I had scheduled two days in the middle of the month-long celebration to show off my inventions and to try to share them with the other Northern lords. I suspected that the Umbers, Karstarks, and Ryswells would get the most out of my weaving machines, if only because their lands had extensive pasturage and sheep herds. While I probably could continue to expand my workshop and buy wool from their lands, and thus further enriching myself and House Stark, giving them the opportunity to produce cloth of their own and generate additional income for themselves would both improve the North and, hopefully, improve relations between them and House Stark.
Besides, I had enough other ventures planned that I didn't need to maintain a monopoly on textiles in the North.
"Here, in the main hall, my workers wash and card the cloth…" I explained the process, even giving them a demonstration of the carding machine.
"Lady Catelyn," Barbrey Dustin interrupted just before we were about to head upstairs. "What are your workers doing with the wash water? Isn't that the kitchens?"
I gave her a secret smile and said, "I'll show you later. In the meantime, let's go see how the spinning is done."
Given how many lords and ladies had been interested in touring my workshop, Ned and I had separated them into several smaller groups. That way, I could make sure everyone could hear my explanations and see the machines at work. Those who didn't get into the first group would be hosted by Ned, who was introducing them to young Robb. And Jon, too, though that was mostly incidental; the two babes were practically inseparable at this point. Even if the children were too young to remember this, the showing was more to assure the lords that the succession was secure.
"This is a spinning machine," I said, showing the group the device in one of the first floor rooms. "Lya here is one of my best spinners. She is going to operate the machine while I explain how it works."
As Lya, a poor young widow whose husband had died in Robert's Rebellion, leaving behind her and her young son, operated the machine, I narrated what she was doing and pointed out how the parts all fit together. Many questions were asked, and I answered them to the best of my ability.
"Moving on," I said as I led them to one of the rooms with a loom in it. "As you can see, this is more or less a typical Essosi loom. However, the major difference here is this; the flying shuttle. Eddara, if you please?"
The experienced weaver mumbled an affirmative and cycled the machine a few times.
"As you can see, Eddara here just needs to tug that rope to pass the shuttle back and forth along the warp," I explained. "Not only is this faster than passing the shuttle by hand, it would also allow the creation of a loom that is wider than a weaver's arm span, and allow her to operate it without assistance. A wider loom means a wider cloth, and a wider bolt sells for a higher price."
After another round of questioning, I led the lords and ladies back downstairs to the First Keep's kitchens.
"Lady Dustin, you asked what we are doing with the wash water," I reminded her. "The grease in wool is called lanolin. I had noticed that the washer womens' hands were remarkably soft, despite all the hard work they were doing. That softness is because of the lanolin."
"I see," she said, her voice cool and firm. Connecting the dots quicky, she said, "I take it that your skin cream uses this… lanolin?"
"Aye, it does," I replied with a smile. "Along with a few other ingredients to make it smell more appealing."
She nodded. "Clever."
"Thank you," I courteously replied with a small dip of my head. "Adrya is almost finished with a fresh batch. Would any of you care to try a small sample?"
Adrya and I were, of course, crowded by the ladies in this tour group. After they had all tried the cream, I briefly showed them my dyeworks. I very carefully didn't reveal all the ingredients of the skin cream (without the beeswax it wouldn't properly whip into a cream, so I doubted they'd be able to recreate it) or of my dyes. I mentioned that Harri had been a leather worker with experience in dying leather, but the ingredients of a few of my best colors weren't common knowledge. Plus, Winter Roses only grew in Winterfell's glass gardens; no one would be able to recreate their scent or the Winter Blue dye.
I may want to share the wealth, but I had to admit, I wanted to keep a small edge for my enterprises.
The rest of the day was spent in much the same way, shepherding tour group after tour group through my workshop until all the lords and the ladies in the North had seen it, asked questions about it, and received schematics of my machines (courtesy of Maester Luwin). Over the coming winter (or 'snow season', since the Westerosi only used the word 'winter' to describe the years-long periods of persistent snow) I suspected more than a few of these lords would establish their own small textile workshops. Come springtime, I might have some competition in the markets. And that thought pleased me.
"My lords, my ladies, thank you all for being here today," I said to the assembled nobility. We were all standing next to waving fields of ripe rye, barley, and oats; as such, there was no need to separate this assembly into smaller groups. "What I intend to demonstrate to you today is, I feel, more important to the North than any number of spinning machines or looms."
"And what do you intend to show us?" Rickard Karstark asked, a doubtful look on his face.
"Why, these crops, my Lord," I replied, stiffly keeping a smile on my face. "With the help of Maester Luwin, I discovered that prior to the coming of the Andals, the main grain crop in the North was barley, not wheat. Another interesting thing I discovered was that barley, and a few other grain crops, grow faster than wheat. These crops that you see in these fields? They are the second crops grown this year."
Excited murmuring broke out between the assembled nobility.
"Yan, here, is the farmer I contracted to run this trial," I told them. "We came up with a plan to attempt to grow two crops of several different grains. Since he knows his letters, I had him take meticulous notes on when he planted, the weather conditions on the fields, how fast they grew, when they were harvested, and how many bushels each field produced."
I took a moment to clear my throat before continuing.
"Copies of his notes and Maester Luwin's research will be made available to each of you," I reassured them. "More importantly, though, is another invention of mine. Yan, if you would?"
"Aye, milady," he replied with a somewhat clumsy bow. Pulling away the canvas covering, he revealed the Gallic reaper to the assembled lords.
"This, my lords, my ladies, is a reaping machine," I told them. "Yan, here, can use it to harvest an entire field in a single day, all by himself. The reason I have called you all here is to demonstrate this machine to you. Yan? If you would?"
"Of course, my lady."
Everyone watched in stunned silence as Yan cleared a swathe twice as wide as a man (or as wide as a single Manderly) in the field. As before, a few ears were missed or spilled, but the waste was minor, and could always be recovered later.
"Yan will have to come through with a scythe later to cut down the stalks," I explained as he worked. "But those stalks can be gathered at his leisure and kept as hay or used as thatch."
"How does it work?" Roose Bolton asked, his voice quiet but intense.
"The metal comb on the front gathers the stalks. As the cart is pushed along, the sharp edges of the comb slice the ears off and deposit them into the basin," I explained. "Sometimes a field requires a second pass, but rarely does it need a third."
Other lords asked questions as well, about the barley, about the other grains, and so on. It turned into a bit of a history lesson, actually, since I had to explain just why the North gradually switched over to growing wheat. Given some of the old Stark journal entries, wheat bread tasted better than barley bread. That and wheat produced a few extra bushels (around 15% more) in the same size field compared to barley. Given that it was such a long time ago -Maester Luwin claimed it was two thousand years, but the Stark records seemed to indicate it was twice that long ago- we couldn't be completely sure, but I suspected that the climate in the North had been slightly warmer than it was today. Tax records certainly seemed to indicate two harvests of wheat every year until around a millennium ago. Coincidentally, 'summer snows' had become more common since then as well. It was either that, or the wheat was accidentally selectively bred for higher yield, and consequently had a longer growing period because of it.
I, of course, kept those speculations to myself. All the lords really needed to know was that other grain crops could be harvested twice per year while wheat could not.
After the history lesson, I had Yan demonstrate the seed drill in a freshly plowed field. The seeds wouldn't grow this close to the snow season, but I only had him do a few rows. I only needed to demonstrate the utility of the device to the assembled lords.
"As you can see, my lords and ladies, switching to crops more suitable for the North will drastically increase the amount of food your farmers are capable of producing. Add in the reaping machine and the seed drill and your farmers need not waste coin hiring farmhands," I concluded. "Maester Luwin has bundles of parchment with copies of Yan's notes, his research, and detailed drawings of these machines. I think I have proved the benefits of adopting these changes, and I am providing you all with the means to do so in your own lands. This, my lords, is my Harvest gift to you."
"What of the farmhands?" Lord Karstark asked, looking a bit irritated. "These machines will leave them out of work. What should they do to feed themselves and their families?"
"Well, you could always grant these farmhands lands of their own," I answered. "Failing that, there are other pursuits you could guide them towards. Logging, for example; Braavos is always willing to buy timber. And there's also mining; who knows what wealth might lay under your hills and mountains? No, my Lord, there is still plenty of work that needs doing."
"Aye, but starting farms and logging camps and mines costs money," he retorted. "Money that we might not be able to spare."
"I am looking to expand my ventures, my Lord. I know Karhold has extensive forests and would benefit from logging. If you are willing, I could provide coin to start it off in exchange for partial ownership of the venture," I said with a slight smile. From the look on Lord Karstark's face, he wasn't a fan of the idea. "Or, I suppose I could loan you the coin, if you're willing to pay a little interest on the debt."
"... I'll consider it," he answered with a gruff nod.
"Then, if anyone has any more questions? No? Well, let's return to the castle," I said with an affable smile. "There's good food waiting for us there."
"Thank you for taking the time to meet me, Lord Jorah, Lady Maege," I politely greeted the two Mormonts. I'd had Anna, one of the household maids, pass them a note in as subtle a manner as they could manage.
"I have to admit, I am curious why you asked to meet with us, Lady Stark," Jorah stated, a bit of suspicion in his tone.
"That's very simple," I smiled. "What do you know about salt?"
"Salt?" Jorah asked. "It's expensive, and most of it comes from the deserts of Dorne. Some comes out of the Saltpans in the Riverlands, though."
"True. Though, have you ever wondered why it's called Saltpans?"
"Not really," he shrugged.
"It's something to do with how they make the salt, isn't it?" Maege asked, her eyes narrowed.
"It does. Here, let me show you."
I spread a piece of parchment across the table and weighed down the corners. On it, I had a rough diagram of four stages of construction and harvest of a salt pond, with a few minor alterations, such as a retractable canvas cover to keep rain out of the pond. It covered digging a shallow pond, no more than two or three feet deep, near the high tide mark on a wide, gently sloping beach. Then, it pictured building what was essentially a small dam with a sluice gate and side walls, and how to line it with clay. Once the clay was dry, open the sluice gate at high tide and trap seawater in the pond, then let it evaporate in the sun over time. The salt crystals are raked out of the pond and collected.
This method produced two types of salt; white salt, which was basically table salt, and gray salt, which had some other minerals mixed in and wasn't as good. The gray salt was good for preserving food, but not so much for flavoring.