In which May turns a little nostalgic

Instead of writing a blog entry, I'll refer the gentle reader to a web page which I've been working on. I hope you like it.

Oh, and Chris - pphttt.

In which another side of the yard is occupied

After spending the day Saturday cooking, I really wanted to do something other than SCA on Sunday. There was an event in Caer Galen, but I needed to spend some time in the yard, especially since the xeriscape plants that I ordered from High Country Gardens came late last week.

As some previous tennant had thoughtfully left tons of rocks around the yard, I thought that a rock garden up next to the house on the south side seemed like a capitol idea. I had two criteria for plants - they had to be xeric (low-water requirements) and the had to attract butterflies and hummingbirds. The bed has been used for the last two summers for tomatoes, and it tends to be hot and dry. The overhanging roof eaves shelter it from rain, and there are no trees to shelter the south face of the house from the sun.

I ordered penstemons, hyssop, lavendar, and salvia from High Country Gardens. In addition, I used some Red Lady salvia that voluntered from last year's butterfly/hummer gardens, and what I think might be penstemons from the same source. Time will tell what we've got.

Last year's butterfly/hummer gardens were in self-watering pots from Gardner's Supply Company. I was really impressed with how well they worked (so impressed that I have two more on order) and at the same time, have never been satisfied with growing tomatoes in Colorado. We initially attempted container-grown tomates, but if you let them dry out more than a couple of times they would produce only small fruit with tough peels. In the ground, we had the same problem, although the produce was better than in the pots. It seems that one of the secrets of great tomatoes is that they never go without water, and the self-watering pots are the key to Colorado tomatoes. So, this year, instead of tomatoes in the garden and butterfly/hummer gardens in the planters, we're puttng tomatoes in the planters and butterfly/hummer the garden in the ground. I have high hopes for both, and for the fruits - both comestable and visual - of our labors.

Check this blog later for progress reports on the new gardens.

In which more lessons are learned

Rather than repeat myself, I'll simply direct the gentle reader to one of my web pages, Caer Galen Cooks Workshop for details of the most recent experiment in period cookery.

In which we find that we almost have a bed

Spent some time this weekend working on mortises for the camp beds. I have to say that Chris is amazing. While I was downstairs working on Omar's esoforion (Byzantine under shirt) he knocked out the mortises in four bedposts. The results are that we almost have a bed! They do take some fitting to the tenons, but as the gentle reader can see by the picture of Evan, the queen bed is standing. We even balanced him on the rails, to test the flexibility, and they passed. Of course, he only weighs about 40 pounds. *shrug*

Evan had a lot of fun with the process, since the boards make perfect roads for tiny toy cars.

The other long peices of wood in the picture are the rails that will be screwed inside the side rails. These smaller rails will support the slats and ultimately the platform on which the mattress will rest. I've sized the bed so that I can use an air mattress or a foam mattress. I might play with period mattresses at some point, but being the headonist that I am, I suspect I'll choose comfort veiled in authenticity, rather than authenticity.

The bed posts are amazing in their simplicity. A couple of close-ups show how the tenons on the rails fit into the posts. The posts really do need finials, but they might have to wait until later - it's more important to get functional beds, I think. Once we get pegs through the tenons, the bed should be very stable.

Chris has been continuing to work on the mortices, and I tried to bang out a bedpost, but found the going to be very slow. I wonder if a sharpened chisel would work better.... In any case, he's loads faster at them than I am, but I should work on them too. Only 16 posts to go for our five planned beds. *sigh* Maybe I'd be more effective screwing in sub-rails.