Call Me Old Fashioned...

One foot in the c.14th, one foot in the c.21st. Working animals, horses, sheep, with a lot of rural and West Country things thrown in. And Devon .. especially Devon ...  

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Really interesting article, especially loved the information about the technique of using a tear and feathers after 1790 to split moorstone for granite posts.

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How to Cook Nettles - Great British Chefs

Learn how to cook nettles in this useful guide, from nettle broth to nettle beer.

If you can’t beat them, eat them!

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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-481709/Traditional-English-cooking-nettle-pudding-ancient-recipes.html

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This is not saying that agriculture shouldn’t continue to decrease its carbon footprint, but it is saying that agriculture is not the big bad in global warming.

Ag production has continued as it always has in these uncertain times and more than ever we need to stand behind our farmers and ranchers as they continue to provide food to those waiting in line at grocery stores all over the country.

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‘Quirky’ Suffolk and ‘long-legged’ Shire help protect homes from flooding - Horse & Hound

The project manager said the heavy horses were a perfect fit for the work at the sensitive woodland site

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Can sheep save the planet? Yes - says Allan Savory!

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How the Edwardians Spoke [signed] One of my favorite documentaries! The sections on accents and how they might be related to landscape are particularly fascinating. Rolling, mountainous Welsh as opposed to flat counties, the nasal quality of ports and stiff upper lips against biting cold! The interviewees were all prisoners of war in Germany in 1916. The project was led by a German sound specialist and an Austrian academic. They selected the men as follows, “We sought out the farmers’ lads from isolated farms, the fishermen from tiny harbors, the shepherds, and above all, all those who were almost unable to read or write.” These preserved regional accents must have changed little over the centuries preceding. It is remarkable how many of these prisoners of war chose to sing, and did so beautifully. The influence of the country, the village where many people spent their entire lives, and the church where hymns would be sung, is local community captured and condensed.  

https://youtu.be/ywg03b574oQ

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Why Mediaeval Europeans Slept Inside Boxes

For much of human history, privacy during bedtime was an alien concept. Many poor families lived in small houses, where there was only one o...

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The Adorable Custom of ‘Telling The Bees’

The bee friend, a painting by Hans Thoma (1839–1924) There was a time when almost every rural British family who kept bees followed a stra...

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Making a Skep, a traditional straw beehive

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The Bee Boles Register Contains A wealth of information on Bee Boles and other structures that were used in the past to provide shelter for skeps of honey bees.

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Artist is Louis Huard - Leading a packhorse along a country road, Devon

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Today if you drive down any Dartmoor road you will meet vans and lorries delivering the many necessities of life either to the villages and towns or from the various business on the moor. There is nothing more frustrating than getting stuck behind such a vehicle especially on the steep hills. But for centuries there has been the requirement for such 'logistic' needs of transport, the only difference is that at one time the loads were carried by packhorses or ponies. So if the packhorses or ponies were the 'tractor units' of the moor then the crooks were surely the 'articulated containers'. But what is a 'crook' in the Dartmoor sense of the word - simple a few poles lashed together. Crooks were made from two poles, 10ft long, and bent when green into a curve, when dried they were then connected to two horizontal bars. These were then slung over the packsaddle of a pony, one swinging each side to balance the loads. They are used to carry faggots, furze, peat etc. Mrs Bray (1834 p.23)

Road rage c 1834!