|
issue 64 November 2005 Welcome to Kildonan Times ezine! Kildonan Times is the occasional newsletter/ezine of the novels, Clovenstone, Stones Seven, and beyond to things medieval, Celtic, literary, and mythic. Clovenstone and Stones Seven are two volumes of the Clovenstone Chronicles, tales from the mystic land of Kildonan. Travel with a troupe of impovrished performers, the Nonesuch Players, as they delve into caves, climb mountains,and struggle with gods and kings in their search for the past. Join their battles, live their fears. Grab your sword and go to Clovenstone Chronicles website to live sample chapters of the books. They are available at Amazon.com, Books-a-Million.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and other online bookstores, or can be ordered at your neighborhood bookstore. Ruth McIntyre-Williams, author
Remember last month in talking about herb gardens in general, I mentioned the best thing to do before your basil gets nipped by the cold is to strip the leaves from it and make pesto.That's what we do. My husband is the pesto maker in our family. He makes several batches from our basil in the fall, and freezes it in small amounts for use throughout the winter.He puts it in plastic bags, but you could also just freeze it into cubes in an ice cube tray, then put it in bags for storage. Pesto good in oil for bread dipping, just as a spread on bread or crackers, or slathered on hot pasta, for a few starter ideas. I realize that the basil is gone now in the far North, but is still in gardens elsewhere and there's yet time to get the leaves before the cold hits them. Our basic pesto recipe for years is one we got from Janice Weaver in Maine. Janice has raised lots of herbs, and has made creams and soaps from them, as well as cooking up some delicious herb-seasoned foods. PESTO 2 cups firmly packed fresh basil leaves Run everything in a food processsor or blender until smooth. Tips: If the mix seems dry, add more oil. For a moister mix, but fewer calories, add chicken broth or vegetable broth instead of oil. Janice says:" Same receipt works great with 2 cups cilantro and 1/3 c toasted pumpkin seeds. Makes a great pesto for seafood enchiladas."
Now, on to the herb discussion for November: FEVERFEW In my discussions of herbs in all the issues of Kildonan Times, I present only general information. It is not intended to be a guide for the use of the herbs. If you wish to use any of the herbs described in Kildonan Times, consult an herbalist or a definitive guide book to using herbs first. ************************* Feverfew has been around since ancient times, waxing and waning in popularity. Since the sixteenth century, particularly in England and Germany, it has come to be a respected herb. Recent studies in the U.S. have also confirmed feverfew's effectiveness. Modern medicine has confirmed the common thread of use for feverfew through the ages: it is good for headaches. It has been recommended for many other things, too, like hysteria, and "female problems," but always for headaches. Migraine headaches can benefit from feverfew, as well as the corollary symptoms of dizziness and nausea. It is also recommended for the relief of arthritis symptoms. Any and all of the plant can be used, either eaten raw or dried and made into a tea or infusion. Various preparations of feverfew are also available in health food stores. Here is one recipe for preparing an infusion: Infusion: To 1 oz. of dry herb add a pint of boiling water, allowed to cool, take in half cup doses 3 times a day. Dried and crumbled feverfew plant is a good bitter aromatic spice for meats or soup. CAUTION: Feverfew should not be taken by pregnant women! I also picked the following off the web, a recent bulletin on feverfew: Feverfew Kills Leukemia Cells Feverfew is grown as a decorative garden plant, as well as being a medical herb. It is a perennial, and has attractive yellow and white flowers. Many of us know it better as bachelor button; and it grew in my Mother and paternal Grandmother's gardens. This apparently, is an English name for it, along with featherfew, featherfoil, flirtwort, and wild camomile. (Henriette's Herbal Homepage) When I went to most sites of American plant and herbal information, including university plant lists, the purple/blue cornflower was the bachelor button. Both the white and yellow feverfew and the purple cornflower can be invasive, so should be planted where you wants lots of it!
******************************** My basic herb references for the herbs I use either for food or medicine in this feature are: The Herb Book by John Lust (Bantam Books), Rodale's Encyclopedia of Herbs (Rodale Press) and Herbs by Lesley Bremness (DK Publishing), plus several websites.
Here's a few more quotes from my Treheveras date book. * Everyone believes very easily whatever they fear or desire. Jean de la Fontaine * I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound as they fly by. Douglas Noel Adams *Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind. Rudyard Kipling * It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech. Mark Twain *and finally this, upon the deaths this last week of two friends known for many years.... They lived and laughed and loved and left. James Joyce
TARTEE PERIOD: England, 14th century | SOURCE: Forme of Cury | CLASS: Authentic {Remember that the Ingredients: Directions: {from Ruth: If I were making this for a medieval banquet, I would follow the recipe exactly. However, when I make this at home for family, I will just mix chunks of cooked chicken breast with the filling. Note that the saffron is used more for color than flavor, and can be replaced with some yellow food coloring.} The above recipe is taken from http://www.godecookery.com
Before we get into the topic of the day, I have another note, namely, the ads that appear at the top of each page in this website. This is a free website. I pay nothing to Angelfire for it. Angelfire then has the right to put any ads it wants on my site to pay for it. That's fine, and part of the game. However, if you've been ignoring those ads, you may have been missing something. Angelfire has it set up so that the ads are chosen to relate to key words in the website, and that's great. I'd rather have those ads then not, as I have found new and interesting, if not fascinating websites from them. So take a look at the top of the page. There might be something interesting there. The ads change continually, so every time you ding up Kildonan Times, scan the ads and have some fun. NOVEMBER 1, THE BEGINNING OF WINTER "American version of Halloween Day celebration owes its origin to the ancient (pre-Christian) Druidic fire festival called "Samhain", celebrated by the Celts in Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Samhain is pronounced "sow-in", with "sow" rhyming with cow. In Ireland the festival was known as Samhein, or La Samon, the Feast of the Sun. quoted from http://www.theholidayspot.com/halloween/history.htm First of all, we have to get our mindset back to the early Celtic/Druidic culture. They used the seasons of planting and rudimentary astronomy to figure the passage of days. What we call November 1, Samhuinn, was to them the day that was half-way between the Autumnal Equinox (around September 22-23) and the Winter Solstice (about December 21), which is actually about November fifth to eighth. In more primitive times, before any kind of calendar, it was simply a day when all the stock was in and winter weather was hovering. The designation was arbitrary, and varied greatly from place to place. But when calendar orientation came in, the feasts were, and are, celebrated on fixed calendar dates rather then being recalculated every year. Thus they do not necessarily fall on the actual occurrence of the cross-quarter day. Solstices and equinoxes, on the other hand, are more frequently celebrated on the actual astronomical day they occur, rather than an arbitrary fixed calendar date. Samhuinn (Samhain,etc.) is historically, then, the first day of the Celtic year. It begins the dark half of the year, the winter season. Beltainne (Beltane, etc.), the first of May, begins the light half of the year. Our Gregorian calendar, starting the New Year in midwinter may be astronomically correct, but it "ain't right." Going with the rhythm of the seasons fits our humanity better.
A FEW THOUGHTS FROM THE EDITOR (me, Ruth) As part of my ongoing promotional efforts for the books of the Clovenstone Chronicles, I am giving a presentation on November 19 about writing fantasy at a Literary Festival being held in a town north of where I live. It will be a rather long presentation, more like a class, and I'm not going to go through it all here. But there are a few things about writing fantasy that are neat and unique. Imprimo: A fantasy writer can play God. You can mix historical facts, exaggerate them, or ignore them altogether. You can build mountains where you want, dig caves, and play with geology as if it were Play-Doh. You can suspend reality and float worlds in layers or put three moons in the sky. But...! It's not so much as you can, but you must. Let's say you want to write fantasy adventure. Before you can even begin the tale, there are things to decide and create. Depending on the needs of your plot and characters, you must provide them with a believable setting, for starters. Where does the tale take place? A land far, far away? What kind of land, country, world, is it? Describe it. What is the culture like? Primitive? Urban? What's the government or social structure? How about the religion? Will there be fantastic creatures? What kind and what will their characteristics be? What are the personalities of the humans, if you use them. What are the personalities of the fantasy creaures? Ok, ok. I'll admit that many of these qualities will appear as the story is told. The land unfolds and the characters become three-dimensional as your story develops, true. But the result is successful only if you, the writer, have a clear picture of the world you want the readers to lose themselves in. If you can go there, so can they. Just for fun, while you're lying back in your recliner some evening, turn off the TV, and get a pad of paper and a pen. Pretend you are going to write a fantasy. List all the characteristics of your personal make-believe world. Play God for a while.
And, as always, tell your aunts, uncles, cousins and friends about the novels of Clovenstone Chronicles. Give them an adventure! Order your copy of Clovenstone or Stones Seven from: or your local bookstore.
All art work and text © copyrighted by Ruth McIntyre-Williams unless otherwise noted. |
||||||||||||||||||||||
erto ayren, raisouns corauns, sugur and powdour of gynger, powdour douce, and smale briddes 
