FARMING Torvaldsland itself is a harsh and rocky land with many cliffs, inlets and mountains. Its geography resembles the Scandanavian countries of Earth. Arable soil is rare, found in thin patches and extremely valuable. Thus, most of their farms are very small. Due to the rarity of good land, communication between these isolated farms is often by sea in small boats. Famine is not unknown and in those times, people must subsist on bark, lichens and seaweed. The growing season is about one hundred and twenty days. Sa-Tarna is their primary crop and is commonly sown in the fall, a month after the harvest festival. This allows the crop to develop a strong root system before the deep frost will temporarily stop its growth. Tospits, peas, beans, cabbage, onions, suls, fruit trees, and radishes are also grown though larmas cannot grow there. Tospits, also called "seaman's larma," are important because they can be eaten while at sea to prevent certain nutritional deficiencies. This is vital to a culture that is often at sea. There are few trees and ka-la-na and temwood will not grow there. Thus, those woods are very valuable. A hall constructed of ka-la-na wood would be seen as a great luxury. Torvaldslanders also raise certain animals such as milk bosk, verr and tarsks. During the summer, most of their bosk will be driven into the mountains to graze. In the winter, the animals will be brought back. Bees are also kept to produce honey. In Torvaldsland, they enjoy alcoholic beverages such as ale, beer and mead. Mead is made from fermented honey, water and often spices. It is much preferred over paga. Their drinks seem to be of high alcoholic content. A common drinking vessel is the horn. As it has no base, it cannot stand upright. Thus, you must either drain its contents or pass it to someone else. They have ice houses to keep matters cold. Ice is brought down from the mountains on sledges. The ice is then kept covered with wood chips. |