Completed Immersion Build - Farmland by Ghost Hill - by Margaery Tyrell

[Margaery_Tyrell]

Immersion Project

Builders: Margaery

Coords: 7545, y , 23521

East of Ghost Hill

Research/Inspiration

My main reason for this immersion project is to add a degree of self-sufficiency to the Ghost Hill region by creating a food source for the smallfolk of the region and to connect the already existing olive farm to the main Ghost Hill area. Since Ghost Hill is in an especially arid region I have mostly gone into growing techniques in the Palestine and North Africa region particularly with dryland farming.

Plans

This will be simpler than the olive plantation, here is the basic layout of the lands

Spoiler: Original Lands

Plans for lands

Spoiler: My proposal

Tests

This will be a continuing of the style that was developed in the previous project

 

[an_escaped_duck]

Just would like to address the viability of growing crops on a sea cliff... first of all, I don't think the ground would be good for growing much as it would have probably eroded quite a bit, as well as had sparse plant life to contribute to soil nutrients. Second of all, the presence of salt in the ground, combined with the frequent high winds and storms, would probably not be conducive to growing any large amount of food. I can't speak to fig trees, as those might be hardier than small crops, but I think you should realize the problems in growing delicate plants there. Is there somewhere more inland that crops could be grown?

 

[Margaery_Tyrell]

Just would like to address the viability of growing crops on a sea cliff... first of all, I don't think the ground would be good for growing much as it would have probably eroded quite a bit

Unless you have a means to control erosion such as trees or grass since erosion and wind breaks were fairly well understood by people in the medieval era and we do have in-canon instances of people understanding the importance of erosion-control (Braavos being the most apparent). And growing crops by the seaside...is fairly common. Disregarding the constant examples of crops being crown on seacliffs in temperate regions, there is a great deal of cropland on the northern coast of Morocco, the southwest of Iran, and basically all along the Palestinian coast.

as well as had sparse plant life to contribute to soil nutrients.

Land reclamation was a documented farming technique in Palestine vaguely similar to how people farm in oasis regions. This is a process done over several decades in which salt-hardy and heat-tolerant crops (olives, citrus, sorghum are some examples) are planted along with low-growing shrubs and trees to build up a thicker soil layer an over time more and more organic matter is created and dryland is turned into arable land. A modern day example of this process would be conservation efforts in the former Aral Sea where salt-tolerant trees are being used to turn the former lake bed into erosion-stabilizing ecosystems that will initiate a biological process that accumulates more and more biological matter into the soil.

Second of all, the presence of salt in the ground, combined with the frequent high winds and storms

I think this is more a presumption than anything since Arriane does talk to Lady Jordane about the Stormland's rain and Dorne's weather patterns and remarks that storms don't reach the coast of Dorne very often if ever at all and that the winds push towards the stormlands and away from Dorne.

Is there somewhere more inland that crops could be grown?

There is not, not without significant amounts of terra to the inner-sand dunes a few dozen blocks away that an Immersion project can't address. Farming in a dune desert with no water sources is more implausible than farming on a coastline that already has enough moisture to support trees and grass after all.

 

[an_escaped_duck]

Just making sure it’s possible which speaking of, if there are dune deserts a dozen blocks away, and few rainstorms, how would there be enough water to support the plants? Just because an old, outdated terraform sprinkled some grass and plant life above a cliff, it doesn’t mean the wider geographical context would allow that to happen.
E. Not to mention that the dunes which are so close require winds to form.

 

[Margaery_Tyrell]

Because the current dune desert in the eastern half of Dorne is kinda against canon and only the western area of Dorne sans the Dayne lands are supposed to be full of sand dunes. Arriane describes the lane between Sunspear and Ghost Hill for example as a series of dry plains, drylands, pale sands and low hills, while Awoiaf states vaguely that: Eastern Dorne largely consists of dry, stony soil ill-suited for agriculture, while western Dorne contains deserts of red and white sand.

There's also the issue of food that I've long whinged about certain castles in Dorne, these are generally places that are supposed to be self-sufficient and either some places have minimal sources of food (generally solely fish or a patch of cabbages) or completely missing.

 

[Enah]

Chinese example

 

[an_escaped_duck]

All I’m saying is that, if you use existing plants and grass at the shoreline as justification for people growing stuff there (assuming land reclamation), you also have to accept the existing dunes (which, unlike in the chinese example, do not have mountains feeding water into the ground water table), that suggest there is wind and extremely arid conditions super close to where you propose farmland.

 

[Margaery_Tyrell]

Except that the sand dunes aren't canon :-I and should really be removed in a coming project

 

[Margaery_Tyrell]

Okay I got two sources for some real-world feasibility. First is this coastal farm in Italy that shows that salt content should not be an issue along coastal cliffs

Second is this study from on the Namib desert in South Africa, Angola and Namibia which discusses the feasibility of coastal arid farming at a commercial level, but makes several references to household and subsistence farming.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311932.2019.1645258

Of note is this passage in the Conclusions

Agriculture in desert environments has received very limited research attention throughout the world due to their high temperature and limited water availability. However, in Namibia, the coastal desert, the Namib Desert whose environmental conditions are regulated by the cold Atlantic Ocean, presents a cool desert with plenty of sunlight.

These unique conditions in the Namib Desert can be exploited for crop production in this arid country. [...] Processes that can generate cheap organic nutrient sources such as vermicomposting are proposed as having potential in creating home-made organic nutrient sources, thus driving crop production at household level in Namibia.

 

[AerioOndos]

ummm, your image provided is no where near as close to the water as the farmland plots. Otherwise I like it

 

[CashBanks]

Given that Dorne is so short on fully completed/not outdated projects I think it would be worthwhile adding some extra polish to the ones we have. I think this plan for the coastal farmland is plausible enough, but I'd suggest a little more of a buffer between the edge of the fields and the coastal cliff, and having a think about wind barriers as well.

It would be great if you had a go at greening up the sand dunes to the north as well, just to ease the transition.


Do all that and approved by me

 

[AerioOndos]

Fremen dune stabilising! All hail Liet Kynes!

 

[Margaery_Tyrell]

Given that Dorne is so short on fully completed/not outdated projects I think it would be worthwhile adding some extra polish to the ones we have. I think this plan for the coastal farmland is plausible enough, but I'd suggest a little more of a buffer between the edge of the fields and the coastal cliff, and having a think about wind barriers as well.

It would be great if you had a go at greening up the sand dunes to the north as well, just to ease the transition.
View attachment 1656

Do all that and approved by me

Does this mean I can start?

 

[CashBanks]

Does this mean I can start?

Yep just 1 mod needed for this one.

 

[Margaery_Tyrell]

Immersion build is complete

 

[CashBanks]

I'll take a look tonight, here are some shader pics in the meantime

imgur.com

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[Margaery_Tyrell]

Dem pics is outdated, I got shrubbery on dem hills now

 

[CashBanks]

Ok I've taken a look and everything's look nice and plausible. The grassy sand works really well to add a little flora to the Dorne landscape while still making it look totally distinct from the rest of the server. Hopefully this is a step towards bringing some agriculture back to Dorne. Post approved and great work.

 

[Margaery_Tyrell]

Yay!