Dandelion Wine

I swear that I'm going to try it this year. I like this method as it looks plausibly medieval.

Ingredients

• 10 cups dandelion blossoms (leaves only, no green part or it will be too bitter)
• 3.7 litres (or 1 gallon, or 16 cups) water
• 2 oranges with peel (if I'm eating the peel I really prefer organic)
• 1 lemon with peel
• 6 cups sugar
• 1 pkg wine yeast
• 0.45 kg (or 1 lb) raisins

Why do my houseplants die? (A tale of unnecessary woe)

Or, humans can't live on bread and water alone, and neither can plants...


I have some friends who swear up and down that they have a brown thumb. Every plant they take in dies a long, slow, horrible death. Sometimes it's because they forget to water enough (and even more rarely, too much). Usually when I ask them what happens, they say they don't know.


tl;dr- Buy a good liquid plant food and add it to your plant water as directed. Sometimes you need to re-pot your plants in new soil. Ask at your local garden centre what they suggest. Sometimes your plant has outgrown its pot and needs a slightly bigger one, but if you don't give food to your plant it will likely never get to this point.


If you actually want to learn something about it, read on...

Mend your own clothes- patching jeans and shirts

I took patching my jeans to spectacular new heights in high school. I had one pair that was more patch than jean. They fit like a glove... mostly because I remade them that way. I would pin the patch onto my jeans while wearing them (safety pins of course), take them off, and then sew the patch like that. Usually with contrasting thread and embroidery floss.

I'm not that radical anymore, but I still enjoy a good patch on a knee or two. Elbow patches on sweaters are endearing. Inner thigh patches are a little bit embarrassing, mostly because I don't really want to draw attention to that spot, and patches tend to draw the eye.

That said, I must be a little more gentle on my clothes than I used to be. I almost never blow out the knees of my jeans. I mostly need to patch the outside edges where the fabric wears from use along the seam at my hip. Or moth holes in my favourite wool sweaters. (Bloody moths)

Different apple sauce recipes

If you've been storing apples it might be time to start using them up before they go bad. You can make up some of these recipes and freeze them, or can them... Or, like at my house, just eat so much apple sauce that you feel oogy.

Eggnog panna cotta with cranberry sauce

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk
• 1 3/4 cups eggnog (home made or store bought)
• 1 Tbsp gelatin
• Nutmeg, to taste
• 1 cup cranberries
• 2 Tbsp- 1/4 cup honey (as you like it for sweetness)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup orange juice

Directions

Homemade herb seasoning and spice mixes

If you grew your own herbs you can make a few of these yourself, or you can supplement with herbs from the bulk section. It's always 10x cheaper to buy spices and herbs in bulk. If you're worried about spices spoiling before you use them you can put them in the freezer.

I always save the jar lids from canned food to use for storage later. You can't re-use it for canning, but if it's washed and dry it makes an excellent jar lid. I also keep glass spaghetti sauce jars and lids and wash them for later use.

Put some pretty fabric over the top and tie a ribbon around it to keep it on. Voila! A gift! If some of the ingredients came from your own garden that makes it even more special.

My Love/Hate Affair with Weaving

This picture (above) is my latest project. I'm trading handwoven fabric for seamstress-ing. I am not very good at sewing, and my daughter will only come to medieval events with me if a) there is archery, and b) she can wear an Italian Ren dress. Archery is easy. We have the supplies and lots of events have the opportunity. However. I cannot sew. Working flat and trying to imagine 3D is pretty much impossible for my brain. If I had a dress dummy I could drape it, but alas. So, enough 18" wide twill to make a Norse apron dress here we go!

I love the repetitive action of weaving. It's very meditative. I find it difficult to weave in the summer, but in the winter I love it. I'm also a total dork, and I like to put on the Lord of the Rings movies (not the Hobbit- those movies were designed to sell video games and toys, especially the first one), and sit there and pretend I'm an elf. I have to say that the new tv series which has been announced is like Schrodinger's Catastrophe... Anyways.