11 — Farm Zoning — the 1-acre plan

A worked example of what the 1-acre at Lokkanahalli looks like when divided into zones. Numbers are starting assumptions; ops adjusts them at the first kharif review.

Read alongside 07_DATA_MODEL.md (the canonical list of zones lives there) and 10_FARM_OPERATIONS.md (how each zone is run).

1. The 1 acre as ten zones

Total area: 1 acre ≈ 4,047 m². Roads, irrigation channels, paths, and the homestead footprint are deducted after the zones are sized; the numbers below are net crop / use areas.

                       ┌──────────────────────────────────┐
                       │       approx.   60 × 67 m        │
                       │   (perimeter hedge, all sides)   │
                       └──────────────────────────────────┘

Why Z10 is "buffer". A non-trivial portion of any small-hold agroforestry plot is not crop. We set Z10 generously so the headline 1-acre framing (Z1–Z9) does not overstate production. Z10 also includes mango / tamarind / neem as long-cycle shade trees and as a windbreak against the BRT edge.

2. Zone-by-zone plan

Z1 — Greens & salad beds (250 m²)

• Crops. Amaranth (red + green), fenugreek, coriander,

spinach, lettuce (winter), mint (perennial), curry leaf (perennial), spring onion.

• Cadence. 4 sowings/year. Rotation among 3 beds × 30-day cycles.
• Yield target. ~ 35 kg/week during peak; ~ 12 kg/week in deep

winter / monsoon lulls.

• Subscribers served. Greens appear in every subscription tier

each week. This is the basket backbone.

Z2 — Root & tuber beds (300 m²)

• Crops. Carrot, beetroot, radish (winter), sweet potato

(monsoon), elephant yam, cassava (perennial pockets).

• Cadence. 3 main plantings/year. Storage in shade for 2–3 weeks.
• Yield target. ~ 18 kg/week across the season.
• Note. Slightly raised beds for drainage. Mulch is critical here.

Z3 — Millets & pulses (800 m²)

The heart of the seed farm.

• Crops. Ragi (kharif), jowar (rabi), foxtail millet (kharif),

toor dal (kharif), horsegram (rabi), cowpea (kharif + summer).

• Cadence. Two main seasons. Inter-crop cowpea-in-ragi in

kharif; horsegram-after-jowar in rabi.

• Yield target. ~ 35 kg ragi + 12 kg jowar + 8 kg pulses / season.
• Why big. Millets are the identity crop of the dry-deciduous

belt. They store well, they ship well, they are what the subscriber's kitchen learns from. Most of the millet-flour retail SKUs in 04_BUSINESS_MODEL.md §4 come from here.

Z4 — Gau Shala pasture & fodder (600 m²)

• Pasture. Rotational grazing: 4 paddocks × 150 m² on a 7-day

rotation. Set-stocking would compact the soil.

• Fodder bank. 200 m² of hybrid napier + 100 m² of sesbania + 100

m² of lucerne (rabi only).

• Trees on the perimeter. 8–10 subabul (Leucaena) + sesbania

shade trees.

• Note. This zone doubles as the buffer on the southern side, away

from the BRT edge — cattle are not freely ranging into the reserve.

Z5 — Pollinator & pest-trap strip (100 m²)

• Crops. Marigold (yellow + orange), sunflower, tulsi, ajwain,

dill, carrot-as-flower, coriander-as-flower.

• Function. Hosts beneficials (syrphids, ladybird beetles, lacewings).

Traps aphids / whiteflies away from Z1 and Z2.

• Rule. Never sprayed, even botanically. If marigolds fail, that's

data; we don't reach for an alternative.

Z6 — Apiary (50 m²)

• Hives. 4–6 colonies of Apis cerana indica (the Indian hive

bee). Staggered re-queening.

• Yield. 8–14 kg of honey per hive per year, varying with

monsoonal florals.

• Subscribers served. The "season's honey" SKU on /shop.
• Safety. A 4-metre green mesh + a clear flight path on the

non-cafe side.

Z7 — Homestead + stay + café (350 m²)

• Existing. Bamboo Cafe kitchen + seating. Dormer / family rooms

(Phase 2 retrofits).

• New build (Phase 2). Two cottage rooms (30 m² each), 1 staff

quarter, an outdoor dining deck.

• Surface. Stone + lime + bamboo; low-embodied-energy materials.

Z8 — Cow shed + Homa corner (150 m²)

• Cow shed. 80 m² covered, sloped-floor, accessible to compost

yard.

• Homa kund. A small concrete pad facing east, with a roof only

over the offerings and the practitioner. East is non-negotiable.

• Storage. A lockable cabinet for the pyramid, samidhas, ghee jar.

Z9 — Compost & nursery yard (150 m²)

• Windrow. 25 m² covered, sloped-floor, leachate sump.
• Vermicompost bins. 8 × 1 m³ bins, on the shaded side.
• Nursery. Raised trays + shade-cloth above; holds seedlings for 2

weeks before transplant.

Z10 — Buffer, trees, paths, water (~1,297 m²)

• Tree lines. Mango, tamarind, neem, mahua, ficus. Long-cycle

shade + an eventual fruit contribution.

• Rainwater trench. A 60 m recharge trench along the lower

boundary, lined with gravel.

• Path. A 1.5 m gravel-and-earth path running perimeter to compost

yard to pack house.

• Wildlife buffer. Last 5 m before the property edge reserved for

unfarmed native scrub — BRT wildlife corridor consideration.

3. Seasonal rotation (kharif + rabi)

                                    Kharif (Jun–Sep)               Rabi (Oct–Jan)             Summer (Feb–May)
Z1  Greens & salads       leafy rotation × 4       leafy rotation × 4      leafy rotation × 2 (heat-tolerant amaranth, drumstick pods)
Z2  Roots & tubers        sweet potato, yam         radish, beet, carrot    mulched fallow / green-manure (sun hemp)
Z3  Millets & pulses      ragi + cowpea             jowar + horsegram       cowpea / green-manure
Z4  Gau Shala pasture     hybrid napier / sesbania  lucerne + oats          dry-fodder reserve + shade trees holding
Z5  Pollinator strip      marigold + sunflower      marigold + dill         marigold survives + tulsi
Z6  Apiary                active (rain-fed)         active (oilseed flws)   light (sugar-water feeding if needed)
Z7  Homestead + stay      operational               operational              operational
Z8  Cow shed + Homa       operational               operational              operational
Z9  Compost & nursery     windrow turning           seedling trays for rabi windrow maturation
Z10 Buffer                rain-fed wild scrub        rain-fed wild scrub      rain-fed wild scrub

4. Subscriber allocation logic

How many subscribers does this 1-acre actually serve?

We allocate per zone by weekly dependable yield (kg), not by area. A zone with low yields but high value (Z6 Apiary → honey) and a zone with high yields but low weight-per-subscriber (Z1 Greens) are weighted by what their harvest does in a basket.

Z1 weekly dependable yield: ~12 kg/week      (winter) – ~30 kg/week (peak)
Z2 weekly dependable yield: ~12 kg/week      (steady)
Z3 weekly dependable yield: ~5 kg/week       (in season)
Z4–Z9 produce inputs, not direct subscriber food
Z6 produces ~ 3 kg honey/month across 6 hives
Z8 produces milk, ghee inputs
Z10 produces occasional fruit (mango / tamarind)

Operationally: 1 acre (Z1–Z9 productive) = ~30 weekly baskets in peak season, ~12 baskets in winter lull.

Subscriptions tier → weight

Thirty baskets of Plot tier per week × 1.6 kg = ~48 kg/week utilised. That is a healthy ratio; the farm is producing for human plates, not for inventory.

5. Capacity ceilings

• Subscribers (Plot tier). Hard ceiling ~ 30 in peak; ~ 12 in

winter lull. The lull is solved by pausing the cheapest tier (one-month max; already part of FR-1.6).

• Stay visitors. Z7 has 2 cottage rooms + dormer capacity, plus

the existing Bamboo Cafe seating. Effective ceiling: ~10 pax on a given weekend.

• Events. Z9 / Z7's outdoor deck; max ~ 40 pax seated, ~ 80

standing.

If a metric exceeds 80% of these ceilings for more than a month, it is a signal to look at a sister-site expansion, not a queue.

6. Mapping to 07_DATA_MODEL.md

These zone IDs map directly to Zone.id in the data model:

'Z1-greens-salad',     // Z1  Greens & salad beds
'Z2-roots-tubers',     // Z2  Root & tuber beds
'Z3-millets-pulses',   // Z3  Millets & pulses  ← identity crop
'Z4-gau-shala',        // Z4  Gau Shala + fodder
'Z5-pollinator-strip', // Z5  Pollinator & pest-trap strip
'Z6-apiary',           // Z6  Apiary
'Z7-homestead',        // Z7  Homestead + stay + café
'Z8-cow-shed-homa',    // Z8  Cow shed + Homa corner
'Z9-compost-nursery',  // Z9  Compost & nursery yard
'Z10-buffer',          // Z10 Buffer / wildlife + paths

Z4, Z6, Z8 (and parts of Z10) are not zones a subscriber gets allocated to (they are inputs, not harvest). They appear on the /zones map for transparency — not for sale.

7. Open zoning questions

• Q-18. Should we add an aquaculture tank (Phase 4 only) — fish /

azolla protein for the cattle?

• Q-19. Mulberry + sericulture as a Z4 sideline for silk

(Phase 4+) — defensible under "value-added"? Probably no.

• Q-20. Whether to invite one Soliga-managed zone (e.g.

indigenous tubers, traditional millets) as a Z11 — Soliga Heritage Zone. This is more a partnership question than a zoning one.