So all of this comes down to personal preference. I don't hand wave it, but a lot of my world does rely on low level magic. I think of it this way: most magic is actually not "combat magic" that PCs specialize in. I mean, yes, you can use a tank to plow fields, but it's not exactly the most efficient way of doing things.
Instead, most people rely on slow-to-cast-but-useful low level spells and that goes for agriculture as well. So the local nature priest blesses the fields, calls for rain when there's a drought, magically enhances crops, grain is protected against spoilage and so on. People can get as good or better yields than we do with modern magic. Add in magic to help with the planting and harvesting, and you need less acreage than was traditionally required. Dwarves and other races that live underground use continual flame spells to provide light for crops. Given complete control over the environment they can grow multiple crops per year on relatively small plots of land. Every scrap of old food, all waste, even the dead get turned in to mulch and fertilizer for the fields.
Most of this is incredibly subtle and if you didn't know it was happening you might not realize it. After all you might not realize that the rain just happened to hold off long enough to get the crops planted and then rain just enough to get them started. It happens now and then it's just a lucky coincidence. Except that it happens pretty much every year. In a similar way, fishermen just happen to find the best fishing spots and they generally come home with nets fuller then we would expect in the normal world. But people in the world just accept it as normal.
So if there is a period of drought or a blight or animals getting sick, in all likelihood there is a supernatural explanation.
There are things that go bump in the night however, along with monsters that think that farmer would make a juicy snack. So in dangerous areas very few people live in isolated homesteads and instead cluster in small hamlets with at least a wooden palisade for protection. In addition to ways to call for help - whether someone that can use a more limited version of animal messenger or a sending stone - the people are reasonably capable of defending themselves for a short period of time against the most common threats. Pretty much everyone is trained to use simple weapons such as slings (which are more deadly than people give them credit for), bows and spears. When things get too dangerous or the threat is too great, that's when adventurers are called in.
In addition, in my current campaign things are significantly more dangerous than "normal" because of events in previous campaigns so a fair percentage of the work force in the most dangerous areas are there paying off a debt or have been convicted of crimes.
Instead, most people rely on slow-to-cast-but-useful low level spells and that goes for agriculture as well. So the local nature priest blesses the fields, calls for rain when there's a drought, magically enhances crops, grain is protected against spoilage and so on. People can get as good or better yields than we do with modern magic. Add in magic to help with the planting and harvesting, and you need less acreage than was traditionally required. Dwarves and other races that live underground use continual flame spells to provide light for crops. Given complete control over the environment they can grow multiple crops per year on relatively small plots of land. Every scrap of old food, all waste, even the dead get turned in to mulch and fertilizer for the fields.
Most of this is incredibly subtle and if you didn't know it was happening you might not realize it. After all you might not realize that the rain just happened to hold off long enough to get the crops planted and then rain just enough to get them started. It happens now and then it's just a lucky coincidence. Except that it happens pretty much every year. In a similar way, fishermen just happen to find the best fishing spots and they generally come home with nets fuller then we would expect in the normal world. But people in the world just accept it as normal.
So if there is a period of drought or a blight or animals getting sick, in all likelihood there is a supernatural explanation.
There are things that go bump in the night however, along with monsters that think that farmer would make a juicy snack. So in dangerous areas very few people live in isolated homesteads and instead cluster in small hamlets with at least a wooden palisade for protection. In addition to ways to call for help - whether someone that can use a more limited version of animal messenger or a sending stone - the people are reasonably capable of defending themselves for a short period of time against the most common threats. Pretty much everyone is trained to use simple weapons such as slings (which are more deadly than people give them credit for), bows and spears. When things get too dangerous or the threat is too great, that's when adventurers are called in.
In addition, in my current campaign things are significantly more dangerous than "normal" because of events in previous campaigns so a fair percentage of the work force in the most dangerous areas are there paying off a debt or have been convicted of crimes.
