It’s cloudy and quiet this Friday morning, and things feel peaceful after much hustle and bustle the past few days.

We had toast and eggs for breaky, fleshed out our Master Packing List for medieval events, fed the pigs, let out the goats, and now we’re sitting and writing as we sip our hot drinks, chocolate for me, coffee for him.

I can hear the goats snuffling outside as they tuck into the grass we’ve let grow unhindered for several weeks. The dogs are sleeping after a rowdy night barking at whatever the neighbours dogs were barking at, and the geese, turkeys, and chooks are foraging in the undergrowth for bugs and worms.

Prepping for medieval events is always a bit madcap. Bear and I store 95% of the gear at our place, and weeks are spent hauling everything out for airing and organization before starting on mending and waterproofing tents, fixing damaged tent poles and wonky tent pegs, redoing frayed ropes, washing linens, sorting through all the kitchen equipment to make sure we have enough dishes, cutlery, cooking, and cleaning supplies, chopping and stacking firewood, prepping food, and making sure all our personal gear, armour, and demonstrations are in order.

It’s a lot of work, like setting up an entirely new household for 9 people, but honestly, we love it. Yes, we get tired, and in the beginning it’s all rather overwhelming, but when the lists are written, the plans made, and everyone has their own projects to tackle, it’s quite exciting.

This week Bear made new tent poles while I sewed a 10 metre by 8 metre floor for our Bedouin tent and mended the front doorway. Together we’re making new chairs, painting and staining, sewing, polishing, sharpening, and fixing.

The weather has been perfect for such work, sunny with cool breezes, and we’re so thankful for the gardens that keep us supplied with beans, asparagus, eggplants, chilies, and herbs so we can easily throw together meals in between projects.

Today we’re organizing all our gear according to the three tents we bring: a Bedouin tent for sleeping quarters, a tall Bedouin tent where we gather for meals and do all our cooking prep, and a Marquee where Bear and I have our sleeping quarters and display of 12th century bedding and Bear’s Ducal accoutrements.

If you arrived at our farm today, you’d find the ground covered with stacks of tent poles, piles of ropes, mounds of pegs, tottering piles of fabric, rugs, and tentage, wooden boxes galore, and more tables and chairs than you can imagine. It’s a wild medieval hodgepodge, but I love seeing it all together as I tick things off my list and feel more prepared and organized with each tick.

Soon we’ll start putting things on the trailer, getting a head start on packing, but first some quiet time with my hot chocolate, then a meander through my gardens to harvest a few things to go with the beef I put in the crockpot for dinner.

Wishing you all a fabulous Easter weekend. xo