Hearthwarden's Directives: Mid-spring, Year 1

I. Measure House Delegation & Tally Verification (Pia)

Pia will travel to Measure House as Hearthmere’s accredited exchange witness for the Month 2 receipt-copying and seal-inspection proceedings.

1. Procedural Stance:

   • Pia will present Hearthmere’s delivery chits and receipts from the past year, cleanly organized and cross-referenced.
   • She is to cooperate transparently with Belen as convenor and Sella as keeper of duplicate tallies, copying Hearthmere’s records into the seasonal register with exact care.
   • Maintain unfailing courtesy toward Keeper Oren. We honor his twelve years of steady service and his timely intervention for our people last winter.

2. Discrete Account Inquiries:

   • Pia is instructed to quietly examine how the emergency grain delivered to Hearthmere’s eighteen households last winter was formally booked:
     • Was it entered as drawn from a common contingency store, recorded as an advance against Hearthmere’s seasonal account, or booked against an exchange credit or another community’s balance?
     • Does Sella’s duplicate record mirror Oren’s master entries in description, volume, and seal markings?
   • If any ambiguity, unassigned balance, or discrepancy appears, Pia is not to make accusations, demand public explanations, or lodge formal challenges. She will simply ensure Hearthmere’s copy reflects the exact state of both ledgers, noting any questions calmly so we are fully prepared for whatever discussions arise during the formal Month 3 public assembly.

II. Craft Demonstration and Regional Exchange (Lorn)

Lorn, accompanied by an experienced apprentice, will travel alongside Pia to Measure House, bringing a demonstration set of our newly developed standardized, sealed grain jars.

1. Demonstration at the Assembly:

   • Present the jars to Belen, Oren, and any visiting witnesses or traders from Barleybank, Reedhaven, and Stonecross.
   • Demonstrate the fit of the ceramic lids, sealed with beeswax and clay slip, and explain how the standardized capacities allow rapid counting and inspection without repeated dumping and reweighing.
   • Highlight the preservation value: damp air, weevils, and rodents cannot penetrate fired, burnished clay as they do open bins or rotted wicker.

2. Commercial Proposal:

   • Offer to supply Measure House with a standard batch of storage jars to safeguard regional reserve grain ahead of the coming harvest.
   • Inquire whether Barleybank (with its rich grain yields) or Reedhaven (with its river transport) would be interested in establishing forward exchange agreements: Hearthmere grain jars and cured roof tiles in return for grain deliveries, raw timber, or reeds.
   • Propose leaving three sealed test jars containing sample grain in the custody of Measure House until autumn as an empirical trial of their moisture and pest resistance.

III. Kiln Operations and Domestic Production (Kira)

With the flue repaired and tested safely under light draft, Kira is authorized to proceed with the season's first full-scale firing of the main communal kiln.

1. Firing Schedule & Quota:
   • The firing will be divided into two primary yields:
     • Export & Storage Ware: A production run of Lorn’s standardized grain jars and fitted lids to build an inventory for upcoming trade.
     • Civic & Domestic Ware: Heavy curved roof and ridge tiles for our village shelters, alongside essential cooking and water vessels for our households.
2. Safety & Heat Control:
   • Kira will supervise temperature ramping strictly using only seasoned fuel from Noll’s elevated racks to avoid thermal shock or smoke blockage in the newly patched flue.

IV. Fuel Management, Shelters, and Community Care (Noll & Mela)

1. Fuel Stacking & Roof Protection (Noll):

   • Continue the rotation of drying wood on the elevated racks. Now that the spring rains are broken by clearer intervals, maintain the alternating shifts: one team hauls and splits green fuel to begin seasoning for summer, while the other applies newly fired clay ridge tiles and fresh thatch to vulnerable domestic roofs.
   • Ensure the central grain storehouse roof is completely watertight before the end of the month.

2. Dignity and Household Integration (Mela):

   • Mela will continue overseeing support for the eighteen dependent households. Food distribution from the communal ovens remains an ordinary community entitlement, not a counted charity.
   • Family members from these households who are able and willing will be invited to participate in clay preparation, slip refining, and straw packaging for Lorn’s trade jars—work that is sheltered, dignified, and central to the community’s rising prosperity.