New Moon Farm

New Moon Farm is an area of land comprised of 138 acres, half of which are permanent wilderness, and the rest is living and farming space. A large curve of half-earthed, haybale houses lies at the heart of the Farm, with three half-earthed, haybale barns, and the ruins of a 500 year old farmhouse (and its barn, which blew away in Zelda). The houses are all built on an Earthship design, i.e., half-greenhouse, planted with many kinds of produce, herbs, and attractive plants. The general pattern of the Farm reflects spirals, both in the arrangement of the houses (large open curve of older houses spiral-locking with another curve of newer houses and barns) and of the fields (which tend to be planted in circles and spirals).

Major trade crops for New Moon Farm include: potatoes, peanuts, soybeans, corn, hemp, and root vegetables. Some small acreage is planted with different grains for domestic use, as well as herbs and flowers for honey; fruit trees are grown both outdoors and indoors. Animals on the farm include: goats (pedigreed dairy and cashmere), alpacas (also pedigreed), hens (of many varieties, originally rescued from neighboring farms), cows (small herd of very mixed breeds, rescued ditto and currently used for dairy), horses, dogs, cats, and rescued wildlife. People at the Farm generally eat a vegan or lacto-ovo vegetarian diet, according to preference.

New Moon Farm is involved in the wool and hemp fiber trade as well as the trade of the foods already mentioned. They are the major provider of cacao/chocolate, coffee, tea, spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, peppers), and rare herbs for the area because of their contacts with other farming communities, which form a network of trade up and down the Trail. They also trade fresh food locally.

They maintain a large library (possibly even a bit larger than the town's library) which reflects the interests of the community and previous and current librarians; particularly good collections include works on sustainable housing and farming, photovoltaics, wild plants/domestic plants, medicine, veterinary medicine, midwifery, fiber arts, suppressed history (from before the Long Night), feminist theory, pagan publications, children's literature, science fiction of the last five hundred years, and graphic arts. There are also smaller collections of folklore/anthropology, general fiction, cookbooks, and books about Changers and their Kin. Not all of these collections are kept up-to-date. The Farm maintains a hand-press and small paper-making facilities, but is not involved in publishing at this time (although they have been very active in this area in the past).

There is a Lilith circle on the Farm that maintains a small, very active temple.

The Farm is a consensus-based community, holding formal meetings every two weeks. Every member over the age of 10 pays "rent" in labor on the land and with animals, housework, or other domestic work which benefits the community (with accommodations for abilities and personal preferences). This works as well as it possibly can, considering the wide spread of rugged individualists living there.

There is a stable population of older people, people raising children, and children on the Farm. The young adult population is very mobile and subject to change, pursuant of careers or romantic partners. There are about 50 people on the Farm at any given time (and things are flexible enough that players can help populate it with parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, if they want their characters to have connections to the Farm).

Older people on the Farm:

Grandma Greenstone: the leader that the Farm doesn't have. At age 86, she's the oldest living member of the Farm, and is still spry and sharp, though she doesn't often leave the Farm these days.
Grandpa Johnson: 81; highly respected, semi-retired veterinary surgeon. He's trained over a dozen apprentices so far.
Pop Riverstone: 83; the world's last surviving hippie and wolf-kin.
Nanny Mountain: 79; head of the Lilith circle, Sarah Mountain's older sister.
Sarah Mountain: 75; artist, Nanny Mountain's younger sister.
Delores Juarez: 70; retired midwife that has trained several apprentices.

Middling people on the Farm:

About 7 people of this age group run the Farm, while others have alternate professional interests. We will fill out this group more later.

Some of the younger people on the Farm:

Lonnie Mountain: 37; youngest daughter of Sarah Mountain, Gita's mother. She is the Farm's librarian, and as such is quite friendly with Fred Lemisch. She frequently goes out on book-finding trips, and after one of these trips, she returned to give birth to Gita.
Bright Day Greenstone: 23; great-grandson of Grandma Greenstone. He's the current veterinarian/doctor.
Olivia Johnson: 31; eldest granddaughter of Grandpa Johnson. She's the head hemp farmer and weaver. Married to Lucien Bolton, who she brought into the Farm community.
Lucien Bolton: 29; incomer, married to Olivia Johnson. He's a chemist and dyemaster.

Children:

There are about 12 on the Farm at this time, including Gita Mountain (Sia's character).

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