Agriculture isn’t a joke

2 months later

Casterly Rock, early 285 AC

When I came back, I was met with Tyrion and Adrian Swift. He was the friend I made while training with the bow. They became friends while I was away.

Adrian, in additional to being my friend, became a fanboy when I explained my scores during the archery competition of the tourney. He has set himself as objective to atteint such a level in this domain.

Tyrion is eleven names day and seems to still be fantasming on dragons. His dream is to get a dragon egg. When he told it to the family, uncle Tygett laughed openly in front of him because of how stupid it sounded.

Well, I have to say that even if it's theorically possible, it does sound stupid.

He has not a drop of Targaryen blood in his veins to be able to tame or even hatch one anyway. But still, he is a kid. Uncle Tygett should be more understanding.

I had to work a lot for my father and sometimes with him. He taught me advanced things such a logistics, strategies, tactics and politics.

He want me to be more cunning and calculative. And for that, some knowledge and teachings are necessary. So Tywin took upon himself to teach me more, when he has the time to do so.

I saw my teacher of swordsmanship again, ser Cerval. And I continued my training with him, but more as a bonus now. I have more things to do, so less time for that.

The rest of the time, I continue my lessons with maester Creylen. I know a lot about Westeros and its houses.

But there is more to this than their coats and financial situations. I must constantly learn about them and try to stay updated with the new changes.

I send letters to Vincent, James and a few heirs of other houses I got to meet in Kings Landing. I give some news and they explain me bit about what is going on in their territories.

The coast of Kayce has seen some high waves but the damages were minimal. In the end, the reconstructions only took a few days.

Nothing out of the norm is happening in Deep Den. The little Cedric began his training with the sword and has hurt his teacher by accident. Lehna became even better with the harp and James is drowned in all his studies.

I didn't get any news from Melara. But I can't send back one anyway, so whatever.

When I still had some time, I analysed Casterly Rock to see all facilities present which are related to the port.

By doing so, if Lannisport is lacking something present in Casterly Rock, I hope to impliment it there. But I'm still in the speculation, the two may very well possess the same infrastructures.

I saw while exploring that Casterly Rock possess walls, gates and watchtowers. There are large sea-carved caverns here and there.

The port has docks, wharves, and shipyards being accessible by longships and cogs.

All of this is pretty ancient, as Casterly Rock is at least a millenia old. None the less, the structures are still in good shape and efficient.

Not having the opportunity to check on Lannisport, I went to my second project. And what I learned blowed my entire damn mind…

I thought that I could revolutionate their agricultural knowledge with some basic of mine. Their systems and techniques related to it aren't too lacking, in reality.

At this point, it's not about what I could invent but what would be interesting to buy or steal before implanting it in the Westerlands.

It all starts with the seasons. There are the great seasons, taking place for a couple of years. But there are also smaller local seasons comparable with earth, closely related to specific areas. For example, the northerners call their yearly smaller winters as 'Summer Snows'.

So you still have to plant in the first months of the year and harvest halfway through it. The recolts are just way better during the years included in a great Summer.

If I remember the show correctly, we are currently in a very long summer which will last until the middle or the end of the tv show's timeline.

When the Stark motto becomes true, Winter arrives. If it's the case, by earth's standards, it could be seen as a short and recurrent Ice Age. So literally NOTHING can be grown in regions which are suffering the most from this type of winter.

But it brought a ton of questions to my mind, like are there greenhouses ? How does the North even survive if they have additional little winters each year ?

So I went to maester Creylen to find the answers I was seaching for.

He was a bit surprised that I would specifically interest myself to agriculture. But he accepted to explain me everything he knew about it.

(Flashback begins)

The maester gestured me to begin with my questions and I eagerly begin to ask them.

''Maester Creylen, I must thank you to take the time to help me with my inquiries. I was hoping to learn quite a few things from you, today. Many questions are torturing my mind. The first would be, how could the North possibly survive up there with their poor agriculture ?''

''Well you see, it isn't rare for some of them to starve during Winters. They depend a lot on trades with the south. But the North also has a few solutions of its own. For example, Winterfell owns heated Glass garden which are powered by their geothermal energy coming from natural hot springs. A few other northern houses also have these. It allows them to grow more vegetables, outside from the Winters. But that is not all, as they also have some special vegetables which are adapted to their climate. We can count Buckwheat, Rye, Barley and the famous winter wheat.''

I look at him awed. They have their own version of greenhouses. I can't even bring that concept to locals. Because it exists !

Not that I would be able to build that stuff, but maybe bring the idea to a talented craftsman.

Some ideas may come with my other questions.

''Winter wheat ? What are they and could they be grown here for the Winter ?''

''It is planted during Winter and harvested in autumn. It is said to also grow quite well in the Riverlands. The past attempts in the Westerlands failed.''

Maybe we could retry but in the coldest part of our mountains. We would have to fortify our position for the risks related to the proximity with the mountain clans.

We would have something to cultivate in Winter and maybe for the other seasons, if the chosen place is cold enough.

''I see, and how do they procure themselves all this glass for the Glass garden ? Could we build such structures here ?''

Maester Creylen looks pensive, trying to remember these details in dept.

''I believe them to be buying it from Myr. The glass-makers there are able to craft good and clear glass for such a structure. But it is quite expensive to buy it from them. It costs a fortune to the North each time they do so. As for the Glass garden, its plans aren't a secret, nor is it overly complicated to reproduce the structure in itself. But you would need the heat brought by hot springs to make it effective for most kind of plants. Unfortunately, we lack such things. So Glass garden are simply a waste of gold, here.''

So no effective Glass garden for us. One less plan, that sucks.

''What about the Night Watch ? It's pretty far up north. What do they eat there ?''

''I know very little about their ways to survive. But they must depend heavily on Winterfell. Other than that, I heard that they eat a special dish named 'neeps and tatties'. There is a small scroll in which maester Aemon explained me what it is. You can read it if you want, young lord.''

''Yes, thank you. Can you tell me more about agriculture in general and other details ? I would like to have a better perspective on this.''

Maester Creylen looks pleased by my taste for knowledge and approves directly.

''But of course, Leonard. In preparation for Winter, other valuable materials are also stocked in great quantity. I'm talking here about firewood, wool and oil. The southern kingdoms are rarely impacted by the Winter. For example, the Reach can grow all year round apart from the harshest Winters. It is the same for Dorne. For the Winter, it is always difficult for most grains to be kept in good quality more than a few years. Sometimes, it doesn't even stay viable as seed for the future plantings. Our facilities to keep it intact during the Winter are useful, but not enough. As for the sort of vegetables that you could find in the south for trades, it depends if we are talking about the Reach or Dorne.''

''Yes ? What can they grow there ?''

''I know Highgarden to have pumpkins and maize. Wheat is of course common there. Let's not forget that one cannot count their absurd number of wineries. As for Dorne, they have pepper and a great variety of fruits such as lemons. I'm afraid to not know more than this about them.''

''Thank you, maester Creylen. This has been very instuctive for me.''

I'm really grateful, Creylen is a life savior when it comes to knowledge.

(Flashback ends)

Now, I'm reading the scroll sent by maester Aemon about this 'neeps and tatties' thing. It could be a clue, who knows. I could take anything at this point.

And the description makes my eyes open widely. This is basically comparable with boiled and mashed rutabagas and F*CKING POTATOES.

These lovely carbohydrates, BUT OF COURSE. The people here don't know about protein, lipids and carbohydrates. Back home, it was a common thing learned by every teenager.

This is a massive source of energy for our body. It would change things for the Westerlands if we could get it.

But that's not all there is to know about it. The biggest advantage is that it can be grown in a far higher quantity in comparison to other crops, for the same amount of lands. So in short, you get more food for the exact same lands disponible.

The Night Watch seem to directly find it in the wild. So it isn't cultivated yet. We would be the first to do so, and with some chance the only ones.

So we can't buy the seeds in massive quantity, if we don't want to alarm them. If the North knows to worth of this wild vegetable, they won't depend as much on us. They may even get a higher population. So more northerners to fight during a war.

We need to buy a reasonable amount of seeds, saying that one of our lord fell in love with that vegetable. We could also buy seeds of winter wheat at the same time, letting the potatoes seem like an exotic extra.

The tests would then begin in the lands of minor houses. And it could be passed for a friendly deal with the North to encourage more favorable trades between both of our kingdoms.

Then we sow it again with what we got in our harvests and we slowly generalize it to quiet places of the Westerlands.

That way, we get more favorable harvests and nobody would know why without intense researches.

Talking about carbohydrates, I knew how to make spaghettis back then. My italien grandma was the major reason for that.

It's actually pretty simple do make it yourself. She wouldn't let me buy already made spaghettis. And now I love her even f*cking more for that.

''Ti voglio tanto bene nonna !''

With potatoes and spaghettis, nutrition in the Westerlands will know a nice boon.

And other houses may fall in love with pasta and buy great quantities of it. I could have the chefs try to make some variants.

I only know the technique to make spaghettis, sadely. The other thousand kinds of pasta are crying in the background.

On another note, I know about crop rotation from my past life, but only the basis of it. I would have to discuss it will the maester and experimented farmers to see if it could work here.

Basically, you can't grow the same thing in the same place two years running. And I don't know how but it results with a higher yield in agriculture.

The last idea is the implementation of winter wheat in the highest and coldest parts of the Red Mountains. But it would be a big project with at least a new keep needed to defend the position.

I think that I'm on the right path to, at least, partial autonomy in agriculture. The Reach will have one less big client.

It won't ruin them but they will get less incomes from their trades, and us more gold in our reserves.

I'll surely have to concentrate on the theory and the plans related to this for the time being.

But it's too late to start anything today. I can see the sun disappearing in the horizon. I will get to work in a few days, after some more planning.

I need to talk with a lot of experts, may it be for food or for Lannisport. I'm actually still a bit clueless about what could be changed in the port.

Maybe we should build more warships, or install a stronger monitoring system on the coast. First, I must go to Lannisport to evaluate it.

And I still have too much work to do as an heir for the moment. I can't afford a trip to the port with the little daily time I get.

Anyways, it's time to pave a way to future wealth. There can never be too much gold, after all.