# High Barley — Turn 005 (Midwinter, Year 1) Plan

### 1. Longhouse Health, Hearth Discipline, and Morale (Cal & Village)
With midwinter bringing the shortest days and deepest cold, all 153 souls remain clustered within our five warmest longhouses. Enclosed living preserves fuel and body warmth, but demands unyielding attention to hygiene, air quality, and social harmony:
- **Ventilation & Air Quality:** On calm, clear midday hours when outdoor temperatures peak, unfasten doorway baffles and eave vents for brief, controlled intervals to flush stale air and accumulated woodsmoke without chilling the central stones. Ash pits will be shoveled out regularly into metal pans and dry stone buckets, and stone hearth borders will be kept swept clean of stray rushes or straw to eliminate fire hazards.
- **Water Hygiene & Winter Tonics:** Jun will ensure the uphill springhead remains free of ice, drifted snow, and surface runoff. All drinking water must be brought down on sled runners and boiled vigorously over communal hearths before use. Cal will supervise the brewing of daily medicinal herbal pots using our dried summer mint, willow bark, and freshly gathered green pine needles (steeped for restorative teas to ward off scurvy, winter coughs, and lethargy).
- **Indoor Industry & Hearth Crafts:** Keep hands and minds purposeful during the long, dark hours. Cal’s rota will rotate communal indoor labor: spinning sheep and goat wool into durable yarn, weaving coarse twill blankets on upright warp-weighted looms, greasing leather harnesses and boots with coastal fish tallow, and carving replacement wooden spoons, bowls, and tool handles. 
- **The Covered Bowl & Evening Fellowship:** To counteract cabin fever and winter brooding, evenings around the shared hearths will feature organized storytelling, singing, and riddles. At every shared evening meal, the covered bowl will be formally witnessed and served first to those attending infants, sickbeds, and elderly relatives, reaffirming our mutual obligation and keeping community cohesion unbroken.

### 2. Food Rationing, Storehouse Defense, and Seed Inviolability (Leth & Beren)
Midwinter is the midpoint of the lean season; we must maintain rigorous accounting of every sack and basket:
- **Ration Adherence:** Leth will distribute daily grain, bean, and dried root rations strictly according to the conservative schedule established during our early winter audit. The 25% safety reserve remains inviolable, held in reserve against potential late-spring frosts or planting disruptions.
- **Granary Sweeps & Moisture Defense:** Twice weekly, Leth and I will inspect the lower store bay. Turn sacks on the raised timber dunnage to prevent cold condensation pockets from settling. If any sack feels chilled or damp along its underside, it will be brought immediately to the ventilated wool loft hurdles to air. Rodent traps will be rebaited and checked daily to ensure our winter quiet is not exploited by pests.
- **Seed Custody & Spring Tool Preparation:** Beren’s seed grain on the dry upper racks remains locked and sealed under custodial oath. Alongside Hesta, Beren will lead a work party around the longhouse hearths to inspect, clean, and sharpen all agricultural implements: repairing sickle teeth, re-hafting spades and mattocks, and assembling wooden harrowing frames so that High Barley is fully prepared to enter the fields the moment the ground thaws.

### 3. Goat Husbandry, Gestation Care, and Snow Hauling (Osa)
Our livestock are vital to our mountain economy, requiring diligent care through the bitterest frosts:
- **Pen Management & Insulation:** Osa and the herd hands will maintain thick, dry straw bedding across the sheltered dry-stone pens, turning and refreshing it frequently to ensure hooves remain dry and free from foot rot. Heather hurdle baffles will be inspected and braced against prevailing winter gales.
- **Fodder & Hydration:** Goats will receive measured daily allocations of dried alder browse, meadow hay, and coarse straw. Sea-salt licks from Ternhaven will be kept accessible in every pen to stimulate proper water consumption. Troughs will be chipped clear of ice twice daily, and watered with warmed water drawn from the longhouse cauldrons to prevent thermal shock in the herd.
- **Care for Expectant Does:** Osa will closely monitor does carrying young. Expectant mothers will be penned in the warmest, draft-free shelter corner, bedded with extra straw, and provided with supplemental barley chaff and dried legume tops to support healthy embryonic development ahead of late-winter kidding.
- **Sled Transport:** Osa’s runner-equipped sledges and travois will continue handling all heavy camp logistics—shifting dry peat blocks, cordwood, and water vessels across the snowpack smoothly, avoiding physical exhaustion for our hauling crews.

### 4. The Midwinter Ford Exchange & Coastal Diplomacy (Jun & Del)
The connection with Ternhaven has enriched our winter diet and strengthened our resilience. We will approach the midwinter exchange with patience, placing human safety above all:
- **Stream Conditions & Safety Gauge:** Jun will monitor the stream ford daily, observing water height, anchor ice, and slush jams. Midwinter runoff can turn stepping stones into treacherous ice traps or create sudden freeze-thaw spates. 
- **The Protocol of the Red Pennant:** If the stream is choked with dangerous slush ice or running dangerously high, Jun will keep the red signal pennant raised at our bank’s stone cairn, signaling that High Barley will not attempt a crossing until a stable, low-water window or safe ice bridge forms. No villager will step into freezing, swift water under any circumstance.
- **Conducting the Exchange:** When weather and water permit a safe crossing:
  - Jun will rekindle the hearth in the dry-stone lean-to on our bank, providing hot herb tea and shelter across the water.
  - When Del, Seli, and their delegation arrive along the alder trail, we will conduct the barter across the designated stepping stones, strictly preserving our stream boundary.
  - *Goods Offered:* Warm winter textiles produced during our indoor spinning (thick wool stockings, heavy mittens, lanolin-rich cloaks), dried medicinal willow bark and mint, and a modest, budgeted allotment of barley grain.
  - *Goods Requested:* Additional smoked fish (to supply essential animal protein and fats during the coldest stretch), coarse sea-salt, and seal or fish oil/tallow for lamps and leather treatment.
- **Coastal Inquiries:** Over the crossing, I will confer with Del regarding the severity of coastal storms, whether the sound has formed dependable bay ice, and whether their scouts or fishermen have observed any unfamiliar sails, travelers, or coastal movements.

### 5. Ridge Watch, Perimeter Security, and Refuge Protocol (Osa & Jun)
While deep winter suppresses major military or travel movements, winter hunger can drive wildlife or desperate wanderers toward settled hearths:
- **Northwest Trail Watch:** Osa and her herd hands will keep continuous, passive observation of the snowbound northwest ridge pass from the elevation of the upper pens. We will watch for wolf or predator packs drawn down by mountain game, as well as any human tracks. High Barley will dispatch no expeditions into the frozen ridge pass.
- **Predator Safeguards:** Pen gates will be doubly barred each evening, and watch lanterns (burning modest fish oil) will be placed to deter night prowlers near the livestock pens.
- **Cold-Weather Refuge Contingency:** If starving or frostbitten wanderers descend the northwest trail, our lookouts will challenge them calmly from the safety of the upper yard. If unarmed and in distress, they will not be admitted into the communal longhouses, but instead guided into the isolated dry outbuilding near the yard gate. We will provide hot broth, boiled water, and a peat fire while maintaining a rotating guard, treating them with humanitarian decency while thoroughly vetting their identity, origin, and intentions before allowing any further contact.

### 6. Personal Leadership & Oversight
Throughout the depths of midwinter, my duties will focus on maintaining village stability and trust:
- **Daily Hearth Rounds:** Spend dedicated time each day in each of the five longhouses, sitting with families, assessing the mood, mediating any minor frictions before they fester, and ensuring sick or weary villagers receive prompt care under Cal’s rota.
- **Storehouse & Herd Audits:** Accompany Leth through the storehouse bi-weekly to confirm sack dunnage is dry, and inspect the goat pens with Osa to evaluate the condition of the expectant does.
- **Leading the Ford Delegation:** Join Jun at the stream crossing whenever conditions allow the parley with Del, maintaining a steady, dignified presence that projects warmth, reliability, and careful vigilance to our coastal trading partners.