The agricultural zone is the largest part of a settlement of 150 people: about 30-40 hectares of cropland, 10-20 hectares of pasture and 2-5 hectares of gardens, 42-65 hectares in all. It surrounds the housing, with intensive gardens nearest the homes because they need daily tending, field crops further out for weekly work, and pasture at the edge.
Part of Settlement Layout for 150 People
The agricultural zone is the land devoted to food and fodder, laid out in rings by how often each use needs a person’s attention.
Visit Frequency Orders The Rings
The principle is simple: the more often a plot needs a person, the closer it sits. Gardens are tended daily, so they go beside the homes. Field crops are worked at intervals of about a week, so they go outside the gardens. Pasture needs only a check, so it goes at the periphery. Orchards are integrated along paths and boundaries rather than given a block.
The figures are the layout guide’s (30-40 ha of cropland, 10-20 ha of pasture, 2-5 ha of gardens), and it says cropland depends on climate and crop. Treat them as a planning starting point and compare them with a measured yield (Farming Basics).
Worked Example: How Far Away Is The Edge?
Inputs: total area 42-65 ha (30 + 10 + 2 = 42 ha, 40 + 20 + 5 = 65 ha); 1 ha = 10,000 m².
- Area in square metres: 42 ha = 420,000 m²; 65 ha = 650,000 m².
- If the zone were one disc around the settlement, radius = √(area ÷ π): √(420,000 ÷ 3.14) ≈ √133,700 ≈ 366 m; √(650,000 ÷ 3.14) ≈ √207,000 ≈ 455 m.
- At an assumed 5 km/h, about 83 m a minute, the edge is roughly 4.4-5.5 minutes’ walk from the centre.
This is a simplification: the housing itself takes land out of the disc, and real plots are irregular. It shows the zone is a walk of some minutes, not a half-day, which is what the ring order depends on. The area per person is 42-65 ha ÷ 150 = 0.28-0.43 ha.
Method: Lay Out The Zone
Step 1: Mark flood and frost. Keep homes and barns off the valley floor; fields on flat low ground tolerate occasional flooding better than houses do (Slope and Drainage Assessment).
Step 2: Place the barns between the housing and the pasture, downwind and downhill of the homes and close enough for daily milking and egg collection but not beside sleeping areas (Barn and Livestock Housing).
Step 3: Drain the fields to ditches that do not pass through the residential zone (Surface Drainage).
Step 4: Keep manure downhill, and 30 m from any water source (Manure Management).
Common Mistakes
- Fields on all four sides — the settlement cannot grow without moving farms; see Expansion Corridors.
- Permanent orchards and fences across the growth side — hard to move later.
- Haystacks beside houses — damp hay can self-heat; keep hay and other fodder stores at least 10 m from any building, the fire guide’s figure for fuel storage.
Safety
Manure pits and livestock runoff
Never enter a manure pit; it can hold gas that kills in minutes. Runoff from pens carries pathogens: keep it downhill of every well and spring.
What’s Next
- Learn next: Storage and Utility Zone — where the harvest is kept
- Combine with: Expansion Corridors — leaving room for fields to move