by Krista | Jul 8, 2015 | Winter
Medieval medicines are made, bags packed, trailers loaded and tied down. Our car is full to bursting with medieval weapons and furniture, food and boxes, and we are finally ready to head to Abbey Medieval Festival.
It’s the event we look forward to most all year. The one where all of our medieval friends gather for 5 days of camping, cooking over fires, sharing our passion for history with the public, and, the best part of all, jolly good visits over cups of mead and spiced wine.
Leaving the farm for 5 days is no easy feat, but we’ve been working hard to make sure all the animals have plenty of food and water, and we have wonderful caretakers who keep an eye on things to make sure the farm and animals are safe.
As much as Bear and I love our farm, it is pretty darn exciting to think about five whole days without any farm work at all. Yep, we’re just a wee bit excited.
Now I’m off to bed to catch a few hours sleep before our 4 a.m. wake-up. Then we will have hot showers, bid farewell to our caretakers, and set off to Caboolture for our grand medieval adventure.
What are you looking forward to most this week? xo
by Krista | Jul 6, 2015 | Winter
Sometimes life sends the best surprises. This weekend we got a great one in the form of our dear friends, Shaun and Stacey, who rang up for an impromptu, “Can we come stay with you guys?” We didn’t hesitate for even a second before excitedly saying, “YES!!”
We hustled around getting beds ready and food made, groceries bought and a double layer chocolate cake baked, and then we were set.
It was such a good weekend. Relaxing, fun, inspiring, delicious, and absolutely marvelous.
We practically lived around the campfire, talking for hours, cooking nearly all our meals over dancing flames and sighing happily as we noshed on slightly charred sausages slathered with mustard and hobo packets stuffed with garlicky potatoes, carrots, hamburgers, and onions.
We bottle-fed baby goats, collected eggs, butchered ducks and made delectable duck prosciutto, did all sorts of medieval projects, and thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company.
On Saturday afternoon the guys busied themselves in the shed making gambesons and tabards and polishing medieval weapons. But Stace and I were having, “I’m so tired I can barely move” moments, so we got into our coziest clothes, hauled chairs out into the glorious Winter sunshine, armed ourselves with homemade cookies, cups of tea, and stacks of books, and luxuriated in a couple hours of pure relaxation and inspiration.
We read about foraging wild foods from the fields and bush, got new ideas for things we can dry in our dehydrators, and great baking recipes for the massive amount of spelt we’ve got on hand.
It was wonderfully relaxing and so peaceful. Just what we needed.
When the sun lost its warmth and icy winds picked up, we went back inside and made a big batch of whipped body butter for us to share.
Stacey and I both love making our own remedies and cosmetics, and this one is a beauty.
Made with nourishing shea butter, cocoa butter, coconut oil, and olive oil whipped to creamy lusciousness, it is luxurious in both texture and fragrance. We swoon every time we take the lid off for a sniff. Yep, it’s magic.
After one final cuppa late Sunday afternoon, big hugs, and promises to do this again very, very soon, we waved farewell with huge smiles on our faces.
Good friends are treasures indeed. xo
Cocoa Whipped Body Butter
Ingredients:
1/2 cup shea butter
1/2 cup cocoa butter
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup olive oil
Directions:
1. Place all ingredients in double boiler over simmering water.
2. Stir gently until completely melted.
3. Remove from heat and place bowl in freezer for 30-40 minutes until mixture thickens to the consistency of runny honey.
4. Remove from freezer and whip with electric beaters until mixture turns pale and stiff peaks form.
5. Spoon into glass jars and seal. In hot climates, store in the fridge.
by Krista | Jul 4, 2015 | Winter
Brrr, I’m warding off the morning chill with hot tea and a peanut butter cookie as I watch the sunrise light flood my kitchen. Soon I’ll be mixing and brewing in there, getting medieval medicines ready to demonstrate at Abbey Medieval Festival next weekend.
First, however, I’m excited to share with you my book: “herb & spice a little book of medieval remedies” that I finished this week.
It’s a lovely little book, chock full of over 50 recipes and remedies inspired by medieval writings, findings in recent archaeological digs, and nuggets of information passed on to me from friends, family, and medieval history buffs.
I’ve been making my own concoctions since I was a little girl, mixing up “healing brews” with my brothers and cousins that consisted almost entirely of dirt, sticks, water, and whatever weeds we could find. They healed no one, but added much to our imaginative enactments of dramatic flights from bad guys and heroic stands in the wilderness.
Making such things seemed natural to me since my Mum, aunts, and grandmother were always treating our various childhood ailments with applications of raw honey and herbal teas. I remember the year I got terrible frostbite on my face and my grandmother promptly put me to bed and slathered raw honey all over my face. It felt mighty strange, I tell ya, but it did the trick, and my skin healed quickly without any scarring.
In later years I studied herbal and traditional medicine on my own, reading books by the stack and finding myself often frustrated by the lack of practical information. Yes, I knew lavender was good for burns and licorice root would help with a chest cold, but HOW?? Did I make a paste? A tea? A salve of some sort? The nitty-gritty, that’s what I wanted to know.
So I kept studying and experimenting, taking the ingredients, testing them, and figuring out how to use them in effective ways.
Along the way I learned that natural does not equal safe. Herbs affect people differently and must be used with caution. They can also interact with medications and it is always best to consult your doctor before adding herbal remedies to your health regimen.
Good sense and good research are my rules of thumb. And honestly, the research is half the fun. I love learning what different tribes and cultures have used to heal and rejuvenate their people over the centuries. I’m fascinated by how modern science helps explain why things work, why they don’t, and how to use them safely.
Here is a little preview of “herb & spice – a little book of medieval remedies“:
If you would like to purchase a copy of your own, click here: “herb & spice – a little book of medieval remedies“
The book is printed in California and ships worldwide.
Do you have any herbal remedies you love to use in your family? xo
by Krista | Jul 2, 2015 | Winter
Brrr! Icy winds brought Winter to our farm yesterday and it is shiveringly cold. We’re piling on the layers now, bundling up as we head outside to feed animals, water the gardens, and work on all sorts of projects.
It’s been a project-o-licious week as we get ready for the Abbey Medieval Festival while tackling farm duties that just won’t wait. It’s been really fun but boy, are we ever tired.
Yesterday I made a good start on planting all the garlic my friends and I harvested, and Bear and I stayed up until well after dark sewing the last few hems of a new tent for our medieval encampment. We sewed pillows and bags, tarps and more bags, and it feels so good to cross each item off our list.
One of my favorite projects has been cooking over the campfire, trying out new recipes to make for our medieval group. Some have just been for us – nachos, stuffed potato skins – but others fit the medieval criteria such as roasted pears with caramel sauce and freshly baked spelt rolls. Mmm, so good. Can’t wait to make them for everyone next week.
Today was a baking day, filling up cookie jars so we have something on hand for when friends drop by. Oatmeal Raisin are Bear’s favorites, especially when I cram in as many raisins as possible.
I, on the other hand, had a hankering for peanut butter cookies with a light dusting of Celtic sea salt to go with my hot chocolate.
I also made spelt bread rolls and planned out lunches and dinners and now we’re all set for the weekend.
Tomorrow I’ll be wood-burning, mixing up medieval remedies, getting the rest of the garlic in, and writing two columns for the newspaper. And I’m definitely taking a break over lunch to try a few more campfire recipes I’ve been mulling over.
I sure love this crazy life of ours.
But now I’m going to crawl into my very warm bed and listen to an old time radio mystery and sleep, sleep, sleep.
What are your favorite cookies? xo
by Krista | Jun 29, 2015 | Winter
After a balmy morning, clouds rolled in, temperatures dropped, and icy winds began to blow. But there were adventures to be had, so I bundled up against the cold and headed to Oma’s house with a bag of limes for her and her family.
A while ago Oma planted heaps of garlic in her paddock, both one-cloved Russian garlic and regular garlic. They are now strapping seedlings and she invited me over to gather her garlic bounty to plant in my garden. I was thrilled!!
Bear and I love garlic. Roasted, fried, tucked into nearly every savory dish we eat, it is definitely a favorite around here and we never seem to have enough.
Oma’s grandchildren, Katie and Alex, went out there with us, digging down into the black soil Southern Queensland is famous for. The bulbs smelled absolutely amazing, and we were delighted to find that even the ground smelled like garlic.
Everyone piled their pickings into my hands and I now have about 100 garlic seedlings ready to tuck into place in my garden.
Then we went over to Oma’s orchard where she pointed out the sweetest little bird’s nest perched in the branches of one of her fruit trees.
One of her quince trees has new shoots sprouting up around it, and Oma and Katie hacked and dug and pulled one out for me to grow at home. I’m so excited. Last year Oma gave me quinces off her tree and I made the most luscious liqueur with it. Once my own tree starts producing, I’m looking forward to making more liqueur and several jars of quince paste to go with our current favorite cheese, triple cream brie.
After the work was done, we went for a wander around the farm, stopping to look at the fat and gorgeous chickens before heading to the pig pen to see Oma’s three beauties. Who could resist those adorable faces?
Later this week Oma and Katie are coming over to tackle part two of making apple wine. We taste-tested today and it is mighty potent stuff with a marvelous fragrance. A bit more sugar syrup for sweetness and time to age and it’s going to be a mighty fine brew.
I’m so grateful for kind and generous friends who share their knowledge and fruits of their labors. It’s so much fun to learn and work together.
What projects are you tackling this week? xo
