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Abandoned - Pumpkin Hollow - Story 3

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

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Abandoned

Intro 

  Welcome to Pumpkin Hollow.  You may notice the misspelling of the town name.  It should be Hollow, with 2 "o"s, another name for small valley, like holler.  I thought of calling the town Pumpkin Holler but decided on Hollow and then typed it wrong probably because it was just after Halloween here in the USA.  So I guess I am stuck with a misspelled town name but it IS a small valley map.  The time frame of this story coincides with story 2, the Mountain Mission, the main characters of this story came from Smallville, my first story.

  The main mods I used are:  Grassy Roads, Vegetable Garden Start, Colonial Houses 1.52, Apiary v4, Elf Buildable Storage Carts, carrots, Dairy Milk & Creamery v3, Decorative Crates, RK Decorative Items Pack, DS Fences & Decorations, Fly Fishing, Longer Living Orchards, Oil Press, Old Blacksmith, Old Hunter, Old Tailor, One Year is One Year, Sample White Chicken, Sawmill, Slink Hogs, Soapiary, Specialized Stockpile & Trading Posts, Small Well, Storage Shed, Tiny Compilation, Tunnel Mine, Washing Mod.

  So, weary traveler, I have some time before I have to get the wash in off the line, so sit a spell and I'll tell you about Pumpkin Hollow.

 

 

 

brads3

if u go to map like u did for the pic,you can rewrite the name. very handy to name towns after you find a good place with the map generator.

Abandoned

@brads3  thanks so much, I didn't realize you could change the name once the map was started and saved.  My map now has the correctly spelled name.  I hope to get chapter 1 done today or tomorrow.  Hope you will like the story.

Abandoned

#3
Chapter 1

  So weary traveler, let me introduce myself.  My name is Lemmalee and my husband is Drakeem.  We were part of the first expedition to leave Smallville. Our group was chosen to be first at the town meeting because of where we wanted to go.  One of the boatmen told us that a ways upriver, past the big fork, there was a small valley with plenty of room to grow food and raise livestock, what food we didn't need for ourselves could be sent downriver to Smallville.  The boatmen could take other trade goods we had down the other fork of the river.  Smallville needed food for the continued influx of nomads. We were preparing to leave but our departure was delayed when the town elders' daughter, Lian, went missing. When it was discovered that Jeral was also missing, we all knew they had run off together.  They were sweet on each other since the first day of school.  It came as a surprise to the wise elders, guess they weren't so wise. Nevertheless, we listened carefully to their instructions and words of wisdom about the old ways as we loaded the wagon with food and supplies, garden seeds and seedlings.

  There were 12 of us, ages 15 through 17, plus 5 young siblings, 2 infants, and a small herd of sheep.  We came to Smallville as nomads and were leaving as nomads.  It was a long and difficult journey pulling the wagon over the hills and with young children and sheep and winter weather.  It was cold and snowing when we finally arrived in the valley and established our settlement.  There was a pumpkin patch next to the schoolhouse back in Smallville and I knew we had pumpkin seeds in our sack of garden seeds so we named our new town, Pumpkin Hollow.

  We set to work building our new town, a large sheep pasture, a fishing pier, hunting post, gatherers hut, woodcutter stump, and a schoolhouse.  Before he went fishing, Drakeem helped me plot out the garden bed behind our house.  It was too late to plant a crop that year, so I carefully stored away the seeds.  I build a small garden work station for sorting vegetables and was already looking forward to next spring. 

  It was a rough winter, we were short of food and firewood.  We took turns working at whatever job needed doing most, so building was slow.  A hardware store for tools was build by the stockpile, Melvine was blacksmith.  As soon as the weather warmed enough, I planted my garden.  I was rewarded with colorful baskets of vegetables I took to the garden work station to sort, some were taken to the shed or barn until I could sort them.  Everyone in town was thrilled to have fresh-picked beans, cabbage, potatoes, peppers, squash, and pumpkins.  The harvesting and sorting was completed in summer leaving plenty of time for other labors.  This year's labor was childbirth, the first of our 4 children was born. I would have to hang the diapers on my new garden fence to dry since I had no wash poles built yet.

  That 2nd winter our food reserve was again low but no one went hungry.  We had no grain and there were no wild oats or fruit trees here in the Hollow like there were in Smallville.  We had no spare laborers to plant and tend an orchard.  A special trading dock was built for livestock and seeds but when the first boatman arrived with chickens in late spring we didn't have enough trade goods even though Melvine the blacksmith was stocking it with iron tools and firewood. We needed trade goods.  By autumn of year 3 the greenhouse was built.  I worked as botanist from the time I harvested and sorted the vegetables until the following spring.  I tended the seedling we brought from Smallville and I sprouted some of our plum and cherry pits so, as the elders would say, we'd have them when we needed them. If we needed to plant any trees around town, we would keep their wise advice in mind; plant evergreen trees to the north and west of a building or road as a winter windbreak and snow fence, and plant trees that lose their leaves to the south and east for sun in winter but shade in summer.  We would have to wait and see what next year's traders would bring.

Abandoned

#4
Chapter 2

  Late Spring of year 4 brought a riverboat trader with news that Lian and Jeral were alive and well.  The runaways were in a mountainous region downriver from Smallville with a group of nomads building a mission settlement.  The trader brought no grain seeds as we had hoped, he only had apple seeds.  Yolondyn, who was concerned for our health and had been collecting herbs, was in favor of trading for the apple seeds.  She said one day someone would prove that an apple a day does keep the doctor away.  Since we had not as yet planted the fruit seeds we already had, we sent the boatman on his way.

  We did however have a location picked out for orchards on the other side of the small stream to the west of town.  By summer of year 4  we built a small bridge and a meeting hall.  We had our first  town meeting and determined that the town's population was now 28.  Our second child was due by winter.  It was decided at the meeting that we would build a lodging house and hospital as soon as possible.  Yolondyn would be our physician when needed.
 
  Over the next couple of years construction continued on the west side, and the riverboat traders continued to bring us nothing but fruit tree seeds, and the walnuts we ordered.  In spring of year 6 we welcomed 5 nomads, and 16 more the following year. Farther west we built a apiary and gatherer's hut, and cleared land for our fruit and nut trees, but our food and firewood supply was again a major concern.  The sawmill we started building on the east side of town still could not be completed without steel tools. We built a tiny trading post hoping for more boatmen. We added hide coats to our stock of trade goods since our tailor was now maker warmer wool coats for us.

  In early spring of year 8, shortly after I began planting the garden, it snowed.  We lost a good portion of our vegetables.  A month later 6 nomads arrived, they willingly helped with the fishing, hunting, and gathering.  After all this time, we were still barely managing to feed ourselves much less send food to help Smallville.  Needless to say, we were discouraged and about to give up.

kid1293

I like you being personal and tell about people using their names.
That is often overlooked when we travel up in the clouds and look down.

I think your colony needs its own trader. :)

Will have one for the colonial houses in a day or two.

Nilla

The last picture could be used as Christmas card. It looks really nice in Pumpkin Hollow, especially in winter.

Abandoned

@kid1293 This set of colorful houses is certainly nice to look down on or close up view too.  The trader will be a nice addition, just downloaded it.  It looks really nice.  My mistake with this map was not planting more of the garden vegetables early on.  That mod is a very nice addition to the game.

@Nilla this set of buildings does look really nice in the snow. This is such a beautiful game, every season of the year. 

  I was playing last night and got a bit ahead of the story, have some catching up to do.  Can hardly wait to post latest pictures, wait till you see chapter 4 pictures. I hope I can catch up with story later today.  Here is chapter 3.

Abandoned

#8
Chapter 3

  In spring of year 9 a boatman arrived with chickens.  Our hope was renewed.  Those spring chickens reminded us again of the wise elder's words of wisdom "don't put all your eggs in one basket" and "don't rely on something that's unreliable".  We would plant more vegetable gardens without endangering the grazing grounds.  We would build a tiny coal mine and make our own steel tools to finish the sawmill.  When the nomads arrived we welcomed 10 but sent 11 on their way.

  Our food reserve remained low throughout years 10 and 11 despite our renewed efforts and first harvests of plums and cherries.  The garden workplace had no problem handling vegetables from more than one garden, in fact it extended the availability of sorted vegetables over a longer period of time.  We bought corn from Alfonso the food merchant.  We turned away 26 nomads, our population was already 93.

  Alfonso returned twice but we decided to hold on to our trade goods in case a seed merchant would show up.  In autumn of year 11 we traded for cabbage seeds and in early summer of year 12 we got bean seeds and ordered wheat and pumpkin seeds and milk cows.  We hoped we would have enough trade goods for the added expense.  Yolondyn told our trader at the town meeting to keep an eye out for beeswax; our apiary was not producing any and we could not make herbal soap to improve our overall health without it.  In fact she could use a little help collecting herbs.  In spring we had an outbreak of scarlet fever after allowing 15 nomads to stay.  All survived the outbreak and our new residents set to work, clearing 2 crop fields, and fishing from the new pier on the northwest side of town.

  Drakeem thought a good place for a fishing pier would be south of town, not far from where Stevieve the hunter was trampled by a wild boar.  A small service was held at the town meeting hall since we had no church or chapel yet.  The animal was hunted down, Surgess butchered it and we all got a portion of the meat.  He said we might want to consider raising hogs, and shouldn't turn the boatman away should he bring some to trade.  Drakeem said he was perfectly safe fly fishing from shore, wild boars were rare in this area.  No wonder none of us had ever seen or eaten one before, and only a few nomads, who came from the north, had ever seen and eaten the fish Drakeem caught, they called it trout.   Drakeem asked me if I had seen what was being build down South.  I said no, I was a little busy with vegetable gardening and sorting, and our 3 year old and newborn.  Maybe I'll get down that way in spring.

brads3

i got so cold with all these snow pics i frostbit my eyes.lol

Abandoned

#10
Chapter 4

  It was another cold and snowy winter.  Broderic, the home grower west of town, said even his eyes were cold.  His good friend, Arth, the tailor at the new shop nearby, made him a special sheepskin hat with eyemuffs. Well, Broderic couldn't pull the wool over our eyes; we knew he wore those eyemuffs thinking we wouldn't know he was napping during the town meetings. :)

  No one venturing south of town could miss seeing the big red barn built for Zandel the farmer.  He said that's why it was red.  Back home where he came from, all barns were red so farm workers or anyone lost in the snow could see it from afar and find their way safely home.  That summer of year 14, just about everyone in town went down to see the new barn and the big black and white cows the boatman brought him. His wife, Dariam, gave everyone an earthenware pitcher of milk to take home with them.  And the farmstead was certainly a beautiful sight to see in winter.

  A few months after the cows arrived, Surgess got the hogs he wanted.  After assuring everyone that these strange creatures were quite gentle, not aggressive like the wild boars, even the school children were taken to see them.  For weeks after, the children oinked and snorted and laughed and giggled.

The adults of Pumpkin Hollow also did more smiling and laughing.  Over the next 2 years, our food and firewood supplies were higher than they'd ever been.  The big farm continued to expand, we ordered oats, wheat, and more chickens.  Our orchards did exceptionally well despite an early freeze, and our deer herds multiplied.  We had plenty of venison, pork, and beef, and extra leather for the trading posts. Before long we would be able to send food downriver.

Abandoned

#11
Chapter 5

  We were all shocked when the boatman wanted 5,000 units of trade goods in exchange for the oat seeds we ordered.  What choice did we have, we needed grain.  Nomads and school graduates were added to our workforce and helped restock the trading posts.  We had just enough trade goods for pumpkin seeds and leghorn chickens later that year.  In early winter of year 18 we had a population of 96 adults, 33 students, and 47 young children.  My Daughter, Reathey, was just starting school. The school closest to home was filled to capacity so I walked her to the school on the west side of town for his first day.  It was a beautiful day for December, a little chilly but peaceful and still with the morning mist lingering over the river upstream.  I was surprised to see another riverboat approaching, but then again the autumn had been mild, crops were still being harvested.

  Therin, the crop merchant, said harvests had been good all up and down the river this year.  He had sunflower seeds but no wheat seeds.   Alfonson, the food merchant, arrived later that day with a good selection of fruits and vegetables, confirming what Therin had said.  We traded for bread and sugar cookies, a real treat.  I took some of the cookies to the town meeting that evening where of course the crops and the weather were the first topics of discussion.  A light snow began to fall just before sunset, farmers and home gardeners were still trying to get the last of the crops harvested.

  Among the last group of nomads to arrive were a husband and wife who were a miller and baker by profession. Our oats would not only provide edible grain, straw and winter feed for the livestock, but could be milled into flour for a tasty bread.  We would need sugar for cookies though.  All those attending the meeting agreed we would build a mill and bakery.   Should we build another school?  The last time we delayed, a number of children missed out on getting an education.  Zandel pointed out that his son Connelliot was getting a good education learning an honorable profession from his father and uncles on the farm and in the newly built creamery.  No one disagreed with him or with the proposal to build a new school.  Another of the new nomads said she had teaching experience.  She added that in the town she just left, the school children were often disrespectful, unruly, and unkind to other students.  Ameron the forester said that was something a quick trip out behind the woodshed could cure.

Nilla

He, he; the greedy merchants!  :o

You must try the North! ;)

Abandoned

@Nilla oh, I was so surprised to see that high price.  I don't like to order anything early in game because of extra cost, sometimes have to turn them away and reorder if not enough trade goods but 5,000 !  And I always enjoyed seeing them coming down the river.  I am eager to try the North, easy mild setting will probably be challenge enough for me.  I still have quite a few mods I want to try first though and I think I need more practice with trading. After this I don't know if I would want to play a map without @tanypredator wild oats mod.  Her wild rose bush is very nice, changes with the season.  Flax are so pretty.  I think she would be able to make a good decorative flower pack, better size and change or disappear in winter, but think she is too busy. 

Nilla

I totally agree with you about the flowers. I actually had the same thoughts: @tanypredator would make a great flower pack, only by using her wild plants. You know, I play with the Mega Mod. You can't compare the flax, you can use as a crop (they don't look bad but, I wouldn't recognize that as flax) and the lovely wild ones. Also her roses are nicer, than other buildable roses. But I'm no fan of the wild oats or I rather have very mixed emotions about it. OK, it's very good to have some grain from the start, but where I live, wild oats is a terrible weed. There's even a law, that says, that the farmers have to clear and burn wild oats, if it grows on their fields. I suppose there are wild oats in other parts of the world, that can be used, but not in my neighborhood.