Gen Con 2017 Schedule

Gen Con Indy 2017,  August 17 - 20

It's just a few weeks until Gen Con and I realized I hadn't posted about it yet. My two regular seminars are part of the Writer’s Symposium this year, which means they'll be in bigger rooms and close to the convention center. It looks like the tickets for them (both free!) are going fast

SEM17121102 – Author Education: Medieval Cooking and Fantasy Foods
Have you designed a richly detailed fantasy setting for your game or story, only to have a gaping hole show up the first time a character needs to eat? What do you serve at a hero's feast? What does it take to cook that? Medieval food historian Daniel Myers compares the reality of cooking in medieval Europe to what is typically presented in fantasy books, movies, and games. Topics include common myths, medieval kitchen technology, realistic feasts, and rampant fruititarianism. 08/17/2017 (Thursday), 8:00 PM, Westin : Capitol I   (94 tickets sold so far) 

SEM17121113 – Author Education: Believable Fictional Languages
Fictional worlds often include their own languages, but creating an entire language can be a daunting task. Learn tips for word generation, common pitfalls, and how to steal from the real world.  08/18/2017 (Friday), 8:00 PM, Westin : Capitol I  (62 tickets sold so far)

I'm also on one of the Symposium panels. I love doing these - the exchange of ideas and viewpoints always charges up my creativity.

SEM17121187 – Worldbuilding: The Impact of Cataclysms, Disasters, and the Apocalypse What happens to a world and its people when cataclysm strikes? Learn how to use disasters to make a more interesting new world. Featuring Lucy A. Snyder, Maxwell Alexander Drake, Daniel "Doc" Myers.  08/17/2017 (Thursday), 5:00 PM, Westin : Caucus   (sold out) 

This year's convention looks like it's going to be really, really big.  I expect it to be really fun as well!

La Maison Rustique - The Potherbs - Cabbage (part 2)

From: L'agriculture et maison rustique, Charles Estienne (Rouen, 1658).

The Potherbs

(Chapter 11)

-=-=-

Cabbage (part 2)

All manner of cabbages can be planted in all seasons as long as it’s not too cold or too hot. When you plant them, cut them off of the root so it is not planted upside down, or put them back in the ground and pull them so the top doesn’t grow excessive.

Some water them with salt water to make them more tender, and others sow saltpeter over the surface of the earth or finely sifted ashes to fend off caterpillars and other vermin. Above all cabbage must not be planted near the vineyard, nor grape vines near the cabbage, for there is such great enmity between these plants that the two in the same soil, each taking some growth from the other, are not so fruitful. Whether it be true, if one mixes with in the pot used for  cabbage, the cabbage will not cook well afterwards, and it will corrupt its color In the same way, those who want to drink a great deal of wine without becoming drunk must beforehand eat raw cabbage, as is the custom of the Germans when they want to drink buckets full and be a part of those who drink best. Cabbage likewise should not be planted near oregano, rue, or sowbread [cyclamen], because when planted near these it does not profit at all and similarly transmits a part of its misfortune to its neighbor.

The careful gardener must never tolerate a rotten cabbage in his garden, nor water his herbs with water used to wash or boil cabbage, because both give a bad smell to other neighboring plants.

The good mistress will always have cabbages in her garden for the nourishment of her family, and which in time of necessity and disease she will use to help her people. For the first broth, chiefly of red cabbage with butter or oil and without salt, loosens the stomach, lessens the cough, and makes the voice better. If this broth is sprinkled with sugar it will be especially good for asthmatics and pulmonics, and even the juice of cabbage with sugar benefits these afflictions. Cabbage cooked with long pepper and eaten with its broth brings a lot of milk to nursing women. The juice or essence of good cabbage combats the poison from eating mushrooms. The mixture of cabbage cooked with almonds and mingled with clarified honey is singular for those who have shortness of breath to use in the form of a lozenge. In short, cabbage is useful to all things, such as which the Romans have done in the past, that after chasing the doctors out of Rome for a hundred and fifty years, they used no other medicine than cabbages for all diseases. Lye made with cabbage ashes is good for washing the head. The soaking of the breasts with a decoction of cabbage increases the milk of nursing women. Ashes of cabbage mixed with egg whites heals burns.

Also, a plaster made of cooked cabbage mixed with the lees of vinegar, two raw egg yolks, and a small amount of rose vinegar, all well beaten and incorporated together, is a sovereign remedy to instantly remove the pain of gout.

To thoroughly clean a pot that is all encrusted, such as one which is used for cooking flesh and boiling water, such as a cauldron, and iron pot, or tub and the like, which cannot always be sufficiently scoured, nothing is better than boiling cabbages.

La Maison Rustique - The Potherbs - Cabbage (part 1)

From: L'agriculture et maison rustique, Charles Estienne (Rouen, 1658).

The Potherbs

(Chapter 11)

-=-=-

Cabbage (part 1)

We shall first speak of cabbages, which are more common and more abundant than all other kinds of potherbs. All types of cabbages love clean land, fat and well plowed, not clayish or sandy. Also, they grow easily in all kinds of air, chiefly tempered; Yet they grow largest, most spread out, and more guarantied of vermin in cold places such as Germany than in hot places. And for this they are content more with the hillsides than with the plains, and in earth full of sticks and branches. They are better, much more pleasant, and healthier for the stomach in autumn, spring, and during great frosts than in summer. They require frequent dunging especially with the manure of an ass which is the best of them all, and to be covered with good soil, without watering, although watering makes them beautiful and verdant, but not pleasant in eating or healthy for the stomach. When they have six leaves they must be transplanted in good weather, either in winter or summer. To speak of it in particular, the common cabbage that is called long or green, it must be sown in the middle of August or September for those who want to have the leaves in Lent and winter. They are planted in October and replanted in December to take the leaves in winter, and planted from seed in June and July to make them thicker. As to other seasons of the year, it can also be done but not so conveniently.

Take good care that your seed is not too old, for it would be mature at three years of age. As they say, sow that cabbage and it will bring radishes or turnips. It will last six years in kind if well kept.

The headed cabbage, called white or apple, are seeded in beds and are replanted from foot to foot, well covered under soft, well-worked soil when they begin to sprout. They like the cold and cannot live in hot air, and must be covered in straw to make them form heads and turn white. Wrinkled cabbage, curled, and Romaine, which are of a more tender and delicate nature, are sown in March and are planted in the course of the year. They often require watering.

When you see that the leaf of the cabbage is pale or yellowed, it is a sign that water is needed, and cut away the leaves that are yellow and pierced, rotten, or dry, for they would cause them to die.

If you want to have cabbages which are of good and pleasant taste, cut away the first leaves, for those that regrow will have a better taste and a flavor that is more pleasant that the first.

The red cabbages grow naturally from an abundance of manure, or because they have been watered with the lees of wine, or have been planted in a place where they are often warmed by the heat and ardor of the sun.

Never take the top of Romaine, wrinkly, or other cabbage for your use, but always take the leaves from the top down.

La Maison Rustique - Knowledge of the Movements of the Moon and Sun (twenty-ninth and thirtieth days)

From: L'agriculture et maison rustique, Charles Estienne (Rouen, 1658).

That the Farmer should have 
the knowledge of the movements of the Moon and the Sun,

of their abilities and effects upon rustic things.

(Chapter 9)

-=-=-

[twenty-ninth and thirtieth days of the moon]

The twenty-ninth Herod caused the innocents to be killed. This day is unlucky and none should do anything. Dreams will be very certain. The sick will heal. The child born on this day will live and do business peacefully with men.

The thirtieth and last day is good for all things. The sick will be in great danger of death, but if they think well will recover. Dreams will become joyous in this week. The child born will be subtle and cunning.

La Maison Rustique - Knowledge of the Movements of the Moon and Sun (twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth days)

From: L'agriculture et maison rustique, Charles Estienne (Rouen, 1658).

That the Farmer should have 
the knowledge of the movements of the Moon and the Sun,

of their abilities and effects upon rustic things.

(Chapter 9)

-=-=-

[twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth days of the moon]

The twenty-seventh it is good to thoroughly work on all things. The sick will be inconstant and dreams will be uncertain. The child born will be sweet and friendly.

The twenty-eighth all things will be good to do. The sick will be recovered from their illness. The child born will be lazy and negligent.

La Maison Rustique - Knowledge of the Movements of the Moon and Sun (twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth)

From: L'agriculture et maison rustique, Charles Estienne (Rouen, 1658).

That the Farmer should have 
the knowledge of the movements of the Moon and the Sun,

of their abilities and effects upon rustic things.

(Chapter 9)

-=-=-

[twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth days of the moon]

The twenty-fifth there was death in Egypt. The sick will be in danger of death on the sixth day after falling ill. The child born will be subject to much peril, danger, and adversity.

The twenty-sixth day Moses parted the sea. On the same day Saul and Jonathan died. This day is very dangerous and is not good for doing anything. Those who fall sick on this day will never recover. Dreams will be certain. The child born on this day will grow up to be happy, that is to say, neither poor nor rich.