Teres

... Doughlass, farmhouses are not farms. The farm proper is the land being used for farming plus the agricultural structures. The farmhouse is really just a convenience - my family used to live in a farmhouse we were renting from the farmer, and his plan for after we moved out was to renovate the place and rent it out again!

SCSF: Hmmm, she does not explictly say that... Here is the quotation: "About five hundred paces away lay a small farmlet nestled in a small dip in the plains. Tidy fields and gardens surrounded a long, low stone house, its thatched roof in good repair."

Given that she says the "fields and gardens" "surround" the house, that does seem like the farm is meant to be the house... I will add that in.

'Prosaically' can be used to mean 'in a matter-of-fact way', so 'shrugged prosaically' does in fact have a useful meaning though it's not a word I'd choose.

Yes, I got that Douglass meant that she is being "matter-of-fact" about it, but that would have been better put with her walking to the larder.