FARMS | Laviniastateroleplay

FARMS

INFORMATION

Farm-fresh goods are everywhere. Even flour is ground from the wheat these rural steadings produce - flowers, nuts, berries, fruits, vegetables. Everyone needs to eat, and more everyone has some form of crops in their diet, from the common wanderer to the loftiest men and women of society. And it all starts here. Farms are simple, easy-to-manage investments for anyone who enjoys growing and tending to crops, spending time to themselves, and making a living as a largely independent player.

REQUIREMENTS

TEAM SIZE: Min. 1 players

CAREER(S): N/A

Please note: Farms are considered an EQUAL OPPORTUNITY property; any character meeting the above requirements may be considered.

PERKS

PAYGRADES

$6.00 hourly paycheck for Owner (3)

AMENITIES

Society-access (hiring, storage, etc.)
Boosted plant limits.
TWO Society Shop tokens

GUIDELINES

By owning a Farm property, you are agreeing to monitor and correct any employees who do not comply with the following guidelines:

Ranches may not hire or house trainers or brokers.
Farms may hire no more than three total employees.
Farms may be locked up or closed at any time or for any reason.
Farms reserve the right to deny service to any person for any reason.
Farms are expected to comply with law officers publicly and may not ban them from the premises (exceptions listed on individual location).
As a private business, farms are expected to pay their workers from their society ledge.
Corruption roleplay will be allowed within farms.

For best experience, link new employees to this guide.

CATFISH FARM | OPEN

Catfish Farm is a newer addition to the Lemoyne countryside, the land allotted to a former slave by the name of Frank Jackson. The farm saw modest success under his management, the catfish were raised in netted pools set up in the river. Jackson then sold the younger ones to other farms as fingerlings and the larger ones by Rhodes. While he did all of this, he allocated the rest to his sons, who then transported and sold the remaining Catfish at the market in Saint Denis as well as a handful of farms in New Hanover.

However, due to a sudden illness and an inability to read or write, he would never be able to fashion a will of his own. This meant that he could not ensure the transfer of his land and proper titles to an heir. Upon Frank's death, the land was split among all his children, who shared the responsibilities for a time. However, by 1880, all of his children found themselves in financial decline and elected to sell off their pieces of the land.

It is a modest two-bedroom home, with an open kitchen that is equipped with all the furnishings needed. The living room is centered with a large fireplace and leads directly to both the kitchen and the adjoining bedrooms.

ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES

Players who own and operate Catfish Farm are not required to abide by any firm guidelines or rules - the location may be operated and maintained to the satisfaction of the owning farmer. The place is historically black-owned, and special consideration will be given to african-american applicants.

GUTHRIE FARM | OPEN

Guthrie Farm was founded in 1866 by William Guthrie and his brother Waylon; the land was acquired with the assistance provided by the Homestead Act. It saw immediate growth in the following years, taking on more and more workers as they would arrive by railroad with each passing season. Soon the outskirts of the farm had its own village of tents sprout up around it to house its growing number of employees.

However, this success would be short-lived, as New Hanover experienced droughts well into the 1870s. The strain upon the farm would only grow, reaching a boiling point as Waylon settled his half and went off to find more promising opportunities in Lemoyne. By 1883, most of the workers, and eventually even William himself, would follow. The bank acquired the land, and there it sits, waiting for the right man or woman who can succeed where the Guthries failed.

Though the home is modest with only one bedroom and its kitchen, the land outside it provides more than enough ample space for a variety of crops and cattle.

ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES

Players who own and operate Guthrie Farm are not required to abide by any firm guidelines or rules - the location may be operated and maintained to the satisfaction of the owning farmer.

HAGEN ORCHARD | OPEN

Known for its peaches, Hagen Orchard has an assortment of fruits that they specialized in selling to just about every farm, ranch, or saloon in Eastern Lavinia. It was founded just before the Civil War by Theodore Hagen, who would go on to serve under General Harris. He was born to a wealthy family in the city, and sometime in his early adulthood he bought up land in the bayou, fashioning himself a “self-made” man.

The Orchard in actuality was worked and run in its day-to-day by a Creole named Alphonse Édouard, a bayou man who had experience with the humidity and soil where the Orchard sat. After Alphonse's death, Hagen struggled to find a successor due to his reputation as a hard to work with and ill-tempered individual.

The Orchard sits in-operational as of 1885, waiting for the right person to tame it just as Alphonse had in his day. The main building has an open lounge area, with one bedroom set off to the side. It has a boathouse by the shore, which is equipped with a full stock of tools and a workbench and has plenty of room for more.

ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES

Players who own and operate Hagen Orchard are not required to abide by any firm guidelines or rules - the location may be operated and maintained to the satisfaction of the owning farmer.

ROBARD FARM | CLOSED

Robard Farm has exchanged hands many times since it was built in the early 1870s, each owner eventually leaving for one reason or another. Some cited persistent signs of a stranger venturing onto the land and messing where they didn't belong, digging through belongings and letting the animals loose. Others left because of harassment from local criminal elements, which are alleged to have crossed over from the bayou.

The individuals who stuck it out the longest were John and Miriam Barenbaum, who took ownership in late 1875. It was this aspiring couple who developed the farm past its original size, making a name for themselves around Rhodes for their ventures into tobacco farming. Despite their small size, they would take on a number of local hands from Rhodes and boost their production. To the local farms in the county, this made them at least a nuisance and at most, competition.

After three years, the couple began to notice things around the farm going missing. At first, they shrugged it off, but the worry began to stack up when things began to become more hostile. Noises in the night, shuffling at their door, crops destroyed. It came to a head when someone lit the edge of their field on fire, an action that finally pushed the Barenbaums to leave for greener pastures.

The home has one bedroom and an open kitchen, centered by a large fireplace. Though it's seen its fair-share of bad luck, the right person may just be enough to turn that legacy around.

ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES

Players who own and operate Robard Farm are not required to abide by any firm guidelines or rules - the location may be operated and maintained to the satisfaction of the owning farmer.

LONE MULE STEAD | CLOSED

Built by Captain Isaac J. Borden in the early years after the Civil War, Lone Mule Stead was not originally fashioned to be a farmstead but instead, as a retreat. Captain Borden came from a plantation family; his home was razed during the war, and his wealth was lost by its end. With only a modest amount of money left and no family to speak for, he found a plot by the banks of the Flat Iron Lake. It was here that he began the short process of construction.

After the first couple of years, the old soldier grew restless, tired of living a life of squalor. He began to invest in seed, taking on a few of his former comrades to help him tend to the land and sell the crop. It was something, but it was not enough for Borden, who saw his name as worth more than that of a measly farmer. Eventually, one of his men proposed a new venture, a new way to make more money than they had. Moonshine.

While his men built the first whiskey still beneath the house, Borden began to grow only the crop needed for such a task. To no one's surprise, it worked; money came as freely as the river, and nearby saloons were very interested in having a supply so close. Eventually, the business drew the ever-watching eye of the law, which arrested Borden for his failure to pay the tax on whiskey production. The land was taken and put up for auction, later being bought by a couple from New Hanover. They did not follow in the captain's footsteps.

The home has one bedroom, a kitchen, open land, and a cellar beneath it.

ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES

Players who own and operate Lone Mule Stead are not required to abide by any firm guidelines or rules - the location may be operated and maintained to the satisfaction of the owning farmer.

WATSON FARM | OPEN

Watson Farm’s founding and the family behind it are hardly as exciting as the way they eventually lost it.

Her husband having died in the war, Margaret Watson was left to fend for herself until the conflict ended. When it finally came, her five sons returned home from their service and helped her tend to the land. Eventually, the responsibility would grow as their mother fell ill. To pay for treatment, the boys turned to sticking folks up- though as the adrenaline grew, so did their recklessness. In December 1873, four of the five Watson boys would be executed in Saint-Denis, with the last never to be seen again. Their mother, all alone in her farmhouse tucked away in the cool north of Big Valley, would eventually succumb to her illness without her caretakers.

Despite all of this, the property is a lovely little home set among the trees in Big Valley. With beautiful scenery as far as the eye can see. It needs work, that's no doubt, but doesn’t everything of value in life require a little elbow grease?

The home is situated on a hillside, equipped with a bedroom, a kitchen, and a cellar. The land is rich in soil and already comes with a station set for goats, a mule, or whatever else you may fancy.

ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES

Players who own and operate Watson Farm are not required to abide by any firm guidelines or rules - the location may be operated and maintained to the satisfaction of the owning farmer.