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Abandoned - Springfield - Story 23

Started by Abandoned, March 20, 2018, 02:35:24 PM

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Abandoned

#105
thanks, Red, good to know.  :)


Chapter 40


  By the beginning of year 41, the lumber mill was up and running and producing lumber.  We built a mini forester the mill would have a nearby steady supply of logs.  Why did we need lumber, you ask?  Well, we had a new building project underway, a stone bridge.  There was so much surface stone in the area, on both sides of the river, and the village was always expanding on the other side.  We needed a bridge, why not use the stone?  It needed lumber.

  The builders constructed an impressive set of stairs up to the bridge walkway where they built a storage shed, convenient for both sides of the river.  There were soon 2 houses built on the bridge, rather one was over the bridge and one was under it.  We were concerned that the house under the bridge might prevent the boatman from passing under, especially when a jetty fishing spot was added next to the house.  The river was not very wide at this point and we had come to rely on trade to maintain our food supply.  But we need not have worried, the boat passed under the bridge with room to spare.  Our short stone bridge was completed with another set of stairways on the other side of the river and the lumber mill switched from producing lumber to cutting firewood so the residents of the bridge houses would have an ample supply of firewood nearby that winter.

Abandoned

#106
Chapter 41

  Spring of year 42 found us considering what to do with all the land on the other side of the river.  There was plenty of stone and wood for housing and plenty of room for crop fields.  But did we want to do more farming?  Our food supply was the lowest it had been in years because being occupied with bridge building we neglected to start harvests of our existing fields early and we did not sent the laborers out to collect wild foods.  As soon as the farmers returned to their fields we sent the laborers out.

  When Hilbur the food merchant arrived he took whatever trade goods we had in stock, the problem was we were not restocking fast enough between Hilbur's visits.  We added 2 more traders to the food trading post bringing their number up to 4.  We also adjusted the inventory of the general trader, making more of that stock available for the food merchant.  We carefully checked inventory and realized we could move more seedlings and canvas coats to the trading post.  We came to the conclusion that we needed to increase our production of trade goods and our food supply.   Our population at the beginning of year 43 was 402, 260 adults, 63 students, and 79 young children.  That was a lot of mouths to feed.

  We did not think more farming was the answer in our cold harsh climate.  We began building a hunting cabin and forest food gatherer south of the greenhouse on the other side of the river.  It was brought to our attention that we could be making better use of what our big lake has to offer.

Abandoned

#107
Chapter 42


  By the beginning of year 43 our thoughts returned to lake development but the laborers and builders had something to say about that.  We lost several workers from both professions to old age and weak hearts and the younger replacement workers said if we expected them to work in the cold out on that lake they wanted hot food nearby.  They also pointed out we were short of herbs.  So while a herbalist and gruel kitchen were being built by the lake we sent laborers out to gather herbs and turned our attention back to the other side of the river.  The maximum number of herbs were gathered before the herbalist was completed.

  On the other side of the river, by early spring, the new hunting cabin had 3 hunters working and the forest food gatherer was almost completed.   If we needed stone or iron we knew where to get some.  We also knew where there was plenty of land for more crop fields.  When the food merchant came to port in spring we noticed that the 5 traders still had not stocked any mead even thought our inventory and storage barrel showed a surplus.  We instructed the general trader to stock the mead and no sooner had he set out to do so, the food trader finally did the same.  After 5 years the food trading post had mead in stock. Go figure.

  With 3 hunters in the new hunting cabin we figured the amount of venison would be even better next year so we constructed a new butchery nearby.  We also constructed a 3rd greenhouse.  The seedlings were a most welcome trade good and it was vital that we had sufficient goods to trade for food as our population continued to grow.  Our population growth had slowed, new births barely out numbering deaths.  We needed more housing.

  We again turned our attention back to lake development.  By late winter we had several new walkways, storage units, workers houses, and another fishing dock.  It had been another cold harsh winter in Springfield.

Abandoned

#108
Chapter 43


  In late spring of year 44 we were deluged with nomads.  First 33 nomads arrived at the Village Hall in the pouring rain.  Their village was wiped out by flooding from the torrential spring rains we'd been having.  They were barely out of town when 38 Celts arrived at the Lugh's Stone.  Wind and rain drove them from their village, they did not want to stay either.  The rain that let up for a short time returned with a vengeance, it was then that 49 displaced persons arrived at the mini town hall.  They had had enough of this climate and were headed south.  A total of 120 nomads were headed south that month. 

  It was difficult getting the crops planted and working on the jetty in the pouring rain.  By early summer a storage shed and several smaller storage units were built plus several worker's houses and another fishing dock.  Later another mollusc farm was added.  The harvests were not started early so our food supply was again lower than we would have liked. The cabbage and Brussels sprouts were often completely harvested even when harvesting was not started early.  We remembered from Smallville that beans had a short growing season.  When Lamarcelin, the company merchant, arrived in autumn we traded for bean seeds.  We prepared a 10x14 crop field near the stone bridge where several stone hovels were being constructed.  The laborers collected what wild foods they could before the snow got to deep and the temperature to cold. 

  We checked our inventory and our trade goods and decided it was safe to raise the amounts of auto food purchases.  We increased grain to 3,000 units and fruits to 2,000.  We would continue working to stabilize our food supply.

kid1293

Hehe, I like your jetties. I think they will save Springfield from disaster. :)

Abandoned

 :) I hope so, year 44 and no disaster yet.  Will luck hold out ?  We will see  :)

kid1293

Persistence makes you live 'til 100 :)

Discrepancy

 :)

so many nomads visiting the celtic stone!


Well done, the town has survived and grown well in this harsh climate :)

Abandoned

Thanks @Discrepancy , Springfield is a challenge but an enjoyable one.  I was surprised to have nomads arrive at all 3 attractors one after the other, that was a lot of nomads.  :)

@kid1293 I think Springfield will persist a few more years but not until year 100  :)

kid1293


Gatherer

@Abandoned What's the size of that big wheat field and the average harvest? How much do you lose to frost and have you considered dividing the field into two fields? Perhaps just 1-2 years with 3 workers each to check the amount of wheat harvested.
There's never enough deco stuff!!!
Fiat panis.

Abandoned

#116
 :) our welcome @kid1293

@Gatherer that wheat field is 22x 15 with 6 workers.  The highest total I noted was 2152 when the harvest was started early, another was 2048. I did not keep track of amount lost but if harvest was not started early there was some loss.  The lowest was 780 but only 4 workers and not started early.  I am a few years ahead playing than writing but I will do a year with no early start and the following year I will divide the field in half. Result will be interesting.  :)



Chapter 44


  The new bean field was cleared and ready to plant by spring of year 45.  We began clearing a 2nd field for Brussels or cabbage but did not think it would be ready in time to be planted.  Thinking back to the earlier year when the laborers failed to pick up the harvested crops from the fields until the following spring, we remembered that the cabbage was planted much later than the other fields.  We took the chance and decided on cabbage for the new field and were pleased when one of the 2 farmers assigned to that field began planting even though it was already early summer.

  As we thought, by early Autumn the older fields of Brussels and cabbage were harvest without an early start.   The new bean field was almost harvested and the new cabbage field was more than half done.  We did lose some to the first frost and snow but we were pleased with the new fields.  We began clearing another field for more Brussels Sprouts.  We built a vegetable field cellar and collect wild foods and flax.  A few more stone hovels were built in the area.

  Across the bridge we built a Village blacksmith.  We notice our inventory of tools was not as high as it could have been.  We did not want another tool crisis.  Our supply of warm coats could also be higher.  We stopped making canvas coats and made more warm coats instead.  We would have to watch our wool supply.  Hide coats would be the only ones traded for the time being.  We need more flax for linen clothes, we would buy all the flax the river boatman had with him.  To insure we would have enough trade goods, we built yet another greenhouse.

  At the end of year 45 we needed housing.  Springfield had a population of 428.  There were 164 families but only 123 houses.  We would concentrate on building houses next year.

brads3

in the blacksmith pic,what are those long log piles? are they just decorations or do they function as storage?

Abandoned

Hi @brads3 yes, those long log piles are just decorative, very nice.  The small square ones are storage.

Abandoned

#119
Chapter 45

  At the beginning of year 46 we decided it was time we split the sheep from one pasture and create another to increase our mutton and our wool.  We could always trade for wool if the need arose but we would rather our trade goods be used for food.  Our supply of warm coats had increased and our supply of wool was good, now was the time to build a new pasture.  There was plenty of room near the new crop fields for a 10x20 fenced pasture.

  After building stone hovels we were short of stone and the foundations for more were laid out so the laborers were sent out to gather more stone.  Then the blacksmiths said they short of iron.  We were totally taken by surprise to hear the shouts ring out FIRE !!!   The lumber mill was ablaze.  Everyone nearby ran to the river but the mill was soon engulfed in flames.  It was severely damaged and would have to be rebuilt.  We added another builder to the workforce.

  Materials were delivered to build a new Tailor but the building of it would wait until the new pasture was finished and producing wool.   Construction of more houses would continue.

  In summer the merchant arrived with flax, we traded for all 200 units.  In late summer the lumber mill was restored and again cutting firewood.   In autumn the pasture was finally ready but we were concerned.  The sheep being split from the flock would have a long way to travel to the new pasture, winter came early in this cold harsh climate.  We watched them closely and all 6 made it safely to the new pasture.  By the end of the year our food supply was the best it had ever been and our other surpluses were also high and holding steady.