Harvesting Opportunities

The Finchwick Fair Autumn Festival had been great fun.  Daisy was thrilled to see all the amazing entries from across Henfold-on-Bagley - from colourful llamas, to proud cockerels, delicious smelling pies and a truly impressive pumpkin the Watson family had submitted weighing in at a whopping 1 235kg!  Now that she’d seen how fierce the competition was, she’d be prepared for next year.  Even so, she was well pleased with her chrysanthemum entry, which earned her a respectable yellow ribbon among the flower entries.

Ready to head home, Daisy paused at the town notice board.  It was always worth checking what was happening in town and to see if anyone had any odd jobs or errands they needed help with - it not only earned her a bit of extra cash on the side and sometimes the odd gift in return, but built up positive relationships.  As she pursued the leaflets, her eye fell on one flyer in particular, an advertisement for a gardener job.

Her interest piqued, she read the details - a large nursery across town needed an extra gardener in their greenhouse units.  Familiarity with different flower breeds was an advantage.  The pay wasn’t huge but the shifts were regular and there was opportunity for advancement.

The timing couldn’t be more perfect.  With winter approaching, the income from her garden would reduce significantly.  Without hesitation, Daisy pulled out her phone and dialed the number.  Small towns being what they are, a short chat with the greenhouse manager secured her an interview the next day.  With none other than Agnes Crumplebottom as a reference, she easily landed the job.

Fruits of Labour

The leaves on the trees around Tendril Cottage were aflame in bright reds, golds and oranges as autumn pushed into full swing.  There was definitely a chill creeping into the air now.  Daisy surveyed her garden and the large pumpkins she had been nurturing throughout the summer months.  For a first crop, they were very respectable but nothing enormous enough to win her a blue ribbon for largest crop at the Finchwick Fair, she knew.  Instead, she had decided to enter one of her high quality chrysanthemums and would hope for the best.

The garden would need a lot of tending again to get the harvest in and prepare the beds for winter.  There was pruning, raking, seed collecting and drying all to be done, along with a plethora of other tasks.  But the work was made easier by the unsuspecting helper she discovered in her garden one autumn afternoon - Patchy, alive and walking around tending her plants.  Daisy had actually shrieked when she rounded the house to find the scarecrow away from its perch and walking.  But after a lot of careful - distant - observation, it was clear it meant her no harm.

With Patchy helping to tend the garden and even Cowtrina, Daisy turned her attention to preparing for the winter inside and that meant preserves and canning!  She loved taking the produce from her garden and turning it into yummy jams, jellies and pickled delights, which she either kept to hand in her pantry or gifted to friends.  She made blueberry and raspberry jams, chocolate sauce, tomato sauce, mushroom meat substitute and pickled pumpkin and aubergine.  Even though her garden would be at rest over the winter, she could still enjoy the fruits of her labour.

Cowtrina

As summer began to draw to an end, the strange mushroom-like ‘seed’ she had planted nearly two months ago had been growing strong - and LARGE!  A thick vine had pushed up out of the soil and was topped with an equally large white bud.  Daisy was keeping a careful eye on it daily, eager to see what bloomed from it.  She was not expecting the resounding and slightly ominous bovine lo that erupted from her front yard one late summer morning, nor the strange cow/plant creature that burst forth from the vine’s bud.  A trip to see Michael most definitely was in order, she decided, and she snapped some photos on her photo as proof, sure he would think she had eaten the wrong type of mushrooms while foraging.

Surprisingly, Michael didn’t laugh or chase her out of his yard as she described the strange seed she had found and planted and the stranger still creature now growing beyond her front porch.  On the contrary, he was visibly excited by her story, explaining that he had known folktales of such creatures, called cowplants, but had never seen one for himself.  The local lore said they were sentient to a degree and mostly harmless, so long as you kept them well fed.

‘With what?’ Daisy asked, puzzled what one fed a cowplant.

‘Meat.  Lots of it,’ Michael stated plainly.  ‘You might want to consider setting up a regular delivery with Kim.  I hear they have a voracious appetite.’

Oh.  Daisy’s brow furrowed.  So it was a carnivorous plant.  She hadn’t been expecting that.  Then another question came to her.

‘And if you don’t keep them well fed?’

‘Um…  You don’t have a sweet tooth, do you?’ Michael asked.  When Daisy’s expression turned to confusion, he clarified, ‘Just don’t trust anything that looks like cake around it and you’ll be fine.’

Thanking Michael for the cowplant history, Daisy invited him over to inspect the creature himself the next day.  Arriving back home, eyed the cowplant wearily and decided to name it Cowtrina, before heading into the kitchen to count her meat supply.

Footnote: It turns out a well-fed cowplant is also quite playful.

Unexpected Friends

As summer progressed, Daisy continued to explore Henford-on-Bagley, making new discoveries and friends along the way.  Several villagers had mentioned someone they referred to as the Creature Keeper in the Bramblewood, who seemed to be a bit of a recluse, albeit a friendly one.  Daisy headed over to introduce herself and not only learned his name was Michael Bell, but he shared some tips for where to find some good wild mushrooms nearby.

She was also working on becoming friends with the local wild rabbits.  She gifted them small treats of carrots and vegetable stalks that she didn’t use in her cooking in the hopes they would not nibble her garden produce, which seemed to work well.

She also often chatted to herself and her plants while working in her garden and sometimes she could swear she heard a rustle of agreement.  She tried to tell herself it was just the wind.  At other times, she was convinced she felt like someone - or something - was watching her but all she could see nearby was the lonely scarecrow at the greenhouse.  She took to chatting to it as well, naming him Patchy, and she even found some seeds scattered on it - probably from the crows that often sat atop it.  Once or twice she was convinced it twitched and moved but that was crazy.  Right?

A Curious Discovery

'What are you?' Daisy wondered while poking the strange mushroom-like oddity sitting on her potting bench.

She had brought the small chest she'd fished up home and immediately set to work prying it open. After a bit of persuasion from her tools, the lock eventually popped open. Pausing to brace herself, Daisy gently opened the lid, unaware that she was secretly holding her breath until it came whooshing out in a mixture of disappointment and confusion. The chest was empty, save for a small, black and white mushroom-like - thing - rolling around inside.

Hesitantly, she picked it up and inspected it before setting it on the potting bench. It had a cap and a foot like a mushroom but not any mushroom she'd ever seen before. The cap was a mottled black and white, almost like a dairy cow, with tiny, horn-like protrusions on either side of a thin stalk. A delicate cluster of leaves gave it almost a shaggy, hair-like appearance. It was still firm and without signs of mould, which gave her an idea.

'I may not know what you are, but I do know what to do with a mushroom!' she exclaimed, and grabbing her trowel and the cow-like plant, she headed out of the greenhouse and planted it in the front yard where she could keep a careful eye on it away from the rest of the garden.

The Greenhouse

Summer was in full swing by the time Daisy managed to finish converting the old wine-making shed into a proper greenhouse, which had been her vision. She had needed to hire a contractor to take down the old shed and put up the greenhouse in its place, but she made sure to save a lot of the timber that was still in good condition and reuse it in the new structure, which both saved on costs and maintained the history, which was important to her.

Inside, she set up a potting station, some vertical planters and some large floor planters for her more delicate flowers. An old radio provided tunes for her to plant to and to encourage the plants' growth. And she had to admit, the view out the windows from her potting table was spectacular!

Summer also meant the gardens were thriving on their own, giving Daisy a little more available time. She decided to try her hand at fishing, since the Cordelia's Falls and river were just around the bend from Tendril Cottage. The fish were too cagey for her most of the time but she enjoyed the warm sunshine on her skin and the fresh spray of mist from the falls nonetheless. The occasional small fish she caught, she gave to Marigold, who happily scarfed it down without a second thought. Then one day, her line snagged something heavy. Daisy strained to reel it in, being careful not to snap the line in the process. She was amazed to discover it was a small, mysterious box. Tucking it under her arm, she headed back home to try to open it and see what it contained...

Marigold

Daisy's days fell into a comfortable rhythm of morning yoga on the porch, pottering around in her garden and meditating next to the apple tree sapling as the sun began to set. Watching her gardens slowly spring to life and fill in brought her great satisfaction but she had to admit, it was a little lonely seclude in her little cottage on the top of the hill. There were of course the wild rabbits that would visit her garden and nibble at the tender shoots and also the foxes that slunk through the underbrush beyond her stone garden walls, but they always kept their distance.

Then one evening after a meditation session, Daisy turned to find a pair of large, green eyes staring out at her from under the lavender bush. A large, ginger cat sat starring out at her. It blinked slowly up at her before sauntering out and brushing up against her leg. She noticed it had a bobbed tail. She gave it a few gentle pats before it wandered off into the thicket behind the house and Daisy wondered it was one of the neighbour's barn cats from down the road.

Over the next few weeks, the ginger cat visited her more and more frequently. She asked around in town if anyone was missing a cat but no one laid claim to it so she started putting out scraps of food, figuring it must be a stray. It wasn't long before the cat officially adopted her, marching straight into the cottage and lounging on the bed. Daisy decided to name her Marigold for her striking orange-coloured fur.

Putting Down Roots

Once moved in, Daisy wasted no time heading into town for supplies and to get to know the locals. She stocked up on fresh produce from Kim Goldbloom's market stall; quickly falling into a comfortable conversation together and Daisy had the feeling they would easily become fast friends. She idly wondered if they might be distantly related, since they shared the name Bloom.

Needing seeds for her gardens, she next turned to the garden shop and introduced herself to Agnes Crumplebottom. It was clear that Miss Agnes was a shrewd, no-nonsense sort of woman but ever the optimist, Daisy was certain she could win her over through their mutual passion for all things flowers. She selected a hardy variety of early spring lettuce, some fruit tree seeds and of course a handful of daisy seeds.

Turning to make her way back up the long, twisting road to Tendril Cottage, Daisy spied the town notice board and paused to check the adverts. She was thrilled to discover the Finchwick Fair, a weekly rotation of competitions, including a produce and flower event. She knew she would have to enter and already her mind was churning, planning how to achieve a prize-winning entry. With thoughts of blue ribbons swirling in her head, she returned home to begin her planting and carefully tended her garden over the course of the first month.

Tendril Cottage

Daisy inhaled the crisp, spring air of Henfold-on-Bagley. The sky was a clear, sea-glass blue, song birds chirped in the surrounding trees and the cascading tumble of the Cordelia falls around the bend greeted her as she crested the rise of the hill above town. As delightful as the morning and the chatter of creatures around her was, that wasn't what put a soft, satisfied smile on her face. Her eyes took in the cosy, wooden shingle and stone cottage at the end of the path. It had belonged to an elderly couple of vintners, now retired and moved to a more comfortable townhouse a few towns over. But now it belonged to Daisy.

The cottage had been well-maintained and while not large, it was plenty big enough for her. The front porch was sturdy and the previous owners had left a rocking chair out front, which Daisy could easily see herself enjoying during the summer evenings. The old well out front had been sealed over after having dried out and a new one dug but was now a charming feature of the garden. In the east side yard stood a shed and garden plots. With the harsh grip of winter just now slowly receding, the flower gardens were nothing to look at, but Daisy had plans to change that - big plans.

If you'd like to watch the speed build of me creating this cottage, you can watch it on my YouTube channel here: Nectar Cottage

Meet Daisy Bloom - Our Legacy Founder

I started the Sims In Bloom challenge in October 2023, playing casually in my spare time but recently, I've really gotten into storytelling through photos and narrative so I decided to create a Simblr to share Daisy's and her descendants' stories with the community. I hope you will enjoy.

But first, let's address the elephant in the room: These first few generations will be a little slim of posts, since when I started this legacy, I wasn't documenting very much and there are fewer photos.

With that out of the way, here is a recap of the Daisy Generation requirements and goals:

Aspiration: Freelance Botanist

Traits: Cheerful, Clumsy, Loves the Outdoors

Career: Gardening

Skills: Gardening, Fishing, Wellness

Gen 1 Goals: