[Sca-cooks] Harvest times

[Cat Dancer]

On Thu, 11 May 2006, Volker Bach wrote:

> Salvete
>
> I'm working on a painted casket for my stuff and found an interesting early
> 13th century cycle of 'Month pictures', but I'm wondering about their
> provenance. The thing is, they place haying in June, grain harvest in July,
> threshing in August, which seems a bit early for Northern Europe. The vintage
> is in October, which tends to be a bit cold and wet for that. Now, I'm not an
> expert on Europe's microclimates, but I'm sure there will be one here. So I'm
> wondering: does that generally square with Southern France or Northern Italy?
> Or is it more Central France/Southern Rhineland? I know it's wrong for my
> latitudes.
>
> Grazie
>
> Giano

Remember that the 13th century was starting to see the beginnings of 
the 'little ice age' which was ultimately responsible for 1881, "the year 
without a summer" that those of us who read the Little House books may or 
may not remember. It had an effect on the length of the growing season.

>From whence comes this particular month cycle? What book did you find it 
in?

Margaret FitzWilliam, cook and scribe