Circles of big stones like Stonehenge were built so that the
sun's position with respect to the stones would indicate the day
of longest sunlight and the day of shortest sunlight. Between
these days there was an optimum time to harvest the crops before
fall, when plants dried up and leaves fell from the trees. The
winter solstice, when the days began to get longer was cause for
celebration. In the next season, there was an optimum time to
plant seeds so they could spring up from the ground as new
growth. So farming gave rise to the concept of a year.

There were settlements near rivers. Each settlement had a meadow,
for the mowing of hay, and a mill, with wooden huts of families
clustered nearby. Grain was stored in pits in the earth. Each hut
had a garden for fruit and vegetables. A goat or cow might be
tied out of reach of the garden. There was a fence or hedge
surrounding and protecting the garden area and dwelling. Outside
the fence were an acre or two of fields of wheat and barley, and
sometimes oats and rye. These were usually enclosed with a hedge
to keep animals from eating the crop. Flax was grown and made
into linen cloth. Beyond the fields were pastures for cattle and
sheep grazing. There was often an area for beehives.

Crops were produced with the open field system. In this system,
there were three large fields each divided into long and narrow
strips. Each strip represented a day's work with the plough. One
field had wheat, or perhaps rye, another had barley, oats, beans,
or peas, and the third was fallow. These were rotated yearly.
Each free man was allotted certain strips in each field to bear
crops. His strips were far from each other, which insured some
very fertile and some only fair soil, and some land near his