Preserved meat, Biltong!

Biltong!

I have started looking into preservation techniques of food stuffs and starting with dried meat the 2 images below are my first attempt at biltong (and yes I vacuum packed it for long term storage) when I get the recipe right I will be making quite a bit for camping events along with other non-perishable foodstuffs (like cheese and beer!)

Biltong

Biltong close up

The recipe was simple involving vinegar, salt and coriander seeds but I have found this to be too salty and will try again with another batch next week.

But dried or preserved foods are as ancient as eating them, Ancient egyptians stored a multitude of food for emergency's, for War and to improve flavor and longevity. 

Biltong is a south african method of preservation by simpling immersing in a brine solution and drying it slowly over several days it can then be eaten as is or soaked in water and rehydrated then made into a stew. wrapped in a breathable material (like linen or cotton) it can keep for several months without spoiling or years if vacuum packed or frozen.

when I can, I am looking at also purchasing a smoker and smoking a small amount for even longer storage (and flavor) All hail food you don't need to refrigerate, perfect for the campsite and on the move. 

Stand ye ready?

Just came back from Spring thing, Viking themed event held in southron gaard. It's always great to see different ways of having events and different activities. Spring thing included a Treasure hunt, Archery (wand shoot), Heavy (holmgang), Bardic circle and a potluck.

I am also saddened at the announcement of our baron and baroness stepping down from the role, but I understand the need for change and new idea's/blood and see the demand the office takes on your time and skills, I am proud to be a part of Southron gaard, a group where so much effort is put into the simplest of things but it does take its toll over time.

Post event prep saves a lot of time in the long run, as soon as I get home I pack my gear ready for the next event, clean soft kit and garb, oil straps and start on repairs and preventative maintenance. Then bag and pack everything away so when it comes to leaving again for another event it's all in it's place and ready to leave.

The last thing you want to do is be cleaning mud from garb the day before an event.

Stand ye ready? Ildhafn may invade at any moment.

Update - Gamboised Cuisses

Front

Side 

Back

SIde

Updates Images for Gamboised Cuisses, legs sewn and attached to veg tanned leather belt.

Apologies for the state of the floor, pictures taken in my workroom

The Barnacle goose

A bit of weird (and horribly wrong), medieval trivia.

The Barnacle goose,

The barnacle goose was believed to reproduce not by laying eggs like other birds, but by growing in barnacles, and was hence considered acceptable food for Lent. and other fast days.

Nature produces [Bernacae] against Nature in the most extraordinary way. They are like marsh geese but somewhat smaller. They are produced from fir timber tossed along the sea, and are at first like gum. Afterwards they hang down by their beaks as if they were a seaweed attached to the timber, and are surrounded by shells in order to grow more freely. Having thus in process of time been clothed with a strong coat of feathers, they either fall into the water or fly freely away into the air. They derived their food and growth from the sap of the wood or from the sea, by a secret and most wonderful process of alimentation. (n. The act or process of giving or receiving nourishment) I have frequently seen, with my own eyes, more than a thousand of these small bodies of birds, hanging down on the sea-shore from one piece of timber, enclosed in their shells, and already formed. They do not breed and lay eggs like other birds, nor do they ever hatch any eggs, nor do they seem to build nests in any corner of the earth.

from - Vincent of Beauvais's great encyclopedia -The vast tome of the Speculum Naturale (Mirror of Nature), divided into thirty-two books and 3,718 chapters, is a summary of all of the science and natural history known to Western Europe towards the middle of the 13th century (his other works were: De eruditione filiorum nobilium ("The education of noble children") and De morali principis institutione ("The moral instruction of a prince")

The barnacle goose Bodleian Library, MS. Bodley 764, Folio 58v

...Bishops and religious men (viri religiosi) in some parts of Ireland do not scruple to dine off these birds at the time of fasting, because they are not flesh nor born of flesh... But in so doing they are led into sin. For if anyone were to eat of the leg of our first parent (Adam) although he was not born of flesh, that person could not be adjudged innocent of eating meat

At the Fourth Council of the Lateran (1215), Pope Innocent III explicitly prohibited the eating of these geese during Lent, arguing that despite their unusual reproduction, they lived and fed like ducks and so were of the same nature as other birds.

The question of the nature of barnacle geese also came up as a matter of Jewish dietary law in the Halakha, and Rabbeinu Tam (1100–71) determined that they were kosher (even if born of trees) and should be slaughtered following the normal prescriptions for birds

Today we have a different view of these strange "birds"

What looks like a carpenter's thumb, feels like a rubber hose and is sweeter and more tender than spiny lobster? 

Why, gooseneck barnacles.

For some time now, whispers have circulated around the Pacific Northwest about these tasty crustaceans, which in medieval times were named goose barnacles by naturalists who believed geese hatched from them.

By the hundreds of thousands such barnacles, now more often called gooseneck barnacles, decorate sea-splashed rocks on the Northwest spanish Coasts. They were long a delicacy to the Indians of the region who used to scrape them off rocks at great risk and reserve them for tribal elders.

Gooseneck barnacles are a very old tradition in Spain, where they are called percebes. Spaniards pay dearly for them at tapas bars where, displayed on lettuce or ice and served with garlicky aioli.

''We always eat them at Christmas time,'' said Adolfo Calles, a native of Madrid who is now chef and owner of La Gaviota in Seattle. He said he is delighted with the local supply of gooseneck barnacles.

''We boil them in sea water for about four minutes with some onion slices, a lemon and a few bay leaves and serve them cold,'' he said. ''They're great. And they're so cheap here. I know as soon as people find out how good they are they won't be so cheap anymore.''


The Portuguese, who call them percebas, have eaten them for centuries, too, as have the Italians and the French.

A strange tale, with a goose of truth in it.

Arise

Setting a goal

Goal setting is very important, Some of us do it instinctively or by mistake (I really need a X for the next event) But I humbly suggest you should make a little more effort at a structured goal system.

Lets take one of my goals as an example.

I want to become a better heavy fighter.

This is a complicated goal, as it relies on many variables and approaches so the best way to start would be to make a list (lists are good!)

So: How can I improve my fighting (make a list of all the ways you can think of no matter if you can do them or not)

1. Training more with my pell
2. Training with others
3. Travelling to more events
4. Altering my armour to suit me better (lighter more movement)
5. Altering my sword (changing balance/ weight or shape can alter how blows land)
6. Altering my shield (is it protecting me where I need it, is it too heavy or too light)
7. Increasing my physical fitness
8. Researching new techniques on the internet
9. Bugging other fighters for tips
10. Duct taping my liege to my pell

So with your list you need to look at the problems with each of the idea's on your list.

1. Motivation to get out and train
2. I have no other with enough experience in my local group to train with, and it may hamper their training to fight me all out.
3. I cannot afford to go to more than 3 events per year currently
4. This takes time, money and research, I can work on this but it will take time.
5. I have done this, I currently do not know of other alterations I could make, I will ask more experienced fighters.
6. I recently did this and I am happy with the new design for now
7. This is ongoing, I have a gym membership and will continue to go, I have researched optimal training methods including Peripheral heart action and HIT Cardio training, I am also looking into building fast twitch muscle fibres by including boxing routines into my training.
8. Youtube as an amazing resource for SCA fighting and training techniques, I will continue to research, but time is a problem.
9. I bet they're getting sick of my questions by now, I will stop asking for a while.
10. This is not a good idea, he's small but I'm pretty sure could beat me into submission.

So with your problems list done you can look at solutions

1. I have a pell, I can make the time. this I can do I need to motivate myself.
2. I do not have a solution for this at this time 
3. Need more money or cut costs, research required.
4. I can slowly make new gear. and can cut costs by going to op shops/ junk shops and watching out for fabric deals at spotlight and lincraft.
5. Ask other fighter about further optimisation
6. Happy with new design, ask other fighters for input.
7. Goto the gym more, can up training to 4 - 5 times a week now my basic fitness level is secure.
8. Spend more time on researching
9. Keep bugging fighters
10. Research stronger tape

So now we have Idea's, Problems and solutions.. what now? well now you need a schedule and decide how much time you can devote to your goal. If you have a family or a Job or study this limits your time but all is not lost! break down your day as see where you can fit in a little SCA, but remember to leave time for recreation.

Even 30min a day over a period of time can make a massive, massive difference. Don't make the mistake of scheduling time slots just write a "i'll do this on this day/ week/ month guide"

Daily

Mon - Cardio HIT (gym) Youtube research - Pell time

Tues - PHA Training Upper (Gym) - Researching Fighting 

Wed - PHA Training Core (Gym) - Researching Armour - Pell time

Thurs - PHA Training Imbalances (Gym) - Researching A&S Activities

Fri - PHA Training Lower (Gym) - Recreation - Pell time

Sat - Fighter practice

Sun - Rest

Weekly

Add a new post to my Blog

Research more on SCA politics and look at what's happening in a general overview with the rest of the known world (we are a small part this helps keep me in perspective) and its really good to see what's happening elsewhere.

Monthly

Send out emails to other Sca members I know and have build friendships with and keep in contact.

Bug other fighters for Idea's and tips

Learn more german

Research Garb

Visit Op Shops for materials

Yearly

Follow Up with SCA membership

Save money for events

reduce expenditure

Make largess 

Make items for "Tax" (to be donated to my group/baroney) as presents/prizes

I hope this helps in your own planning.

Wheel of time

What motivates you is a funny thing, it can be an idea or a word, maybe a simple concept or even a smell; Sounds corny I know, but finding motivation can be very important if you want to commit to something long term.

For my goals it's an ideal to try and be the best (not like better than others, just better than myself) which sounds weird because each time I improve the goal post changes, an impossible ideal but a worthy one, for what is as worthwhile as self-improvement? (it may sound a little selfish but you might be surprised how often self improvement also helps others)

I find is very hard to put anything in the "nope can't do it pile" but sometimes you need to take the time and decide what's important. But remember time marches on, each day the candle grows shorter, as much as we would like to think that we have all the time in the world mortality defines us as a species. For how we spend our days knowing that we have finite time is how our legacy will be judged.

We research days gone by... But forget we too will one day be history, Imagine how historians and scholars or a 21st century re-enactment group will perceive our time. Will we be remembered as Scholars? Warmonger's? Inventor's? or fade into mediocrity as we have wasted too much time on mindless games and achieved nothing.

Do a little day by day... by the end you will have moved mountains.

I am reminded of an old story,

An Old man has 3 sons,
He gave them gold coins in the amounts of 15, 10 and 5 gold coins
The first with 15 invested the gold, worked hard and returned 30 gold coins his father was pleased
The second with 10 gold coins did the same and returned 20 gold coins his father was also pleased
The third with 5 gold thought he was the wisest of them all and buried the coins to keep them safe, after some time he dug them up and returned them to his father. His father grew angry, "the gold was not to be simply kept safe, you were to use it and let to grow!"

The moral is simple, do not hide your gifts, use them and let them grow. To whom much is given much is required.