Turn 003 · Ternhaven — Result

The Ford Exchange with High Barley

Del and Seli led Ternhaven's four-person party along the alder path to the stream ford cairn. At the water's edge, ford watcher Jun hailed the delegation, and High Barley's leader and elders came down to meet them beside their newly erected trade lean-to. High Barley received the delegation courteously and presented a return hospitality gift of warm wool cloth, fresh barley loaves, and dried mint.

Across the flat stepping stones, the two groups carried out a successful trial barter without setting foot past the boundary. Ternhaven traded coastal sea-salt and smoked fish in exchange for upland barley grain, heavy woven wool blankets, and dried medicinal herbs. Del and High Barley's leadership formally agreed to establish a regular monthly Ford Exchange at the cairn on low-water days, maintaining peaceful commerce while strictly honoring the mutual boundary against uninvited entry into either settlement.

Landing Hall Winterization and Hearth Safety

At the landing, Wen oversaw the construction and mounting of adjustable wattled smoke louvers beneath the hall's roof vents. These baffles successfully vent heavy curing smoke outside while holding heat near the floor, leaving the hall warm, dry, and breathable.

Around the exterior, work crews banked earth and dense reed screening against the windward walls and fitted weighted baffles at the doorways to stop draft leaks. Wen also established three-foot gravel firebreaks and ready water buckets around all hearth pits, ensuring firewood is safely pre-dried indoors away from open flame. The diversion ditches uphill from the fresh-water wellhead remain open and clear, protecting the drinking supply from late-autumn mud and runoff.

Craft Haul-Out and Shore Foraging

With late-autumn winds rising and rough swells pressing the outer bar, Kiri and Ruan directed the haul-out of both fishing boats onto the high inner beach. The craft were winched onto greased timber skids well above the storm-tide line. Kiri treated and pitched the seams with tallow and resin to seal the hulls, after which both boats were lashed down firmly beneath thatched hurdle covers to shield the timbers from frost splitting.

With boat fishing suspended, shore crews turned to low spring tides along the inner rocky shoreline and gravel beds, gathering limpets, mussels, and kelp to provide fresh food without risking craft beyond the sheltered inlet.

Storehouse Audit and Winter Rationing

Ves completed an itemized inventory of all stored winter provisions, incorporating the newly bartered upland grain alongside sacks of meal, cured roots, salt crocks, and bundles of dried fish. Based on this tally, Ves established a measured daily rationing schedule calculated to sustain the settlement's 150 people through the dark months. Dunnage inspections and sack rotations continue twice weekly to ensure dampness does not settle against walls or beneath the bottom timber layers.

Immediate Pressures and Open Questions

• Winter Weather and the Alder Path: With winter frost, snow, and shortened days arriving, keeping the alder path passable to the stream ford will become increasingly arduous, leaving the timing of the next monthly Ford Exchange dependent on trail conditions and low stream water.
• Reliance on Preserved Stores: With both fishing boats hauled and thatched on the beach until spring, the settlement is now entirely committed to Ves’s winter rationing baseline, supplemented only by low-tide shellfish gathering and seasoned firewood reserves.
• Border Relations: While trade across the stepping stones proved peaceful and fruitful, High Barley remains firm on maintaining the stream cairn as a strict boundary, leaving future barter confined entirely to the water's edge.