At the bottom of a small dirt hill in a quiet countryside lived a group of hard-working field mice. Every day they are busy preparing for the cold winter by carrying home all the food they can find and storing it well.
On this day, Tommy, a young field mouse, was carrying a peanut he had just found and carefully putting it into the storage corner of his hole. Before she could put it down, her mother called out to her from the mouth of the hole, “Tommy, hurry up! Winter is coming soon, we need to get more food ready!”
Tommy sighed; she didn’t really like going around picking up food left behind by other animals. She muttered softly, “Why can’t we grow a little food of our own?”
When it was time for dinner, Tommy finally got up the courage to speak his mind, “Mom and Dad, I want to grow a farm of my own!”
Dad froze at the idea and almost choked on the corn kernels in his mouth, “A farm? We field mice have always lived off of scavenging, no one has ever planted a farm.”
“But it must be fun to grow your own stuff!” Tommy’s eyes lit up, “I’d like to try growing carrots, ah, sunflowers, and other goodies.”
“Don’t think too much, little Tommy,” her older brother, Big Tooth, laughed and teased her, ”You can’t even tell the difference between a seed and a small stone, and you want to be a farmer?”
Tommy pouted unhappily, “It’s not that I can’t tell the difference! And I can take my time learning.”
A Quiet Adventure
Before dawn the next day, Tommy quietly left the house, wanting to find her own farmland for herself. The sun had just risen and shone on the lush green grass, and Tommy found the air refreshing. She followed the path along the edge of the field for quite a while and finally found a small clearing behind a small bush.
“Great, this is just the right place!” Tommy jumped for joy.
With this jump she almost bumped into Mr. Grasshopper who was passing by. “Careful, kid!” Mr. Grasshopper Green held the little hat on his head.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Green,” Tommy hurriedly apologized, ”I was just so excited that I found a place to plant something!”
“Grow things?” Mr. Green cocked his head at her, “What are you going to grow in such a small area?”
“Carrots, lettuce, sunflowers …… lots and lots!” Tommy gestured as he waved his little paw.
Mr. Green smiled and said, “It’s good to have dreams oh little Tommy. But do you have any seeds yet?”
That caught Tommy off guard. She hadn’t really prepared seeds.
“I …… I can go get some.” Tommy whispered, but there was still a look of anticipation in his eyes.
The first steps to getting started
Over the next few days, Tommy began to look around for seeds she could plant. She found some sunflower seeds that had been blown off the edge of the field, a small carrot seed next to the vegetable garden, and finally a few grains of wheat by the barn.
With these “treasures” in hand, Tommy ran back to her secret farm. First she used a twig to loosen the ground, and then she dug little holes in the ground with her little paws. Then she carefully placed each seed into the pit and gently covered it with soil.
“Grow fast, my little seeds.” She whispered softly, filling a leaf with water and slowly pouring it onto the soil.
Days of waiting
Every day, Tommy came to see her farm. She would water the little seeds and talk to them.
But after several days, the land was still quiet, without a single change.
“Is it not watered enough?” She began to water more, but still no movement.
One day, she couldn’t resist digging a small hole to see if the seed was broken. She found the sunflower seed still lying still, not moving at all.
“Ah, I failed ……” Tommy was so disappointed that tears almost fell from his eyes.
Just then, a gentle voice came: “What’s the matter, little Tommy, are you in trouble?”
It turned out to be Grandpa Field Mouse coming. He was the oldest one in the whole family and was very experienced.
“Grandpa, none of my seeds are growing …… I obviously watered them every day.” Tommy said sadly.
Grandpa squatted down and took a closer look at the soil: “Well, maybe you watered too much and the soil is too wet for the seeds to breathe. And ah, the seeds need sunlight too, warm sunlight can make them grow slowly.”
“Really?” Tommy was instantly happy.
“Of course!” Grandpa laughed, “And yeah, seeds need time too. You can’t just plant them today and have them grow tomorrow. You have to be patient.”
Tommy nodded seriously, “What should I do then?”
“Just look at them every day, you don’t need to water them every day. You can also sing to them and tell them stories so they know someone cares about them.”
A small miracle
After listening to her grandfather, Tommy began to change her methods. She came every morning to sing a good morning song to the little seeds and told a gentle little story at night. She also touched the soil with her paw and didn’t water if it felt moist.
Finally, one morning when she came to the farm, she was surprised to find a small soil bag bulging slightly, and a little tender green sprout bursting out of it.
“It’s sprouting! Sprouting!” Tommy jumped up and down so happily that he almost stepped on the little bud, and hurriedly took a few steps back and carefully crouched down to look at it.
“Hello, little sunflower.” She said softly, “I’m Tommy, and I’m going to take good care of you.”
It wasn’t long before the farm began to come alive as well. The sunflowers were growing fast and already had little leaves; the carrots were showing their thin green tips; and the wheat seedlings were coming up in neat rows like little swords of grass.
The farm grew more and more lively
That day Tommy was telling a story when suddenly she heard a rustling behind the bushes. She turned her head and saw her brother, Big Tooth, and a couple of his buddies hiding behind them and peeking.
“What are you doing?” Tommy asked.
Big Tooth came out a little embarrassed, “We heard you actually grew something and wanted to come and see.”
Tommy happily pointed to his farm, “Look guys, I planted these!”
“Wow! It’s really growing!” The little ones said in amazement, “How did you do that?” “I want to help, can I?”
“Of course!” Tommy said happily, “Let’s take care of them together, and when the harvest comes in, we’ll all share it together!”
From then on, Tommy was no longer farming alone. Big Tooth helped her loosen the soil, Little Tail helped with the watering, and even Mr. Grasshopper Green often came over to help check if the plants were sick.
The Warmest Hour
One evening, as the sun was slowly setting, Tommy and his little friends were sitting at the edge of the farm, looking at the plants that were growing taller and taller every day.
“Tommy,” Big Tooth said suddenly, ”I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have laughed at you before.”
Tommy smiled, “It’s okay, if you hadn’t laughed at me, I might not have made up my mind to start trying so soon.”
“Can we grow strawberries next year?” Tails asked excitedly.
“Of course!” Tommy’s eyes lit up, “We can grow lots of yummy things together!”
Grandpa Field Mouse came along at some point and looked at them with a smile, “You know what? What’s really important is not how much you plant, but that you learn to be persistent, careful and help each other.”
Tommy’s heart warmed as she looked at the small farm in front of her. She knew that this was just the beginning, and there were many more surprises waiting for her and her friends to discover and work hard in the future.
As night fell, the stars in the sky lit up one by one, and fireflies flew around the farm as if applauding the dreams of Tommy and her little friends. And not far away at home, Mom and Dad are listening to their neighbors’ stories about Tommy and her farm, amazed.
