Imic
Street Preacher
I have noticed for a long time, for as long as I have known about this server's existence, that there is a distinct lack of agricultural infrastructure in the unspeakably vast majority of rural settlements constructed in Westeroscraft. Farms need a lot of stuff to exist, agricultural life isn't "simple" even in the slightest.
They need enough ploughs to till the fields before it's too late to sow seeds, they need enough pack animals to pull the ploughs, they need enough sheep to put clothing on their backs, enough pigs to put meat on their plates even just once a year, they need sheds and barns to store the hay to feed their pack animals, and most of all, the grain and vegetables to feed their family, which will usually be enormous. Most households would hold three generations or more under their rooves, with grandparents, parents, children, and adult children living and working on the farm to produce enough food to feed 10 or more people. These villages, once again, will usually have a hundred people on average, and yet many of them don't even have a communal barn. This is a world where winter lasts for years, how can they have enough food to last through such a winter if they don't even have anywhere to store it? If they give all of their produce to the lord of the manor, then where does the lord of the manor store it? The usual process was for the family to farm the land, store their produce on the land they rent from the lord, and pay a portion of that produce to the lord in exchange for not being kicked off their land or being punished as a criminal for disobeying their lord. What about House Barns? They've existed for as long as agriculture in one way or another, often without even a separate room for the livestock to stay, but it's something. In our villages and cottages, we usually don't even give them space in their homes to keep their vegetables, nevermind their grain, nevermind their animals. It is my opinion that the construction of sheds, workshops, and outbuildings for farmers to use in the weaving of clothes, the storage of ploughs and carts, the mending of the both, the storage of hay, grain, vegetables, animals, and other agricultural produce, the washing of clothing, the storage and processing of milk into dairy products, the drying and smoking of food, and so many other things besides is something which is not nearly normal enough on this server, and I will not stop fighting until it has been even slightly normalized, even if that just means we get a million more house barns and cottages with straw beds for the animals. Thank you, for listening to my TED talk.
tl;dr: I think we don't build enough farm buildings. Even if we assume everyone stores their animals and crops in their actual home, I still don't think that the homes we build are anywhere near big enough to store animals, hay, vegetables, farm tools, workstations, ploughs, etc. etc.
Sources and citations: The Irish cottage by Marion McGarry, The Forgotten Arts & Crafts by John Seymour, Stephen Biesty's Cross-section Castle (Which I may have stolen from my Brother, although it doesn't have many details on the subject.), The Year 1000 by Robert Lacy & Danny Danziger, and perhaps most of all, The French Farmhouse by Elsie Burch Donald, which I have ordered from the library because it's the only one I don't personally own, and I really am that dedicated to dying on this hill.
They need enough ploughs to till the fields before it's too late to sow seeds, they need enough pack animals to pull the ploughs, they need enough sheep to put clothing on their backs, enough pigs to put meat on their plates even just once a year, they need sheds and barns to store the hay to feed their pack animals, and most of all, the grain and vegetables to feed their family, which will usually be enormous. Most households would hold three generations or more under their rooves, with grandparents, parents, children, and adult children living and working on the farm to produce enough food to feed 10 or more people. These villages, once again, will usually have a hundred people on average, and yet many of them don't even have a communal barn. This is a world where winter lasts for years, how can they have enough food to last through such a winter if they don't even have anywhere to store it? If they give all of their produce to the lord of the manor, then where does the lord of the manor store it? The usual process was for the family to farm the land, store their produce on the land they rent from the lord, and pay a portion of that produce to the lord in exchange for not being kicked off their land or being punished as a criminal for disobeying their lord. What about House Barns? They've existed for as long as agriculture in one way or another, often without even a separate room for the livestock to stay, but it's something. In our villages and cottages, we usually don't even give them space in their homes to keep their vegetables, nevermind their grain, nevermind their animals. It is my opinion that the construction of sheds, workshops, and outbuildings for farmers to use in the weaving of clothes, the storage of ploughs and carts, the mending of the both, the storage of hay, grain, vegetables, animals, and other agricultural produce, the washing of clothing, the storage and processing of milk into dairy products, the drying and smoking of food, and so many other things besides is something which is not nearly normal enough on this server, and I will not stop fighting until it has been even slightly normalized, even if that just means we get a million more house barns and cottages with straw beds for the animals. Thank you, for listening to my TED talk.
tl;dr: I think we don't build enough farm buildings. Even if we assume everyone stores their animals and crops in their actual home, I still don't think that the homes we build are anywhere near big enough to store animals, hay, vegetables, farm tools, workstations, ploughs, etc. etc.
Sources and citations: The Irish cottage by Marion McGarry, The Forgotten Arts & Crafts by John Seymour, Stephen Biesty's Cross-section Castle (Which I may have stolen from my Brother, although it doesn't have many details on the subject.), The Year 1000 by Robert Lacy & Danny Danziger, and perhaps most of all, The French Farmhouse by Elsie Burch Donald, which I have ordered from the library because it's the only one I don't personally own, and I really am that dedicated to dying on this hill.
