[Herbalist] Re: soaps and sundries

[Gaylin Walli]

Jessimond wrote:

>I do not know who wanted to know about truffles, but I have been
>trying to research period soaps and other period body care
>treatments.

You need to look at the Manual de Mujeres then if you have not
already done so. Nostradamus's writings have a bit in there too,
though the recipes are complex at times. But members of this list
have played with them, even if they've not posted about it. There are
lots of other sources too with recipes.

>  Does the book have any herbal recipies like that?

It's not really a recipe book. It's an almanac. More like a diary of
days, if you will. Sort of an early medieval version of the old
Farmer's Almanac, in a weird way. You see entries like "Today the XYZ
bird returned to the foothills" and "Capers are now available at XYZ
and the first of the peaches are ripe in ABC." It is an extremely
distilled version of a manuscript we might normally have exposure to.

There's a lot of ethnographic research that supports the almanacs
statements. Probably a lot more than most SCA researchers are
comfortable with because of the very personal nature of the support
it lends to the validity of the data presented. Most of us in the SCA
aren't trained to read qualitative research (ethnography,
anthropology, and other often culturally inspired types of research)
but have considerable and often formidable experience with
quantitative research (science as most people define it, hard facts,
and repeatable numbers).

Not that I want to discourage anyone from reading anything, mind you.
But I know there will be a lot of people frustrated by the terseness
of the manuscript text and the unfamiliarity of the ethnographic
research that supports a good portion of it.

>Alas, Border Raids is too far a journey from Emerickeskepe here on
>the sunny southern shores of Seleone...but I would love to read more
>about it.  Would you be interested in doing a short "book review" or
>excerpt for Herbal Gatherings, the newsletter for the Herbal Guild
>of Meridies?

When is the deadline for submissions?

Iasmin