Community Garden Community Garden Implementation Phasing

[Rumi]

[quote name='Seigheart' timestamp='1326570510' post='100809']
How is this coming along Rumi, I remember donating a bunch of lumber earlier, I wonder what sort of progress, and goals you are looking at.

Could you state those for me, so I have a clear idea of what is going on?
[/quote]

A few people have expressed to me the same question, so I will answer as best as possible. This thread regards the order of operations for the garden creation.

The beginning is observation. The observation process resulted in choosing a site for the garden, and continues with research about the realm as a whole and the Meeting of the Roads scene. Appropriate design is ABSOLUTELY tied to effective observation.

The next phase is design. This has been going on now for more than half a year and could well go on for a long while still. While I could go on and do the design myself, I prefer to involve the community as much as possible in the design as well as the implementation and ultimate use of the garden.

This design phase has several important elements. First and foremost is the general garden design, which has been mostly completed. The general design is an envisioning of the different areas of the garden, their relationships to other parts of the realm, and what sorts of things we can expect to find in the garden.

As the general design is closer to completion, we move into the more specific design. This is exemplified by the first design quest, where Brulant won with a very detailed specific design of the pond area. Area specific designs include each type of plant used and discussion of specific yields and relationships.

Another part of these specific designs will be the development of construction documents for the on-site buildings. At this point, the two buildings envisioned are a greenhouse, and toolshed with rainwater catchment tanks. Additionally, we have a windmill and pond circulation system, which also require construction documents. In addition to the schematic layout, these documents will include a list of materials required. I have begun collecting lumber and glass, such as the lumber Seigheart donated, because I know the construction of a greenhouse and toolshed will require significant amounts of these materials and I think the sooner we amass these resources, the more likely construction can begin when we are ready. The woodcutters guild has volunteered to begin collecting lumber to donate for these projects and I am very grateful to them.

Now we come to some areas where an MD garden differentiates from a RL garden.

First off, our garden needs to be illustrated. As each specific area of the garden is completed, it can be illustrated. I have requested artists to illustrate each plant found in the garden individually. These plant drawings will be combined with some detail about the plants, their yields, and relationships to develop the MD garden encyclopedia, where any visitor to the garden can learn a little about what they find in the garden. The second part of the artwork development is the illustration of garden scenes for each of the garden areas. How these scenes will be made available is still to be determined (see below). Finally, we need a set of drawings of the Meeting of the Roads with the garden installed. These drawings will include the garden in multiple seasons, and implementation drawings, showing the transformation of the existing scene to the garden.

The next thing will be determining how the garden will work. What yields will be available to which people at what time, and requiring what tools and energy.

The general idea I have is the main "community garden" section, which is right in the center, will have a number of plots, which can be leased for either a season or a year for some amount of gold/silver to be paid to the treasure keepers (like the sunny bedroom lease). Someone who leases a plot will have access to tools and water from the toolshed. If they put energy into their plot, they should walk away at the end of each season with a harvest that is more valuable than their lease cost. If they don't put energy into their plot, they will have wasted their money.

There are a number of other sections of the garden, most of which are associated with certain lands. Those sections will be generally populated with perennials that produce a harvest at a specific time of year, with little work required. I have in mind that each land should have a yearly harvest that can go to a king/queen/leader to be used or distributed as they see fit. There should also be a section (berry patch along the road) that can be harvested in its season by anyone passing by (like christmas gifts at GoE - not ALL for Eon).

As you can see, some of these design ideas will require the addition of some new mechanics and scenes. The ease of this process will certainly depend on the quality of our total design, as well as the level of support in the community at the time of the design presentation. We will push for implementation on a master level and at the same time, we will develop the community garden to as high functionality as possible using MDscript. Given the precedent set by Cutler's Astral Plane, I think we could develop scenes as necessary, and Fyrd's quests appear to set precedent for the development of garden functionality. We'll see where this goes when the time comes.

So, research is completed, design is completed, artwork is completed, engineering is completed, scripting is completed, and the design has been presented to the Mur and the community... What next?

Two major parts. Physical construction of the elements and planting the garden. The toolshed will be the first element constructed, as it makes sense to have the shed where we can house the tools we'll use for the remainder of the construction (like a lot of rakes and shovels). Other elements will be constructed one by one. Green house constructed, pond dug, windmill constructed, contour swales dug, benches, and swings constructed, etc (not necessarily in this order).

Planting the garden begins with one crucial step. We're gonna need seeds (and other forms propagated plants). That's gonna be quests. Lotsa quests. Each of the plants in the garden are going to require a seed or cutting or something else.

At this point, we'll have the garden designed, developed, constructed, and planted... Plots will be ready for lease and MD will have a community garden.

[Krioni]

This is awesome! While I didn't participate in the artwork part, as I am not a big artist, I cannot wait to help in any way I can as the project goes forward. And the idea of plots and stuff...maybe I will plant some new coffee plants there, a new brew to carry around!

Krioni