Medieval Monday: The Labors of April — Allison D. Reid

Spring is here! Farm work really gets underway—harrowing and sowing are important chores for this month. Crops planted in April included grains, like barley and oats, and legumes like beans, peas, and vetches. Grain seed was planted by standing with one’s back to the breeze, and flinging a handful of seeds outward from the waist. […]

Medieval Monday: The Green Valley in February — Allison D. Reid

Today’s post is actually a video that I really think you’re going to enjoy! It’s half an hour long, but well worth the time to watch! A small group of historians and archaeologists restored and brought back to life an abandoned village in Wales, re-creating over an entire year what life was like in the […]

Thousands gathered at Stonehenge to celebrate the annual winter solstice. — Stonehenge Stone Circle News and Information

Crowds came together for the biggest gathering at Stonehenge since the pandemic began. Thousands of people gathered at Stonehenge on Wednesday morning to celebrate the annual winter solstice. The event, which marks the first sunrise after the longest night of the year, saw 2,500 people visit the World Heritage site in Salisbury – the largest gathering at […]

Stonehenge’s Builders May Have Feasted on Mince Pies and Sweet Treats — Stonehenge Stone Circle News and Information

Excavations near the iconic English monument revealed traces of fruits and nuts. Excavation work has been led by English Heritage at Durrington Walls, Wiltshire Durrington Walls was inhabited by the builders of Stonehenge in about 2,500 BC Evidence suggests traces of hazelnuts, sloes, apples and other fruits at the site  NEOLITHIC MINCE PIE RECIPE: Download open fire mince […]

Medieval Monday: The Labors of December — Allison D. Reid

In the cold days of December, the fields were finally quiet, with the ground too frozen to work. Animals were taken care of, to ensure they would not only survive the harsh months to come, but that they would be healthy on spring’s arrival. After all, they would be needed to work. In bad weather, […]

How To Make Perfect Mashed Potatoes

The secret to making perfect mashed potatoes that are creamy and fluffy without being gooey or gluey is to warm the cream and/or milk before adding them to the potatoes, use room-temperature butter, and to not over-beat the mixture. For this reason, I don’t use an electric mixer. I use an old-fashioned potato masher such

How to Boil Eggs Perfectly

It’s National Devilled* Egg Day, so I figured I’d share my own recipe for Devilled Eggs, but first I feel it’s necessary to set the record straight about how to boil eggs perfectly, because there are so many sites out there that just keep repeating the same very, very wrong method which results in shells

Tales from the Green Valley

Earlier this month I reblogged Christian Fantasy author Alison D. Reid‘s “Medieval Monday – The Labors of September” which, like many of her “Labors of the Months” posts, featured a timely episode of an excellent documentary series called Tales from the Green Valley, which I might never have known about if not for her blog.

Dreaming Stones: Second Sight… — France & Vincent

We had returned to the stones of Callanish for a second attempt at getting the feel of a place of which we had a little knowledge but no real understanding. Facts are not enough, you have to walk the land before you can begin to know it. We knew, for example, that there are astronomical […]

Worldbuilding for Fantasy Writers and Gamemasters, Part Four

DRAWING ON REAL-WORLD HISTORY, POLITICS, AND CULTURE Every worldbuilder, whether a novelist or a game designer, has to draw upon real-world history, politics, and culture to a certain extent. It’s important, however, to be sensitive to those nations and cultures that are not one’s own, particularly if they have been subject to colonialism, enslavement, and