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Peach mead!part2

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Racking the mead again. I missed the first racking of the mead, it happened after we all dragged ourselves in from RUM, but Lavena looked at the carboy and decided it was time to separate the mead from the peach/yeast sediment.That light stuff is the sediment. Lavena and Cato are washing the 3 and 1 gallon carboys that the mead will go into.  Chlorox is involved. This is Lavena washing out the siphon with cheap vodka. Here goes the siphoning!  I missed the start of the siphon, but it looks like they just used the dissimilar level method to get … Continue reading Peach mead!part2

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Peach mead!

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7/23/07Update!  Here’s what the mead looked like after RUM. It’s still bubbling in that lefthand picture.  The bucket on the right probably holds seven gallons. ——————————————- Lavena is an accomplished vintner.  I’ve enjoyed her products several times, and she’s complained about adjusting to a different agricultural rhythm, here at 30dN. So I commented the other day – "It’s cheap peach time, you know."  So last Sunday, I brought a box of Chilton County (between Montgomery and Birmingham, 209 miles) peaches and a bag of lemons, and she proceeded to direct Melbrigda and Cato and I through the process. Basically, you … Continue reading Peach mead!

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Veg Maps – Arab Diaspora

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There is certainly no ambiguity in the Baghdad cookery book (the Kitab al-tabikh, 1226) about the use of eggplants and no doubt at all that the sort discussed had dark black skin (there are directions for removing it). The book also makes ample reference to fava beans, cardoons, rhubarb, leeks, the ridged cucumber (Armenian snake melon), carrots, gourds, taro, cultivated purslane, turnips, sweet fennel, and spinach. There are also references to a form of cabbage commonly translated into English as cauliflower. Continue reading Veg Maps – Arab Diaspora

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Veg Maps – Ancient World

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From Answers.com (Start at the easiest to find, and work down.): VEG IN THE ANCIENT WORLD (Greek physician Diocles of Carystus)beet greens, mallows, sorrel, nettle, orach, iris corms, truffles, and mushrooms (archeological remains in the Fertile Crescent)cucumbers, chards, gourds, onions, garlics, leeks, melons, chickpeas, lentils, cress, kales, and sesame—both for the seeds and for the oil. Colocynth melons, which resemble small watermelons, were grown primarily for medical applications. (Phoenician traders introduced to N. Africa and S. Spain)shallots, artichokes, saffron (Egyptian papyri and tomb paintings) The most commonly mentioned vegetables were lentils, leeks, lotus, melons, gourds, garlic, asphodel (grown for its … Continue reading Veg Maps – Ancient World

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Who ate what where?

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One of the difficult questions that I thought of while sitting through cookery classes at Gulf Wars, was Has anybody made a visual summary (a MAP) of who ate what, and where? I still want an answer to this.  Particularly because I want to take advantage of millennia of human agricultural experience in solving the gastronomic and color questions – I want to know what to plant in my garden. As I’m still on a "How to Be A Gardener" high, and the Meyer lemons have finally set on my particular tree, I want more progress in the garden.  I … Continue reading Who ate what where?

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GW: Medieval Cookery Class Notes

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(I’m putting these two classes under ‘Herbalism’ because for me, herbalism is Garden Stuff.  And as I grow my garden in order to eat out of it, Cookery and Redacting belongs here.) CULINARY USES OF HERBS –  Taught by Lady Aliessa Wallace, under a sunshade that I’m going to copy this week – check back for a ‘Types of Tents’ post. Basic tenents:First we learned that to the medieval cook, "herbs" are anything green and growing.  "Vegetables" wasn’t a separate category.  So when they say to throw in unnamed herbs, they mean whatever edible green you’ve got ready to eat … Continue reading GW: Medieval Cookery Class Notes

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Sweetpea Harvest

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On the sweetpea front: I am still harvesting sweetpeas.  4 oz, then 11 oz, then 4 oz, then 4 more oz.  (I’m recording the harvest weights on my calendar so I have a total for the year when I’m done. Oops…forgot to weigh the carrots.  I’ll have to guess when I harvest the rest of them.)  I’m picking peas about every four days.  They’ve been getting sweeter as the season progresses, which I chalk up to the latest weather pattern, of several days of clear weather with cold nights, and then a heavy rain – rinse and repeat. Or perhaps … Continue reading Sweetpea Harvest

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Linnaeus’ Flower Clock

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Wouldn’t this be beautiful, embroidered? (Click to enlarge.)  Linnaeus isn’t quite period (1707-1778), but I’ve always been impressed by the drawings of the early Enlightenment. Here’s the list of flowers:0200 – Night blooming cereus closes 0500 – Morning glories, wild roses 0600 – Spotted cat’s ear, catmint 0700 – African marigold, orange hawkweed, dandelions 0800 – Mouse-ear hawkweed, African daisies 0900 – Field marigold, gentians, prickly sowthistle closes 1000 – Helichrysum, Californium poppy, common nipplewort closes 1100 – Star of Bethlehem 1200 – Passion flower, goatsbeard, morning glory closes 1300 – Chiding pink closes 1400 – Scarlet pimpernel closes 1500 … Continue reading Linnaeus’ Flower Clock

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Elderberry Syrup

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So I’ve mentioned ELDERBERRIES in the garden planning post last week, and you’re possibly wondering why.  Apparently they’re incredibly useful fruits to stave off viruses, and the syrup, or "rob"? made from them is sold commercially, and has been used for a Very Long Time. From the SCA-Herbalist list: they are an effective treatment against not only flu, but other viruses as well.They were tested against 9 different types of flu and were effective againsteach one. The way it works is that the virus has spikes growing out of it enabling it to cling to the cell walls. The elderberry … Continue reading Elderberry Syrup