it up and earned the other girl a failing grade? Nausicaa seemed like she was smart enough to probably earn a better grade than Lyla, anyway, though there wasn't much to planting regular plants. Besides, what if Professor Xavier found out that Lyla was helping and thought it was cheating? Better to play it safe.

"Looks like you're all set!" she exclaimed, "I'm sure you can handle it from here, the heavy stuff is done. I'll come over and water after you get your seeds in."

64 Lyla Holland I don't want to be a pest-o 1559 0 5

Nausicaa Scapetello

July 31, 2022 5:51 AM

I would prefer that as well by Nausicaa Scapetello

A Muggle American. Nausicaa had been afraid that was going to be the answer and yet it didn't surprise her in the least. Unfortunately, from what she had managed to find out about the school before coming here, this was not going to be an uncommon experience. For one reason, it was an American school, logically most of the students and faculty would unfortunately be American. Secondly, the magical governments all seemed to agree that Muggle-born should have to go to school as well. It was inevitable that she would need to interact with these people. She would just need to do it properly, she would need to be smart about this. If there was one thing she was, it was smart.

The girl continued to chatter away seemingly mindlessly as she dug into the fertilizer and mixed it into the dirt. Nausicaa had to wonder again why, why did they have to lower themselves to this sort of work? Lyla was talking about the plants again like they were actually important? As far as Nausicaa was concerned it was something that was put into food, she hadn't ever given it a second thought why or what flavor it added. It didn't seem like her helper was expecting any sort of response along those lines, so she didn't give one. The girl's next question was simple enough to answer.

"Italy is quite a bit different," then with just a moment's pause figuring that this may be a good time to let Lyla know just who she was dealing with, "From my experience anyway. Back home Father is a rather important person and we live on a beautiful estate. Here, my maid and I are 'living' at my Uncle's cramped little apartment."

Nausicaa inspected Lyla's work in her pot and thought it looked properly done. "This looks well done," She commented and then , "Do you do a lot of gardening, you seem to do it well." She took her pot back to the workbench. Planting the seeds was something she could handle. There were tools for poking holes and then covering them up once the seeds had been dropped into them. Truth be told, she could handle watering them as well, but if Lyla was offering, well who was she to deny the girl of the joy of gardening?

Following through with her plan, she soon had her seeds planted and ready. The process had been done strictly 'by the book' and therefore should lead to good results. If not, well she could always blame Lyla for doing something wrong with the dirt.

2 Nausicaa Scapetello I would prefer that as well 1561 0 5

Lyla Holland

August 04, 2022 11:55 AM

Splish splash by Lyla Holland

Lyla shook her head at her classmates question.

"We've never been able to have a garden," she explained, "We move around too much. I guess I didn't realize how much I liked plants and planting things until I came here."

Lyla set her planter down a little ways away from Nausicaa. Something about the girl was giving her an uneasy feeling, though she couldn't put her finger on it. She furrowed her brow as she furrowed her soil, replaying the entire strange encounter as she sowed her seeds.

She had just been helping out a classmate, right? That's what you did, as a good person. So why were her hands shaking as she sprinkled the seeds out of the crisp white package?

The other girl was rich, she'd said she lived on an estate. Lyla only knew what an estate was from books, from mentions of monarchs and manors and monumental swaths of land that not only housed the family that owned them, but all of their employees as well. Maybe that's what Nausicaa was used to- having everything done for her. At least she seemed polite enough, thanking Lyla for her work. In all of her books, manners seemed to be super important, with the young protagonists (usually princesses) always groaning about etiquette classes.

Lyla didn't think Nausicaa was a princess; she probably would have introduced herself as one to start with, and Italy didn't have a royal family, besides. It was more likely something like she was the great-great-granddaughter of the inventor of the pepper-up potion, or something. It was kind of weird that she talked down about her uncle's apartment, though Lyla supposed it was a product of being used to having tons of space and then suddenly having none.

She retrieved a watering can from the back of the tool closet (shouldn't something that was used so often be more accessible?) and filled it at the spigot. Feeling somewhat wary, she shuffled back over to her classmate.

"Ready for water?" she asked. Though she knew that Nausicaa had had ample time to get her seeds planted, Lyla didn't want to assume she was finished before she started sprinkling.

64 Lyla Holland Splish splash 1559 0 5