A family of five consumes the equivalent of about 300 lbs of wheat (6 bushels) per month.
The typical yield is 1:5, 1 acre of arable land planted with 200 lbs of seed grain, returns about 1 000 lbs of grain. 5 acres planted with grain yields enough to feed a family of five for a year. Given that a third of the land tends to be left fallow, and that a farmer pays almost half his crop in tithe, rent and taxes, a freeholder farm should be at least 15 acres in size.
Barley is a hardy late-summer crop. It is nutritious in soup and pottage, and is used to produce malt for ale and beer.
Oats (rich in protein) are a hardy crop, and are essential for oxen and horses. It is also used in porrige, pottage and for stuffing.
Rye is a hardy winter grain, planted in fall for harvesting in summer. It will grow almost anywhere and is good for bread.
Wheat can be milled into rich, fine white flour. It is more susceptible to drought and disease than other kinds of grain, and growing it is more risky. Due to this, wheat is twice as expensive as other grains, and is rarely eaten except by the rich.
Peas and beans (both high in protein) are grown as a food crop, particularily for the less well to do (who do not get meat or fish). They dry well for storage. Legumes are used in rotation with grain, to restore the vitality of the earth.
Cabbage is the most important vegetable.
Parsnips, rutabagas and turnips are hardy crops and store well. However, they are not reckoned to be particularily delicious.
Onions
Flax: Flax grows fast and is harvested early in the summer. It is easily damaged by frost or heavy rain. Flax is grown mainly for its fibres, which are used to make linen. Linen is used for clothing by all rich enough for it, yet too poor to wear silk on a regular basis. Flax can also be used for canvas and cordage, but is inferior to hemp for this use. Flax plants also yields seeds and linseed oil.
Hemp: This plant is very hardy, it outgrows and chokes most weeds, is highly drought-resistant and can grow virtually anywhere (it requires good soil for a high yield, though). It also stores well. Hemp fibres are long and durable, and are used to make rope, sacks, sails, canvas and paper. It is also used for clothing, but mainly by the poor and by religious people, as hemp cloth is rather coarse, unless spun and woven with great skill. Hemp seed is extremely nutritious, and is a good substitute for animal flesh. It is commonly eaten in porridges. Finally, dried hemp leaves and flowers are smoked as a mild narcotic.
Hay
Vetches are a kind of legumes, and like them they can restore vitality to spent soil. Vetches are cut and stored as winter fodder. Some varieties can be eaten by desparate people, too. Some vetches contain a substance which can drive men and livestock temporarily insane.
Poppies are cultivated for opium, and (more rarely) for poppyseed. Poppies can be grown in mild, temperate areas, and yield a yearly crop of up to 20 lbs of dried opium per acre. Opium is widely eaten as a drug and aphrodisiac, and it is used medicinally as an analgesic, narcotic, and for healing potions. Opium is worth about $100 per pound.
Crocus of a particular kind yields saffron, the most expensive spice in the world, and one of the more expensive drugs as well. Saffron is gotten from the dried stamens of the flowers, and an entire acre of crocus has never yielded more than 8 lbs of saffron. Gathering saffron requires 200 man-hours per pound. Saffron is harvested on Terra Centralis, and Clemencia and Haram vie for control of the northern saffron trade. Saffron is fine spice, and also has magical properties (see herbs). A pound of saffron costs $650 at the site of production. An even more expensive variety is golden saffron.