Phase 01 — First days: water, fire, shelter / About year 1
01.11
Raised sleeping platforms
off the cold, wet ground
AWhat it needs
Needs 4 other products in all, 2 of them directly.
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- 01.11 Raised sleeping platformsHome Year 1 needs 4 products
- 01.05 Twisted plant-fibre cordMaking Year 1 needs 2 products
- 01.03 Sharp stone flakeMaking Year 1 needs 1 product
- 01.02 HammerstoneMaking Year 1 raw materials only
- 01.10 Lean-to sheltersHome Year 1 needs 3 products
Open a box to see what it needs. A dashed box is a product already drawn in full: click it to jump there. In the org chart, drag to move around.
BWhy
The ground draws heat out of a sleeping body all night, and after rain it is wet. A hand-span of air and a thick springy mattress under the sleeper are worth more than an extra fire.
CYou need
- Two logs as thick as a thigh and a little longer than the sleeper
- Twelve to fifteen straight cross-poles, wrist-thick and an arm and a half long
- Four short stakes
- Cord (01.05)
- Bedding: springy leafy boughs, dry bracken, dry grass. A heap as high as the waist for each bed.
DSteps
- Inside the lean-to (01.10), lay the two logs side by side, a little more than shoulder-width apart, running the same way as the back wall.
- Drive a stake against the outside of each log at both ends so they cannot roll.
- Lay the cross-poles over the logs a hand-width apart. Lash the first, the last and every third one to the logs.
- The platform should stand between a hand-span and a knee's height above the ground.
- Lay boughs on it with their cut ends pointing down toward the foot and tucked under the row above, so no stem pokes up.
- Add bracken and dry grass until the bed is as deep as a forearm. It will pack down to the thickness of a hand.
- Shake the bedding out and dry it in the sun every few days. Burn it and replace it when it turns damp or musty.
EIt worked if
- Lying on your side, your hip does not feel the poles.
- In the morning the underside of the bedding is dry.
FWhat goes wrong
- Cold from below. The bedding is too thin, or wind is blowing under the platform. Add bedding and block the windward side with a log.
- A pole rolls or snaps. It was not lashed, or it is too thin. Use wrist-thick poles and tie them.
- Biting insects in the bedding. Smoke it over the fire and change it more often.
GIn the story
After the storm, half the camp is coughing. Grace tells the council that the next thing built will be beds, before anything else at all, and no one argues. Bjorn builds hers first.
