noise."Worldbuilding XII: Farming part 4: Cultivating · 10:00pm Oct 3rd, 2018
Now that there are crops in the field, it's time to make them thrive!
Episode Screencap
Broadly, you need to make sure that your plants get the water that they need (but not too much), that they don't have weeds competing with them, and that various pests don't eat them.
One advantage that the ponies have is irrigation. We humans spend lots of resources on finding sources of water for our plants, whether it be digging ditches or having giant sprayers. Even seeding clouds is tried sometimes when there simply isn't enough water for the crops to go.
Likewise, drainage can be a problem. Drain tiles and the profile of the field can help with that, but of course if there are huge rainstorms, sooner or later the water is going to run out of places to go.
Ponies typically wouldn't have that problem. In most cases, the pegasi seem to have a pretty tight rein on the weather, and as I mentioned in the introduction, would likely bring weather that's suitable for the local crops.
Pest management is a broader problem. Modern insecticides and various kinds of GMO crops solve some of these problems (and, as is the case with any technical innovation, potentially introduce new problems). Trapping or killing is an option for larger pests, such as deer. Some birds can be frightened off by scarecrows or fake owls (or real owls, if you can get them).
We don't have firm evidence in canon about whether the ponies have pesticides or would willingly kill most classes of pest. We do know that they trap twittermites and of course there are magical spells that stop things like tribbles parasprites from eating food.
This is also a case where a pony like Fluttershy might be particularly valuable. Imagine if she could convince the mice to stay out of the Apple's barn, or convince sparrows to not eat the fresh seeds in the field? Presumably there would be some sort of exchange by the farmers, like there's an area of their field where the food is for wild animals. Likewise, certain predator animals could be introduced and controlled in a way that they can't on Earth. It might be very much worth a pony's time to build a purple martin palace in exchange for insect patrol out in the fields.
Chemical (or magical) products could also be dispensed on the fields. Either a unicorn casting a spell, or a low-flying pegasus with special saddlebags could get the job done.
Imagine this is a pony
Source
Back in the horse-drawn farm days, there were very limited insecticides on the market, and not much that you could really do about birds or deer or rabbits or much else (besides shoot or trap them, of course); thus the bulk of the cultivation work was weeding. Weeds compete with the crop, stunting it or killing it outright.
Row crops like corn were commonly tended with a cultivator. That was a device that looked kind of like a cross between a plow and a harrow, and with a skilled operator, it would be pulled by a single horse, pulling up all the weeds that grow in the rows between the corn plants.
As with the traditional plow, it was steered by angling it, although it was counter intuitive: you'd tilt left to go right, and vice-versa. They had various types of teeth on them to dig into the soil and pull up the weeds.
Also as with the traditional plow, there was a sulky design (wheels).
I think in general that most farmponies would use a sulky cultivator, since it can be operated by only one pony. The labor savings would make up for the additional up-front cost and complexity of the device, at least if they were cultivating any large amount of crops
Historically, running the cultivator was something that the kids did, and for those farms that don't have a sulky cultivator, it would probably be a foal's job to steer the cultivator. Fortunately, school is usually out in the summer, so there would always be foals available to do it.
This is also potentially a light enough job that a group of enterprising foals could earn money over the summer. One used cultivator, the smallest and lightest they can find, a few hoes, and a couple of harnesses, and they've got a weeding business.
That was great for getting rows, but you still had to get between the plants, and that was largely done with hoes. Presumably, a field could be planted in a grid in such a way that you could get a specialty cultivator across the field perpendicular to the rows, but that's only going to work early in the season or with root crops that don't have much foliage above ground. While obviously machines exist that ride above mature crops, there are no horse-drawn equivalents I'm aware of.
I have personally never hoed a field, and it doesn't sound like something that would be terribly fun to do. But it is something that's necessary, and once again, foal labor is going to be utilized whenever possible, since as long as the foal can recognize the difference between corn and anything else (for example), they can be set loose in the field until dinnertime or until the sun goes down as the case may be.
I'd be remiss to leave this topic without covering two more options for controlling weeds. Neither of them was used (to my knowledge) by people, but it could be used by ponies.
The first is if the weeds are something that ponies like to eat, just eat them.
The second option is related. We know that the Apples keep sheep and pigs and cows, and that at least the sheep and cows are intelligent enough to talk. Once again, if there are weeds growing in the field that they like to eat, they could do it without disturbing the desired plants.
This thought carries with it a logical extension. I mentioned earlier that clover was often planted as a cover crop with the hay, because it would grow faster and keep weeds from taking root. A similar method could be used in pony fields if there were enough hungry mouths who knew the difference between the crop and what was okay to eat. This might even be another place where having Fluttershy talk to the wild animals would be of benefit. Clearly, you wouldn't want a plant that's going to compete with your actual crop, but there are plenty plants that have a good mutual relationship. I've heard that beans used to be planted with corn; the two got along well, and the bean vines had cornstalks to climb.
Again, it’s always the subtle powers that turn out most logistically useful.
That seems like a lot of work.
The Three Sisters. Beans, Corn, and Squash.
4947676
This. It was the secret the Massachusett natives brought for cultivating the rocky clay soil of Massachusetts. Squash/pumpkins for cover, beans to fix nitrogen and corn for a bean trellis
Ponies wouldnt use killing pesticides, just avoidance irritants and odurs. If anything, making a crop stink badly to pests while being a delicious condiment to ponies would have the biggest problem of how to stop the frat houses raiding the place and maybe getting grassed out of their skulls.
Weeds can also go into weed salad, or compost heap, which is greatly enhanced by the pigs waste from eating processing food scraps etc.
If grass is a weed and ponies eat grass, wouldnt pretty much all their crops be classed as luxuries rather than staples? Especially given the perfect consumable energetic yield of a fully grown apple tree absolutely dwarfs other crops such as corn per area. And with trees, not only have you got construction material, but you still have a lot of the land left for cropping?
4947678
Originally a Mayan technique, got widespread all over America in a few centuries.
Hey Biscuit, how come you did not emntion squash this time? I poined it to you two blog post ago. You have something against Squash?
Are pumpkins squash or melons?
Do we, though? That was all in a dream, and never had any confirmation or even mention of it in the real world. For all we know, twittermites are just a figment of Applebloom's imagination.
Here's an idea for insects: just have Fluttershy tell all the spiders in Ponyville to go live in the fields on the corn, or whatever. The ponies don't have to kill anything
4947763 Squash.
4947667
Which is why it’s probably best to fear Earth Ponies the most, because it’s never obvious what they can do.
Or maybe Zebras.
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4947670
Cultivating? I’m sure it is. Never tried it myself.
Which is why I’m sure that a few foals with a used cultivator could make bank--or at least every other farmfilly’s allowance--going around and cultivating fields.
4947676
Thank you! I knew I was missing a piece from the group (it was a long time since I’d heard of it).
I have a feeling this is the kind of thing ponies would totally do.
Also, for anyone looking for farmpony OCs. . . Run with it.
4947782
They'd need somewhere for the spiders to live during and after the harvest, as well.
4947678
I have to wonder now if those plants grew together naturally, or if it was something that humans discovered? I mean, I’ve got lots of vines of various types that climb the trees I have . . . in that case, I doubt it’s a beneficial relationship, but who knows? Maybe my dwarf pine likes the grapevine; maybe the two of them are working together.
Or maybe there are lots of pairings that don’t work as well.
4947707
My first thought is that if Cayenne was an earth pony, everything she grew would be covered in capsaisn. Which, I’ve heard, is a good repellent for rodents.
My second thought is that the idea of frat ponies being grassed out of their skulls is hilarious. True fact, one of the developmentally disabled adults I work with on weekends sometimes gets drunk on water.
I wonder how well pony waste works with the process?
Arguably yes in both cases. I’m sure that they’re somewhat selective with what they want to eat, so probably not all pasture grasses are created equal. Having said that, as you note, trees take up little real estate for what they offer, and planting trees in conjunction with another crop--or other crops--is an old farming practice. It’s not as good for mechanized farming, since it’s hard to mow the alfalfa while leaving the trees and beanstalks alone--but certainly a good practice for anyone who’s farming on a smaller scale.
4947762
No, nothing against squash. Two reasons:
One, we’re talking more about mechanization and farm equipment in this series, and what some of the various types of equipment and farm tasks are.
Two, as it happens all these blog posts in the series have been written for quite some time and just not published yet. I’m correcting critical errors as needed (like if someone points out that the guy working his field on fire is disking it instead of mowing it).
To get into a full discussion of what ponies might grow as food crops and how would take far more words than I’m intending to devote to the task. This is kind of a little dip in the shallow end for authors especially, and obviously there are literally hundreds of books and other research paths this little series can--and perhaps should--inspire among those who are curious.
There's a fic somewhere on this site that has one of the bison speaking to Applejack about the three sisters, and them bonding over their shared knowledge.
Edited because autocorrect.
4947789
No idea about Zebras or if Alchemy is something only they can do, but earth ponies? Totally. In an earth pony town, EVERYTHING is going to work far better than it has any right to because someone is going to have a talent for everything. And all those utility powers add up to a boring yet practical powerhouse.
Something I've actually worried about is what would happen if you either had a long period that was dangerous, or a 'single' conflict that lasted long enough for a cohort to have their talents come in, and what the knock on effects for many generations after would be. Because in a dangerous time you'll get ponies with talents for war and survival, which is scary for your enemies, BUT afterwards you have a whole generation who are best at being soldiers rather than farmers. And everything is built with the assumption of having talents for preserving vegetables and actually IMPORTANT stuff like that. It makes it that much harder to get back on your feet and get out of a war economy.
Also, the way cutie marks work mean that total-war equestria is going to do the battle school thing en masse. Whatever age they actually start recruiting (18? 16?) they're going to want to start at least occasional training in their early to mid teens while they're still blank.
4947782
If I’m willing to accept that Princess Big Mac is a real thing--and I am--then I must also accept that Twittermites are.
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That’s not a bad idea. And there are probably other insects of prey that would also be willing to eat crop pests. I personally don’t think that Fluttershy is that good with insects (my opinion; not sure if there’s canon evidence that contradicts it), but even if she isn’t, there are almost certainly ponies who are.
4947792
Well, for Nightmare Night at least they can get the most epic webs ever.
After that, the local wastewater treatment plant is always a good place for spiders to hang out. [WARNING: DO NOT CLICK THIS LINK IF YOU FEAR LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS OF SPIDERS]
4947800
If you find a link, send it my way.
4947790
Hilariously it doesn't sound dissimilar from how me and my friends made summer money when I lived in Suburbia. Gas can, a little seed money for fuel and lunch, and a couple lawnmowers. Cut grass for twenty bucks a pop.
4947801
It’s probably not. We know from canon that unicorns can do weather control, but they’re presumably generally not very good at it.
Yeah, exactly. They’re not the ones that impress you with the flashy coronas or Sonic Rainbooms, they’re the ones where every single bit of your experience--good or bad--is provided by them. And you’re not always sure just how, nor is it wise to think about it too much.
I think that Earth Ponies are generally very adaptable, maybe more so than the other tribes, and so when the war’s over they go back to their farms and workshops and hospitals and whatever else it is that they’ve got and they turn the skills they learned into war back into other skills that work on the farm or in the shop. Before too long, you’ve got things moving along with military precision; you’ve got a herd of sheep defending the perimeter of town, you’ve got mass production ideas swirling around, and so on. I think they’d be the ones to see how useful a tank is at pulling farm implements, perhaps, or how a trench also works against timberwolves . . . but of all the ponies, I actually think that the earth ponies are the least likely to stay on a war footing. Or maybe they’re always on a war footing, it’s just that their usual combat is with pests and soil and rain and plants and time.
Years ago, Daetrin wrote a blog post about how ponies would wage war, and it’s horrifying (and also based on IRL equine behavior). The ten second summary is that their ‘war’ scale has two settings, 0 and 11.
4947799
Eh, figured it was something like reason 2, but I felt like teasing; sorry it went out poorly.
I still love those informatives blog posts of your.
4947809
That’s totally what I was thinking.
Like, I don’t see ponies paying anyone to cut the grass (generally). Maybe in a fancy town; but in a town like Ponyville, if the ponies don’t eat it, why wouldn’t roving bands of sheep do it for a small fee?
Cultivated fields, though, require at least some expertise.
4947811
Oh, no worries there!
If I were covering more of the ‘what you plant and why’, that would totally be the kind of thing I’d want to include!
Thing is, overall it’s such a large scope that there’s no way I could ever condense it down into a few blog posts. Hell, there are probably entire books written just on subjects like soil conditioning and what crops to grow in certain soils. Maybe sometimes you don’t want the extra nitrogen that the beans are fixing, you know? Maybe you’ve got too much already, and need to get some of it out of the soil, I dunno.
4947806
Princess Twilight Sparkle and the Quesadilla Conquest, chapter 5
4947792 Eh, that seems like a relatively small problem. There's plenty of forest, after all.
Where The Apple Lies had fungicide applicators for some sort of blight - in individual manual-plunger spraycans, lots of them. And, of course, Bats had a conflict between hippie-dippy Fluttershy and pragmatic they're-pests Applejack about the fruitbats infestation.
4947798
Watching horses graze in the pasture, I can assure you not only are different kinds of grasses different to the palate of horses, but the same grass tastes different because if you watch them graze they are particular and choosy what they eat. They poop on grass (and hay) they don't want to eat.
4947810
Good point and kind of a relief. It might look like the Turians from Mass Effect for a bit, but that is a whole lot more recoverable.
I need to find that blog post, I’ve got my own ideas about that.
Based on the last couple of posts, you've built a strong argument for Fluttershy being the richest pony in town.
4947819
Thanks!
And of course it would be Kudzu.
4947926
Yeah--while canon isn’t clear on what normal pests they might or might not have, they certainly have some. And some of the ones they have might actually be Fluttershy-resistant.
I suppose just like IRL, it’s a constant battle between the farmer, the farmer’s techniques, and ever-evolving pests.
4947998
Oh yeah, and I didn’t mean to imply that horses would eat anything that was green; there are obviously some things that they like more than others (and some of that could vary on a horse-to-horse basis). What I think I meant was that they might tend to only want to plant things that they like to eat, rather than ornamental stuff, whereas most people don’t consider if the flowers along the sidewalk or the lawn in general tastes good.
4948012
He’s got a whole series on pony psychology, which I think are well worth a read.
4948268
I don’t know about the richest--she doesn’t seem rich, and I think that any extra income she gets goes towards charity work.
Having said that, she’s potentially one of the scariest. I’d assume if she doesn’t like you, she can talk literally every animal and monster into also not liking you, and all that comes with that.
As you may know, this was also brought up in one of the comics, where they had Fluttershy gather all the monsters in the Everfree for a fight.
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pretty interesting read. It never occured to me that ponies might use cows/sheep/goats for eating weeds. I know that goats and sheep are used as an alternative in mowing in some situations. I used to have goats growing up and having them eat weeds doesn't work well lol. But it may work if they can talk. Maybe.
4949822
It seems logical, at least to me. They’ve got to eat, and as long as the weeds are something that they want to eat or something that won’t hurt them, then why not? Likewise for mowing purposes.
There’s actually a wastewater treatment plant south of Lansing that uses a herd of sheep to keep the grass down, and they’ve got a llama or two to guard the sheep.
Yeah, in my experience real goats tend to eat the stuff you don’t want them to. (Same goes for deer, incidentally). But I did figure out that my neighbor’s goats liked eating one invasive plant I had (autumn olive, IIRC), so I didn’t mind them cropping at that.
4949973
i've seen it every once in a while for areas where you can't really get a mower.
the ones I had growing up liked landscaping so that wasn't great.
"All in favor?"
"..."
"All opposed?"
"Neigh." "Neigh." "Neigh."
"Uh, wasn't this your idea, Apple Bloom?"
"Sure, but that don't mean I want a cutie mark in weedin'!"
And every farmer in Ponyville breathed a sigh of relief without knowing why.
4950005
Really, seems to me anywhere that’s largish, fenced, and you’re not looking for a golf-course manicure, sheep would do just fine.
Yeah, they do seem to prefer the stuff you don’t want them to eat.
4950279
I’m reasonably certain I’m going to wind up writing this story. It won’t be the CMC--I can’t see them going for it--but I already know who the ringleader is going to be.
4950501
Even then, people tend to use mowers. Last time I saw them was on the side of a hill, lots of largish rocks, and some larger grasses and plants. Also, goats can eat plants with thorns on them so their useful for that as well. We used them to clear out blackberry patches every once and a while.
4951697
Well, yes, but I think that’s in part because in general people don’t want to change what they’re doing. Even when it’s theoretically more logical.
Yeah, goats might be really good for clearing out thorny stuff. While they do seem to prefer landscape plants, I think that they will eat practically anything that’s available to them.