Gen Con 2019 Schedule

August 1 - 4, 2019

Once again I've been caught off-guard by Gen Con - It's only two weeks away!

Once again I will be part of the Writer’s Symposium. They've got me scheduled for a bunch of great panels and such - here's the list:

SEM19160166 - Alternate Reality Fiction:  It's fun to answer the "what ifs" of history. Panelists including Cherie Priest, Daniel Myers, Linda Robertson, and David Mack discuss how changing one detail can change everything. 08/01/2019 (Thursday), 11:00 AM, Marriott : Atlanta 

SEM19160183 - Cook Like a Dwarf, Eat Like a Halfling:  How do you write a cookbook for a culture that never existed but everyone knows? One of the authors (Daniel Myers) of "A Dwarven Cookbook" talks about the origins of the recipes in their cookbooks. 08/01/2018 (Thursday), 7:00 PM, Marriott : Marriott Bllrm 2

SEM19160224 - Medieval Foodways:  Fantasy novels are commonly set in medieval Europe, except the food which is usually wrong. Learn from Daniel Myers how medieval cuisine worked and how to create believable fictional foodways. 08/02/2018 (Friday), 7:00 PM, Marriott : Marriott Blrm 3 

SEM19160172 - Believable Fictional Languages:  Fictional worlds often include their own languages, but creating an entire language can be a daunting task. Daniel Myers discusses word generation, common pitfalls, and stealing from the real world. 08/03/2018 (Saturday), 7:00 PM, Marriott : Marriott Bllrm 3

To my surprise, the first two are listed as being sold out.  That said, if you're interested and have the time free try anyway - there are usually some no-shows. See you there!

Marcon 2019 Schedule

Multiple Alternative Realities Convention

May 10 - 12

Crowne Plaza Columbus North

Worthington, Ohio

It's spring, and that means convention season has begun. This year I'm giving Marcon a try. It's been years since I've been to a smaller convention and I'm really looking forward to something a bit more relaxed than Origins and Gen Con.

I'm scheduled to do a one-hour panel about Medieval Food & Cooking on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. in Salon D.  Other than that I'll be spending my time in the dealer's room - look for the Blackspoon Press table.

If you're going to be there, stop by and say, "Hi!"

Odd Table Scene

Johnna Holloway sent me a link to the painting below and I'm going to add it to the list of Food Related Paintings on the website. It's a 16th century work by Frans Pourbus the Elder titled "The Prodigal Son Among Courtesans" and there's a lot going on here.

Source:  Wikimedia Commons

In terms of food the most notable item (for me) is the pie in the center of the table. At a guess I'd say it's a pear pie because it looks like it's got a pear rising up out of the middle. This is a total tangent but I can imagine it being something like the recipe below, which is English but from roughly the same time period.

To make a Tarte of Wardens. You must bake your Wardens first in a Pie, and then take all the wardens and cut them in foure quarters, and coare them, and put them into a Tarte pinched, with your Suger, and season them with Suger, Synamon and Ginger, and set them in the Ouen, and put no couer on them, but you must cutte a couer and laye in the Tart when it is baked, and butter the Tarte and the couer too, and endore it with suger.  [The Good Housewife's Jewell, (England, 1596)]

Ok, back to the painting - here's a closeup of the stuff on the table.

I assume the things on the plates at 12, 3, and 9 o'clock are loaves of bread.  The two similarly colored things on the platter with the pie might also be bread or maybe ... fruit?  The one to the left of the pie looks kind of like an egg.

It's hard to tell what the white stuff in the dish at around 1 o'clock. It's possibly a rice dish.

The white stuff in large bowl at 7 o'clock with a spoon is also kind of unknowable but it could be a soup like the following:

In the first instance, if you want to make a white brewet for capons or for pullets or for veal, so boil the capons or pullets or veal and take broth [from it] and set that aside. Then so peel almonds and pound them in pieces and then so temper them with the broth of the capons or veal, whichever you have. Then so put the almonds through a strainer (cloth) then shall you take white ginger powder, as much as you think good, then temper with verjuice and white wine. There you shall let it cook and then put in a good amount of sugar and look well that it be salted enough and when it has boiled a little put it in a clean pot alone. If you then wish to serve those capons or hens or veal so lay [them] in a dish and pour over them this aforesaid brewet. [Een notabel boecxken van cokeryen, (Netherlands, ca. 1510 - C. van Tets, trans.)]

The big questions though are the giant white domino at 8 o'clock and the platter of pokey red things at 4 o'clock.

The domino could be just that but there isn't any game related stuff on the table, so I don't think that's it (besides, the dots are wrong). I suppose it could also be bread carved into a brick shape but that doesn't seem right either.

There is one recipe that does come to mind though. It goes by many names such as Taylours or Lenten Slices and is essentially almond milk cooked until it's like jello which is then served in slices. As a bonus many of the variations of the recipe call for currants - which could be the spots on the pictured white brick.  Here's an English recipe from the same period:

27 - To make Leach of Almonds. Take halfe a pound of sweet Almonds, and beat them in a mortar; then strain them with a pint of sweet milke from the cow; then put to it one graine of musk, 2 spoonfuls of Rose-water, two ounces of fine sugar, the weight of 3 whole shillings of Isinglass that is very white, and so boyle them; and let all run thorow a strainer: then may you slice the same, and so serve it.  [Delights for Ladies (England, 1609)]

That just leaves the pokey red plate, and with this one I'm stumped.  Maybe a higher resolution image would help. As it is I can't tell if it's a dish of red stuff with things stuck into it or a pile of separate red things (part of my brain wants it to be Chinese barbecue chicken wings but I think that's just because I'm hungry.

Setting all of that aside, there is another question I have about this painting and it relates to the woman on the far right side.

Just what is that thing hung up on the wall and what is she doing to it. After talking with a few people about it I'm inclined to think it's a tally board and she's erasing it. But why? I'd guess it was a visual pun about erasing the (musical) "score" but, sadly, the musical connotation of "score" only goes back to 1701.

As for all the other stuff going on in the painting, I keep looking and thinking I'm missing some kind of in-joke. I'm open to suggestions.

Gen Con 2018 Schedule

August 2 - 5, 2018

Ack!  It's only a week until Gen Con and I haven't posted about it yet! Sorry. It's been kind of a busy summer.

I'm part of the Writer’s Symposium this year and they've got all sort of great panels and such scheduled. I'm especially excited that Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck are guests of honor (they write under the pseudonym of James S.A. Corey).

For my contribution to the fun, I'm doing the following:

SEM18142584 - Real Medieval Feasts  Curious what medieval feasts were really like? Come learn about medieval cuisine as well as common myths. 08/02/2018 (Thursday), 8:00 PM, Marriott : Atlanta 

SEM18142520 - Build Your Own Language  Fictional worlds often include languages to make their setting more believable. This seminar will help you create your own language, suitable for adding color to a game or novel. 08/03/2018 (Friday), 8:00 PM, Marriott : Atlanta 

SEM18142744 - From Rations to Feasts  What will people eat in the future? How will it be packaged? What should fantasy adventurers bring on their quest, and what will be served when they feast with the king? Elizabeth Bear, Bruce Cordell, Daniel Myers, and Aaron Rosenberg discuss. 08/04/2018 (Saturday), 1:00 PM, Marriott : Marriott Blrm 1 

The first two are listed as being sold out, but if you're interested and have the time free try anyway - there are usually some open seats. I promise to keep you all entertained!

La Maison Rustique - Turnips

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

The Potherbs

(Chapter 32)

-=-=-

Turnips

[Translator's Note: the heading specifies two different plant names: “Naveaux ou Navets”. Cotgrave’s 1611 French-English dictionary gives the following definitions.

Naveau: The navew gentle, French navew, long rape (a savorie root) / Naveau blanc de Jardin: the ordinarie rape, or turnep / Naveau rond: a Turnep.

Navet: The small Navew gentle, the least (and daintiest) kind of the French navew.]

Large and small turnips, called “nappi” in Latin, are two kinds of the same species, however different in flavor, color, and size. The roots are larger on the yellow turnips, and less pleasant tasting. The white turnips are smaller and much more savorous. Both of them are sown in the same fashion in well turned soil, worked, and rendered very soft so that they can lodge well before taking root, or in soil that you want to clear, or in that which has been newly plowed, or between millet and panic [a grain in the genus Panicum], and it is sown in finely powdered soil, for sowing more clearly, and no more than three years old, because after three years it produces cabbages. If the seeds are soaked or mulled in milk, must, or hydromel for two or three days before sowing they will be infinitely better.

If they come in to thickly, they must be cut away for transplanting elsewhere. They must be weeded and spaded, allowing the most beautiful and tall to go to seed, and sow them in August. To sow them one must wait until the soil has been newly watered with rain, because they grow better that way. Above all they must not be sown in shady ground, for the shadows are completely contrary to them, and again the soil must be good and fertile. They are harvested in November, and keep through winter in sands and cellars, for eating throughout winter and Lent. This brings me back to those of Maison and Vau Girard near Paris, who harvest and gather them each year for selling in Paris.

The turnip root is windy and engenders the wind in little children for its sweetness, so you must eat it with mustard. It is true that their seeds resist poison, which is why it is used in antidotes. It also causes worms to die when mixed with the juice of oranges or lemons. And draws out the venom of smallpox, and when shredded with a decoction of maidenhair fern or lentils, provokes urination if it is mixed with an equal quantity of flax seed and given to drink with wine. It induces vomiting of undigested stomach contents when taken with oxymel and warm water. The Egyptians make it into very good oil.

La Maison Rustique - The Potherbs - Parsnips, Carrots, Skirrets

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

The Potherbs

(Chapter 35)

-=-=-

Parsnips, Carrots, Skirrets

[Translator's Note: the heading specifies four different plants:  Panis, Pastenades, Carrotes, and Chervis. Cotgrave’s 1611 French-English dictionary gives the following definitions.

Panaiz: A certain root thats lesse, and ranker, then the ordinarie Parsenip, otherwise resembling it, and oft mistaken for it / Panaiz de Macedoine: the Macedonian Parsenip, whose juice is much esteemed of by heardsmen / Panaiz sauvage: Hercules Wound-wort, or All-heale, also the wild Carrot, Some also tearme so Cow Parsenip, meadow Parsenip, Madnep.

Pastenade: The Garden carrot, or a root like a Carrot (most commonly) of a bloud-red colour, and sometimes of a yellow, but that by Art, some Authers also call the Parsnip thus / Pastenade jaulne: the yellow garden Carrot / Pastenade rouge: the red, or blacke Carrot / Pastenade sauvage: The wild Carrot, called Birds-neast.

Carote: The Carrot (root, or hearbe) / Carote sauvage: Daucus, wild Carrot, birds neast.

Chervis: The root Skirret, or Skirwicke / Chervis grand: A Parsnip / Chervis sauvage: The wild Parsnip, or wild Skirret.

So effectively, this section is titled, “Parsnips (maybe wild carrots), Carrots (maybe parsnips), Carrots, and Skirrets (maybe parsnips).”]

Wild carrots, parsnips, carrots, and skirrets, are all planted in the same fashion in soil that is well turned, cleared of stones, weeded, cleared of all other pests and roots, fertilized, and strongly worked ahead of time, but they are not sown thick so they will grow large and thick. If they are sown they must be watered, and of the weather is dry, once a week as long as they are growing well. They are planted in Autumn, and at the renewal. Autumn is always the best to have at the time of Lent. If you want the roots to be beautiful, large, and thick, you must often cut away the leaves, and must pick them half a year after they are sown. In cutting away the leaves, keep them in sand, mainly in winter, because the frost will spoil them.

Carrots can be kept for a whole year or two in the ground, so much so that they are found by torrents of rain, old and new, which are good winter and in Lent, either fried or otherwise.

All have the virtue of encouraging urination, of calming the pain of colic, and of provoking menstruation in women. The pounded leaves used as a plaster, when put on the legs is very beneficial.

La Maison Rustique - The Potherbs - Rocket and Tarragon

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

The Potherbs

(Chapter 27)

-=-=-

Rocket and Tarragon

Rocket, an herb common in salads, is good to temper the coldness of lettuce. It can be sown and planted as much in winter as in summer, because it does not fear the cold, nor does it beg for airing or require much work. It likes to be frequently weeded and fertilized in sandy soil. Rocket should not be eaten alone because of the excessive heat it brings to those who use it so it should be given a companion such as lettuce when eaten in a salad, because one will temper the other. It is good nevertheless for urinating, applied in the form of a poultice to the penis. It is said that three leaves of rocket picked with the left hand, pounded with mead, and taken in drink are excellent for jaundice and hardening of the spleen. Rocket cooked and mixed with sugar cures the coughs of little children. Tarragon, which gardeners call “estrangon,” is made of flaxseed or in many places from the head of red onion, which is the strongest one can find, and planted in well fertilized earth, and after it has sprouted the height of a foot or so, it is necessary to take the end and replant it in the same soil, and water it often. Tarragon has the same virtues as rocket, and should not be eaten alone, but with similar lettuce and herbs.

La Maison Rustique - The Potherbs - Shallots or Chives

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

The Potherbs

(Chapter 25)

-=-=-

Shallots or Chives

Shallots or chives are similar to garlic in flavor and smell, but their stems and leaves resemble onions, except that several pods come out from their head which produce many small leaves and rounds. They are better to be planted than sown, for when sown nothing of great beauty is expected before the second year. They can be planted after the first day in November up until the month of February to have fruit by the next Spring, and plant them like garlic, but they must be harvested before the common violet blossoms, for if one wants to have flowers they will be found wretchedly diminishing. One can know when they will die if their leaves are seen to be withered below. To make them have large, fat heads, it will be necessary to put tiles all around the routes, as we have said of leeks.

La Maison Rustique - The Potherbs - Strawberries

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

The Potherbs

(Chapter 41)

-=-=-

Strawberries

Strawberries do not require much cultivation, provided they are planted in soil that isn’t fertilized; especially in shady places, because they take great delight in the shade of other plants, so we see them growing in the woods well sustained without any cultivation. True, they grow very well in full sun, provided they are watered once or twice a week, mainly when they start to blush, it is necessary to replant them after three years to make their fruit very beautiful, and weeded once every year at Advent with a weeding fork, and weed them by hand when leaves can be seen growing therein.

In the soil where they are transplanted, put well-rotted horse manure, or cow manure, each hosted by a board three feet long. Work this soil in dry weather, then let it rest, and in damp weather when it isn’t raining, plant them a half foot in all directions, with root at peg. 

It is necessary to mark an innocent, almost miraculous thing with strawberries, which while growing on the ground, and assiduously trampled by snakes, lizards, and other venomous beasts; they are never infected and do not acquire any venomous flavor, which is a sign that they have no affinity with venom.

Among the other commodities that they bring, the juice or wine expressed from strawberries is excellent to remove redness and small rash that comes to the face from heat of the liver, and the same to ease redness of the eyes; and erases marks and pocks of leprosy. Similarly, the decoction made from the roots and leaves of strawberry, made into wine, is singular for jaundice if you drink it sometime in the morning, and also for provoking the month for women, and this nonetheless stops yeast infections and the flux of dysentery, the same when used in the form of a gargle comforts the gums and teeth, and repels mucus in the head.

Mystery Fruit

Sometimes it's kind of embarrassing how my brain works.

A friend of mine (Hi Erica!) posted this picture to Facebook, and of course (embarrassment #1) I found it amusing and (embarrassment #2) I responded with a fruit-based pun.

But this is a 17th century painting of a fruit & vegetable seller, so my brain isn't going to let me ignore all the food in it. In short order I've got it open at the highest resolution the meme will allow and unlike a majority of guys my age, my eyes are quickly drawn to (embarrassment #3) this one particular fruit.

There's something about it that looks different from the nearby apples. In fact, it kind of looks like a frickin' tomato.

For those not so into medieval European cooking, here's the thing about tomatoes: they're a new-world food that wasn't available in Europe before around 1500, and weren't commonly eaten until the 1700s. John Gerard mentioned them in his 1597 herbal, but he thought they were poisonous. That means it's a bit unusual to see one depicted in a 17th century painting with a bunch of food.

The resolution of the meme is too low to tell for sure though, so I start looking for a better image. My Google-fu skills quickly reveal that the painting is Cookmaid with Still Life of Vegetables and Fruit, by Nathaniel Bacon (c. 1620-5). Google also politely provides me with a much better quality image.

I eagerly zoom in and here's what I see:

Huh.

That's helpful, kind of, sort of, but ... huh.

I'm pretty sure it's not an apple. The shape is very tomato-like, as is the glossiness. The thing in the middle doesn't look right though. It looks more like the calyx (bottom belly-button like thing) of an apple than either the calyx (top leafy bit near the stem) or stigma (bottom little nubbins) of a tomato. Also if it were the top of the tomato I'd expect some discoloration or cracking around the shoulder.

Another friend (Hi Drake!) suggested it might be a persimmon, which would match the glossiness and shape but not really the color, and again the calyx isn't right. Persimmons have a calyx and stigma more like a tomato.

It's certainly not a medlar - it's not nearly obscene enough.

At the moment I'm still not sure. Maybe it's just an oddly-shaped, wet apple.

The (probably wrong) answer I find most appealing though is that it's a tomato, and that the artist chose to put it into a still-life that would normally be associated with fertility, fecundity, and a bit of eroticism, specifically to provide a touch of hidden peril.

La Maison Rustique - The Potherbs - Saffron

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

The Potherbs

(Chapter 31)

-=-=-

Saffron

As to saffron, as will be said below, it loves moderate soil, not strong, nor dunged, and at the same time well aerated, exposed to the sun, and well turned, and grows well where onions will have been planted. It loves water, fears the mouse and mole, and grows better planted from bulbs than seed. It is not sown, but its bulblets and remains similar to leeks or sea-onions, are planted in furrows in April or May, and let it be first planted, to kill the onions heaped up in the area in eight days in the shade of the Sun, in some place which is not damp, and plant them with the root in well-fired earth, and about half a hand from each other, and three fingers deep, and it grows better in an open walkway. It blooms every year in the Autumn for a continuous month, and then wildly lets the blossom fall: bu tit keeps its leaves throughout winter all green until Spring when it begins to wither, and does not appear in any way in Spring; it can endure being planted for up to nine years, and if it is transplanted elsewhere it will still be able to benefit. True, it wears several spices and kernels, which should be culled from three in three years, otherwise the herb would be suffocated. No one plants it, and for the better, after mid-August until mid-September, and put at their root a quantity of grapes pulled from under the press, and leave them in the ground for two or three years, and each year, in April and May, bind the herb for drying, and tamp them down by foot around two fingers deep, without hurting the bulb. After thoroughly cleaning the herbs when the flower is dead, as in August and through Autumn, harvest them in the morning as the Sun rises, and keep them in a closed room, and dry. In addition, the good saffron can be known if it is very fat, if held in the hand it makes a crackling sound; if put into some liquor it dissolves; if held in the hand and carried to the face, it gives some bite to the eyes; if it is of a golden color; if it dyes the hands with this color, and if it has a scent that is somewhat acrid and poignant that is not very fragile. Saffron taken in very small quantities is good for weakness of the stomach, and failing of the heart, preserves the drinker, and protects from the bite of snakes and spiders. In large quantities, either by mouth or applied to the outside, stirs up torments and pains in the head, and brings a clouding to the eye.

La Maison Rustique - The Potherbs - Marigold

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

The Potherbs

(Chapter 17)

-=-=-

Marigold

Marigolds do not need much cultivation, for they grown in the uncultivated fields, and in whatever soil one wants, and do not require to be sown every year because once sown will revive itself. They bloom in all months of the year, as much in summer as in winter, for which reason the Italians call it the flower of all months. In fact it is very difficult to recover land where they have been sown. If they are cultivated a little and often shorn they will carry more beautiful and fuller flowers, still more in autumn than in spring. The juice of marigold flowers taken when fasting has a great virtue to excite the menstrual flow of women. The perfume of these flowers collected by funnel to the bashful parts does the same, and brings out the back burden, and delivers the young girls of their color. The preserve of these flowers has the same virtue. The women of Italy use both to provoke the months, but for stopping them fry the juice and tender tops of the herbs, with yolks of eggs and eat them. The same juice mixed with very little wine or warm vinegar is excellent to appease extreme pain of the head and teeth if used in the form of a wash. Drinking this juice in the amount of one ounce with the weight of a crown of powdered, prepared earth greatly benefits those with jaundice. It is said that eating the leaves of marigold, makes for good vision. The water distilled from marigold leaves, instilled into the eyes, or cloth soaked in it and applied to them, cures the redness of the eyes. The powder of the dried leaves put into a tooth cavity cures the pain in that tooth. The juice of marigold flowers, drunk in the quantity of two ounces at the start of a pestilential fever protects from the plague, provided that the patient after drinking this juice, is immodestly clothed and sweats well-covered in bed. It also protects against jaundice and heart palpitations. The preserves of marigold flowers does the same. Drink with about three ounces of white wine, half an hour before the start of a fourth fever, diluting seven grains of marigold. Repeating this beverage several times in the morning is an excellent remedy for the fourth fever.

La Maison Rustique - The Potherbs - Borage and Bugloss

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

The Potherbs

(Chapter 20)

-=-=-

Borage and Bugloss

Borage and bugloss, herbs with leaves and flowers that are in no way different; they are always similar in root, seed, and virtue, in soup when their shoots are tender, and flowers in salad. They are sown in August and September for the winter, and for the summer in April, and be fearful of transplanting them at any time. Gather the seed when half dead, so it does not need to be removed from the stem.

Bugloss, mainly the flower, brought gayety to people who use it often, because it restores the heart, purges the blood, and strengthens the vital spirits. The broth of bugloss loosens the belly. The root which has borne three stems, pounded with its seed and boiled with wine, serves well against tertian malaria. Wine in which bugloss leaves are soaked removes all sadness. Juice of bugloss and borage is an antidote against bitter wine and venomous bites. Bugloss having three leaves, pounded with seed and root, and drunk is greatly beneficial against the horrors of tertian malaria, and that which has four leaves against the shivers of quartan malaria. Its distilled water is singular against the dreams that occur with fever, and against the inflammation of the eyes.

La Maison Rustique - The Potherbs - Orach and Spinach

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

The Potherbs

(Chapter 19)

-=-=-

Orach and Spinach

Orach (in Latin called Atriplex), both white, red, and green, come naturally to ground manured with horse’s dung, or where it was pitched, and will become as red as a pear in a place that is over rich or manured. If not they are sown in February, March, and April, and are to be sown liberally, but not thick, and watered often. Don’t seed in December for harvesting in winter. They do not wish to be transplanted in any way, but weeded often, and watered and manured with good dung. Crop them often with an iron instrument so they don’t convert all their energy into leaves. On the turn when their seed is spread on the earth, they must be immediately covered with soil and sown as quickly as possible, so that they may become more beautiful, and in less than a fortnight they are ready to eat. The Italians make a sort of tart from orach. They finely mince the leaves, mix it with cheese, fresh butter, and egg yolks, then put it into a crust and bake in the oven.

Spinach are said to be of two kinds, one male and the other female. The female does not bear any seed. Both are sown in August, September, and October for Lent, and in December, January, and February for summer. They endure the importunity of the weather enough, such as frosts, cold, and snow. They grow in all soil provided it is well tilled and somewhat damp. In order for it to become beautiful and sprout well, it should be watered in the evenings, covered with stubble or whips, and weeded as required. Sometimes when mown it becomes more beautiful. And whoever wishes them to last a long time, it is necessary to cut half the stem at one time and the other half at the other time. Similarly, whoever wants them to grow without being sown every year must sow well nourished seed the first year, for in subsequent years they will return without being sown. How much seed they produce in the second year will be somewhat reduced. To protect them from frost they must be covered with walnut leaves before they fall in a jumble in any way.

The Parisians know enough how useful spinach is for food during Lent, and how it is expertly made into various dishes for their banquets. Now they are fried with butter and verjuice. Now they are stewed with butter over a little fire in earthen pots. Now they are made into pies and cooked in many other ways. The use of spinach is good for those who have voice or breathing that is hindered, or have frequent coughing, especially if in the morning they drink a broth of spinach cooked with fresh butter, or sweet almond oil. It loosens the stomach. Their juices are good for the stings of scorpions and spiders, either drunk or applied externally.

La Maison Rustique - The Potherbs - Beets

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

The Potherbs

(Chapter 18)

-=-=-

Beets

White, black, and red poirre, which are otherwise called beets and “Jottes des Tourangeois”, or “Romans des Picards”, are sown in Lent and all other times, especially from December to March, and in August, to always have old and new, and to collect seeds which last for three years. For this purpose it is necessary to replant it with five leaves, and to put a little fresh manure at the roots, and then to loosen the ground around the roots, and clean it thoroughly with grass. It grows well, and returns again when it has been cut, if it is put in rich soil and fumigated well. It has in itself this admirable peculiarity, that it acquires its sole perfection in the third year of its sowing, for that reason I advise the gardener not to collect the seed from the beet to sow, except that brought by the beet in the third year, for this seed will bring fine beets.

If you want to choose beautiful beets, choose more white than black or red, for they are prettier and more tender. To have them very large and white, the roots must be covered in fresh cow manure and split their stalks. As is done with leeks, put a large stone on them, or a tile. If you want to have red beets, water them with the lees of red wine, or put them in a place where they get a lot of heat from the sun.

Beet leaves eaten in soup loosen the belly. The juice of beet leaves drawn through the nose purges the brain. The same juice rubbed on the head causes lice and nits to die. Beet roots cooked among the coals and eaten take away the bad smell of garlic that has been eaten. Beet roots crushed and cast into wine, and three hours later it is converted into vinegar.

Beets are sown in March, and do not need to be left in the soil for a long time if they are planted in well plowed land. They will return the following years without being sown, so it is difficult to reclaim the land from them, and they do not require weeding or pruning.

Beet leaves loosen the belly. The decoction of their boiled roots and leaves kills nits and lice. Their flesh cooked among the coals, or boiled, heals burns. The first boiling of beet leaves, with beef tallow and oil of tartar, removes all spots from clothes without any damage, but place them in warm water immediately after washing.

La Maison Rustique - The Potherbs - Lettuce

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

The Potherbs

(Chapter 12)

-=-=-

Lettuce

Lettuce is sown close and thick like cabbage in moist soil, well fumigated, rich, clean, light, and easy to plow, but mainly in March because it does not suffer much from cold or heat. If, however, you wish to sow it in September or any other time, choose hot and arid places, and dress it with a lot of well-rotted manure. For all that, it will survive the winter and may last some time after being replanted. It is necessary to water it for two or three days if the weather is not wet and rainy. And in sowing it must be watered, for doubt that the heat of the hay doesn’t cast out the seed. It will sprout on the fifth day. When it has reached the height of four or five leaves,  it is necessary to cull it by hand, never with a hook, to replant in rich soil, and spaced apart, and envelope the roots and the stem with cow, goat, or sheep manure. For they will be good for it, and water them on foot, but do not let them freeze or face too much heat.

Four kinds of lettuce are cultivated in France, not different from virtue, but by a more or less pleasant taste. They are known as Curled, Headed or Round, White or Common, and Small.

No one plants the Small lettuce anymore, nor the Common, but the large ones that are desired are curled and round, which are called Romaine, and have white seeds and are very large. For when replanted they become more beautiful and thick, and of sweeter flavor. Especially if its first stem is removed after replanting, because the first stem has too much milk, making it likely to turn bitter in the heat of the sun. If wide leaves are desired, when it begins to sprout, cut the stem in half and cover it with a clod of earth or a small tile. To make it beautiful and white, bind the top two days before it grows out of its bed, or replant it from one place to another, and put fine sand over it.

Round lettuce, leaved, and curled, which only grows slightly larger than the height of a palm, is done by baring the roots at the foot. After it has been replanted add some cow manure, cover the roots again, and water it. If it is too strong, divide the roots and cover it with an earthen pot, so that the crown is turned down. By this it will become bushy, headed, and white. If you wish to have beautiful leaves, bind the head two days before that, and cover them with soil up to the crown. This way they will become white and beautiful. Likewise the sand thrown over them makes them turn white.

If it is feared that it might not survive well due to the fault of the place or time, or might go to seed, pluck it up and transplant it elsewhere.

To make it smell good, sow it with lemon seed, or soak the seed in damask water or perfume for three whole days.

To make it mix with other salad herbs such as sorrel, rocket, and the like, all coming from the same root, put all the various seeds into well-turned sheep dung, and then plant it very deep, about eighteen fingers in the ground, and water it lightly but often, and take great care when it sprouts from the ground. The others, break three or four sheep or goat droppings and put the seeds into them, cover them with linen carefully shaped into the shape of a little sack, and plant them as above, with diligence as they sprout. Some gather the leaves of lettuce where they grow from the root, and in place of the harvested leaves put a seed of rocket, cress, sorrel, and the like, by this means it will sprout several diverse stalks.

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.