Category: Research

A place for ideas for the future, to collect research

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Muscle Memory

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In Twyla Tharp’s book, The Creative Habit, she talks about muscle memory: If there’s a lesson here, it’s: get busy copying.  That’s not a popular notion today, not when we are all instructed to find our own way, admonished to be original and find our own voice at all costs!  But it’s sound advice.  Traveling the paths of greatness, even in someone else’s footprints, is a vital means to acquiring skill. I maintain that pre-modern ways of doing things, of feeding/clothing/housing ourselves, are ‘great’ because hundreds of thousands of people tested them against hunger/wear/weather. She also talks about institutional memory; … Continue reading Muscle Memory

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Children’s books – 3

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The Land and People of Romania, by Julian Hale, Lippincott, 1972. I borrowed this book from the library because (1) they didn’t have the Hungary of the series; and (2) I understand from what little my grandparents told me that when they went back to visit relatives at one point, the home village had been lost to Romania in a border move. I wanted to understand more about that, and more about the stress between the two peoples that I was introduced to in Realm of St. Stephen. This is an older children’s book – like 5th grade, though the … Continue reading Children’s books – 3

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Children’s books – 2

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Young Hungary: Children of Hungary at work and at play, by Marianna Norris, 1970 This is my favorite of the three books I found in my local library.  It’s written as an explanation of a child’s world in 1970 Hungary – past, present, and what they can expect for their futures.  There’s a bit of history, as it pertains to myths: Hungarian Children love to hear stories about their ancestors, wild, free horsemen called the Magyars, who once roamed the plains of Asia (G: not the same as Huns – this is a Victorian revisionist mistake).  The Magyars could shoot … Continue reading Children’s books – 2

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Herbalism Info Dump

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PROBLEM-SOLVERS Herbalist group on Yahoo, which dispenses advice like: Go with the primary sources, available in translation at your library, rather than secondary sources: Galen, Dioscorides, Hildegard von Bingen, Albertus Magnus, William Turner, etc.  These are the texts that Medieval herbalists and apothecaries studied.  Reading modern herb books won’t give you the same information and defininitely won’t give you the same flavor. John Gerard published his Herbal in 1593; Culpepper’s Herbal did not appear till 1660, so he’s a bit late. ~Old Marian Tisane, the quarterly newsletter of the East Kingdom Herbalists and Apothecary’s Guild. Safety with essential oils BOOKS … Continue reading Herbalism Info Dump

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Swedish Craft Schools

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Lately, whipup has been having a Swedish-fest. I’m not sorry.  I have a real thing for Swedish style. Including IKEA. And apparently, the Swedes know how to do life enrichment.  They have traditional craft schools.  Look at this list of short courses offered at Saterglanten, with pictures of all the lovely skills (and I like that bodice that girl is wearing!).  And I really want to try making woven fences and plant trellises like that for my garden!  If it wasn’t for the cost, the language, the airtravel offsets…I’d be there.  It’s summer camp for Greet’s.  And it’s not the … Continue reading Swedish Craft Schools

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Britton-Brown listings for Northern US and Canada

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Re: my query about what was historically grown where, I got this answer.  Britton-Brown.  It’s not helpful for me, because I garden in the Florida Panhandle (latitude: Cairo), and I’m not sure how helpful it’ll continue to be for the northern US due to climate changes and ecosystem shifts, but there it is. Continue reading Britton-Brown listings for Northern US and Canada

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Strewing Herbs

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A discussion about strewing herbs has been bouncing around the SCA-Herbalism Yahoo!Group.  This nice summary went up today. Here in Ansteorra, I have found lavender to be particularly efficacious in repelling mosquitoes and no-see-ums.  Pennyroyal* is a bit sharp on the nose, but is an excellent repellant (mostly fleas, but chiggers seem to dislike it as well).  Blended with lavender, it’s not so bad, and the two work well together, fragrance-wise. Tansy is as sharp-scented as pennyroyal, and also helps repel insects like mosquitoes.  I haven’t found an herb yet that repels flies, though. Mints will repel most creepy-crawly bugs, … Continue reading Strewing Herbs

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Children’s books – 1

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I found a few books on Hungary at my local library – which frankly, isn’t that great.  I’m amazed they were there, actually. Take a Trip to Hungary  – This is part of a huge series, which clearly advocates saving your carbon offsets and reading cold-war versions of the world (c. 1986) from your top bunk.  It’s a rather boring book that is meant for elementary school children, oh, maybe 2nd grade. Here’s a page view showing flax harvesting. (I know from other sources that part of those 2/3 used for cereals now used to be pastureland for herds, just … Continue reading Children’s books – 1

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Honnora’s visit

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(Eek!  I let the fun weekend slip by without checking my post lineup…sorry about that.) Honnora, Lavena’s sweet and wonderful laurel potter friend from Up North is visiting this week, and she and I had a little mutual Christmas. We’d worked out when she was here last to trade a red and blue chaperon for a flax wheel’s water reservoir.  We did that – pics and gushing about pots later.  (Honnora!  I forgot to take your picture!)  We had too much to talk about! We also traded books – I introduced her to BookMooch about ten days ago, knowing it … Continue reading Honnora’s visit

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Period Images debut

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Behold, more new stuff on the right!  Scroll down. I’ve started a Photo Album for reference images.  I suspect I will need to divide these up somewhat in future – garb images and spinning images come first to mind.  But for now there’s only about six in there.  Including the only ‘Hungarian’ 15th-16th century artists that I could find on Web Gallery of Art , an amazing resource. I wonder if Typepad lets me link from a post to an image.  Well, I’ll be. Slick. Continue reading Period Images debut