Agriculture

The agriculture skill allows players to grow their own food. Plantable crops are:
 * Broad beans
 * Peas
 * Turnips
 * Barley
 * Rye
 * Hemp
 * Nettle
 * Sorrel
 * Meadsweet
 * Golden rod
 * Yarrow

Agriculture provides a good long-term source of food and healing herbs, due to the time difference between sowing crops and harvesting them (around 8 weeks). Crops start to become ready in late summer through to late autumn, though exact times differ depending on the species of plant. All crops except for cereals can be simply picked up, but plants and cereals must be threshed to obtain seeds.

However, a character cannot survive solely on plants. Due to their low nutrition value when raw, plants must be processed in order to be useful. Crop yields can be greatly variable, and plant foods must be supplemented with protein from meat or fish to stop starvation.

In order to start farming, land needs to be prepared with a shovel. This land needs to be fertilized with the remains of a fire. Due to the limitations of the game, it is advisable to plant large (20x20 or even bigger) fields two or three tiles away from your main settlement. A fence can be built around large farms to prevent foreign traders from triggering the item overflow bug, though this is a lot of work.

Small Fields
A popular method is to arrange firewood in a rectangle like the diagram below: 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 etc. where the numbers represent how much firewood is on the tile. Light the tiles with 2 firewood on them, and wait. Of course, other types of fuel can be chosen, but firewood is often used for its quick burning time. The soil can then be prepared with a shovel. Because the soil must be prepared before the remains of the fire disappears, the soil should be prepared in batches of around 40 tiles each time. Once the remains of the fire disappears, crops can be sown on the tilled soil.

Sowing fields grants the largest skill gain. The rate of plant growth is affected by rain and sunshine, and the earliest time a plant can be harvested is around 8 weeks (v3.13). In winter, no plants can grow, and when snow falls all plants are automatically destroyed.

Rhys' tips for large fields
Firstly, it essential to have fertilized land for your field. This can be obtained easily, especially if the player's settlement is in a wooded area. Here is a simple guide to get quick and good results:
 * Clear the area. If there are any grown bushes, then harvest them. If there are any trees, fell them. Do not worry about large rocks, they will not have an impact on the field itself.
 * The field you are preparing will be 8 tiles wide, so make sure there is some clear space either side of the field (fences and buildings can be set alight very easily).
 * Line a single column of tree trunks down one side of your field.
 * Chop all of these into blocks
 * Run down the line from top to bottom, moving 7 of 8 blocks to one side
 * Continue in this way until all tiles of the field only have a single block upon them
 * Set fire to the top row as shown above, with the ones at each side also set alight
 * Have a nap or do some cooking, but stay in the same area and don't leave for more than 3 or 4 hours
 * Start preparing the soil in rows, remembering to keep at least 1 row away from fire
 * Every time you take a 3-4 hour break, you will be able to complete a couple of rows. You will notice that as you keep on top of this, the burnt soil behind you will start to revert to normal tiles. This is why the short breaks are essential, rather than long ones.

Using this guideline, you can easily create and 8 tile wide, but very long field. I have previously created field that are as long as the 100m wilderness tile with little effort. This process will, however, take you a few days depending on the size of the field - so do make sure to have plenty of food before you attempt it. I am not implying that this is the most time efficient method of creating a big field, but it is definetly one of the easiest and has never let me down. Plus, you will use a lot of tree trunks but if you are in a wooded area, you will also chop a lot of trees down for firewood over winter, so you may find you manage to complete several tasks at once!

Rhyscoombs 21:16, April 15, 2010 (UTC)