# High Barley — Turn 006 (Late winter, Year 1) Plan

### 1. Kidding Season, Herd Protection, and Fodder Discipline (Osa)
Late winter brings the most demanding phase of our winter livestock management as expectant does begin kidding. Protecting newborn kids and nursing mothers is vital for High Barley's flock expansion and spring recovery:
- **Maternity Pens & Thermal Protection:** Osa will partition the warmest, most draft-free sections of the dry-stone pens into individual kidding bays. These will be deeply bedded with clean, dry barley straw and shielded by woven heather hurdles. Herd hands will maintain night vigils to assist difficult deliveries, immediately dry newborn kids with coarse wool cloths, and ensure every kid receives maternal colostrum within hours of birth.
- **Nursing Rations & Hydration:** Nursing does will receive supplemental daily nourishment: prime dried meadow hay, reserved leafy browse, and measured rations of barley chaff and legume pods. Sea-salt licks from Ternhaven will be kept fresh to encourage vigorous drinking. Drinking water will be hauled down from the spring and warmed over longhouse embers before being offered to the does twice daily, preventing chills.
- **Predator Safeguards:** The scent of kidding in late winter draws hungry upland predators down from the heights. Pen gates will be reinforced with double timber bars every dusk. Herd hands will maintain two elevated watch braziers fueled by coastal fish tallow and dry peat, deterring wolves or mountain prowlers. Herd dogs and rotating night guards will keep constant watch over the pen perimeter.
- **Milk Allocation & Manure Accumulation:** Surplus milk beyond the needs of nursing kids will be collected and directed to Cal for nourishing sick villagers, weanlings, and elderly dependents. Soiled straw and dung will be mucked out regularly into covered, banked manure heaps near the garden edges, beginning the hot decomposition process to produce rich compost for spring field dressing.

### 2. The Granary Hold, Ration Discipline, and Seed Inviolability (Leth & Beren)
Late winter is traditionally the leanest, most precarious month before spring greens appear. Our disciplined rationing must not slacken:
- **Holding the 25% Reserve:** Leth will continue issuing daily grain, bean, and dried root rations strictly according to the winter audit schedule. Under no circumstance will the 25% safety reserve be tapped; it remains our vital insurance against late frosts, cold spring planting delays, or erratic weather.
- **Seed Grain Sealed:** Beren’s custody of prime seed grain on the dry upper racks remains total and inviolable. Seed sacks remain tied and sealed under custodial oath, forbidden from being ground, traded, or consumed.
- **Storage Hygiene & Thaw Monitoring:** As outdoor temperatures fluctuate between bitter cold and brief midday sun, Leth will inspect the lower store bay twice weekly for condensation. Any sack showing surface dampness will be moved to the ventilated wool loft hurdles to air out. Rodent traps will be continuously serviced to ensure pests do not infiltrate our stores.
- **Agricultural Implement Readiness:** With spring approaching, Beren and field steward Hesta will organize work crews around longhouse hearths to complete the refurbishment of all farming gear: re-binding handles, sharpening sickle blades and hoes on whetstones, oiling iron edges with fish tallow, and assembling lightweight wooden scratch harrows to break ground the moment soil thaws.

### 3. Longhouse Health, Hearth Discipline, and the Covered Bowl (Cal)
Enclosed living into the final stretch of winter tests village endurance. We will maintain sanitary discipline, restorative care, and communal harmony:
- **Ventilation & Hearth Safety:** Longhouse baffles will be opened briefly during clear, peak-noon hours to clear lingering woodsmoke and stale air. Hearths will be swept clean of loose kindling, and ash pans emptied safely into stone pits away from dry structures.
- **Spring Water Hygiene & Winter Tonics:** Jun and our hauling crews will keep the uphill springhead chipped clear of surface ice. All drinking and cooking water will continue to be brought to a rolling boil. Cal will supervise the daily brewing of restorative tonics using dried mint, steeped willow bark, and fresh evergreen pine needles, preventing late-winter scurvy, fevers, and respiratory sickness.
- **Care Rota & Kidding Relief:** Cal’s rota will balance household duties with kidding demands. Caregivers assisting Osa’s night vigils in the kidding pens will be granted scheduled daytime rest in the warmest longhouses. Indoor labor will focus on finishing winter tasks: repairing leather boots, mending working clothes, and weaving baskets for spring sowing.
- **The Covered Bowl & Community Fellowship:** The solemn ritual of the nightly covered bowl will be observed without exception. The first bowl of evening stew and goat milk will be witnessed and carried to caregivers, sickbeds, and elderly villagers. Evening storytelling, riddles, and songs will continue around communal fires, fostering unity and dispelling winter gloom across all 153 souls.

### 4. The Fourth Ford Exchange & Thaw Monitoring (Jun & Del)
Our reciprocal trade with Ternhaven remains a pillar of High Barley’s resilience, but late-winter thaw introduces treacherous river conditions:
- **Thaw Spate & Ice Watch:** As late winter snowpack begins patchy melting and refreezing, stream levels can rise violently or choke on shifting ice slabs. Jun will maintain continuous observation at the stone water gauge. If water levels exceed safe marks or slush dams make the stepping stones perilous, Jun will hoist the red signal pennant at our trade cairn. High Barley will wait for a verified low-water window before attempting trade; no villager will risk crossing in swift, freezing currents.
- **The Trade Parley:** When safe, low-water conditions prevail, Jun will kindle a welcoming peat fire in the dry-stone lean-to on our western bank:
  - *Goods Offered:* Densely fulled woolen wear (socks, mittens, heavy hoods, and grease-treated cloaks), dried medicinal herbs (willow bark, mint, coltsfoot), carved wooden trenchers and spoons, and a modest, budgeted allotment of consumption barley.
  - *Goods Requested:* Hardwood-smoked sea-fish fillets, coarse clean sea-salt, and seal/fish tallow for lamps, harness greasing, and waterproofing.
- **Coastal Intelligence & Spring Projections:** Across the stream boundary, I will confer with Del and Seli regarding coastal ice melt, the timing of early spring coastal fish runs (herring or cod), and whether Ternhaven’s boats have spotted any unusual sea traffic along the outer sound. We will discuss establishing regular, expanded spring trade once the trails dry. The stream boundary will remain strictly uncrossed.

### 5. Trail Watchfulness, Perimeter Defense, and Refuge Protocol (Jun & Osa)
While our attention turns toward spring, vigilance over our approaches must not falter:
- **The Northwest Ridge Trail:** Late-winter thaw makes high mountain passes prone to snow cornices, hidden crevasses, and wet snow slides. High Barley will strictly forbid any exploratory ventures over the ridge. Osa and her crew will maintain passive, elevated observation from the upper pens, watching for tracks, smoke, or game movements.
- **Refuge Protocol Maintained:** If wanderers or hunters descend from the frozen pass seeking succor, our lookouts will challenge them calmly from cover. If peaceful and in distress, they will be escorted strictly into the secure gate outbuilding, provided with warmth, hot broth, and shelter under guard while their background and intentions are evaluated. No unvetted strangers will enter our longhouses or granaries.
- **Eastern Approach:** Jun’s watch at the ford will ensure the alder trail is monitored daily against unauthorized crossings.

### 6. Personal Leadership & Oversight
Throughout late winter, I will:
- Assist Osa in the kidding pens during critical overnight deliveries, demonstrating practical solidarity with our herd handlers;
- Join Leth and Beren for weekly granary sweeps, ensuring our 25% ration reserve and seed stocks remain undisturbed;
- Lead the parley at the stream ford with Del and Jun, solidifying our partnership with Ternhaven as spring approaches;
- Make daily rounds among the five longhouses with Cal, checking on vulnerable elders, supporting caregivers, and preparing the village spirit for the hard outdoor labors of early spring planting.