# High Barley — Turn 001 (Y01-M07) Plan

### 1. Care Rota, Social Balance, and the Covered Bowl (Cal & Hesta)
The harvest cannot be won at the expense of our dependents or the exhaustion of our caregivers. In consultation with Hesta and Cal, we reaffirm that care work is foundational village labor:
- **Protecting Caregivers:** Cal’s rota is formally established and protected. Caregivers who have carried unbroken burdens are scheduled for immediate relief and rotation. They will not be counted twice or pressured into the field.
- **Communal Child and Elder Care:** Dependents will be gathered in central, sheltered household spaces during peak working hours so fewer adults can watch over them safely together. This frees up only those who voluntarily wish and feel fit to undertake light harvest tasks (sorting, binding, or tending drying cloths near the houses).
- **The Covered Bowl:** We strictly observe the traditional covered bowl at every evening meal, witnessing and honoring those who remained in the village tending the young, old, and weary before any grain is stored or distributed.

### 2. Storehouse Salvage and Loft Preparation (Leth & Beren)
Before new grain arrives to crowd our floor space, we must secure our existing stock and expand dry capacity:
- **Lower Store Bay Inspection:** Join Leth immediately to inspect the lower bay. Move the dark-patched sack and neighboring bags into the light. Separate damp or suspect grain from sound stock. Grain that is salvageable but damp will be spread thin to dry for immediate daily consumption; any genuinely spoiled or moldy material will be removed and composted away from storehouse and livestock.
- **Preventing Rising Damp:** Clean the bay floor and install raised wooden dunnage, timber poles, or dry brush platforms to ensure no sack sits directly on damp earth or stone.
- **Wool Loft Conversion:** Direct Beren to clear the disused wool loft and construct raised drying hurdles using timber slats and wicker frames. Keep the loft well-ventilated through eave openings and louvers, catching cross-breezes while shielding it from driving rain.
- **Seed Grain Protection:** Beren will store the prime seed grain separately in the driest upper racks, clearly marked and strictly off-limits for winter rations.

### 3. Harvest Pacing and Goat Hauling (Hesta, Beren, & Osa)
We will not rush cutting beyond our ability to dry and preserve the crop. A secure, mold-free harvest is far better than a swollen crop that rots under damp covers:
- **Weather-Paced Cutting:** Hesta will direct cutting strictly during dry intervals, pacing the harvest rate to match our daily hauling and drying throughput.
- **Goat Hauling:** Osa will organize the pack goats with hauling frames to carry cut sheaves and grain baskets from field margins up to the village yard. This eliminates the need to press exhausted caregivers into heavy hauling and keeps our able-bodied field workers focused on sickle work and binding.
- **Threshing & Curing:** Grain brought to the yard will be threshed on dry cloths during clear hours or moved onto the new hurdles in the wool loft to cure under cover. Sheaves will not be left sitting exposed on damp ground outside the storehouse.
- **Shelter Maintenance:** Perform quick thatch and pitch patching on minor eave leaks across dwellings and storage spaces before mid-autumn rains set in.

### 4. Vigilance and External Restraint (Jun & Osa)
With our hands fully committed to the harvest, we avoid outward expeditions:
- **The East Descent & Smoke:** Jun will monitor the spring and ford, keeping daily watch on water levels and noting any developments regarding the coastal smoke, bell, or gulls. We will **not** send an expedition down to the lower meadow or coast this month; first contact can wait until our winter stores are secured.
- **The Northwest Trail:** Osa will keep watch for further pack impressions along the ridge while grazing goats, ensuring we have advance warning of any approaches toward our shelf without sending scouts beyond our mapped paths. If strangers appear, they are to be observed from cover and reported directly to me before any approach is made.

### 5. Personal Presence and Coordination
I will divide my personal time between the storehouse with Leth, the loft conversion with Beren, and hauling coordination with Osa and Hesta. By working alongside the teams on practical bottlenecks—dunnage, hurdles, and pack shifts—I will keep direct oversight on our food stores while demonstrating that leadership carries its share of the harvest burden.