Land Clearance

Land Clearance describes the labour-intensive practice of readying hinterland for cultivation, as carried out by homesteaders wishing to farm. With the barest of tools available in the medieval-Renaissance period, the effort was enormous. It could take as much as a decade, and even more, to fully clear a piece of land — given that it was necessary, for survival, to cultivate some small part of it as soon as possible. Thus the land would be readied piecemeal, season after season, while sufficient food had to be grubbed from a poor soil until it was repeatedly turned over and made sustainable.

The best method for undertaking this work was as part of a larger community, comprised of many homesteaders working together, or as a venture supported and carried forth by a monastical order or migrating clan. This allowed the sharing of heavy lifting, cutting, digging and ploughing, with the limited technology available to the time period. With many hands working together, the business of felling trees, removing stumps, clearing large stones, building walls and constructing a joint storage building, like a garner, could be accomplished in order of their importance. A single family, comparatively, might put up was an area of brush or an inconvenient stump for years until the time and the necessary labour (as children reached maturity) could be applied.

These rough-hewn farmlands occur in type-7 hexes, as a work in progress. While the first few years enables a small degree of production, it's understood that the meagre population is yet able to produce a meaningful surplus each year, which is used to pay taxes and purchase materials to support further development. As the land improves, and population rises, harvests keep pace as the locale gradually transforms into a "type-6" hex — producing the same amount of surplus, but supporting a larger, more stable community.

Depiction

Such farms often seek the best available soil within a hinterland, and are therefore often some distance apart from their neighbours. In a steppeland, someone approaching would see the homestead at a distance, located in a bottomland. In a forest or scrubland, the approach would be along a path that — despite some wildness — would show evidence of having been tidied and cut back. The first sign would be a fence of some kind, designed to hold animals that may or may not be visible; especially with swine, the fence is built around a space before the trees are cleared. An open brook or stream is more likely to be the source of water than a well.

The farmhouse consists of a hovel, supported by a shed and a feeding stall, with an wood canopy to protect the hay. Impediments like a dead tree, a stump, a boulder or outcropping of rock may be found in the farm yard. Animals like chickens would roam free, since they'll always return to the farm as the best place to find food. Expect some sort of untrained mongrel dog, who would bark at strangers but is unlikely to attack.

Residents are much more likely to be friendly than guarded, as they have nothing to steal and are always thirsty for news of the outside, or for any opportunity that might present itself. They have little knowledge of the landscape beyond 3 or 4 miles. Except during the months between July and October, they have no food to share; but otherwise they'll willingly exchange produce for coin — or even better, tools, patches of cloth, pottery and other useful items. Depending on the size of the farm (d6+1 person), they'll have limited room inside their hovel for others to sleep there (calculate 5 minus the residents), due to animals often being allowed to rest inside also. Strangers are invited to camp in the farm yard; if they stay more than 12 hours, however, they'll be asked to contribute their labour to the homestead.

See also,
Bread (symbol)
The Adventure