Black Desert/Farming
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Farming
gardens and fences
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| Type | Life skill |
|---|---|
| Practiced | Outdoors, on ground the adventurer chooses |
| Requires | A fence rented with Contribution Points |
| Capacity | Set by the fence, as its garden usage |
| Upkeep | Pruning, and clearing pests and blight |
| Yields | Crops, seeds and rare byproducts |
| Supplies | Cooking and alchemy |
| Related | Gathering, the wild equivalent |
Farming is the cultivation of Black Desert, a life skill in which an adventurer fences off a patch of ground anywhere in the world, plants it, tends it and harvests what grows.
It is the only life skill that puts a permanent structure into the landscape. A garden sits where its owner put it, and the choice of ground is a real decision, because climate and temperature suit some crops and ruin others.
Farming exists mostly to feed other skills. Its crops are the raw material of cooking and much of alchemy, so a farmer is usually supplying their own kitchen or someone else's.
1 Fences and gardens✎
Fences cannot be bought. They are rented from an NPC against Contribution Points, which are returned when the fence is given back, so a garden costs an adventurer capacity rather than silver.
Each fence carries a garden usage figure that sets how many crop slots it supports, and an adventurer running several fences is spending a substantial share of their contribution on farming alone. Where the fence is placed matters as much as how large it is, since crops grow at different rates depending on the conditions of the ground under them.
Spacing matters too. Seeds crowded together grow more slowly than seeds given room, so a garden that looks efficient can be producing less than a sparser one.
2 Tending✎
A planted garden is not left alone. Weeds and pests appear over time as blight, and an infested crop grows markedly more slowly until the problem is cleared.
Pruning and killing pests are the two maintenance actions, and both grant farming experience, which means the upkeep is also how the skill advances. Pruning returns items of its own, and what it yields improves as the farmer becomes more skilled.
3 Harvest and breeding✎
A crop that reaches full growth can be taken in two ways. Harvesting returns the crop itself along with occasional rarities such as Monk's Branch, the Fruit of Nature and the Fruit of the Sun, which are worth more than the ordinary yield.
Breeding is the alternative. Instead of taking the crop, the farmer breeds it for seed, and the result can be several seeds of the same grade or of a better one. A farmer who breeds consistently upgrades their own seed stock over time rather than buying it, which is what separates a self-sustaining garden from one that needs restocking.