How do I place farm plots?

[THE BONES!!!]

In free DF, you could put them down as long as the tile was damp iirc, but this version is telling me i need mud. what is the easiest way to get mud?
i do not have a close enough local water source to mine into to flood my farming plot, sadly

[Teemo]

You can create an artificial pond with your dwarves for them to haul water over to the area you want to farm, then release the water over your farming area.

Alternately you can farm anywhere that is soil, so look around the various Z levels for one that has soil and dig into that level.

[THE BONES!!!]

Originally posted by Teemo:

You can create an artificial pond with your dwarves for them to haul water over to the area you want to farm, then release the water over your farming area.

that sounds like a good idea! now what menu would that be in to get them to do that? would it be under labors?

[Graygan]

Underground? Flood the room, let it dry. I recommend not engraving the stone floors of the room before you flood it as the engravings will be destroyed when it turns to mud... at least that's the way it used to be.

Above ground, gotta find soil as opposed to rock, mud, or sand. If there's a plant growing on it, it's soil underneath.

[BlackSmokeDMax]

What Teemo said..

To add to that, the best soil for farming is in the caverns. Believe that cavern soil being the best is a new mechanic starting with this version (will also be true in classic DF when updated)

[Graygan]

Originally posted by Teemo:

You can create an artificial pond with your dwarves for them to haul water over to the area you want to farm, then release the water over your farming area.

Alternately you can farm anywhere that is soil, so look around the various Z levels for one that has soil and dig into that level.

I prefer setting up a simple flooding mechanism and flood the massive farm area I set up before hand... Then lock it and forget it.

Third alternative is to find soil that goes one level deep and farm there... but that can be hard to locate in rocky/mountainous areas.

[McFuzz]

You can still just build it in a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ spot like silty clay loam. Just more of a temporary thing til you get a good cavern farm going.

[THE BONES!!!]

Originally posted by BlackSmokeDMax:

What Teemo said..

thats a lot easier said than done. What menus would this be under? labors? my problem now is moreso navigating the menus to have my dwarves flood the area with buckets..

[Sledge Hammer]

It is the same as original DF. Mud is just wat is left over after water evaporates. Or you find soil as the person before recommended.
I often build very long hallways to the water source to divert some of the water I need.
Its a fun first engineering project with the floodgates and hatches and levers.

[BlackSmokeDMax]

Originally posted by THE BONES!!!:

Originally posted by BlackSmokeDMax:

What Teemo said..

thats a lot easier said than done. What menus would this be under? labors? my problem now is moreso navigating the menus to have my dwarves flood the area with buckets..

Sorry, I was mostly saying "what Teemo said" to the second part of the post. Flooding is definitely more of an advanced thing to get done. Much easier to find any type of soil (btw, sand works!) or dig to the cavern and farm there. But of course opening the caverns has its own dangers!

[Teemo]

Originally posted by THE BONES!!!:

Originally posted by Sledge Hammer:

It is the same as original DF. Mud is just wat is left over after water evaporates. Or you find soil as the person before recommended.
I often build very long hallways to the water source to divert some of the water I need.
Its a fun first engineering project with the floodgates and hatches and levers.

i never had my dwarves flood areas in original DF, the ground was either already fertile, or i did exactly what you said. however, as said in my OP, i do not have access to a waters source where my farm is, thus meaning i have to use buckets to drop the water on the plot

what menu option is it to have my dwarves haul water buckets omfg people plz

It's under the zones menu, Pit/Pond to turn the area you want your dwarves to haul water to, remember they need buckets to do this task.

[Sledge Hammer]

This 5min video tutorial by Blind explains it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVTqxqeV_JU