Brandon had prepared for this long before his grandfather had granted him the land.
The royal demesne entrusted to him was by no means vast, nor had he expected it to be.
It was, however, more than sufficient for the purpose of his experiment.
The land was divided into three equal sections, each spanning roughly thirty hectares.
Before a single furrow was turned, Brandon drew up a list of everything he required.
Seeds of potatoes, lentils and peas capable of enduring the North’s harsh climate and the untimely snows that could fall even in the midst of summer.
He also requested winter wheat, barley and rye, along with thirty healthy sheep for grazing.
His plan was simple in design, though its execution would test whether years of study held any worth.
The first field would be planted with lentils and peas.
Once they were harvested, potatoes would take their place.
When the potatoes were lifted from the earth, the field would once again return to lentils and peas.
The second field would remain under the kingdom’s customary crops—winter wheat, barley and rye.
The third field would not be cultivated at all.
Instead, it would serve as pasture for the sheep, roughly one animal to each hectare.
As they grazed, their manure would gradually restore the soil’s fertility, allowing the land to recover before it returned to cultivation.
The true strength of the system, however, lay not in any single crop but in the rotation itself.
Should winter arrive after the harvest, the fields would simply be prepared for the next planting.
Should summer linger for another year, the crops would still be rotated.
The first field would become the pasture.
The grain field would be planted with legumes and potatoes.
No field would grow potatoes in successive years.
Instead, each plot would wait at least two years, and often three, before potatoes returned to the same soil.
Such a cycle would greatly reduce the chance of pests taking hold and ruining future harvests.
If winter came, the North’s bitter cold would kill most of those that remained.
Even if winter followed the very first harvest, Brandon intended to rotate the fields regardless.
There was little sense in trusting fortune when careful planning could accomplish the same task with far greater certainty.
Once everything had been arranged, Brandon rode down to Winter Town.
The settlement beneath Winterfell’s walls was home to craftsmen, laborers and smallfolk who relied upon the castle for much of their livelihood.
Yet there were always men with no work to be found.
Some had families to feed but no fields of their own, surviving only by whatever labor they could find from one day to the next.
Those were the men Brandon sought.
He gathered them in the market square and spoke plainly.
“The crown has granted me land to cultivate, but fields do not till themselves.
I require willing hands—men prepared to work honestly from sunrise until dusk.”
The smallfolk listened in silence.
“In return, none who work these fields shall go hungry.
While the work lasts, you shall be fed.
When the harvest comes and the crown has taken its rightful share, the remainder shall belong to those who labored for it. This story is hosted at g.com.
Any surplus that is sold shall be divided fairly among you.”
The offer was unlike any they had ever heard.
A murmur swept through the crowd.
One man stepped forward first, weathered by years of hard labor.
“I’ll work, my prince.”
Another followed.
Then another.
Within minutes, nearly every able-bodied man who had come seeking work had pledged himself to the undertaking.
Most had little to lose.
Many had families to feed.
If the prince’s experiment failed, they would simply return to searching for another day’s labor.
If it succeeded…
Perhaps life would become a little kinder.
By the time Brandon rode back through Winterfell’s gates, he had all the workers he required.
The land had been measured.
The seed had been gathered.
The sheep had been driven into their pasture.
The men were ready.
Now only the fields remained to judge whether t he knowledge of another world could truly take root in the soil of the Winter Kingdom.