Summer Solstice, and other things
Jun. 21st, 2007 11:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
helwenMidsummer is here! Happy Solstice!
Not sure if we'll go to the sunwheel today or tomorrow. We do have strawberry-picking on the agenda, as I'd like to try my hand at making strawberry jam. Also a trip to one of the garden places, to see if we can find vervain. If not, I may use lavendar. I know, not traditional, but I have it, and it's a worthy herb in its own right.
Likely will spend a good part of the day in the garden, today and tomorrow. Peas, beans, and tomatoes are all getting a little frisky, and need their string supports. The first potatoes are getting tall and need soil added on top of them. I was borrowing some from one of the spots where nothing had come up, and discovered another potato stem... covered it up promptly, of course!
Lettuce is completely out of control, so more salad today :) I took some up to the farm this weekend, for the in-laws to enjoy.
The blueberries and black currants are starting to color. It won't be a lot, but we'll enjoy them next month, nonetheless. Might be enough for some tarts, perhaps.
Next month is the start of blueberry and raspberry season! Mmm...
***
I'm hoping to get to Webs again soon. We have a project in the planning stages, for weaving a bunch of napkins. One person noted that probably we can't afford linen and will have to use cotton instead. He's probably right, and I did get a huge cone of cotton for $10 the last time we were there. But I'm hoping they might still have a cone or two of linen there.... huge cones, and not as fine quality as the Irish stuff, but infinitely less expensive. Still, the cotton may be the best we can do... the project involves making around 30 napkins, and I don't have hundreds of dollars to spend on the good stuff.
***
Some folks have been talking this spring/summer about how SCA events aren't as medieval and/or fun as they used to be, people aren't as helpful, and of course there's the email lists where some people feel quite free to be rude and/or downright nasty. I'm not on very many email lists myself, but I do know what they're talking about.
I had a few random thoughts on it, that I started writing about in reply to one of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
zaduzbina's posts:
"The gatherings and workshops are probably my favorite parts of SCA right now. Events are the parties we throw when a bunch of us get together... what I think would be good is if people wore their medieval clothing more often though, and used hand tools more, and maybe had meetings by candlelight sometimes... so that when we get together at an event, we would all be more comfortable and not feel like it's 'dress-up'. Hm. I might post this to my LJ..."
When I first joined the SCA, we sometimes dressed in medieval clothing for the business meetings. From what I've heard, some groups still do that. For some folks that seems to be a terrible bother for them, but really, the more often you wear them, the more they become _clothing_, not _costume_. If your medieval clothing isn't comfortable enough to wear whenever you feel like it, then it isn't real clothing. I expect all of my clothing to hold up for at least 6-8 hours (work clothing standard), and preferably all day. Anything I don't want to wear for more than 4 hours is "Go-to-church clothing" -- the stuff you wear at weddings, funerals, etc. And for me, even that stuff is starting to move over to the higher standard. I don't like most synthetics anyway...
We also use candle light or an oil lamp around the house on a semi-regular basis. Saves electricity, and is just more pleasant in general. Quieter, too.
The local cooking guild is looking into maybe a field trip or two this summer/fall, to learn more about older ways of cooking; Plymouth and Sturbridge are the possibilities. I'm hoping to go, because I'd like to get a little more comfortable with the idea of cooking over flame or in wood-fired ovens. Of course, I also want to try a solar cooker and maybe a haybox too.
We need to find some less expensive places to rent for events, so that we can hold small events. Bergental's core personality was founded on small events; it's part of how we got to really know each other and enjoy spending time together, pursuing simple medieval pleasures. We held tournaments that yes, had a winner or winners, but the primary interest was in the joy of the tournament, not the need to win. At Love Tourney, for instance, there were many contests for fighters and non-fighters alike, but the true victor of the day was Love.
Not sure if we'll go to the sunwheel today or tomorrow. We do have strawberry-picking on the agenda, as I'd like to try my hand at making strawberry jam. Also a trip to one of the garden places, to see if we can find vervain. If not, I may use lavendar. I know, not traditional, but I have it, and it's a worthy herb in its own right.
Likely will spend a good part of the day in the garden, today and tomorrow. Peas, beans, and tomatoes are all getting a little frisky, and need their string supports. The first potatoes are getting tall and need soil added on top of them. I was borrowing some from one of the spots where nothing had come up, and discovered another potato stem... covered it up promptly, of course!
Lettuce is completely out of control, so more salad today :) I took some up to the farm this weekend, for the in-laws to enjoy.
The blueberries and black currants are starting to color. It won't be a lot, but we'll enjoy them next month, nonetheless. Might be enough for some tarts, perhaps.
Next month is the start of blueberry and raspberry season! Mmm...
***
I'm hoping to get to Webs again soon. We have a project in the planning stages, for weaving a bunch of napkins. One person noted that probably we can't afford linen and will have to use cotton instead. He's probably right, and I did get a huge cone of cotton for $10 the last time we were there. But I'm hoping they might still have a cone or two of linen there.... huge cones, and not as fine quality as the Irish stuff, but infinitely less expensive. Still, the cotton may be the best we can do... the project involves making around 30 napkins, and I don't have hundreds of dollars to spend on the good stuff.
***
Some folks have been talking this spring/summer about how SCA events aren't as medieval and/or fun as they used to be, people aren't as helpful, and of course there's the email lists where some people feel quite free to be rude and/or downright nasty. I'm not on very many email lists myself, but I do know what they're talking about.
I had a few random thoughts on it, that I started writing about in reply to one of
zaduzbina's posts:"The gatherings and workshops are probably my favorite parts of SCA right now. Events are the parties we throw when a bunch of us get together... what I think would be good is if people wore their medieval clothing more often though, and used hand tools more, and maybe had meetings by candlelight sometimes... so that when we get together at an event, we would all be more comfortable and not feel like it's 'dress-up'. Hm. I might post this to my LJ..."
When I first joined the SCA, we sometimes dressed in medieval clothing for the business meetings. From what I've heard, some groups still do that. For some folks that seems to be a terrible bother for them, but really, the more often you wear them, the more they become _clothing_, not _costume_. If your medieval clothing isn't comfortable enough to wear whenever you feel like it, then it isn't real clothing. I expect all of my clothing to hold up for at least 6-8 hours (work clothing standard), and preferably all day. Anything I don't want to wear for more than 4 hours is "Go-to-church clothing" -- the stuff you wear at weddings, funerals, etc. And for me, even that stuff is starting to move over to the higher standard. I don't like most synthetics anyway...
We also use candle light or an oil lamp around the house on a semi-regular basis. Saves electricity, and is just more pleasant in general. Quieter, too.
The local cooking guild is looking into maybe a field trip or two this summer/fall, to learn more about older ways of cooking; Plymouth and Sturbridge are the possibilities. I'm hoping to go, because I'd like to get a little more comfortable with the idea of cooking over flame or in wood-fired ovens. Of course, I also want to try a solar cooker and maybe a haybox too.
We need to find some less expensive places to rent for events, so that we can hold small events. Bergental's core personality was founded on small events; it's part of how we got to really know each other and enjoy spending time together, pursuing simple medieval pleasures. We held tournaments that yes, had a winner or winners, but the primary interest was in the joy of the tournament, not the need to win. At Love Tourney, for instance, there were many contests for fighters and non-fighters alike, but the true victor of the day was Love.
