News:

Welcome to World of Banished!

Main Menu

Abandoned - Pumpkin Hollow - Story 3

Started by Abandoned, November 07, 2016, 06:23:26 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

Abandoned

#15
Chapter 6

  The following year, year 19, we all wished for a simple cure for what ailed us.  The year started off well, perfect spring planting weather followed by a very pleasant summer.  Pumpkin Hollow finally had pumpkin patches and fields of grain ripening in the summer sun. I remember looking down from the hilltop and wondering if there was anything manmade on earth that could look more beautiful.  The sunshine on the autumn foliage was spectacular, the harvest outstanding, there was only a light frost on the pumpkins, and then like the seasons, it all changed.

  It changed into the worst winter any of us could remember.  The temperature hovered just above or just below freezing with rain, sleet, or snow, day after dreary day with a damp cold that chilled one to the bone.  And then diphtheria broke out.  Yolondyn immediately reopened the hospital despite being ill herself.  Those who did not succumb to the decease suffered from coughs and colds and fevers and chills.  The herbalists worked diligently collecting herbs but even with another hut they could not keep up with demand.  The only bright spots those 3 dreadful months were waking up to warm bowls of cooked oats for breakfast and kettles of hot homemade chicken soup for supper.  No one wanted to venture far from home and hearth.

  Early spring brought welcome sunshine and no new cases of diphtheria. The worst was over.  Life began to return to normal, crops were planted and building projects resumed.  A mill was built down on the farm and the bakery was almost complete.  In late spring the hospital closed and the new school opened.  Our population remained 183, 104 adults, 38 students, and 41 young children.

  The year ended with prayers of thanksgiving at 2 new chapels and feasts that included fresh-baked nut breads, pumpkins, toasted sunflower seeds, and roast pork.  Mugs of ale were drunk at the Pilgrims Rest tavern in memory of Stevieve the hunter, the only pilgrim laid to rest in Pumpkin Hollow.

Abandoned

@Nila Yes, I would avoid wild oats if I were you.  I do not think we have them here, our wild parsnips are like your wild oats, not good.  We have wild mushrooms and berries and asparagus that I know of.  I would not know what mushrooms would be safe to eat, wild raspberries and strawberries I have picked in my own yard, other wild berries I would leave alone. Asparagus I grow in my garden.  @tanypredator wildflowers and maybe old fashioned hollyhocks, would look nice by stone houses.

Nilla

I have one small advice. You said some pumpkins froze. It might be because the pumpkin field is bad located. You know (unless you use some special mod, that changes this); the people always start to work their fields at the southwest corner. They walk over empty fields but not on fields where things grow. If the southwest corner is blocked, like it is on your picture, the harvest can't begin before the big field right, is so much harvested, that the corner is "free" or the beans are completely done. 

Abandoned

@Nilla thanks for advice.  I will have to watch that southwest corner then like down on the farm there. The four other field I lost a little of the crops a few times, I think maybe because those fields are long and narrow.  I lost some sunflowers until I moved them over a couple of fields.  This game just feels like home, we have a saying "when the frost is on the pumpkins" you know winter is coming.  Some pumpkin are often still in the farm fields when we have our first frost. I saw today the farmers were harvesting field corn, weather is good for them this year.

Abandoned

#19
Chapter 7

  There was little rest for laborers, traders, or builders in the years that followed.  A new trading port was built and we began stocking it with goods we knew were in short supply in Smallville.  We sent word via the boatmen asking what they needed most.  We traded for wheat seeds, apple seeds, and zsoap to improve our health, wool to improve our comfort, and sugar for cookies and jam.

  The new jam shop opened right next door to our house.  I will be preservist until Naniela, our oldest daughter, gets out of school.  She will work in the shop and I will return to my garden.  Drakeem was standing in temporarily for one of the teachers who became cleric in the new chapel across the road. He was eager to return to his fishing.  With the new market, the jam shop, and the chapel we were now in a high foot traffic area.  I was not happy to have so many towns people seeing my pantalets hanging out on the wash lines, Naniela was mortified.  Alber, our youngest, teased her continually with a silly little rhyme about seeing London and France and underpants.  We are considering moving across the river.

  A small bridge was build over the stream in the northwest for the laborers and a longer bridge over the main river to retrieve stone and iron.  A deer herd grazes there but there is plenty of room for a big garden and some chickens.  Eggs are in short supply since the mill produces wheat flour and I shared my omeletten recipe.  The thin pancake is especially good spread with plum jam and rolled up.  A new orchard of plum trees was planted down by the mill.  A new storage barn and church were built there too.  Like the other side of the river, there is room for the town to grow down there by the farm but there is a lot of heavy stone and iron to be moved.  I remember back in Smallville there was a lot of talk about a railroad, big carts on wheels that could move a lot of heavy resources from one place to another along a wooden track, but that's a whole nother story.
 
  So weary traveler, there is a lot of hard work to be done here but there are plenty of tools, warm clothes, good food, and herbs.  Our population is 222, 128 adults, 42 students, and 52 children but there's room in our schools and churches.  We only have 2 lodges but there is plenty of wood and room to build houses.  So, the decision is yours, you can stay in Pumpkin Hollow or you can go. I must go and get that wash in off the line.



Nilla

I wouldn't take that many nomads in your case. Almost 20% more inhabitants, all uneducated, will be hard to manage with that small food surplus. There is a "rule of thumb" in Banished that says you need a store of 100 food for each inhabitants to be safe. You can manage with less, but if things gets bad; say two bad harvested in a row, it will give you problems; also without the nomads. With the nomads, it will be even more on the limit. It might work alright, especially if you can put them fast into producing their own food (and if possible a bit more).

Abandoned

I sure you are right @Nilla, that is a lot of nomads, all uneducated.  When they arrived I thought it was a good way for this story to come to an end.  Story 4 coming soon.