The area inside the corner at the south end of the layout was originally conceived as “the place to put your tea.” The idea was unpopular with the real model railroaders out there who universally proclaimed food and beverages should not be on the layout. Nobody would listen to my protests that “the place to put your tea” was not layout, but furniture. To them, if there is track nearby, then the table is layout.
Well, as it happens, the place to put your tea is too high to use for its named purpose, and I’ve since built my standing desk, which is much more suitable. So, it’s going to be a hay field, and my initial intention was to simply plant grass where the tea service would have been.
I was getting ready to build the boundary fence when I considered that billiard table of flat plywood. A layer of grass was hardly going to turn it into a field. So before starting, I glued some scraps of wood to the surface. While I was in the terraforming mood, I also styrofoamed in the adjacent space in front of the turntable, still open to the office below.
I filled in with drywall mud and ground goop to make all the shapes a little more natural. It may still be a very flat field, but at least it is no longer a place to put your tea.
Pembroke:87 
A wheat field c.1905 is quite a bit different from what we see driving through farm country today. Could be interesting to think about what type of wheat, and what stage the field would be in the growth cycle at your modelled season. I’m forgetting what season you model. I think the trickiest element is the sense of order and straighter fibres – not exactly comparable to what static grass normally produces. That may call for different materials, or (my thinking) different methods.
Yes, I’ve been wondering what a hay field would have looked like, too, as that’s what I’m modelling. Might there be room for wheat too?
Hay, right. I caught a mental image and ran away with it. Hay presents similar considerations though. For example, around here the hay is already cut and bailed in June. I can’t recall if they have a second cutting season . . . and no idea what the practices were like 120 years ago. Should be a fun scene whatever is growing in the field.
Now all you need is a herd of sheep and a border collie or two.