My world building goals change every single day, without fail. A week ago I was plotting and naming seven generations of descendants of King Jerethor Delle in Delephran (four kids, twelve grandkids, twenty great-grandkids, twelve great-great-grandkids) . Two days ago, I was focused on farming and crops. Yesterday was building a mass combat simulation spreadsheet. Today? The origins of non-standard humanoid species.
Here’s some bits from the farming day, and what a typical year looks like for a farming serf.
Narif (Lowspring)
In Narif, farmers make offerings to Asia for a dry month with no severe frosts and welcome Aradra’s return. They focus on the ploughing and spreading of manure and general cultivation of the fields as soon as the ground is soft enough. Smaller spring fields of wheat, rye, barley, and oats are sown, as well as flax and hemp. Calving continues.
Berin (Deepspring)
In Berin, farmers make offerings to Asia for a mixture of rain and sunshine. Sowing and harrowing of wheat, rye, barley, and oats continues. General labor includes cleaning ditches, pruning trees, fixing sheds, hauling timber, and repairing roofs. Onions, leeks, and flax are sown, calves weaned, milking and dairy work started, and tending to farrowing (birth of piglets).
Ranol (Highspring)
In Ranol, farmers continue to make offerings to Asia for a mixture of rain and sun. Ditches are dug and the first ploughing of the fallow fields begins. There are sheep to be cleaned, sheared and marked, general planting, and field maintenance. Winter corn is weeded and moss removed from thatched roofs. Beans and peas are sown, as are beets, carrots, cabbages, and other garden vegetables. Swarming bees are captured for hives.
Rijar (Lowsummer)
In Rijar, farmers make offerings to Asia for dry weather. The mowing and raking of hay begins, sheep shearing continues (with the shearing of lambs later in the month), and a second round of ploughing is done in the fallow fields. Clover is harvested.
Yuslaf (Deepsummer)
In Yuslaf, farmers make offerings to Asia for a dry first-half of the month and a rainy second-half. Hay making continues, as does sheep shearing. Crop weeding begins in earnest. Hemp, flax, and winter corn harvesting begins.
Nolas (Highsummer)
In Nolas, farmers make offerings to Asia for warm, dry weather. Nolas is a heavy harvest month, with the threshing and winnowing of grains and grinding of flour. Sowing of spring grains begins. Straw is gathered and turnips planted.
Lifris (Lowautumn)
In Lifris, farmers make offerings to Asia for rain and welcome Kerne’s return. There is threshing, ploughing, and pruning of fruit trees during the month. Fruit (apples, blackberries, etc.) is harvested and dried or stored. Grapes are picked and pressed for juice and wine. Peas are harvested, as is honey from beehives. Cattle is bred. Fields are plowed for winter grain. Winter wheat, rye, barley, and oats is sown. Excess stock is taken to market.
Genar (Deepautumn)
In Genar, farmers make offerings to Asia for dry weather with no severe frosts. They focus on the last ploughing of the year, gather nuts, roots, berries, and mushrooms, plow fields and sow empty fields with winter grains. They harvest grapes for wine and verjuice. Repairing and cleaning equipment begins. Sheep are bred and pigs are allowed to forage for and fatten on acorns and beechnuts.
Premis (Highautumn)
In Premis, farmers make offerings to Asia for a mixture of rain and sunshine. Firewood is gathered, split, and stacked for themselves and the local lord. Pigs and cows are slaughtered and meat smoked. Flax and hemp are processed to make thread and rope. Threshing and winnowing continue through the winter.
Talas (Lowwinter)
In Talas, farmers make offerings to Asia for a mixture of rain and sunshine. Wild game is hunted, trees trimmed, and grape vines pruned. The slaughter of livestock continues. Turnips harvested.
Cambras (Deepwinter)
In Cambras, farmers make offerings to Asia for rain (but rarely get it). They focus on making and repairing tools, nets, utensils, etc. On mild days, they work outdoors gathering firewood, pruning vines, mending fences, clearing ditches, and cutting wood. Sows are bred and manure spread for fertilizer. Early lambs can be born.
Feras (Highwinter)
Feras in similar to Cambras in many ways. Farmers still make offerings for rain. They focus on carting manure and marl and continue the deepwinter work to prepare for spring. They prune grapes and fruit trees, prune and mend hedgerows, mend fences, kill moles, plant willow, and add lime, chalk and manure to soil. Lambing continues, and calving begins.
I also mucked around with a new Steam app – Ultimate Epic Battle Simulator. My computer is no where near snappy enough to be able to run it above 3-4 fps, but one day!
Raven & Blade 