I should write more instead.

While writing the "December" chapter I did some minimal research on apple farming during the winter. Turns out there's more upkeep than I expected. Younger trees are especially vulnerable to the wind, sunlight, and hungry animals that wake up from hibernation. I put in subtle references to those, but it really didn't matter if anyone noticed them since they weren't important to the plot (and the plot's not important to the story either).

The last part made me think, it seems like there'd be a lot of demand in a farming community like Ponyville for a pony who can speak with animals, for all the relationships between crops and local fauna. Maybe every village in Equestria has somepony like her. The fandom joke that she's an unemployed animal-hoarder is unlikely.

But besides that, farming itself is difficult and requires a lot of accumulated knowledge to avoid all the things that could go wrong. Though it's never explicitly stated, I liked the idea that earth ponies have some unconscious magic that makes them naturally good at growing anything.

To avoid yet another fandom joke that the earth ponies are unnecessary because any average unicorn could stick seeds in the dirt. Nahh, if it were that easy, humans would be great at it. Which we kinda weren't, just barely competent, until the early 20th century and its technology came along.

The same three problems preoccupied the people of twentieth-century China, of medieval India and of ancient Egypt. Famine, plague and war were always at the top of the list.
(...)
Until recently most humans lived on the very edge of the biological poverty line, below which people succumb to malnutrition and hunger. A small mistake or a bit of bad luck could easily be a death sentence for an entire family or village. If heavy rains destroyed your wheat crop, or robbers carried off your goat herd, you and your loved ones may well have starved to death. Misfortune or stupidity on the collective level resulted in mass famines. When severe drought hit ancient Egypt or medieval India, it was not uncommon that 5 or 10 per cent of the population perished. Provisions became scarce; transport was too slow and expensive to import sufficient food; and governments were far too weak to save the day.

Yuval Noah Harari, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow

This is rarely addressed in fantasy because nobody cares where food really comes from. But FiM has this built-in explanation for why they have a magical utopia that never starves (except when they fight each other and Windigos ruin everything). Unicorns control the sun, pegasi control the weather patterns, and earth ponies are important too!!! Though this is just my headcanon.

But I guess the fans still have a valid point that flying and magic spells are exciting abilities for ponies going on an adventure, while agriculture is relatively boring. It's more for a Civilization type game than RPG. (except Civilization series itself rarely features those mass famines mentioned above so it's not a very good simulation... okay I'm nitpicking now)

---

anyway

I'm partway through writing "January." I intended to actually finish by the end of January, for that wintery thematic touch, but I didn't. So instead it's February now and I'm still not done. I know the Haiku fic has the fewest views and fewest fans out of all my uploaded stories, but it's the only one that actually makes me kinda happy.

Let's see, it's the 28th today, so I suppose I could finish it by the end of February, if I write a lot over the next 2 or 3 days..... WAITAMINUTE.