2026-2027 Farm Plan

Crop & Field Management Plan 2026/2027 and Rotation to 2031

Location: Toccha Comun II, Orcotuna, Concepción (Mantaro Valley, Peru) | Plot 010971 (survey sheet U-01)

Plot: 703 m² surveyed | 120 m long | 6.23 m wide (south) tapering to 5.43 m (north) | Eucalyptus on the NE side, road beyond the trees

3 m head zone + 110 m planted (four blocks of 27.5 m) + 7 m tail zone | Planted area ≈641 m² | Less the 1 m path = ≈532 m² plantable | Hand tools only after the final tractor pass on Feb 22, 2027

🗺️ Field Layout: four lanes, four blocks

The long axis runs roughly NNW–SSE, so "west" means the SW side, away from the trees, and "east" the NE tree side. The 2 m strip between the plot and the trees, the trees themselves and the road are community land. The community has agreed that we may manage the trees (including cutting them) and may use about 1 m of the strip for the shed; get that agreement recorded in the community's own records. The first plant row is about 3 m from the trees (2 m strip plus the 1 m path). A water trench between the trees and the road is not used in this plan. The strip is mostly a belt of large agaves with gaps; where trees stand closer or agaves are dense the free ground can be well under 2 m, so measure it (see Site Observations).

Four lanes run the full length: T (tomato lane, with a fixed lavender row on its west edge), R (Rudbeckia), E (Echinacea) and K (kale, on the tree side). Every lane is cut into the same four blocks of 27.5 m, A (south) to D (north). A lane/block pair is a "cell", and each cell follows its own four-year program (see Rotation). Furrows and ridges stay put; crops move between cells.

Head zone (south, 3 m): head trench 1 m with its gate at the south edge, then a 2 m flowering insectary and edible-flower strip. Short insectary patches (1 m) sit at the three block boundaries in the T and K lanes. Tail zone (north, 7 m): tail drain 1 m, three compost bays, shed and carbon store. Lane widths use the surveyed north width of 5.43 m; the label drawn on the survey sheet says 6.32 m, so confirm with the surveyor (see the separate survey note).

🔎 Site Observations (from the October 2026 seeding photos)

• River-stone soil. The seedbed is a loamy, crumbly soil full of rounded river cobbles (mostly fist-sized and smaller, a few bigger), like the other fields about a kilometer from the Mantaro. After the 40 cm plow it does not look compacted. In practice: cobbly soils usually drain fast, so test how far the first irrigation runs; compost and cover crops still matter; plant transplants with a dibble or trowel; pull the big cobbles out of the ridges and reuse them for furrow gates, path edges and bay bases; and digging Echinacea will mean working around stones. Re-check for compaction after the first rains: a spade should go in easily to 25–30 cm.
• Morning shade reaches across the whole seedbed. In the photos the eucalyptus shadows cross the full width of the plot, not just the kale lane. Trees this tall shade the plot until well into the morning, and the west lane gets full sun later than the east. Lavender is the most sun-hungry crop in the plan, so removing lower branches (crown-lifting) or taking out a few trees on the east side would help most. Afternoon light is not blocked, since the trees are on the east.
• The strip is mostly agave. A belt of large agaves runs along the base of the trees, with breaks. Measure the real distance from the plot edge to the trunks and to the agave edge every 5 m and mark the gaps; put the shed in an existing gap near the tail. Remove agaves only with the community's agreement, and do not tap them: tapping kills the plant (see the soap line box). Spiny leaves overhang the path in places, so trim them back and wear gloves and eye protection. Chop agave leaves small if you compost them; they break down slowly.
• West edge. A low bank separates the plot from the neighbor's grain stubble. There is no windbreak on that side, so wind and hail arrive from the open west.
• North end. The plot was a tractor road and its north end joins the old road. Tractors now use the road east of the trees. The old road is also the way out for the tail drain (see Phase 6).
• Check the fall. The ground looks close to level in the photos. Check the slope with a water level or A-frame before cutting furrows, because gravity irrigation depends on it.

📐 Plot Diagrams

Plan view (north at top; the survey shows the long axis running roughly NNW–SSE). It shows the 2027 season; later years are in the rotation grids further down:

Tail zone detail (the 7 m at the north end):

Cross-section at the south end:

Text versions (they paste anywhere, even where graphics are stripped):

CROSS-SECTION, SOUTH END (west to east, not to scale)

 WEST (away from trees)                                                         EAST (tree side)
+------------+-------+------------+-------+-------------+-------+----------+----------+--------+
|  TOMATOES  | RUDB. | ECHINACEA  |  KALE |     PATH    |  ~2 m |  TREES   |  TRENCH  |  ROAD  |
| + LAVENDER |       |  (2 rows)  |       | (unplanted) |  gap  | (hilled) | (unused) |        |
+------------+-------+------------+-------+-------------+-------+----------+----------+--------+
    1.9 m*     0.73 m    1.47 m     1.1 m      1.0 m       ~2 m 
 * 1.9 m at the south end, narrowing to about 1.2 m at the north end.
 Lavender = single row on the far-west shoulder of the tomato ridge.
 Each lane has its own furrow on its east edge (the kale furrow is separate
  from the root-cut slot in the path).

LENGTH-WISE (north at top, 120 m, not to scale)

 NORTH
   ^      +----------------------------------------------+
   |      | TAIL ZONE 7 m: drain 1 m, 3 compost bays,    |
   |      | carbon store, shed on the tree side          |
   |      +----------------------------------------------+
   |      | BLOCK D  27.5 m                              |
   |      | BLOCK C  27.5 m                              |
   |      +======= mid-field check gate (at 55 m) =======+
   |      | BLOCK B  27.5 m                              |
   |      | BLOCK A  27.5 m                              |
   |      +----------------------------------------------+
   |      | HEAD ZONE 3 m: flower strip 2 m + trench 1 m |
   |      +----------------------------------------------+
 SOUTH    water flows south to north (110 m planted, 120 m in all)

🔁 Rotation, Fallow and Cover Crops (2027–2031)

Each lane follows a four-year program, staggered across blocks A–D so every year has one cell in each phase. A rest year means no crop for the whole year: oats + vetch from October to February, cut and mulched, then a mulched dry-season fallow, with compost spread before the next cover crop.

• Tomatoes return to a cell once in four years; kale likewise within its lane. Fava beans (a legume) sit between them.
• Echinacea stays three seasons, is dug in the third (July–August after dieback), and the cell then rests one year.
• Lavender is a fixed full row and does not rotate. Replace plants when they decline.
• Rudbeckia and Echinacea are both Asteraceae, so scout the flower lanes for leaf spots and aster yellows. The rest year is the only break.
• Every cell that is not holding a perennial gets oats + vetch from October to February, then transplants or a rest year.

Five-year schedule by cell (A is the south block, D the north block):

The same schedule as grids (T, R, E, K left to right in each year):

Plants per year (single rows, at the plan's spacing; nursery needs add about 10%):

Echinacea root harvest

• Johnny's says Echinacea purpurea is normally grown 3–4 years for sizeable roots. The plan digs at the end of the third season (about 28 months after transplanting). If the trial shows bigger roots at four seasons, dig a year later and adjust.
• Dig after frost kills the tops: July–August here. Roots are fibrous, so fork the plant out whole. Digging one block of four each year is 25% of the stand, under the one-third-per-year limit.
• Flowers and leaves can be cut from the second year; leave late flower heads to ripen for seed for the network.
• Spacing trial in block A: south half at 30 cm, north half at 45 cm. Weigh dried roots in 2029 and use the winner for blocks C and D (and for B if you can decide by 2028).

What the rotation costs. In 2027 the plan puts 58 tomato plants in the ground (instead of 230 in a full row), 146 kale (290), 124 Rudbeckia (370) and 154 Echinacea (740). Lavender stays a full 275 and fava beans add 366 plants. To recover volume, plant double rows in the wide lanes or add land later.

🌱 Cover Crops by Hand in the Mantaro

• Ending a cover crop without tillage: cut it, chop it and leave it as mulch. For stubborn regrowth, cover the cut area with black plastic or thick mulch for about a month.
• Soil work by hand: hand tools (azadón, pala, or the Andean foot plow chaquitaclla) are only needed to rebuild the ridge and furrow each year and to dig Echinacea.
• Do not let oats go to grain on cells you are clearing; they self-sow and are hard to remove without tillage.
• Dry season: rains run roughly October–March. Cover crops sown in April would need irrigation turns, so the plan sows them with the first rains and keeps the dry season for mulched fallow.

♻️ Hot Compost at the Tail

• Bays: three, each at least 1 m³ (a hot pile needs that volume to hold its heat). Bay 1 is built, bay 2 holds the hot pile, and bay 3 cures.
• Mix: aim for about 25–30:1 carbon to nitrogen. As a rule of thumb that is about 3 parts dry carbon (oat straw, dry stalks, cuy bedding) to 1 part green material (vetch, cuy manure) by volume. Young vetch and cuy manure are nitrogen-rich, so without enough carbon the nitrogen escapes as ammonia.
• Time: the hot phase takes 3–4 weeks with turning every 3–5 days, then at least 4 weeks of curing. Plan on about 8 weeks from building to using.
• Rain and frost: cover the piles during the February rains so the nitrogen does not wash out, and keep them as moist as a wrung-out sponge. Hot batches slow down in the frost months, so build them February–May and October–December and let piles cure through June–August.
• In and out: cover-crop biomass, crop residues and cuy manure go in. Eucalyptus leaves and diseased plants stay out.
• Use: cured compost goes on lavender, Echinacea and kale in April–May, on rest cells before the October cover crop, and on cells about to take a transplant crop.
• Surplus: the rest cells make more biomass than three bays can hold. Keep the extra as mulch on the same cells.

📅 The Yearly Loop

🧼 Soap Line: What the Farm Supplies

• What it is. An eight-bar cold-process soap line (Lavender Milk, Oatmeal & Honey, Eucalipto Spa, the Farmer & Gardener Scrub, Eucalyptus & Honey Milk, Lavender–Chamomile, Sweet Orange–Calendula and Garden Puree & Clay), made in Chupaca, not at the plot. Recipes, costs and rules are in the soap plan; the farm supplies the plant inputs below.
• Lavender row. Cut stems at early bloom and dry them in shade for buds, sprigs (one per bar for the packaging) and sachets. The soap uses little: about 2 tablespoons of buds per 500 g of oils. Newly planted lavender yields little in its first season, so the first soap runs use bought dried lavender and essential oil. Hail is the main risk, so keep dried stock from good harvests.
• Flower strip. Calendula petals for the Sweet Orange–Calendula bar: pick open flowers, dry the petals in shade, store in paper or glass. Chamomile is not grown; it is bought, since it is abundant locally.
• Vegetable cells. The Garden Puree & Clay bar uses farm kale or split tomatoes from about May; seconds that would not sell fresh are fine.
• Eucalyptus trees. Fresh leaves for the Eucalipto Spa infusion (about 80 g per 1 kg batch), saved during the branch trimming in Phase 3b and later cuts. Straight poles make curing racks and mold boxes (lined with baking paper, since eucalyptus can warp). A small still, if bought, could also distill eucalyptus leaves; run a 1–2 kg trial first. Eucalyptus leaves still stay out of the vegetable compost bays.
• Agave belt. The best use is fiber (cabuya): cut only a few outer leaves per plant per year, with gloves and long sleeves, for plastic-free twine on the tomato trellis and the soap bands. Keep agave sap out of the soap, since it irritates skin. Do not tap the plants: it kills them, and a syrup would need its own food registration. The belt stays as a living fence along the trees.
• Still (optional). Distilling our own lavender oil is what would bring the scented bars down toward wholesale margins; the hydrosol is a second product. It is an optional item in the financial plan.

Notes

Community agreement: the strip, the trees, the road and the shed site are community land. Record the agreement to manage and trim the trees and to use about 1 m of the strip.

Neighbor coordination: before opening the community canal into the head trench for the first time, have a local farmer check your ridge heights. They can spot a furrow that is too shallow or likely to blow out.

Hail is the main crop risk. Hail has been decreasing but still does the most damage. The plan spreads risk across lanes and blocks, and the oats + vetch cover usually recovers from hail. The tomato nursery raises about 40% extra plants as replacements (surplus sold at the Chupaca fair), and kale and Rudbeckia hirta can be re-sown within about six weeks. No plastic netting.

Frost on tomatoes: you have not seen frost damage, but nobody nearby grows tomatoes. Without plastic: irrigate the afternoon before a clear, still night (wet soil holds heat), and cover plants overnight with old cotton sheets, jute sacks or straw. The trees give little protection here, because the tomato lane is the one farthest from them.

Selling words: an Earth Matter Peru sticker is fine; avoid orgánico, ecológico and biológico unless certified. Junín formed its regional Participatory Guarantee System (SGP) council in July 2026; it still needs SENASA authorization before it can certify.

Survey discrepancy: the north end of the plot is 5.43 m in the survey table and coordinates but 6.32 m on the drawn label. Resolving it will take months, so the plan works with the narrower 5.43 m, and some cover crop may lie on the neighbor's side. Photograph and note where your cover edge lies against your stakes. If 6.32 m is confirmed the plan changes only in the tomato lane.