Yes, I think, "Fyrd". See also "Leidang" or "Leidangr" - sort of conscript farmers' militia to defend, but also agressive (rustics in search of new land, you could say).
There's a couple of problems though: EV is highly cryptic and FYRD has no cryptic element to it at all!
Furthermore, I have just looked up "for" in Chambers and have found listed "in quest of".
That gives a strong case for FORD ~ but why "rustic" and why "earth"?