A Year On The Farm
January: Farmers are busy gathering hay for the coming winter. Field 1: Weed and fertilize. Field 2: Final plow. Harvest flax and hemp. Special day: All-Sun’s Day (January 21)
February: The meadow is opened to livestock. Livestock is recounted so that the number of newborn animals that are going to survive can be estimated and hence pasture capacity evaluated. Coopers start preparing wine casks for the coming grape harvest. Any harvest in the spring field is taken in. Field 3: Harvest remaining winter wheat. Livestock: Meadow. Harvest orchards and cotton.
March: This is the month of accounting, tallying of services owed and payed, determining rents and any other outstanding monies. The autumn field is ploughed, and planting of certain crops begins. The crops in the fallow field are harvested. Grapes are harvested. Field 1: Harvest barley and oats, then peas and beans. Field 3: Thresh, winnow, dry and store. Collect honey and wax, vat grapes, harvest orchards. Special day: Autumn equinox (March 15).
April: Labourers take to the orchards where they pick pears and apples. Wine and beer is removed from fermentation vats and placed in barrels. Planting the autumn field is completed. Field 1: Thresh, winnow, dry and store. Field 2: Plant winter wheat. FIeld 3: Wheat stubble, mixed winter fodder. Livestock: Pannage, sell livestock, stop milking cows. Barrel wine, harvest olive groves.
May: Pigs are taken to the forest for intense grazing, fattening them for the slaughter. Stock is taken of the number of animals and how many can be fed over the coming cold months. The balance are slaughtered and preserved (salting, drying, or smoking). Crops from the spring field are threshed and stored. Field 1: Field lies fallow. Livestock: Slaughter, sell livestock. Press and jar olive oil, collect firewood, gather reeds and bracken.
June: Just before winter sets in, the folk of the land stuff themselves on the produce of the year. Choice pigs, sheep, and maybe even a cow, are sacrificed for the feasting. Loaves are made from the best wheat and served with the year’s best cheese and wine. No activities take place on the fields. General repairs and rebuilding of structures, fences, etc. Special days: Founder’s Day (June 02), winter solstice (June 15), Day of Victory (June 17).
July: If conditions permit, the spring and fallow fields are ploughed. Buildings, fences, and paddocks are repaired and maintained. Clothing and other textile items are made.
August: Vines are pruned, and the spring and fallow fields are ploughed. Prune and stake vines. Special day: King’s Day (Aug 01).
September: The spring thaw takes the workers into the fields to begin planting the spring field. Field 3: Prepare field for spring crops. Livestock birthing. Sow cotton. Special days: Leaf and Root (September 03), spring equinox (Sep. 15).
October: Livestock kept over-winter are fed from fodder gathered during the previous year. With enough vegetation now availble, the animals are turned out onto the pasture. Generally, afternoons are spent lingering outdoors enjoying the fresh air of spring. Field 1: Sow spring crops (barley, oats, peas, beans, vetch). Field 2: Plow (currently fallow). Field 3: Tend to winter wheat which has been growing since last autumn. Special days: Day of Justice (October 9), Day of Roses (October 13).
November: City streets fill with strollers, a good time for shopkeepers and ideal for mischief-makers. On farms, sheep are sheared, the autumn field is harvested, and the spring field is weeded and fertilised. The fallow field may be ploughed. Field 1: Harrow. Livestock: Milk cows, shear sheep. Sow gardens, find wild swarms of bees.
December: Thistles are cut and hay is gathered. Hay is a valuable crop, used to feed cattle in the winter and fertilize the fields in the spring. Harvesting the autumn field is completed, while weeding and fertilising of the spring field continues. The fallow field is ploughed. Field 1: Weed and fertilize. Field 2: Plow, mixing in manure. Field 3: Begin harvesting small portions of winter wheat. Livestock: Shear sheep, milk sheep, pasture livestock. Haying. Special days: Summer solstice (Dec 15), White Monday (Dec 27).