Re: Magic to aid farming in space

> > Overall, I'd say that large-scale food production in space is tough enough
> > as to be Not Worth It.  Groundlings do it much easier than spacers; let
>them
> > grow the food, and pay them in asteroid iron and Arcane magical gewgaws.
>;)
>
>Could the elves or gnomes work on some simple hydroponics?


Keep in mind that the 640 acre figure to support a family took into account
that a random 640 acre of wilderness would have maybe 40 acres of
really good farm land in it.  If you were to look at really heavily
developed farmland, you will find self-sustaining family farms in
the 10 acre and _smaller_ range.

Of course, at that level you are talking about every square inch is devoted
to some crop or other, with fish ponds to generate fertilizer for the fields,
crop rotation, and every other gimmick available to generate more food
and other agriproducts.

So if you are talking about carving agricultural area out of the
wilderness, you
need a _lot_ of area, or some really good area.  But in a long settled area,
you will have terraces, rotated crops, fertilization schemes, established
vineyards, fruit and nut trees, etc...

You could have several flat asteroids that grow nothing but grass, and a herder
culture which frequently transports their herd animals from one asteroid to
another.

Or a water covered asteroid that can be harvested for fish with relatively
little labor.

Perhaps some races cultivate scavver fields in their debris and
garbage, providing
useful meat products for domesticated carni- and omnivores.

Perhaps other races emulate the Dutch, and slowly expand their asteroids by
building extensions along the gravity plane, filled with garbage of various
kinds, slowly adding more surface area for growing crops.

Michael Sandy