I need homesteaders to help design card game

I need a large group of homesteaders I can ask technical questions on a daily basis. If you're keen to help then follow this thread.

I am farmhand stuck in a travelling-artist lifestyle. I have educated myself on all things green and am far from a novice. But my lifestyle has left me with no hands on experience. So, I am currently developing a GAME based on farming. The idea is to have something you can play with a friend for an afternoon AND visualise what its like to run a farm.

Game details
-its a trading card game
-the farm is divided into 1/4 acre plots
-1 coin = $100
-1 shift = 10 man-hours
-1 turn = 1 month
-4 acres w/ 2 bedroom house
-shed full of hand tools
-mostly in metric

First question how much does it cost to build 100m of fencing and how long would that take to do.

100m = 330ft (more like 328.04 but aprox will do)

What is the purpose of the fencing? Exclude deer? Keep in hogs?

Jason Machin wrote:First question how much does it cost to build 100m of fencing and how long would that take to do.

100m = 330ft (more like 328.04 but aprox will do)

I'm an insurance claims adjuster. My estimating software (which isn't perfect, but prettty good) gives (for 330 lineal feet):

4' chain link:
$1,851 materials
31.4 hours

Barbed wire, 4', 4-strand:
$531 materials
33.7 hours

Cedar post & split-rail (2-rail):
$1,181 materials
38.3 hours

Wood fence, 5'-6' high, cedar:
$4,554 material
67.7 hours


There are lots of boring details about the assumptions involved here that I could share with you (such as, these are specific to April in the greater Madison, WI area), but I don't think they matter much. You're trying to make something suitable for the whole country, right?

tyler- lets start with chicken, sheep, and cow

mike- I love it. I'm here for boring. I think the barded wire would work for sheep + cows. do you have a chicken fence there?
And that software, can I have it or is it copyrighted?
I am from Australia and my idea is to have it not be anywhere in particular.

I'm afraid the software is copyrighted, expensive, and enormous.

Www.Xactware.com

I found a calculator from NZ which is close enough to you and has a couple of other things too.
http://www.waikatoregion.govt.nz/Environment/Natural-resources/Land-and-soil/Managing-Land-and-Soil/Managing-farm-runoff/Planting-and-fencing-waterways-calculation-sheet/
I forgot the link the first time.

Mike- oh well, do you have chicken coops and barns?

Andy- thanks, could you tell me what to do. I see a lot of things on that website but no idea what I'm doing.


OK atm I need crop cards. In particular I need to know how long each crop takes to sow and harvest, by hand.
Lets start with the basics...
-potatoes
-carrots
-corn
-turnip
-parsnip
-swede

How long would it take too hand-pick a 1/4 of apple orchard?

Jason Machin wrote:

OK atm I need crop cards. In particular I need to know how long each crop takes to sow and harvest, by hand.
Lets start with the basics...
-potatoes
-carrots
-corn
-turnip
-parsnip
-swede

How long would it take too hand-pick a 1/4 of apple orchard?

This is a great idea!

I think in the spirit of permaculture the game will need a lot of 'IT DEPENDS' cards though, as so much depends on location and other factors

You should add a few cards like:

1) Mother in law accidentally dumps bucket of shrews on your head while cleaning the well.
2) Cow steps on foot fracturing said foot.
3) Dog get head stuck in glass jar son had frog in, must break glass jar.
4) New kitten meets skunk for first time, you get to try new de-skunking recipe.
5) Kids let dog into house, dog drops raccoon head in your lab.
6) Dog discovers new joy of rolling in manure, you rent rug cleaner.
7) Cat has kittens on your bed while you are out of the house.
Emerald ash-borer move into your area, all your ash trees die.
9) New asian stink bug moves into your area, damages 30% of your fruit crop.
10) Poachers take 50% of the ginseng you planted 10 years ago, just when you were ready to harvest it.
11) Neighbors dog breaks through fence kill half your geese.

Slightly askew from topic, but I wanted to note this here since there is obviously an interest in game design herein. In a few days, the game chef competition will be starting for 2016. If the theme/ingredients fit, you could maybe do an abbreviated version of the basic concept to see how it plays. If those aspects don't work for the game you are currently developing, then it would still be nice to see other people trying to fit permaculture ideas into games.

I like the idea of a card or card and board game for permie and homesteading ideas. I played around with the idea a few years ago, but never developed it out into anything. It's great to see someone else pushing ahead with the idea.

Jason Machin wrote:OK atm I need crop cards. In particular I need to know how long each crop takes to sow and harvest, by hand.
Lets start with the basics...
-potatoes
-carrots
-corn
-turnip
-parsnip
-swede

How long would it take too hand-pick a 1/4 of apple orchard?

I'm assuming you are asking how long to sow and harvest a 1/4 acre plot of potatoes, another 1/4 acre plot of carrots, etc?

My experience is with planting 25' rows and not that many of them. But just to get you started, I'd assume that planting potatoes by hand would be a full day, carrots, corn, turnips, parsnips would be a half a day, and I'm not sure what the crop spacing on swedes is. I believe they require a 6' deep hole so that would take a while to dig

For harvesting I would go with the same (1 day for taters, 1/2 day for the rest, not sure what a swede is). Someone with more experience can certainly correct me. I'm giving taters more time because you have to do much more digging to harvest them vs. the other root crops.

You may also want to plan some time for crop maintenance (watering, weeding) during the season.

I don't know for apples but I checked a website. 1/4 acre of mature semi-dwarf apple trees can produce 3,000 to 5,000 lbs of apples. Assuming (key word) each apple weighs a pound and you can pick 20 apples per minute that will take 2.5 to 4 hours. That seems really low to me though. Don't forget the pruning time and other tree maintenance during the year.

And I'm not sure how the game will work but you could have cover crops and green manure. Then if a player plants a plot in those crops they won't get a yield up front but it could give them added yield the next year. Kind of like investing in the future...

Judith - "it depends" does not work for a card game I'm afraid

alex - some of those have already been planned.

Logan - do you have a link for that?

Mike - yes sorry, 1/4 acre
- my base work rate is 10 man hours
- thanks for the estimate. I can work from there
- swede is like a smaller sweeter turnip

The link is here: Game Chef 2016

Also, I should think 'It Depends' cards would be something like the 'Chance' cards that show up in other games. A card that works to modify the effects of another card perhaps. Sometimes positive, sometimes negative, sometimes just some unexpected alternate effect. Possibly, each card could come with it's own set of alternate effects if an 'It Depends' card is played on them.

I like the "chance" card option.

Bugs take out 10% of your crop
Bugs take out 80% of your crop
Spend 2 coins on XYZ or deer will eat your apples
Hail takes out 50% of one of your plots
Good rain increased productivity 20%
Neighbor gave you clean compost, productivity rises 10%
Art fair is in town so lots of yuppies showed up to the farmers market, you double your weekly income
Upwind conventional farmer sprays her field and you get pesticide drift - lose 1/2 of one plot (unless you planted a wind break)
Heavy rain washes away 4 coins worth of fencing (unless you installed swales or ponds)
Your old barn falls down, pay 50 coins to build a new one

thanks logan

basically everything mike just mentioned has been thought about. Although I like that swale idea.
that was nicely thought out.
All the cards are going to be pulled from the same deck.
-bad things
-good things
-family visits
-tractor for sale
-the crops you can grow
...if you don't pull out a corn card, your area is bad for corn