[Sca-cooks] Period farming at Glaedenfeld Centre this year

[Diamond Randall]

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Looking in the Floro-thingy.... allright Stefan......seriously, the
Florilegium... I was browsing through entries on period animal breeds and
noted that Karin back in 1999 gave a website for getting beef from Scottish
Highland cattle.   Did anyone ever go to the site and obtain any?  Probably
not any of us N.A. folks, I would think, as it was a U.K. site.  I don't know
if the breed tastes much different from average American beef, but certainly
there are much advertised distinctions in breeds like the Angus beefcattle
available in supermarkets throughout the continent at premium prices.  Down
here at Glaedenfeld Centre, we have an interesting situation this Spring.

THL Ageirr Jon of Cathanar and his wife, THL Zelina Marie Durrant, have moved
to their new home on the Centre property this month.  Besides his expertise in
maintaining my bees, Ageirr Jon is a certified butcher.  With the generosity
of some neighbors just down the road who have recently joined the SCA, the
Centre now has a large, cheap supply available of meat and other products from
a large herd of Highlands cattle and also of Jacob sheep (a 4 horned period
breed).  Later this year we will likely have pork from "Iron Age" pigs
(Tamworth breed) from Ireland and Britain when the new crop of piglets reaches
slaughter weight around midsummer.  Jon and I will be butchering a 1400 pound
purebred Highland bull in about 3 weeks. We plan to videotape the process from
start to finish as an instructional video for the SCA.   We have up to 5 more
Highland bulls and about a dozen Jacobs rams we will likely have to process
before Summer.   The herds simply have to be thinned out soon.  Ain't farming
just grand!

Lady Zelina ("Z") is going to train up one or two of the new bull calves
(after a period modification to their specs) to draw an oxcart around the
Centre.   Pennsic can keep its tractor drawn tram; oxen are definitely more
cool.   Feasts down here will soon have access to a wide variety of period
meats, additionally including the plentiful supply of venison we have already
in the freezer.   We anticipate free-range period fowl by next year and also
have access now to a fair number of Jacob's lambs and lots and lots of kids
and goats for spit barbeques.  We are also starting up programs for period
crops (and of course the honey and orchards we have already begun). The new
plantings in the orchard this year will include quinces, medlars, cornelian
cherries, sorbapples and a lot more period apples, plums, chestnuts and
Carpathian walnuts.   Lord Beorn of the local Shire will be helping us with
soft fruits in addition to the raspberries, mulberries and gooseberries we
have already planted.  We have a small group who intends to start up period
grain growing for baking and brewing this Spring as well as growing thach for
the onsite staff cabins now under construction (the son of one of our new
members is a professional thacher who learned the trade in England).  Lord
have mercy, this is going to be a lot of work!

At any rate, if you are going to be traveling through south Tennessee down I65
on your way to Gulf Wars, we would love to have any of you stop in for a visit
(we have nice free campsites available Gulf Wars weekends and if the warm
weather permits, the feasthall toilets and showers will be turned back on).
The farm with these wonderful period animals is just 2 miles off the next exit
south (about 6 miles from the Centre) and I am sure we can get Jim and Jodie
(they haven't selected persona names yet) to allow tours.  If you are lucky
and we do get this huge bull butchered, you will be able to sample what the
beef tastes like.   If anyone is interested in stopping by (either weekend for
Gulf Wars) or anytime; drop us an e-mail, so we will be sure to be home.   If
you are hauling a horse to Gulf Wars, we probably can arrange pasture
overnight. Let us know and we can e-mail you a map!.  The local Shire is
planing on offering hospitality coffee and fare for weary travelers stopping
by on those weekends.  If we have any students who would be interested in
spending a few weeks or even the Summer (camping, hot showers, nice bathrooms)
working on establishing period agriculture projects, building an Anglo-saxon
farmstead or just helping out on general construction at Glaedenfeld Centre,
let me know also and we can get in contact about it.

Baron Akim Yaroslavich
AKA Randall Diamond, Glaedenfeld Centre, Inc.

--- Diamond Randall
--- ringofkings at mindspring.com[1]
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