[Sca-cooks] Mattress sacks for Pennsic

[Linda M. Kalb]

What a great idea!  Is one straw bale enough to stuff a double size futon
cover?  How about a queen or king size?  What do you do with the straw when
you leave Pennsic?

Inga Guthbrandsdottir
mka Linda

At 05:59 PM 7/24/01, you wrote:
>Olwen asked:
> > >The straw bales at first glance do seem expensive, but they are brought
> > >onsite, someone is there to sell them and the $5/bale includes the
> > >disposal cost. I've been buying a bale for several years to break apart
> > >and use in my mattrass sack.
> >
> > >THLord  Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
> >
> > Mattrass sack??  What are you talking about?
> >
> > Olwen
>
>Futon mattresses, platform and rope beds are way too big to fit into
>my luggage allowance since I have been flying into Pennsic. Air
>mattresses have a disturbing occurrence of springing leaks.
>
>My solution since Pennsic 27 has been to buy a straw bale from the
>guy (one of the Coopers?) who is selling them on the Serrengetti
>near the entrance. I then break the bale up into a pile of straw
>and stuff a cloth sack. The first two years this was a linen-like
>table cloth that I bought at a thrift store, folded in half and
>then sewed up two edges leaving one of the ends open. I then folded
>over the open end and closed it with large safety pins. This then
>gets covered with a pair of flannel sheets and a sleeping bag.
>
>Several months ago, I found a cloth futon cover at a thrift store.
>This is a double size and has a three-inch side panel sewed around
>it with a zipper holding it closed. This should pack with straw
>better and ends up being wider so that will replace my previous
>tablecloth version.
>
>This won't work for events that don't have straw bales available
>at them and I would probably balk at getting only one or two nights
>use out of a $5 bale anyway.
>
>If you have the space, platform beds covered with a futon mattress
>or large air mattress works well. I used a rope bed for years but
>couldn't get rid of the problems they are prone to. The ropes
>stretch and with two folks you end up in one pile in the middle of
>the bed. They also have a tendancy to 'squeak' at times, especially
>if built using only period materials. For more on various bed
>alternatives, check this file in the HOME, SWEET HOME section
>of the Florilegium:
>beds-msg         (143K)  1/10/01    Medieval and SCA beds. rope and slat
>beds.
>
>This is getting off the subject of this list, so the I guess the
>appropriate thought here is, there is some period evidence for
>eating a variety of things in bed.
>
>Stefan li Rous
>stefan at texas.net
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