>I'm not an expert, but I believe that crop rotation of some degree >was practiced by many ancient agriculturists.
My understanding is that early crop rotation involved leaving the fields fallow for a year or two. That was certainly the classic mediaeval English pattern - three fields: wheat or barley in one, peas or beans in another, nothing in the third, and rotate the crops around by one each year.
The modern innovation was learning *why* rotation worked, and that you didn't need to leave a field fallow if you grew a nitrogen-fixing legume crop there every so often.
In Glorantha, of course, the reason crop rotation works is more likely to be mythical...
BARLEY, BEANS AND BEER
"Esrola had many beautiful daughters, but the fairest and most fertile
of all was Esra the Barley Mother. Her bounty fed the whole Storm
Tribe; but Esra felt confined and restricted with this narrow life.
She watched how her sisters Uralda, Entra and Nevala wandered at will
about the tula, and felt envious. She became bored, and listless.
Her crops became smaller, and soon the other gods grew worried. They
tried to cheer her up, but nothing worked.
"Then Eurmal said he had a plan. The rest of the tribe didn't trust
him, of course, but they were running out of ideas. However, Eurmal's
suggestion seemed harmless enough: why not let Esra go on holiday for
a while? When everyone looked at him blankly, Eurmal had to explain:
a "holiday" meant going on a journey to somewhere nice, and not doing
any work for a time - just resting and having fun. Esra thought this
sounded like a fine idea, but the other gods weren't so sure. Who
would do her work while she was away? Who would feed the tribe?
However, Eurmal had an answer for this too. In his travels he had met
a distant kinswoman of Esra - the Bean Goddess; and Eurmal was sure he
could persuade her to take Esra's place for a time, until she got
back. Of course, he might need a few gifts and trinkets to give her
to persuade her to help, but surely Queen Ernalda would be willing to
open her treasure casket for such a worthy cause...?
"And so it was agreed. Ernalda sent Issaries with Eurmal to find the
Bean Goddess (and make sure he didn't run away with the gifts himself,
much to his secret frustration). Esra set off on her holiday to
foreign parts, and Elmal kindly agreed to escort her and protect her
from harm (being once a foreigner himself, he knew the ways of those
distant lands).
"Everything went well for a time. Some of the tribe missed Esra's
barley bread, but they all agreed that the Bean Goddess's bounty made
a tasty alternative. And so, the gods all ate beans every day. It
was at this point that they realised the... disadvantage... of their
new diet. At night, the thunder almost shook the roof of Karulinoran
clean off - and that was while Orlanth was away on a raid... When he
returned Ernalda had to beg him to summon his strongest breath to
clear the air - but even the King of Storms was only able to shift the
stink for a brief while before it came stealing back. At that point
everybody realised that Eurmal had tricked them once again, and set
out to find him and thrash him. The Trickster, being a sensible
fellow, had hidden himself away somewhere secret; but unfortunately
for him he'd been eating the beans too, and gave himself away
inadvertently as Orlanth passed his hiding place.
"One severe beating later, Eurmal managed to save what was left of his
skin by swearing an unbreakable oath to go and get Esra back straight
away. The Bean Goddess, meanwhile, was thanked for her help and
hastily bundled straight back to her own kinsfolk.
"Hopefully everything would be back to normal soon - except for one
problem. Eurmal couldn't find Esra. Everybody he asked said yes, she
and Elmal had passed this way, but they'd only stayed for a while then
moved on. They'd seemed happy, everybody agreed. In fact, their
singing and laughter had made them welcome guests, but they hadn't
stayed long. This puzzled Eurmal ("Elmal? Singing and laughing?") but
he had no option but to keep looking. Back in Storm Stead, things
were getting bad. They'd eaten all the beans. They'd eaten the last
stocks of barley. They'd eaten all the carrots and peas from Esrola's
gardens. They'd slaughtered and eaten as much of the livestock as
they dared. The hunters were having to wander further and further
from home in search of game. Things were getting worse than bad.
"At last, Eurmal finally caught up with Esra and Elmal. One look at
the baby in her arms told him part of what they'd been doing all this
time (and why they'd been so happy) but the other part of the puzzle
fell into place when they offered to let him taste the new drink
they'd created between themselves. After a few mugs, Eurmal forgot
all about his worries of being late back, and was singing and laughing
himself.
"When the four of them got back to Storm Stead, Orlanth and Ernalda
were furious at first; but after a few helpings of Esra's new gift,
all was forgiven. Esra promised not to leave the stead for so long in
future. Ernalda suggested that if she got tired of her surroundings
again, she could always go and stay in a different part of the tula
for a year or two, to get a change of scenery. Esra agreed that that
would be a good compromise, and maybe her cousin the Bean Goddess
could visit them too, as long as she didn't overstay her welcome?
Everyone looked a bit dubious at this, but Orlanth said that she could
visit as long as Esra made plenty of her new brew to go around and
dull the sensations... Esra laughed, and promised that she'd teach
her son - whom she'd named Minlister - to make the brew himself as
soon as he was old enough. Everybody agreed that this was a fine
idea, and so the beer was passed round once more, and everybody was
happy.
"Until they woke up the next morning, but that's another story..."
Stephen
Powered by hypermail