The Grange

Approximately 1,000 acres to the east and southeast of Vickery have been set aside as government tax farms. Traditionally these are leased to speculating farm managers who then rent the farms to poor farmers. The farm managers pay the taxes on the land and make a profit from the sales of the farm produce. The farmers themselves live off the rest. In order to improve efficiency, these tax farms are worked collectively by the local farmers, and the division of labor, along with details like crop distributions and rotations, are decided by the Grange Council made up of the farm managers.

The Grange in Vickery is unusual due to the influence of the ODF Community Fund. The fund has allowed a large percentage of the families that would have ended up as rent farmers to lease their plots directly from Arde's administration. At present, the Grange Council is preparing to work 180 twenty-acre plots in the spring. Of those 180 plots, 115 of them are leased by the families that will be working them directly, 25 have been leased by distant businessmen (who are paying Arde to look after thier interests), 30 have been leased by the DMO, and the remaining 10 have been leased by the twins.