 Farming in Skyrim |
Lloyd DeVirr
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Registration Date: 18.12.2006
Posts: 26
Location: On the bottom of the Pool, with the other lost souls.
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Hello hello there. I've written a book about farming in Skyrim, written
from the sight of two Nordic Farmers - Stig the Pig and Fjoergin Nied
(Fjoergin is the mother of the Asa god Thor, and Nied meens something
along the lines of troublesome in the Futhark runic alphabet, should my
memory serve me right).
Enjoy!
Farming in Skyrim
- By Stig the Pig and Fjoergin Nied
[Editor?s note: This book has been made of three farming compendiums
made by the Skyrim farmer Stig the Pig and his wife, Fjoergin Nied. It
touches the subject of farming in Skyrim.]
Farming in Skyrim is harsh business. The weather is cold and unsuitable
for most plants, the beasts are hungry and will eat all that?s remotely
edible ? such as your farm hand ? and there are also the thieves to
worry about.
But since you?re still reading, you must be very interested in joining the team of us harsh Nordic farmers. We bid you welcome.
Book One
Birds ? plague of the Era
First things first: if you want to have your vegetables for yourself,
but up scarecrows to keep away the birds. Also, magicians can enchant
candles to discharge high amounts of smoke, with colour, scent or even
poison ? but beware not to enter damaging smoke! Deadly to birds means
deadly to all other. Such candles are effective; however they are also
very expensive.
Critters ? sweet-tasting, yet annoying
the next thing you should ensure to arm against is the critters. Hares,
dears, foxes, badgers and what not. These bastards are hard to keep
away from your well-earned crops, as most of them are small and sneaky.
The deer?s, and their relatives, are however easier to spot. Just keep
a loaded crossbow, bow and quiver or a scroll at your hand at all
times, and you can both keep your fields clean AND get a free meal.
For the lesser sized critters, such as badgers and hares, there is not
much more to do than either raise a fence around your grounds, which
can be very costly, or dig wide, deep water trenches, which can be hard
in the frosty grounds. Some farmers claim, that covering the crops with
undesirably tasting powders, such as Stinkhorn Caps, whom also attacks
the critters health. However, I have not yet seen it working yet.
One thing I do know works, is to tame skunks. My family have done it
for decades, and with trained skunks chained around on the fields, the
little food one loose makes up for all the other critters that flee,
and keeps away.
Marauders ? Good target practice, but intelligent
There is nothing to do against marauders, other than fencing your
farmhouse, placing big locks and arm your farm hands ? and give them
the chance to train and become adept at it. Marauders tend to attack
isolated farms during the winter, kill or enslave the inhabitants, and
live large on your hard work. Don?t let this happen. Make arrangements
with your neighbour farms, make alarm plans and practice the drills, so
you can get help very fast. This has been proved to work during the
eras.
If you feel like living isolated, so you won?t have the opportunity to
make minute men, then make even more sure your walls are strong and
tall, your farm hands well trained and staunch, and your skunks
aggressive, and make potential outlaws fear you and your iron fisted
defence ? make sure freebooters are punished dearly for their
insolence. Cut off a nose, fingers, hands or even whole arms. But do
not kill them! The Imperial Legion tends to frown upon such. Only maim
them, that's the punishment they would have gotten from the Empire
anyway. As we say in Falkreath ?A Chopped off arm keeps the Legions
from making ye harm?
Now you?ve gotten the basics on how to protect your crops when the seed
has been sown. Of cause you will also need to find a patch of ground on
which you can start farming, but I shall touch that subject in another
compendium.
Book Two
Hello again, fellow Skyrim Farmer-in-pitchfork. In this my second
compendium I will touch the annoyingly difficult subject of finding
earth in which to farm. Obviously, one would need to make sure not to
travel too much north, as one would hit ground that is quite cold and
hard. (Warning: Trying to warming it with magicka is NOT recommended.
That will just make everything one big lake of mud.) Instead, stay near
the Hammerfell/Cyrodiil border for optimal farming grounds. It is
possible to farm more to the north, but it gets harder. Only the stupid
or stubborn farm north of Whiterun.
A good thing to do when searching for available land is to dig. Dig for
a hole where you can stack one and a half Goblin on top of each other,
without any of them going above the edge of the hole. If you can get
that deep in a reasonable amount of time, the ground should be
sufficient (the recommended amount of time is one eight of a sun
watch). Keep in mind that some goblins vary in size ? Goblins of the
Cyrodiilic Dust Eater tribe are recommended for this. The earth should
be excellent for farming if you succeed in this test.
Now go out there and farm!
Book Three
Greetings for the last time, fellow Skyrim farmer. In this compendium, we will touch the subject of keeping cattle.
Meat ? how could we survive without?
Now, you might think ?What has that to do with farming?? Nothing,
actually. But one cannot live on vegetables alone. Just like a Nord
can?t live without mead, neither can they live without meat. The other
reason is, that if the harvest fails, one might sit without enough food
for the winter, especially not if seeds are to be saved for next years
sowing. And that?s where a good ole yak, sheep or horse can be of
excellent use. Most cattle?s also yields milk, which is excellent when
mixed with natural honey or mead, and it can also be made to either
cheese or butter, which one can always use on a cold Loredas morning.
Predators ? Bears, wolves and all in between
Once you?ve bought your cattle, you need four things: A barn with
strong lockable doors, where the cattle can live at night and during
the winter period. The second thing is a rather large area with crass
and the likes, where the cattle can chew the cud, in the period it is
impossible. Even though they can?t get grass, it?s still advisable to
have a bit of land they can enter ? makes it easier to remove their
leftovers from the barn, and one can also throw the remains from birth
out in the open, and scavenger shouldn?t hesitate to take it off your
hands. The third thing that?s needed is a fence around the cattle?s
grounds so they won?t flee. A water trench can also be used, it just
have to be one Goblin deep and one Goblin and a shin long. Filled with
water, obviously. This gives the cattle something to drink, and as they
are afraid of the cold water, they won?t cross. Just as gate across the
necessary bridges over the trenches, and the cattle are effectively
caught. However, this will not keep predators out very well, as wolves
easily can leap across.
Remember to have at least some farmhands trained in the use of the
crossbow or the bow, should a wolf or bear enter. Never attack a bear
head on! Always slow it with ranged attacks.
The last thing needed for a successful cattle-keeping is a water
trough. Remember to spice the water, it will add a delightful taste to
the meat, and they will keep warm in the wee summer. Of cause, this
won?t be needed if you are using the water trench approach to keeping
your cattle in, as spicing it enough to affect the cattle will be too
expensive.
Now you have all our advice. Go out, kill those Goblins, measure with them, drink that ale, sow those fields and eat those yaks!
- Stig the Pig and Fjoergin Nied
EDIT:
I've cheked it through for errors, should be ok now?
__________________
Five Minutes to Midnight
This post has been edited 3 time(s), it was last edited by Lloyd DeVirr: 25.05.2007 09:10.
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17.05.2007 21:53 |
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Ja-Kha'jay
Marquise
Registration Date: 15.08.2006
Posts: 1,053
Location: New Zealand
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Very nice. love the units for measurments. Finally a use for goblins. A
few spelling errors but other than that a good read.
__________________
For ALL my concept art in one place look here:
http://s207.photobucket.com/albums/bb249/JaKhajay/
What is the Lycanthrope, in the Eye of God? A cursed Beast? Or a Miracle?
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18.05.2007 05:18 |
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Doh! I just made a new thread with the same title.
Our content is different, though. Maybe we could cooperate and combine the books?
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02.12.2008 02:33 |
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Lloyd DeVirr
Protector
Registration Date: 18.12.2006
Posts: 26
Location: On the bottom of the Pool, with the other lost souls.
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Sure we could, altough I belive my works are a bit outdateted and
forgotten, if you look at last time someone postet here, you might get
the same impression 
But of course, I'm all game for trying combining 
__________________
Five Minutes to Midnight
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06.12.2008 15:46 |
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