Cinnamon frowned. She opened her mouth, but closed it again, and finally said only what she knew of storage at the bakery in town. "We don't use all our flour, ground wheat, salt and honey at once at the bakery. There we keep those items in a pantry that is cool, dark and dry. Wheat and flour have lasted us the entire month between shipments. If we're rationing the foodstuffs during the famine... If it happens... Only give enough for the family for a fortnight. Businesses would have to go on less, say only as much as they actually use. Granted, they'll have to keep meticulous records on their sales, but that's second nature to MOST business owners. There is a way to ration for everyone."
Ruby shook her head. "That works for grains just fine... But what about things like roots? Potatoes, carrots, beets... Or things only partially buried during growing? Like gourds, especially. What about vegetables like corn, and peas? Fruits like pomes, pears and grapes?" She folded her arms, almost looking just like her mother, when the Queen crossed her arms.
Cinnamon shrugged. "Drying foods is fairly new, but could definitely work for the fruits. We have dried grapes, plums and apples now. Why can't the crops be rationed early, and so much better dried for storage? I'm certain all vineyards have areas they have the grapes be dried. Both Beaumont and don't yours, Princess Sapphire?"
Sapphire pinched the bridge of her nose. "Even drying the grapes, if they aren't used up in about a fortnight, go bad. The dried grapes and the wine casks during the aging process are all in what's called a wine cellar for obvious reasons and is kept cool and dry. Again may I emphasize, the dried fruit can only be kept, even cool and dry, for only a FORTNIGHT, before going rotten anyway." She hissed.
Ruby nodded. "I can confirm THAT with our apple crops, even dried they don't last longer than a fortnight at most. Even fresh, you might have about a week of you're lucky."
Sapphire sighed. "On the other hand, keeping the root foods and the gourds, as long as it's cool and dry, can last up to a whole month. If we can store those somewhere and somehow for the winter, we would have those to ration in the third or fourth month."
Cinnamon shook her head. "We used a normal shipment of wheat and flour in the month. It was still fresh and usable. If we could find a way to find out how long grains last in a farmer's silage, we could have our answer on how to at least store grains and corn."
Ruby shrugged and Sapphire tutted.
"Must I explain everything that should be common sense to every Royal I've met?" Sapphire groaned, "Simplicity, itself. Ask your farmers. Nicely. If we would work hand in hand with our farmers more, like Jewel Kingdom, and I'm sure the Amazons do, we wouldn't be in this fix now. If this happens, most countries are going to have to rely on themselves and not be asking their neighbors to bail them out because they don't store correctly. Let's make sure we have THAT and as Ethel pointed out who doles the rations out, TONIGHT. We're not going to have much more time this season to figure it out. Especially when the deadline, IF this blizzard hits, is Christmas Day this year. We need to act like this spring and summer... This growing season... Is it, even if none of us believe in the prophecy. THAT'S how we save our people and countries." She smirked. "Don't you love nature science and your inventor friend have ways to do the experiments on grains, corn, and roots? We have already established the flour and wheat last at least a month. Dried fruits last a fortnight, tops. We know nothing about the roots or corn. That could be your homework. You'll have two months... At least... When you return to Cordonia. The rest, in the meantime, can communicate, nicely, with the farmers to see how long they have seen the grains last, as well as find places cool and dry, to store the extra crops." She looked at Ethel. "I haven't forgotten your concern. Jewel Kingdom has already taken great pains already because of the war nations around us. Our crops are already rationed and some stored, usually with our farmers, wine cellars, or other cool and dry places throughout the country, so if one place is attacked, we still have a lot of others. As far as who doles it out, a trusted farmer or vintner, whoever owns the storage area. Even my father wouldn't trust a higher noble. Take a page out of our book and do likewise."
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