Homesteading in a fantasy world

Morning came quickly. I started by peeling some potatoes. When I remember that I had cows that should produce milk.

I’m not much of a milk lover myself, But I also know that if you do not milk cows, they might feel uncomfortable.

Before I ate, I went out to the barn to find the cows waiting in the barn and what I assume were their milking spots.

Taking the wooden buckets, I started to milk them. They seemed happy, and I was also because I got another skill.

You have gained a new skill basic animal product harvesting level 1

In the end, I got 3 buckets of milk, a lot less than I am used to when I kept cows. But I guess the selective breeding of modern days made it, so the cows produced a lot more milk.

Now, looking at the amount of milk I had was still daunting. Most of this was just going to go to waste unless I could make cheese.

But there is no rennet for making cheese and to get it, I would need an animal that was still drinking milk. “Wait” actually I could also make plant-based rennet, for that I’d just need stinging nettles.

There are a lot of stinging nettles beside the river. Cheese would be excellent for long-term food security, it’s good for travel and cheese tastes excellent.

I use the copper pots for this the big one to make rennet and the smaller one to actually cook the milk.

Getting a cloth bag, I went to collect the stinging nettles. Washing them in the river so there are fewer contaminants.

I collected enough so that I can get enough rennet to use on the 6 gallons of milk I got. I don’t have any proper way to preserve it, so I need to do this every time I make cheese.

Temperature control in a wood-burning stove is difficult. Luckily, I have had some practice with it. Still, it was hard not to burn the milk or overcook the stinging nettles.

Straining the stinging nettles with the cloth, I wait and looked after the milk until it was ready for the rennet to be mixed in. It's always fascinating to watch how the milk curdles. Removing the waste and pressing the cheese into a wheel, I got about a 2-kilo wheel.

Taking that to the cellar to sit until it's ready to eat, about two months later. After that, I finished making the bark rope.

Now I’d say it’s about 12:00 o'clock but without a clock there is no actual way to tell time, it was just a guess. Getting on my foresting gear I went to check on my traps.

One of the deer traps was out of place so I was unlucky and didn’t catch it, same with one of the smaller traps. Resetting them and coming back.

I finished weaving the rest of the bark rope for the mesh. I finally had all I needed and was ready to make the soil sifter.

Doing my favorite design, it will need a 1 m by 1 m box, have three legs, 1 big handle and the bark rope mesh.

I started by making the box. After that, I start to weave the mesh. Using a simple cross pattern that will end up a little larger than the box’s, so that I could nail it to the box.

When that was finished, the soil sifter was technically done, and it could do its job. So, I went and tested it out and it worked perfectly. But now some features that will actually make working with it easy and that I could do it alone and fast.

Using the wooden sticks I got yesterday when I was in the forest. I picked 3 of them and cut them into 1 and a half meters exactly except for the last one that I made a bit shorter.

Using a drawknife and the wooden clamp to hold the piece of wood. I made one side on the top flat so that it would sit flush with the box and sit on the leg, then the nails don't have to support the weight of the box.

Finishing all three legs. I nail them to the box, two on the side towards the front and the shorter one back in the middle. The shorter one is that way so when I stand the soil sifter up its tilted a bit backwards, so it is stable and strong enough to hold many shovel full of dirt.

Now for the handle, I just used the curvy piece of wood and mounted it in front. Then I could strongly shake the box easily. When I was finished, I went and tested it out and it worked perfectly and easily.

So now it was time to fill the 10 planter boxes. Moving to the last place where I tested the soil last time.

I placed the planter box beneath the soil sifter and started to shovel and fill them up. Thanks to the soil shifter. It didn’t take too long, but it was still getting late when I finished.

Adding the small dividers and starting to put in the seeds, I used the rest of the daylight to water them lightly and bring them inside the house and put them where they would get light. I made myself dinner and after that; I went to bed.

The next day started off the same as yesterday. I made some food and then went to milk the cows. I was right about how much milk they produced. Back on earth, you needed to milk cows two times a day, but here it’s just once and that they produce a lot less than modern cows.

Collecting everything needed and making another wheel of cheese that I put next to the other one. I looked around and made a note of how many potatoes there are because I need to actually plant them, so I can’t eat them all.

I make my way to the seed house to find out what I have there. I got beat, carrot, cabbage, onion, peas, and garlic seeds left for the roots and vegetables. There are also enough seeds for five acres of both wheat and rye. There’s also 2 acres of seeds I do not recognize.

Trying to remember and putting together the pieces of memory I have of this world. I expect the seeds to be a sort of fibrous plant similar to hemp that’s used to make fabric.

If I stopped eating potatoes, I could put two acres of them in the land. But most likely I will eat some and have one and a half acres left by the time I can plant them. About another acre, with all the vegetables put together. So, about 15 acres all put together.

I also need to make another five more planter boxes for the cabbages. I just remembered that I need to plant them the same way as I did with cucumbers and tomatoes. The rest can just go into the ground with no problem.

I got another skill level in wood crafting and farming from making the extra planter boxes and planting the cabbages.

Having finished that, I need to deal with the problem of wood and my lack of it. I need it for almost daily usage. I will need it for the winter to actually survive and also for the buildings that I want to build.

For all that, I only have a general-purpose axe. It can do everything, but it just can't do them well. So, I need to make some tools but for that, I’ll need charcoal and a forge.

After thinking and looking, I actually have most of what I need: a big wooden mallet, 4 steel wedges and some hardwood wedges. I only need to make broadaxe and an adze. It's not the worst. I could work without the last two tools, just slower.

That's some good news, but I still need to make a forge even to just make nails. I know I need to make a lot more metal stuff later on.

I need to get the anvil and metal from somewhere but, going to town will be way too risky with the plague going on. I'd probably need to go on a multi-day journey to find and locate any useful resorces I can.

Now today is wasting and let's go and check if any of the traps catch something. This time only one small trap needed to be reset but I still haven't caught anything.

Moving back, I started to plan out how I will actually start making useful lumber. I want to do it close to the river. My first goal is to make a bridge so I have a safer and closer workspace to work with lumber.

Now, this would be a designed nightmare. If I just make a bridge that I could walk across, it would be easy. But the bridge needs to be wide enough that I could bring the cart over.

Also, animals should be able to walk across, especially the bull, because I'd like to use him to bring my wood over from the forest.

But why was there only a walkway across and not a proper bridge? Because support to expand it have already been driven in. Examining the support better, I notice that they have been there for quite some time.

So, it was not a question of time. Then there must be another reason, one might be that they simply didn’t have the expertise anymore. Or more worryingly and I think this is the correct answer because they were afraid of what might come out of the forest.

From my knowledge of this world, I know there are creatures similar to goblins and kobolds that live everywhere, where there is easy to get food. Do I risk building it? Do I have any choice in the matter? I need lumber and a lot of it.

“Draw bridge.” That could work. Best would be a section from the middle that I could raise up towards the farm side. But then I would also need the mechanism to raise it.

An interesting challenge and I think I need to do that just in case and it would also look awesome.

So, let’s design the bridge. I already have 4 supports in the water. They are all about one and a half meters away from the shore and they are two meters apart from each other. I will need 4 main support logs that are large diameter pieces of wood that are 4 meters long.

I need to make a scarf joint at the end so I could join them together at the middle of the river. I’d then have another 2 meters to cover them with dirt and stones on the shore.

Now I also want cross support. I want a bit of over hang, two and a half meters will work, and I’d need 4 of them that are medium-sized.

The cross supports need to be sunken in so that they would not be taller than the main supports. The best way to secure them would be using lap joints. I also need to burn holes using burning coal and then later tap it with wood pegs.

Then cover the entire bridge with closely fitting thick wood boards. But what would be the best way to secure them? I don’t think I have any other options but to use pegs for that too. For that to work, the top of the main supports needs to be level.

The best will be to build the bridge before on the ground, disassemble it and build it back up over the river. I need to find some chain and rope so that I can pull the wood out of the forest.

I went and got all the tools I needed and found a rope and chain to use. Bring them to the future construction site, I unpack everything I don’t need to fell a tree and bring it back. I still left my sword on my hip just in case and, of course, the waterskin. I’m going to need that.

First, I needed to do some scouting work to find trees that can be used as main supports. Finding pine that has a 4-meter tall and around 40 cm thick log I can cut from it is not hard.

Now cutting them down will be a different story. When the first one fell, I was covered in sweat and exhausted. I needed to take a rest after that.

There was no need to cut any branches. The tree was long enough to get the 4-meter piece I was looking for.

I got two skill levels in basic logging when I finished cutting my first 4-metre piece. Hooking it up to the chain and rope harness I made, I dragged it back to the bridge construction site.

It took me the rest of the day to get the other three pieces for the main supports. While doing that, I also got two more levels in basic logging, bringing me up to level 6.

Now one thing I did notice was I still got tired pretty quickly. So, I wonder how the stats actually help or do I still have a regular human level of stats.

The next day I did my usual milking and cheese making and then went back to logging. I started the day off by finishing the 4 trees I cut down yesterday.

I got four of the cross supports from them. I also took all the branches that are big enough to make use of them. I can also take whatever I do not use and turn them into charcoal later on.

That got me another two levels in basic lumbering. Now for the planks, I need about 3 more big trees. I’m probably going to make some mistakes, just in case I will cut down 4 trees.

When the daylight was ending, I was bringing in the last part of the third tree I need. Getting myself up to level 9 in basic logging by doing that. So tomorrow only one more tree and I’m done with cutting trees down and can start building.

After finishing my usual chores for the morning, I took a rest beside the river when I got back from checking the traps.

Looking at the lumber and visualizing what I needed to build. I almost forgot that I wanted to make it so that I can lift up the center part.

So, I need to cut down some more trees, then I can build the tower where I can put the counterweights that will help me pull up the bridge.

It can be a simple tower, but it needs to be strong enough to support the counterweight. I can use the branches for the cross support for the tower so that it would be stable, but I would need to bring 4-meter long and medium-sized logs for the four corners.

I decided to cut down the tower trees first because they will go a lot faster. When I was done with them, I went to cut down the last big tree that I need. When I was watching it fall, I got a new notification.

Skill increases basic logging level 10 is upgraded to logging level 1

Choose one of the following abilities

Power strike

Piercing cut

Precise blow

“Oh well, this is more like it” some actual RPG stuff. It's interesting that it's not fighting skills that gave me these options but lumbering. I wonder if every skill when it upgrades gives options to get abilities.

I think my best choice is piercing cut, the precise blow is no use for me cause I’m very good at using my axe it might help with my sword but just a bit of practice will fix that.

Now power strike, I think it’s also out because I don’t think my axe can actually handle stronger abuse. I can see that the handle is made out of oak, but when I really put my strength into the swing. I can feel that it is at the edge of what the handle can handle.

But piercing cut now that is interesting. I think it could help me a lot with making boards and if I could control it well enough to make the necessary cuts to make the joints for the build. So, I picked the piercing cut ability.

You have gained a new ability piercing cut level 1

Now when I start to remove the branches, I attempted to use my new ability. The first time I didn’t feel anything different, so I continue to concentrate on the ability and then swinging with my axe.

On the fourth try, it worked. I could see the axe head glow ever so slightly. Swinging it, cut off a large branch with just one strike.

You have gained a new skill basic axe level 1

Did the axe skill appear because I used the ability? I wonder why I haven’t gotten one before is the skill only meant for fighting.

Maybe, or was I missing something? I continue to use it and test to see how it actually worked. I got it to work every time just before I finish cutting the branches.

During that time, I also needed to rest two times because the ability used something that was inside me to fuel itself. Now that I was done with the tree, I closed my eyes and tried to feel what was happening inside me when I used the ability.

It took me some time before I could really start to feel it. When I started to prepare the ability, something moved from my body into the axe.

After a moment, it started to glow. If I didn’t finish the strike, then the glow would just dissipate. When I figure that out, I got three new notifications.

You have gained a new skill basic energy manipulation

You have gained a new stat energy storage

Level up frontier farmer

frontier farmer now level 2

Strength +2

Dexterity +1

Vitality +2

Endurance +1

Opening up my achievement page. I looked at all the changes and it brought a smile to my face thanks to all the progress I’ve been making. It’s good to be able to quantify your achievements like this.

Name: Rich Dirt

Species: human

Gender: male

Age: 12

Frontier farmer Level 2

Animal husbandry level 1

Handyman level 1

stats:

Strength: 13

Dexterity: 9

Vitality: 14

Endurance: 2

Empathy: 1

Intelligence: 1

energy storage:1

Abilities:

piercing cut

Skills:

basic farmer level 7

basic identification level 2

basic cooking level 1

basic foraging level 1

basic animal care level 6

basic fitness enhancement level 4

basic tracking level 3

basic wood carving level 2

basic wood crafting level 5

logging level 1

basic trap making level 1

basic weaving level 3

basic baking level 1

basic animal product harvesting level 1

basic axe level 1

basic energy manipulation level 1

Traits:

Better blood filtration

Minor temperature resistance

Minor physical boost

Better bone density

Deciding to spend the rest of the day around the farmhouses to figure out more about energy manipulation and abilities, I quickly finished bringing in the last tree.

The first thing I wanted to test out was if I could get a spear skill by doing the piercing cut. I did a few tries, but it didn’t work. So, I decided to concentrate like I did when I first try to use the ability and that’s all it took.

You have gained a new skill basic spear

I did the same thing with my sword, but just in case I first ran through a few moves I’d learned before.

I wanted to see if that could get me the sword skill, but I did not. So, I used the ability method again and got two notifications out of that.

Ability increases piercing cut level 2

You have gained a new skill basic sword

So, abilities can level up too, even if I just used it. I guess that makes sense because I can get the skill level up from just doing things. Why wouldn’t it work with abilities too. No need to kill, but I’m guessing that would help level it up faster.

So, I kept practicing it and trying to concentrate on how it worked. I can feel the energy move and be used up by the ability.

I figured out that I could manipulate the energy to some degree so that it would be overall stronger or change the size of the ability.

For my effort, I got another level for piercing cut and basic energy manipulation. But during my training, I also noticed something else about the energy that’s running through my body.

When I moved, energy also moved in me. During the sunset, I focused on the energy and how it interacted with my body.

I finally had a eureka moment when I got another level up for energy manipulation. The energy I think it comes from the stats. If I actually want to use all my stats, I'll have to concentrate.

Getting this piece of information made me think of all the ways I could start practicing to better use my stats and actually start feeling like a superhuman. After all the testing, I was bone tired and went to bed just after eating one of the last pies I have left.