Simple question really. I know I’ve seen these threads for mana sites and some other resources. As much as it is below the abstraction layer, I’m curious as to what is on people’s farms.
So what is your farm like? Given that this is a fantasy game, what kind of fantasy elements can be present in your farm? Are any magical beasts domesticated? (I know about Iridescent Butterflies under the Forest resource)
I imagine most of them are fairly easy to visualise: cows, pigs, sheep, onions, turnips, carrots etc. Orchards and vinyards are specifically mentioned.
What about fishing boats, is that reasonable? Or a hunting preserve?
Or growing something that isn’t food or drink - like cotton or flax for fabric?
(ps - I realise the distinction that owning a farm doesn’t necessarily mean you work the land yourself, nor does working the land alone make someone a yeoman as the yeoman may well have employees who do some or all the physical farm work)
Personally I have very little in the way of fantastic elements, it’s a standard three-field system, including some unusually fine-boned, hornless cattle. My character claims he once convinced a Dawner they were horses and sold him a couple at a ridiculous price, fun times… One minor difference from real medieval farms is that I mostly use hired labour instead of family members ('cause I don’t really have much family left). However, in winter those of my workers who are still under contract tend to do some hunting and acorn-picking (for pig feed) in the local forests. Also, my character knows very little about farming but a fair bit about valuable minerals, so plowing time usually involves me running around the fields going ‘don’t just throw that rock away, there’s iron ore in there!’
A friend of mine, however, has what he calls a ‘rock farm’, where he supposedly ‘tills the earth from topsoil to bedrock.’ Everyone else thinks he’s mental, and most of us refuse to eat his ‘cave apples’, no matter how often he tells us they’re meant to be blue.
I know the Marchers bring a lot of beer to Anvil, so some farms in the Marches must grow barley.
Also wheat for bread, apples for cider…
That idea of flax for linen (and for linseeds) was a good one. I think the climate is wrong for cotton.