May 17, 2009

We have been busy at Pine Haven this spring. Planting two cherry trees, one peach tree and some shrubs. We also put in a spring garden of onions, potatoes, radishes, lettus, spinach, and peas. We have had a couple meals of stinging nettles and some fresh asparagus out of the garden also. The lovely smells from all the blooming plants is wonderful. The apple, pear, and plum trees have been in bloom and now the lilacs have just started. It was really hard to leave this place of paradise but we did to attend the Royal Crown Tournament of Stephen and Ailleanne.

Morning court occured at about 10 am. Each fighter dressed in their finery was introduced into court surrounded by their attendants. Their attributes were loudly proclaimed and herald. I expected their bouts to be done by lots. But no. The challenged picked out one of the challengers to fight until there were none left.

The tournament began at 11am and lasted until 4:30pm. Each pair had three bouts with three different weapons. Each contestant was sent into battle with hugs and kisses from his favorite. Each winner afterwards knelt before his lady to again receive hugs. Only than would he go forward to claim his win before the tally board members where his shield would be displayed on the tally board.

The tension slowly mounted all day to see who the two warriors would be to end up fighting for the crown. I did not know who the contestants were so I had no favorites. But I began to hear a small rumor. Siegfried had just asked her hand in marriage of Elizabeth and he really wanted to win the crown tournament as a gift for her. Oh, add romance to the mix and now this had my full attention. I quickly learned who he was and even recognized him from other court events.
I checked my recent Northwatch newsletter that I had with me and found out that he was the first king of Northshield five years ago and also the fifth king of Northshield. He also was one of the challenged. He was tall, lean, young, strong, and quick on his feet.

By 4:30 it was down to two contestants with Siegfreid being one of them. They would have 15 bouts with different weapons being used. Besides great skill it also took great endurance. I imagine vision was limited wearing the helmets besides. The field was very silent as the two combatants circled each other looking for the right opening. Many times the jabs were so fast that it was hard to follow with the eyes. In the end, Siegfreid won and fell to his knees exhausted before his lady Elizabeth kissing her hand. She hugged his head to her chest.

Evening court started at 6pm. After the King and Queen came in to court than the new Prince Siegfreid and Princess Elizabeth were announced and they took the royal thrones on the right of the Royals. Through court I saw Siefreid kissing her hand many times and she would give him a sweet, quiet smile. The big announcement at court made by King Stephen was that with all the allies they had about 225 fighting men in hard suit for the Pennsic Wars. On Tuesday Northshield would command the Mid Realm Army following Queen Ailleanne into battle.

At 7pm we had another wonderful feast. We were invited to sit with people that we had met before and that warmed our hearts. We declared it a good day with good folk.

What grain flowers do bees like?

April 28, 2009

We have a plot about 42 feet by 33 feet that seems to be ground that is poor. While researching this winter to see what grain we could raise on it, I came across buckwheat. It likes cool, moist climates and cold areas..that is our region. It is also a good grain for poor soil and in soil that is clods from breaking up a pasture. It is a member of the knotweed family and grows about 3 feet high and have heart-shaped leaves. It is exceptionally nutritious. The pioneer woman who routinely sent their families out for a day of scho0l or work on a start of buckwheat pancakes were indeed giving them the best possible start for a hard day's work.

It is also valuable for beekeepers because it bears abundant white flowers starting about 4 weeks after planting. The plants will continue to bloom until killed by frost, still flowering when most other pollen sources are failing. Buckwheat -blossom honey...dark-colored and richly flavored..is considered a delicacy and can be bottled and sold as a specialty. Buckwheat is rich in rutin, a substance that controls certain types of hemmorrhaging.

The honey part sold me. I am always looking for sources of food for my bees and this will provide for them late in the fall plus I get all that wonderful honey!! Also chickens love this grain. This is a win win.

Buckwheat overnight yeast pancakes. Dissolve 1 t. dry yeast in a little warm water. Add 1 t. sugar, enough lukewarm water to measure 4 cups, 1/2 t. salt, and enough buckwheat flour to make a thin batter. (about 3 1/2 cups) Let it work overnight. In the morning add 2 T. molasses. Stir it down, pour onto griddle in dollar-size pancake dollops, and cook.

We decided not to broadcast this grain but to plant in rows. The rows are 15 inches apart and the seed is about 1 inche apart in the rows. We should get about one bushel if we decide to harvest it.

oats and cake

April 28,2009

We planted oats today. A plot 50 feet by 60 feet which should yield about 5 bushels. We tilled the area first and than broasdcast the seed by hand. The goal was one seed per inch. After that we racked in the seed. Now we leave it to grow and keep all animals and humans off the patch. It is suppose to rain tonight which is good for the crop. Oats do best in a cool, moist climate. They actually yield heavier in more nothern areas.

Scotland's production of oast prompted the famous Englishman Dr. Johnson to scoff at his Scottish friend, the equally famous Mr. Boswell, "They feed men in Scotland what in England they only feed to horses." Boswell retorted, "Yes. Better men. Better horses."

Life in the Middle Ages was full of hard labor. Most things were done by hand since they did not have machines, yet. Since our plot is small, we will be doing things also by hand. No reason to buy a big combine, tractor, etc. This certainly will give us a taste of times past.

Porridge was usually oats cooked. Peas porridge hot...peas porridge cold..peas porridge in the pot..ten days old..

Oat cakes..This was often made in old Scotland. Mix your oat flour with enough water to make a dough. Knead as you would bread. Then roll out as thin as you can. Cut into squares. Fry on an iron plate or griddle or in a pan that is shiny with oil. Serve warm with butter and honey.

It took two hours to broadcast and rake the oats. Now we will see how they grow and what kind of harvest we will receive. Also oats are very high in protein. The side benefit is the oat straw that can be used in gardens or bedding for animals.

Dark Woods

Dark Stone had a Barbic challenge called in the North of the North. One was to write /perform a poem, song, play scene, etc ,talking about the adventures of living in the north. Earlier in the day they said that people in SCA were very encouraging and non-judgmental about the creation of poems and songs, etc. They said that each was a winner just by getting up and performing.

A week before the event I had scribbled down a few lines of a poem and than thought that I really did not know how they wrote poems long time ago and so stopped and decided not to enter. At the last minute when we were leaving home, I picked it up and decided to take it with me ...just in case I changed my mind. After hearing in the afternoon, their attitude towards the arts, I began to wonder. After talking to the instructor, since I was still filled with self-doubt, and she encouraged me to read it. I knew that I had just started the poem and had not finished. So I read it again and thought that it really could end there and still make sense. I don't like standing up in front of people and really did not make up my mind until just before the challenge began. I didn't even have a title to the poem until after I got home. But here is....Dark Woods...

It's the time of
the Starving Moon.

When earth garbs herself in
a deep mantle of white.

She hides herself from the
cold, blowing, North winds.

And doesn't feel the penetrating
cold in her bones.

For days the warmth of the sun
has left this frozen, cold, North land.

It is dark, still, quiet as all life
hides in Mother earth for warmth.

As the temperature drops, one's
breath freezes in to air crystals.

Even the lake ice mourns, groans,
snaps, crackles, and pops in protest.

In the gray, twilight of day,
I snuggle deeper in my fur skins.

Wishing I could sleep the whole winter
away, just like the bears!

Shield My Kinsmen

This past week end we attended a Bardic event in northern Wisconsin on the lake in Ashland. There was still ice on the lake and the sun set about 30 minutes later than at home. Even in ice and snow it is a beautiful place.

The first event of the day was learning some Northshield songs and the way the songs were sang. The theme song was written by Mistress Wyndreth Berginsdottir. I decided to write it here in this first blog of the week. The title is above.

Shield my kinsmen from their foes
And from the teeth of the wind
Shield my kinsmen from sorrow and from shame
Until fate brings us shoulder to shoulder
To stand as brothers again.

We are the children of the ice and sonw
And of the golden plains and rolling hills.
We are the children of the water cold and wide,
And cool dark forests. We are the people,
We are the people of our home, Northshield.

The winter tries to break us on its anvil made of ice
But our blood beats hot and true as steel
Not a drop of it is spilled on our pure white snow
But what was bought by rivers, crimson rivers,
Crimson rivers of our foemen's own.

We are the keepers of our future and our past
And the names of our heroes past and gone,
On whose courage, strength, and wisdom
The Northshield stands.
Teach their stories to your children, to our children,
'Till their names are written in our blood and bone.

Now we fly behind the hawk who leads the way to war
For he flies in the fashion that we live,
Like a fine and blooded spear poised at the Dragon's side
We will face our foremen to fight for the honor,
To fight for the honor of our home, Northshield.

c 1996 K.Kahan

Evening court and feast...

The evening court started at 5:00pm with King Stephen and Queen Ailleanne marching in mist thier Royal Guard and court attendants to ascend the thrones. The Prince of Midrealm was next announced to come into court and he was seated on the right hand of the Queeen. His pages brought in cookies to give to the populous and the court as gifts from Midrealm. Many gifts were given to the new Queen and King from others of the realm as they in turn gave out awards of service. The King stood up and began to talk about the growing reputation of the Northshield army in the Pennsic wars over the past couple of years. Even though our forces are small our renown was growing for their courage and great bravery on the battle field. Others would give up after a couple of charges but our forces did not give up and kept on fighting. Other Kingdoms took notice of this. Recently many have contacted him wanting to form alliances with Northshield and so negotiations have begun. He turned to the Prince of Midrealm agreeing to an alliance with Midrealm in the upcoming Pennsic Wars. There was great rejoicing in this announcement as the King and Prince hugged to seal the alliance. New banners and flags were given to the King and Queen and shown off for all their beauty. Court was dismissed and the Court left the hall admist drum roll.

The feast went beyond my expectations. The tables were set up in a U shape with the Royals at the bottom of the U. They were served first. There was a food contest with 13 entries. The Royals were given each entry and voted with peas in a dish. Each table had the chance to sample a couple of the entries. Besides this there was the main feast menu which was served in courses. This included : sallet of all kindes of hearbes, pudding in a turnep, cheese buns, rice casserole, roasted chikins, smoked pork, leibkuken, spanish pastries, and custard. There were six sauces placed on the table first to use as you saw fit. They were honey mustard, French mustard, green sauce, good French sauce, cinnamon of must, and a thin sauce for roasted fowl.
There was a sheet on the table listing the ingredients of each dish, sauce, and contest entry.
Needless to say we did not leave the table hungry! It was a very good day we had at the cornation.

A pair of cow horns...

It was a warm (50degrees), sunny day to be on the field watching the armed heavy fighting, fencing, and the pole arm tourney. I just threw a blanket over my shoulders and stood in the sun to enjoy all the sights and sounds. I knew that all this fighting was pratice for the summer great wars ahead for the Kingdom. There were afternoon classes on spinning, coin making, and basic soapstone. Some of the populous were dancing while the pipers played. Many of the women were involved in various kinds of needlework and talking. While visiting with one wrench ( a young woman), I noticed that she was carrying a beautiful cow horn. I began to ask her about it. She took me to the merchants stall that sold them. They were longhorn cow horns in black and white colors. They were cleaned up inside and the inside was coated with bees wax. Now they were ready to be used for drinking horns. No ice..that would chip the wax. No heat..that would melt the wax...just lukewarm liquids. No soap to clean just water. The price went according to how much liquid each horn would hold. 3/4 pint and up...there was one so huge that it held a couple of quarts. Each horn came with a leather strap around the middle so that it could hang on a belt to the side of a person. Take a piece of wood with a round hole in the middle and insert the horn in the hole and now you could put that on your table to use for drinking. I was strongly drawn to the horns and found one that was a beautiful marble of black and white. My husband chose a black horn, a little bigger than mine, for his drinking utensil. After the exchanging of coin, they became ours. Wood plates, cow horns, garb, belts...we were beginning to fit with the times past.

The cornation of..

The cornation of Stephen du Bois and Aillcanne ingen Felin of the Kingdom of Northshield was a huge, gala event. All the Lord's, Ladies's, and the populous were dressed in their Sunday best and on their most best behavior. The day was full of good will, celebration, and happiness.

Court began at 10:00 AM with great pomp and circumstance as the outgoing garbed, Japanese, barefoot King and Queen were led into the court area amidst drum roll, armed knights and their court attendants. As they ascended their thrones for the last time there was great anticipation. They gave out their last awards to persons for recognization of appreciation for service done. When their court business was concluded, they left the throne for the last time, leaving their crowns behind on the throne with the area now empty.

I was wondering what would happen next when from the back of the room loud shouting was heard. A rush of armed men came proclaiming Stephen du Bois's right to the throne by way of winning this right in combat. He was protected in their midst on their path to the throne area. They were stopped and challenged to prove his claim. Witnesses stepped forward. Each testified that they saw his triumph over his enemies in combat. Because of these witnesses it was declared that he was the rightful heir to the throne. He named his Queen and the lovely Ailleanne was brought forward with her attendants and she accepted the position.

Before he was crowned Stephen brought others forward to be released from his alliances with them since now he would be giving himself to the Kingdom. Stephen and Ailleanne put the crowns on each other that were left on the throne chairs. Next King Stephen began to name his court. His Marshall of Arms, the Queen's champion, the Royal Guard who were given new tunics of black and gold, the Court Herald, and other court members.

The great sword was brought forward and placed in front of the King and Queen. The nobles, Lords and Ladies now swear fealty to the King and Queen on bended knees. The King and Queen also swear service to the Kingdom. The populous was invited next to bow and swear fealty to the King and Queen. After the cornation the whole court left amidst drum roll. As the new King and Queen walked past the whole populous bowed to their new sovereigns. A page boy brought up the end throwing out gold coins to the populous.

His legs felt cold...

Last week at the event, Mike's legs felt cold so this week I found some light brown tweety material. Out of that I made a pair of leggings for his legs that were gathered at the ankle and at the knee. I also draped the rest of the material that went from the back at the waist over his right shoulder and a little below his waist in front. He held it down with his black belt with the silver buckel in front. That gave him warmth over his chest. Anytime that he wants he can take it off and use as a blanket or drape across his shoulders. That is the way they did it long ago. When we were outside this week end, he could tell the difference and was glad for the leggings. This week I plan to make some pouches out of the material for him to hang on his belt to the side. He has no pockets in his breeches and they made pouches long ago to carry such items in that they needed. The pouches were made of leather, fur, or cloth.

Our trip to the Middle Ages

We were so excited for the past two weeks to attend our first SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) event. The week before I spent sewing and putting together our middle ages outfit. It was held in a park building in Wausau, Wi.

The troll gate opened up at 9 am Sat. morning. Kudrun, our seneschal/president from the Shire of Rokecliff (LaCrosse) met us there and we found a place along the outside all of the arena to park ourselves along with our stuff. The Shire of Falcon Keep (Wausau) was hosting the event.

The middle of the arena was roped off for the combats with the rapiers/swords and armored combatants, who were dressed in helmets, chainmail protection, shields, and they used rattans for swords. The fighting began about 11am.

Pavillions were set up for the Royals ie King and Queen, Prince and Princess. Men and women were starting to put on their battle gear. Yes, women!! One woman was shown to us who was the first female knight of the Northshield Kingdom which included WI, UP of Michigan, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Manitoba and part of Ontario.) Another woman, Angelina, was a skilled combatant with the rapiers/swords. The Barony of Windhaven was parked right next to us.

We watched two young college age gals putting on there fighting gear. We introduced ourselves to Mave and found out this was her first fight and she had to be authorized first ie meet approval by the marshal that she passed the safety test. She passed and came to me and gave me an orange flower. I was surprised! This meant she favored me and I was now to be her cheer leader. So I stood on the side lines to watch her personal bout/match. Within 5 seconds she received a blow to the top of her helmet and was dead from the kill blow. All told she played in three matches.

The matches lasted all day until about 3:30. We spend our time meeting people. There was another room where the merchants were selling their wares and we bought two wooden plates for the evening feast. They had four classes ie beginning sewing, love herbs, chain mailing, and leather making. We took love herbs and leather making which were very educational.

But the most fun was all the wonderful fancy outfits!. As I met people I asked what period of time and country they were representing. Everyone was friendly and willing to explain things to some green horns. At the front of the room were set up four throne chairs and whenever you passed this area, you'd bow or curtsie to show your respect for the sovereigns.

Kudrun is a barb and has been involved about 20 years and knows alot of people. She introduced us to Shavasue who is the unofficial court photographer. She has gone for 30 years and was one of the original people who started the Northshield Kingdom. She now has a new toy, a small one hour video camera. She was going around and recording singing barbs to put on her u tube site. She wanted Kudrum to pick a song for her to record.

A couple of hours passed and when I came back Shavasue told Kudrun that it was now time to record her song. She picked out a song and asked this other lady to come in on the chorus. They went outside to record and Kudrun pressed me into service on the chorus. For giggles I went along. I didn't know the song, the tune, or words. A passing thought was ..I must be crazy to be doing this. She had a small book which was shared by the three of us. I only knew I was to join in repeating the last 3-4 words of each verse. The song told a story and Kudrun was doing an excellent job! I began to see the humor of the song and had all I could do to contain my own laughter. The other lady was in the same position as I. The ending took a surprise twist and after the recording was finished we all broke down in hilarious laughter!!

The matches ended about 3:30 and the area was cleared and set up with chairs for the court to began about 4pm. The contestants had changed their battle gear and were now dressed in their court dress. The Royal Court marched down in great fanfare and Queen AEsa Drothing and King Kitadate-tenno and the Prince and the Princess were seated on their respective thrones with their court behind them.

The court heralder announced each court business that needed to be conducted. Awards of the Kingdom were given out. The biggest award of Service is the Pelican award which was given to Angelina. But first the populace stood and gave witness why she should receive this award. During court time we saw good humor and jesting with a great deal of laughter. Court lasted about 1 1/2 hours. Than the site was cleared for the feast.

The head table for the royalty was decorated and set up with the tables for the other 50 feast festers set up in front of them. I just have to describe this feast. Each one brought their own eating utensils. The theme was French and mildly aphrodisiac. Each course was first announced with the head table being served first.

Appetizers--Faux Escargot..butter and garlic with bread, served with Syseros which is chick peas (like hummus), and later Potage d'oignons (onion soup)

First Remove- chicken with fennel and parsnips, carrots, and onions fried, and french bread

Second Remove- Roast pork with coriander and garlic, sweet potatoe/apple pie, and sliced oranges

Sweet- coeur al la Creeme- soft cheese with raspberry sauce

What a culinary experience!! Toasts were suggested and made and it lasted about 2 hours. One shire put on a long day feast which was normal back then. I noticed that Mave was sitting on the right hand of the king and afterwards I asked her about that. She said that the King wanted to invite a first time fighter to his table and he asked for her. What a special treat that was for her!!

There was hand kissing and great chivalry by the gentlemen of the realm. I am sure the evening passed great for everyone since the menue explained how each food was so aphrodiaiac which I excluded in this report.

This is the last week for the reign of the current King and Queen. Next week is the coronation of the new King/Queen.We be traveling to their realm to partake of that grand event. I wonder if I should make some new outfits as befitting the occasion.? Until then...

Patricia and Michael of Pine Haven