#northern sea oats

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Saturday 30 December 2023

The distinctive flattened flowerheads of Chasmanthium latifolium (fish-on-a-fishing-pole, northern wood-oats, inland sea oats, northern sea oats, river oats, spangle grass) which dry remaining green with shades of bronze and purple tints. This grass is ideal for shade and a moisture retentive soil.

Jill Raggett

[faguscarolinensis]

Chasmanthium latifolium / River Oats at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens at Duke University in Durham, NC

[cadere-art]

A sample of common crops of Uanlikri, with a focus on crops grown on the Ojame archipelago.

More information under the cut.

Grains

Several types of grains and grain-like crops are cultivated in Uanlikri. Of these, the four major types are millet, sand rice, swamp rice, and amaranth (not depicted).

Millet and sand rice are heat-loving and drought tolerant, with sand rice requiring especially good soil drainage but being more cold hardy. They are the main staples north of the Kantishian Mountains. Millet is favoured in the wetter Basin region, and sand rice in the dryer, more mountainous western regions, and both are grown equally in the continent's hot and arid northern desert.

Swamp rice is another important staple of the Basin region: though cultivation is complexified by its extremely heavy water requirements (swamp rice only grows in marshes or riverbanks), the complex river deltas leading to the Basin's inner seas are ideal for its cultivation and have been heavily modified to create artificial wetlands where swamp rice can be grown. Some strains of swamp rice have good cold hardiness allowing them to be grown south of the Kantishian Mountains. Swamp rice has also been selected for salt resistance: it is an especially important crop in the cold brackish marshes of the Cianji river and in the hot saltwater marshes of the Ojame Archipelago.

Amaranth is primarily cultivated in southern regions of Uanlikri. In the southern Basin region, they are a supplemental crop, but up in the mountains and in the cold lands south of the Kantishian, amaranth is the main staple. Mountain amaranth is especially frost resistant and able to survive nightly summer frosts in the Kantishian's high plateaus.

Red oats, known in the Ojame archipelago as uciwici, is a locally important crop grown in eastern coastal regions. Red oats is sensitive to extreme temperatures and does poorly in continental climates, but its extremely high salt resistance and ability to grow in poor soils make it a crucial crop by allowing cultivation to extend to otherwise marginal areas such as sandbars, coastal dunes, and other poor, rocky and sandy soils. It is appreciated for its purple grains with a naturally slightly salty taste, and for its decorative red foliage which retains some of its colour when dried, making it useful for basketry.

Ferns

Other grain-like crops grown in Uanlikri are seed ferns. Seed ferns are distantly related to true ferns and cycads. Two species are cultivated in Uanlikri: a climbing seed fern grown South of the Kantishian and which produces large numbers of small orange seeds attached to the underside of its fronds, and a caytoniale tree fern which produces modified fronds with large, round yellow seeds instead of leaves and is grown in the Upper Basin and Great Lakes region.

Climbing seed ferns are extremely prolific with a seasonal harvest on par with grain fields and well-keeping seeds with high nutritional value. The seeds are bitter with a taste somewhat reminiscent of burnt almonds and citrus peel, and are usually parboiled before cooking to remove some of the bitterness.

Caytoniale seed ferns are less prolific but are perennials. The seed envelope is also quite bitter, but the seed flesh has a pleasant neutral flavour and a crunchy, sticky texture not unlike that of meringue. Seeds keep well on the tree, but go bad quickly once harvested unless they are properly processed: seeds meant to be kept are parboiled, smoked, and ground into flour, while seeds meant for short-term consumption are either hulled and ground into flour, or hulled and grilled, often to be eaten as snacks alongside grilled insects.

True ferns are commonly consumed as greens, especially young fern shoots (fiddle-heads) and equisetum (horsetail) ferns. Antioles are less sensitive to the toxins in ferns, and parboiling of fiddleheads is often done but not strictly necessary unless consumed in great quantities.

Legumes

Legumes grown for food are historically rather rare in Uanlikri prior to the conquest of the Western Peninsula by the Senq Ha Empire. There are only two important legume crops in Uanlikri which are native to the continent: the grosbean, and the wax pea.

Grosbean is a vine which produces short, rectangular pods containing two to three large beans. The beans are exceptionally large, very colourful, and have a somewhat chalky texture. They used to be a staple in the Basin region, but have been mostly displaced by more palatable varieties introduced by Senq Ha colonists, though they are still grown for jewellery.

The wax pea is short, somewhat vine-like plant producing smooth pods containing a single unpalatable, extremely waxy pea. Though they are edible under duress, wax peas have never been grown as a food crop. They are instead highly valued for the wax which can be obtained by boiling the peas in a slightly acidic solution.

Other legumes (not depicted) have grown in popularity in the two centuries since and are now commonly eaten in most regions.

Roots and fruits

There is a great regional variation in the crops grown for their greens, roots, and fruits. This section should be treated as a sample of a sample, focused more closely on crops grown in the Ojame Archipelago.

Fruits

There are several species of ginkgo in Uanlikri, all of which produce elegant foliage and edible nuts. The nuts stink and their skin can cause rashes, so they are to be manipulated with caution, but their creamy flesh is much appreciated for its strong cheese-like flavour, which confers a pungent taste to salty and sweet dishes alike.

Bird cherries are small, cherry-like fruits that grow on trees and bushes. Most bird cherries are tart and astringent and are used for a touch of tartness or in jams and other preserves. Some cultivars produce very sweet cherries. The seeds of most birdcherries are mildly toxic to antioles.

The arils of a few yew species are eaten by antioles, especially as a gooey prepared delicacy or in jams. All other parts of the yew plant are extremely toxic to antioles, and the arils must be consumed with extreme caution. Because of this, it is illegal to plant yews on the Ojame Archipelago and especially in Ranai, but due to the extreme longevity of these trees, there are several ancient yews in the city of Ranai which are important landmarks and sources of yew arils.

Various citrus are grown and used throughout the Northern parts of the continent: most are acidic and bitter, though there are also sweet varieties. In the citruses of Uanlikri, green is associated with sweetness, yellow with bitterness, and orange with acidity.

Sumac is an important culinary crop in the Ojame Archipelago: sumac fruits are processed for the production of malic acid, a popular flavoring and crucial ingredient in the traditional Ojame ceviches.

Mothberries are named after their pale blue flowers in the shape of a butterfly. It is a drought resistant plant originating from the northern regions of the continent and cultivated for multiple uses: its tuber and leaves are aromatic and medicinal and its fruit is very sweet.

Roots

Root vegetables of all kinds make up an important portion of non-staple crops throughout Uanlikri.

Fur yams are floury and sweet, with edible and prolific leaves with a distinctly "green" taste.

Gourd roots, named after their shape, are crunchy, aromatic and sweet, with leaves used as culinary herbs.

Reeds are an all-around essential plants, with young shoots eaten as greens, roots eaten as a staple by coastal and marshland peoples, and its dried leaves and stems essential materials in basketry.

Orange onions are one of the many varieties of alliums cultivated in Uanlikri. They are the most popular alliums in Ranai. They are potently sulfuric and milden considerably with cooking.

Sweet and pearl radishes (are not radishes) are different cultivars of the Uanlikri radish (not a radish) with crunchy, fresh-tasting and slightly bitter leaves and small starchy tubers which produce very fine starches.

Spindleaf yams are plants with strangely shaped, aromatic and medicinal leaves somewhat reminiscient of sage and a juicy, crunchy tuber with a slight, mustard-like bite.

These are just a sample of grains, ferns, legumes, greens, roots and fruits eaten in Ranai and elsewhere on the continent of Uanlikri. Many of these plants have a large number of regional cultivars, and each region has a variety of local plants they grow or gather which are not broadly eaten elsewhere.

[kimyoonmiauthor]

I thought it might be fun to list "Best cultures for", imo, BTW, doesn't include SK in most cases.

So using my Anthro degree for something. This is Academic interest. I'm only giving the loose reasons why. I'm not particularly promoting fetishization here. I'm saying, do the research into this specific culture for this specific cultural aspect. rather than blind worship.

Agriculture

Of the three major regions, (West Asia, Southern China-ish, Meso America/Northern South America) hands down, The Americas.

I mean, if you look at the genetics and origin of the potato, that itself is super impressive. Through domestication alone, they managed to make the potato grow in all environments, AND changed the amount of genes the potato has. !@#$ What? Really? And then you have things like Amaranth, corn, squash, beans of different kinds, quinoa, tomatoes which is related to nightshade, which is used more than eggplant worldwide, and Sweet Potatoes which they gave to Polynesians. Also single handedly through the Potato and Sweet Potato saved China, Korea, Ireland, and several other places from famine, thus also helping to end the slavery cycle in Korea, China and Japan. I mean... who are you going to rank the highest in that case?

Second place ranking I have to give to Western Asia. Daaaaamn, you have wheat, oats, barley, sheep, goats, cows, horses (supposedly), pigs. That's pretty impressive.

Third place Southern China—rice production, most of the world's commercial flowers, soybeans, a lot of the fruits including citrus. You also get honey.

Honorable mention to South Asia for Chickens. (Indonesia and India specifically)

Despite this, apples are my favorite fruit. lol I need to eat a Courtland apple please. I can eat them by the bushel.

Sea navigation

Hands down, Polynesians, beats the pants off of everyone else by a nautical league. When you can feel sea currents with your hands, be able to get your people first to the South Pacific from China, and then navigate ALLLLL the way to the Americas and beat Europeans, Yes, definitely they get the crown several times over. I mean... think hard about it. When you memorize stick charts, casually and then don't have them at sea and sometimes your tattoos are only brief reminders, FLOORED.

Make Europeans in the same time period look terrible.

House design

I'm looking at passive solar, specifically rather than aesthetics. For me, this is kinda toss up. Indigenous peoples rocked it pretty hard, especially in the South West US into Mexico region. They were exceptionally good at regulating air flow. But Koreans invented underfloor heating. And Chinese figured out Feng Shui which is just Passive solar+ a bunch of other stuff that's practical. (Such as your bathroom shouldn't be above your kitchen). But I have to admit I also admire some of the Indian Passive solar efforts (subcontinent). This one is hard to decide. But if you're researching, I'd look there.

Gender

My favorite to point to is Bugis people of Indonesia. 5 different genders. Freaking awesome. Of course it's a bit disciplined these days by the government, but it's worth investigating.

As I wrote before East Asian gender systems of the past were often more fluid and flexible and still are compared to European ideologues.

Clothing?

No one has impressed me that much, tbh. It's a pick and choose. I can choose the most impractical, but not the one that wins my heart for inventiveness.

Crakows, though, crack me up every single last time. Especially for the Phallic nature and that they were associated with men. But that's on the impractical list. That's also why I submitted it for review on History Hit's fashion list. I haven't gotten over it since I first saw it, I think it was on a Dan Snow documentary about British kings. I mean look at them and resist laughing your butt off.

Religion

I personally think that real Voudoun is much cooler than what's in the movies, which is really racist 98% of the time. It is a Synchronized religion, and it is Christian-based in some ways, but c'mon, look it up and be impressed.

BTW, I really dislike the conflation of zombies with Voudou, granted as an outsider, since it belongs to Bokor and is a warning against *becoming a slave* not about white people trying to shoot zombies with grey and darker faces because OMG, slave uprising psychology.

Zonbis, are cooler than zombies since it's about overcoming and resisting masters, rather than about masters mass killing their slaves, which is what the later meaning seems to say. Ad Zombie movies are at their best when they symbolically get the original concept and meaning. So like becoming a work drone.

^^ I still have a soft spot for Muism as a Korean, but ya know, Korean. I lean towards liking shamanism, probably because of the historical acceptance of LGBTQIA and disability.

Shamanism is also appealing in some ways because often shamanism says that if everything in your life is going wrong, then that might be a sign of powers or spirits calling to you, rather than saying in the old Christian ideology that you've sinned deeply, so you need to repent.

But this is usually not what people are asking about when they are thinking about religions. They usually want the polytheistic, Jade Emperor, Greek, Roman, Egyptians, Norse route. Or Monotheism. Kinda dull, really. Where are the other types in fiction. I mean, Druids?

Give me some totemism for once.

Government System

Look up Wigan Council. I might also be biased towards it because of Gaya, but it's a way to play with things and also allow for more LGBTQIA royalty. Royalty without autocracy?

Inventions?

Hands down, no doubt, Islamic Empire. I mean, when you have Automatons without electricity, you're winning without question. When your people are inventing surgery, calculating the size of the Earth, allowing women to read, learn and write, inventing the lens, which is the cornerstone of so many inventions, and you got Europe's Bacon by inventing the Scientific Method first, historical crush does't cut it. I mean, when you can calculate a pointed arch, do geometric mosaics with mathematical principles, I am floored beyond reason.

Conclusion

This isn't to say I'm not impressed by specific things from other cultures as well, but this is broad strokes. Vedanta Hinduism, for me, is impressive from India. And I really like the practicality of Hanbok. (Why hanbok over hanfu is a long, long post) And I've raved over kimchi before multiple, multiple times, more than you know (quora... I think I have the most answers and I also answer with the food science of Kimchi down to the bacteria.) BTW, dumplings are damned clever.

What are your favorite culture for specific things from those cultures? Would you choose different cultures for each of these things? If so, why? What impressive things have I missed that have floored you?

[vanhelsingapologist]

I am submitting my formal request for folk music ~opinions~ ❤️

Folk music is another one of those genres that’s hard to pinpoint. It’s basically been merging with country and Americana for years. Further, are people asking for traditional folk? Folk metal? Indie folk? Baroque folk? But it’s all folk! Folk, folk, folk. I’ve written it so many times that it doesn’t look like a word. Anyway, I went contemporary/indie/roots folk for this. Started with more woodsy stuff, too.

• Empty Northern Hemisphere by Gregory Alan Isakov. Gregory Alan Isakov is one of those artists I adore and I think he pretty consistently nails it when it comes to folksy themes and instrumentation. His Weatherman album is pretty fantastic. He’s probably considered indie folk, if I had to put a finger on it.

• My Gal, My Guy by Darlingside. The first song I ever heard by them was called Harrison Ford, which is also pretty good, but there’s just something about this song! Also indie folk.

• Oats In The Water by Ben Howard. He has another great one called In Dreams. His earlier music sort of feels like standing in a dead forest. I can’t really explain it beyond that. His newer stuff is a bit more atmospheric, but it’s good.

• Bavarian Porcelain by Sea Wolf. His song Dear Fellow Traveller got some fandom airtime, but his whole discography is pretty good and soaked with forest imagery. My favorite album is probably White Water, White Bloom, but Cedarsmoke is very kind to me.

• Let This Remain by Alana Henderson. Henderson keeps making her way into my playlists. She sort of reminds me of Enya, sort of reminds me of something reminiscent of the Dresdon Dolls, but it’s just enough that she’s got this incredible unique sound.

• Francis by Haley Heynderickx and Max García Conover. This is another one that I have to physically restrain myself from looping. Their voices blend really well, and I’d also consider it my official endorsement of both their music. Heynderickx’s No Face and Show You A Body kill me and Conover’s collaboration on the everything in winter album is worth a listen.

• Deep Green by Marika Hackman. I feel like we can call Marika Hackman folk. Her voice is haunting, her lyrics stick, and she does really neat stuff instrumentally, and she had the folk sound. Not coffeehouse music, so I had to look to see what she’s categorized as. Alternative, it was. Her new album is less folksy, but We Slept At Last definitely is.

• Darlin Corey by Amythyst Kiah. If you haven’t heard any of her work, go listen as soon as possible. She’s got this deep, beautiful sound and writes about isolation in a way that really resonates. It’s hard to find artists who make folk that sounds a hundred years old, but she nails it every single time.

• Love Me Like You Used To by Lord Huron. Lord Huron is an old favorite, and I do think their Long Lost album is my favorite, despite Strange Trails being so well-known. Nothing makes you wanna awoo the way these guys do.

• Traveling On by The Decemberists. I’m a Decemberists fan first, person second. Sometimes I go about my day and “street side smokers, holy rollers” pops into my head at random. Hopefully, you will share my plight.

• Ofelia by Kiltro. Kiltro plays a mixture of shoegaze and Chilean folk. If that doesn’t sound like the best fucking time ever get AWAY from me. Creatures of Habit bumped all year before I graduated.

• The Weight by Amigo the Devil. Darker folk. I think he’s on a playlist called Murderfolk, which just about sums it up. I might put Amigo the Devil in the same camp as AJJ in terms of sound. Slightly different in lyricism.

• Northern Wind by Liza Anne. Their new stuff isn’t folk, but their old stuff is definitely indie folk. I sometimes describe them as drinking cold water, and I think that definitely sticks with their Two album.

As always, I have no idea what I’m talking about. Hope this is good!

[omnibenevolent-couch-blog]

Yi Ti Cuisine:

Breakfast consists of a soup or stock, seasoned with scallions or chives, sweet basil, salt and pepper, and then vegetables like chopped carrots are added alongside egg noodles. Some choose to eat a fried egg on top of their soup, but this is usually done in the northern provinces. Drink in the summer is traditionally a heavy red tea flavored with citrus or saffron if you can get it.

Lunches differ depending on the region, in the south, a common dish is that of rice seasoned lightly with pepper and crushed dried seaweed, side of fried fish topped with chopped chives and salt and pepper, served with a dipping sauce of sesame oil. While in the north, a wheat berry and oats porridge is topped with breadcrumbs and a side of auroch meat strips grilled with salt and pepper is seen as a filling lunch.

Enjoyed for either lunch or dinner, shredded goat or lamb meat is seasoned lightly with salt and pepper and then filled into a thin grain-dough wrap, alongside finely chopped cabbage, scallion, carrots, and ginger. A sauce made of sesame oil and a dash of rice vinegar alongside small bits of crushed garlic is available to dip the roll into. Alternatively, this dish can be enjoyed in a soup, often in a chicken stock that in preparation has garlic and ginger in it, but when reaching boiling point the larger pieces are taken out. Otherwise seasoned with chopped chives and coriander, and added for texture is a small bundle of egg noodles.

For dinner, an easy to make meal is a whole chicken or pheasant gutted but not deboned, and then stuffed only halfway with a mix of scallions, leeks, ginger, salt and pepper. The chicken is marinated in a pot of its own juices and a splash of boiled water with added seasonings like soy sauce, a dash of cane sugar and rice wine. The chicken is then cooked in a covered pot over a flame. The finished product is served with boiled cabbage and carrot covered in finely chopped bits of garlic and salt to taste.

A species of small kraken makes its home in the Jade Sea. Reaching a size no longer than that of a man’s forearm and hand, the body of the kraken is only truly about a quarter of that size, with its tentacles making up the length of it. The color is a sickly pale gray-pink with yellow-green eyes, but when cooked the meat turns a clean white color. Common dinner cuisine in the south, especially in port cities, dictate that the eye and beak portion of the body be cut from it and the tentacles. The mantle of the kraken is gutted and then stuffed with crabmeat and diced shrimp. That filling is then seasoned with pepper, ginger, a pinch of cinnamon, occasionally garlic if desired, and then the open end is stuck shut with a small pick. The mantle is deep fried in an egg yolk and breadcrumb batter, alongside the tentacles seasoned only just with salt and pepper, and then plated on a dish covered with light cloth to soak up the residue oil. A dipping sauce of either rice vinegar or soy sauce with sesame seeds added in is offered, and sprinkled sparsely over the meat is shredded basil.

Tulao—a sweet, soft cheese able to be spread with a knife across pastry. Take a spoon and scoop the cheese out onto a small plate. Place beside it four pitted and divided cherries, preferably tart to bittersweet ones found in the southeastern provinces of Yi Ti, and slices of a ripe peach to surround the cheese. Drizzle over it rosehip syrup or cane syrup at choice.

During winter periods, especially in the northern provinces of Yi Ti, it is common to see people enjoying Yanmo, which is a delicious dessert made of goat milk heated and mixed with honey and waxberry syrup, for rosehip syrup is too sparse and difficult to find without scam. This is mixed until dissolved and then left to cool completely, and then poured over a heaping of shaved ice and eaten with a small spoon.

Often drunk in winter, the popular choice of drink is either fermented cows milk spiced with cinnamon and occasionally honey, or that of Pinjui. It is a mixed drink, part cider and rice wine; only made during the cold season in Yi Ti. Dried, good shaped apples still surviving after the first frost are picked from the tree and processed, then put underground for 3 months to ferment halfway. The Pinjui produced is then added to steamed rice alongside a spiced yeast-water mixture, and left to further ferment for another 4-5 months. The resulting Pinjui has a savory-sweet flavor that warms the body, with hints of caramel and a faint aftertaste of sour apple.

For the eccentric in the winter that want to fight the biting cold of the world with a chilled drink of their own, ice cider is preferable. Fresh and sweet, it offers less of the spreading warmth that Pinjui does and more of a blood pumping sensation not unlike that of chewing mint and then eating snow would.

Golden wine from Yi Ti is medium-bodied and made from the versatile Subi grape selection. Many golden wines can taste similar due to the usage of these grapes, but differ vastly in aftertaste and small flavor notes; all depending on where they are grown and processed. In the northeastern provinces it has a subtle bite of sourness. In the south to some south-western regions, the wine doesn’t hold quite the tart kick of its neighbor in the eastern provinces, it still has enough to be a refreshing summer wine served coast side. Rarely found now in the further west of Yi Ti, the few golden winemakers differ from their competitors in the other provinces with their golden wines being full-bodied, and producing a heavier coloring than the others, often becoming closer to amber than gold due to production varying wildly with how few golden winemakers are left, and how closely they hold their secrets. These golden wines often hold strong hints of safflower, and would be termed in Westeros more likely as strongwine[1] than golden wine, given their flavoring and coloration compared to that of the other wines made using Subi grapes. The largest producer of wines in Yi Ti is the Luma Province.

Strongwine = fortified wine (wine mixed with spirits like brandy)

-

to hold the tide while I wade through molasses;

sauce

[silverfantasys]

The Princess and the Stable Groom- Chapter 1

(Author’s Note: Hello!! I wrote this several years ago for the NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program. It’s a bit rough, as I haven’t edited it since then, and I’ve definitely grown as a writer since then, but I hope you enjoy it anyways!)

@ghosty-crow @luckybyrdrobyn

Synopsis-

Jace and Adreianna come from two very different places. But when the two start working together to find out what is going on at the castle, can they find the culprit behind everything going wrong?

Unlike the rest of the castle, the Eastern Stables were a sea of calm. There were only a few nickers when you entered, not like the flurry of young hooves that met you in the western stables, or even the stamp of stallion's hooves from the northern stables. Jace Albanyon tried her best to keep the mood, humming softly as she oiled the tack. Her stables was her favorite place to be. Jace had thought of the eastern stables as her stables ever since she had started working there.

A nicker brought her back to the present, as did bright sunlight coming from the horizon. Jace smiled and set aside the bridle she'd been oiling. The royal party was having an outing that afternoon, and she had to get the horses ready.

Jace pulled out the big feed tub and filled it, pulling it out to the middle of the floor. Then she grabbed a bucket, filling it with the feed in the tub and pouring into the horse's trough's. She sang quietly as she worked, an old Irish blessing that her father had taught her:

May the road rise up to meet you, May the wind be always at your back, May the sun shine warm upon your face, And the rains fall soft upon your fields.

As soon as all of the horses had been fed and watered, Jace headed to the kitchens to get her own breakfast. The sun was barely halfway over the horizon as she crossed the dewey grass.

"Good morning, Mamie!" She said, entering the warm kitchen with its orchestrated chaos.

"Mornin' child. I saved you some oat and apple muffins." Mamie said. The motherly black women was stirring a pot of something that smelled heavenly. Jace's mouth watered. Oat muffins were some of her favorite. When combined with apples, it was almost as good as breakfast could get.

"Thanks, Mamie." Jace said, snatching up a few of the muffins. The first bite was blissful.

"If you see Killian, tell him I'm making his favorite tomorrow night." Mamie said, turning her head.

"Not sure that I will, but I will if he stops by." Jace promised. Killian was Mamie's son. He worked as a guard in the castle.

A trumpet sounded, and Jace popped the last muffin part in her mouth.

"I gotta go, there's a royal outing today." She said, giving Mamie a hug and racing out of the kitchen.

~~~~~~~

"Are the horses ready?" King Gleason asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Jace said, bringing out the horses.

"Is there one that you would recommend?" Queen Asalinda asked.

"If you want a gentler horse, Asian would be a fine mount." Jace said.

"I think that I will take your recommendation." The queen said, smiling. Jace nodded.

"Will the princess be joining you today?" She asked.

There was a loud snort from the back.

"She has never joined before. Why would she join now?" Prince Mark, an annoying, overbearing, and rude prince who was trying to court Princess Adreianna, said.

"Well, she does love her daily ride. As she has not been in yet, I wondered if she would be coming." Jace said. Her voice was just a bit too smooth. She brought out the rest of the horses, and the royal party started off.

"Time to clean this place." She said softly, and grabbed a nearby pitchfork.

~~~~~~~

The room was soft, with fluffy cushions all over. Books were scattered across the room and strewn all over the bookshelf. Most were fiction, though there were a few history. Adreianna glanced at a book in the pile next to her on the bed, read a few pages, and then dropped it, uninterested. What was the point? She loved these books, but she had read them all before. "Maybe a ride will help," She thought. Adreianna quickly changed into her riding outfit and unceremoniously raced down the back hallways to the eastern stables. That was where her favorite mounts were stabled.

The stables were nearly empty. It took Adreianna a moment to realize that the rest were probably with her parents, the nobles, and the most annoying prince in the world on a ride. She heard soft humming, and the only stable groom that she'd ever seen came in from the big barn doors, looking disheveled and pushing a stinky but empty wheelbarrow.

"Hullo, Your Highness. If you'll give me just a moment to put this away, I'll be right with you," Jace said with a smile.

"Of course," Adreianna couldn't help smiling back. Jace disappeared, and Adreianna heard a few clunks and the sound of a pump gushing water. Then Jace appeared again, minus the manure wheelbarrow.

"Are you off on a ride?" Jace asked. Adreianna nodded.

"I can see that my normal mount isn't here." She said.

"Yes, your mother took Asian. Starlight would work well for you, though." Jace said, scratching a gray stallion under the chin. He had a bright spot on his nose, which was probably how he got his name, Adreianna thought.

"Yes, I believe he would." Adreianna said softly, coming near Starlight. He sniffed her a bit, then blew air at her. Adreianna blinked, and Jace laughed.

"Glad to see that he likes you." She said, vanishing into the tack room. In a few minutes, Starlight was saddled.

Adreianna mounted, then sat for a minute, thinking.

"If you don't mind my saying so, the eastern meadow is a good place to get lost." Jace said, a sympathetic look on her face. Adreianna nodded.

"Thank you." She said.

"You better get going before your parents get back. Not that I've seen you go." Jace added.

Adreianna nodded again.

"Haw!" She said, starting off.

It was near sundown when she got back. Jace was just starting to feed the other horses.

"They're looking for you. Apparently you're having guests for dinner."

Adreianna nodded her thanks and rushed back to her room. Her lady-in-waiting, Elizana, was waiting for her there.

"Where have you been? We'll barely have enough time to get you ready before dinner, and there's guests!" She scolded.

"I was out riding and lost track of time." Adreianna apologized. Elizana helped her change into a fancier dress, and Elizana put up Adreianna's hair while Adreianna put on earrings and a necklace. It was a well practiced song and dance.

"There. That'll do." Elizana said a few moments later. "Now hurry. We wouldn't want you to be late."

"No, we definitely wouldn't." Adreianna agreed.

~~~~~~~

"It's Wednesday!" Jace thought as she let the horses out to the south pasture. Each stable had three pastures, but didn't have one in the direction that was opposite the direction. For example, the eastern stables had a northern pasture, a southern pasture, and an eastern pasture, but not a western pasture. Wednesday in the eastern pasture meant the Jace didn't have to muck out the stalls, because on Wednesday a special team came in to deep clean the stable. In fact, the were just coming in as Jace let out the last horse.

"Morning boys!" She sang out. "Give me a moment to let out Windy and I'll get out of your way."

"No rush." Gerard said.

Jace was back in a moment, and plucked up a satchel that had been hanging on the loft ladder. She made a quick stop by the kitchen for breakfast and to get supplies for lunch, and then she was off. There was a nearby river where the women who worked at the castle washed up on Saturdays, but now it was deserted, with the exception of some birds. Jace settled down in her favorite spot and opened up her satchel. Inside was the supplies from the kitchen, a book on horses, a novel, and some sketching supplies. These Jace took out, flipping through the pages until she came to a blank one, and she began to show on paper what she was seeing by the river.

~~~~~~~

"It's Wednesday!" Adreianna said out loud, rushing to get dressed. As far back as she could remember, Wednesday had been a day free from lessons, from having to do anything princess-like. Wednesday was the day of being able to visit the village just outside the castle, explore beyond the castle grounds, and maybe even talk with a few of the people that worked at the castle that she didn't normally talk to. She hurried down the halls, stopping in the royal kitchen to grab a few treats for breakfast. She'd heard that there was another kitchen that supplied food for the servants, but she'd never seen it, so she wasn't sure if that a was merely a rumor or not.

Adreianna was headed to the gardens when a voice called out to her. She groaned inwardly. It was Prince Joshua, another suitor. He wasn't bad; in fact, Adreianna would have been glad to call him a friend. But the fact that he was trying to court her soured that fact.

"Hello, Prince Joshua." She said, turning around and plastering a smile on her face.

"Good morning, Princess." Joshua must have noticed that her smile wasn't quite real, because he hurried to add, "I merely wished to ask which stable is the best and in what direction it is. You were the first person I came across."

"You would probably like stallions best. They're in the Nor..." Adreianna trailed off as Joshua shook his head.

"I meant, which stable do you think is best." He said.

"Oh. That would be the Eastern stable. Normally you would take the path on the right to get there, but the horses will be out to pasture until after lunch. The stable is being cleaned today."

"Ah. Thank you very much." Joshua said, and hurried off down the right path. Adreianna shrugged and turned down a path with water lilies on both sides. After a bit, she turned down a fairly unknown and little used path that led out of the castle ground.

The path came out near a river, which was normally deserted. But Adeianna was startled to see someone there, taking a nap on the grassy bank. From further away, it looked like a farm boy, but a closer inspection revealed that it was only the caretaker from the eastern stables. Adreianna still didn't know her name.

Why was she thinking about that? She wondered as she hurried on towards the village. After all, she was a princess. And a princess didn't even entertain the idea of becoming friends with a stable groom.

[subiysu-chan]

Continuing to worldbuild Penbre, and the North-West, and North-East regions

So, it has a hyperoceanic climate where it rains constantly, with long nights in the winter.

The North-West region is composed of the regions of Penbre, the smallest province but also the one containing the capital city, Aulbec directly south of it, and Layne stretching North, all the way to the sea. Yaune is directly to the East and Lennes is the Eastern Limit of the North-West Region.

The North-East region also feature a cold climate, but it is slightly more continental, with colder summers and warmer winters. It's composed of flat, swampy land, with to it's extreme South-East the beginnings of a mountenous region.

It is still very rainy, especially in it's South-East region with it's mountains.

It contains the provinces of Chercape (Northern Limit), Fleuchère (A bit further south, Western limit), Mare (center), Epley (Further south), Aurbec (East) and Brélande (South-Eastern Limit).

Penbre recives most of it's rye from this region, which is dry enough in some parts to grow it. It's mostly fed to the capital.

It has a local diet composed of essencially of rye, oats, peas and occasionally barley. Watercress and cattails are the main vegetables with some leaks and asperagus on the side, but Brélande also produces enough rutapagas, parsnips, shallots, peas, radishes and cabbage. Because most of it is flat, swampy terrain, only lean foods are cooked whenever possible, so fat and oil cannot transport fire.

Mussles and other freshwater shellfish are the prefered source of proteine during lent. In the Northmost province of Chercape, it's coastal environment allows enough wind to the meat of large animals, and is the biggest producer and consummer of pork and beef compaired to it's most inland counterparts. Crab is consummed in rather fair quantities, and is considered "pauper's meat" because of it's scavenging habits, same for smaller species of lobster. They also consume many species of fish, mostly carp. Diary products are popular because of their ability to be prepared through fermentation as opposed to cooking. The main sources of animal fat are lard and butter. It is also highly urbanized, allowing it to have a good fungiculture. It produces also plenty of blueberries. The region has very well-reputed cheeses, and often eats dairy with seafood. Kelp is quite the part of the poor man's diet.

In the rest of the North-West region, geese and duck are the main source of animal fat.

The province of Aurbec pruduces a fair amount of apple, hence it's name, but also some birch and hazel trees.

Brélande eats the highest amount of berries both per person and per capita, something allowed by it's rockier terrain. Cranberries, lingonberries, cloudberries, blueberries, sea hawthorne, hawthorne, rosehip, rowan, virburnum and birdcherries are the commonly found fruits. Their prefered source of fat is pinenuts and hazelnuts, closely fallowed by lard and butter. It's the only province that doesn't consume large quantities of cattails. They also tend to eat more chicken than duck or geese, and prefer fattier broths and stews. Because of the cold climate, they tend to enjoy long-cooked stews.

Cranberries is the most common fruit province wise, with apple being next, regionally.

The local cuisine is mostly based on pickling, salting and lactic acid fermentation of all kind, with bread and lean stews.

[hlahlahlahlahly]

It's prairie plant glamour shot season.

It's also "dream about what new plants to add in the fall" season. I have a lot to fill this year between a big gap in three middle of the garden here, and a bunch of cleared honeysuckle in either side of the house.

Right now the (long version) of the list is

New England Asters

Northern Sea oats

Wild Geranium

Columbine

Ostrich Fern

Dwarf Crested Iris

Carolina Rose and/or Meadow

[thasallweare]

THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 2015

HOT OFF THE PRESSES

My article 'Preserve your Garden Memories' just debuted in 'Country Gardens' magazine on newsstands, early spring 2015 edition. The article describes four of my garden collages and how I made them. Above, 'New York Memories', which includes cut and torn photos of plants in 'my' rooftop garden in NYC; dried rose hips, pressed hydrangea and marigold petals, Aronia and Virginia creeper berries, and other assorted goodies in a found frame. Except for the ginko leaves, all  plant material was borrowed from the  garden I tended for my condo building.

'Traditional Canterbury' above honors the town in NH where my daughter and son-in-law live and where I go to scratch my itch to weed a big garden.  The town center encompasses one white steepled church with parish house, one white bandstand, a town hall, library, and country store. The Shaker village is sited a few miles away from the town center. Traditional as it is, the townspeople approved a solar collector farm to power the public buildings. See photo near top right. In this collage, I combined parts of photos with birch bark and twigs.

One of my fave NYC garden spaces and one of my fave collages (now in the collection of Diane and Gary Hitzemann). Like the other two collages above, I combined pieces of many images I captured on and around the High Line with real dried plant material. In the case of public gardens I never borrow plant material; but I did cut leaves of northern sea oats which grow on the High Line, from the garden I tended on my roof top. Since March 2014 I live in Exeter NH near the coast. My latest collages reflect my own change of venue.

No photos here; but torn paper, fabric, wool and discarded paper I found in the recycling bins of my NYC condo and actually paid to move to Exeter. My interest in trash has no bounds.

[apicandaplace]

By: @apicandaplace Northern Sea Oats

[saratravel]

Today was sauna day plus more exploring. After a slow morning, we set out to the sauna!

After two hours of sauna, dip in the Baltic Sea pool, dip in the heated standard pool, and repeat, we went to the market to find our last of three "must do" meals (the first two being Hesburger and sushi)- reindeer!

Reindeer are only allowed to be herd by the Sami people, who live in Northern Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Russia. It tastes similar to deer, from what I remember deer is like.

Next was souvineer shopping! I got my magnet and postcards, and we looked around some for a sheep-themed souvenir for my friend with no luck. I then had a taste for a coffee and dessert and ended up getting one of the best pastries I've had in a while.

While I was enjoying my treat, we saw a small filming crew filming for something. A quick Google of their crew T-shirts revealed they're filming for a reality show Selviytyjät Suomi (Survivor Finland). Maybe we'll be extras in the next season.

Finally, we went and hung at a mall, stopped by a dollar shop kinda thing for incidentals, where I picked up a Sour Apple drink and Salmiakki- a Finnish salty licorice. I loved the drink and really didn't like the licorice. We also stopped at a grocery and got choccy (oat) milk, cloudberry yogurt, and cloudberry juice. Cloudberries are a berry only found in these northern countries and since I couldn't find any of them at the market, I thought getting juice and yogurt flavors would be the next best thing.

It was a nice final day of Europe! Tomorrow, I return back to the US (Helsinki to Reykjavik to NYC). My total flight time will be around 11 hours, but I'll be gaining hours from the time zone differences, so the clock will only be 4 hours later from when I leave in Finland. I will be disoriented and tired but it will be almost home.

It has been a really great trip, even with the hiccups.

[theredripper]

it seemed not long ago when alannys knew the world best with her head on toron’s shoulder, having always been an echo or a ripple behind him, the two of them hurtling towards the broken headlands on pyke or the dark corners of the sea. alannys had always been there, following without a second thought, so when his little sister makes prolongations to times long past, toron crosses his arms to his chest and rocks back and forth against the wood of the dark siren, making no protest at all. “aye,” is his simple answer, the corners of his mouth rounding out in amusement as if he were privy to a joke that alannys was unaware of – quick and lean she may be with the blade she thumbs between her fingers, but a little sister will always be little, no matter if she may grow to be a hundred years old or how often she indulges him to lay witness to the death rattle of her enemies. 

toron just as quickly fixes her with a sharp look of admonition. “fuck the starks,” his mouth glowers into a sneer as if the words of house starks are naught but bits of distasteful and diseased gristle between his teeth that he may rid himself of by flinging it on the ground and spitting on it twice-over. “they have ice for cocks and they eat each other when they run short of oats to hew and lands to till. have you so easily forgotten our own words? our legacy? we do not sow.” he pauses, letting the question settle between them. “will you have us be like northerners that only endure the winds of winter, or would you rather be the kraken that rises from the depths to wrangle lands and riches from lesser beasts?” toron holds her eyes into his own, not even bothering to afford a cursory to look at sylas as he lingers haltingly at alannys’s side and she sends him off. so strong is toron’s equilibrium that he feels no inquietude, instead taking to walking on the deck in even strides like a cat looking for a warm place to sprawl or something breakable to knock over. truly, he is silently considering the picture she paints of their ships and men falling under the crucible of the targaryen’s dragonflame. while their errant father had stayed long in these godless lands to plant his flag in the chambers of the small council, his role as master-of-ships was still a title that had been conferred to him, and what is given can always be taken away. all the while, their family and their father’s bannermen had to make do with limp sails and their ships rocking in achor from disuse.

“i am to leave for a voyage soon with uncle veron and a host of our men,” he announces to her as a measure of his own importance, a son standing sentinel to his father’s designs (however flawed they may be), and spares her no details – like the shadow of a crescent, there must always lay unseen land. “i certainly would sail into the mouth of the smoking sea if that meant it would save me the sight of you minding over your princess’s welfare like the governess you never had, thinking yourself qualified to give me lessons on political affairs.” toron grins and makes a game of not teasing her, too. “what baubles would you like me to bring to you, while you play at being the targaryen’s new prized toy?” he crosses his arms to his chest, pursing his lips together as if in thought, a playful gesture which only spoke to the exaggerated nature of the game. looking at him now, none could say that toron was not his father’s son. “a previous lover or a poor soul, is there a difference at all? all i know is that i’m quite bored of your magpie chatterings. are you going to go in or not?”

“I think you have an overexaggerated sense of your own importance,” Alannys muttered, brushing her thumb along the side of her knife.  “Once maybe I was a familiar to you, but those days are long gone.  We both stand here as captains in our own right.”  The words were tinged with a hint of sadness.  There would always be a part of her that remained the little girl who had clung to her older brother’s hand whenever they were forced to cross the swinging rope bridges between towers on Pyke during storms.  She missed the easy, simpler days when she had believed her brother was the smartest and bravest person in the world who could protect her from anything, but she was a woman grown now and there was no way to return to being that little girl again.  

Alannys followed Toron with her eyes as he stalked around her, reminding her of a shark as it circled its prey.  Toron had always reminded her of a predator, though one she certainly didn’t fear.  Her brother’s violence was saved for those outside of their family circle.  His words stung.  She’d often thought a similar thing herself and even now, she agonized over her decision to become the princess’s lady and the betrothed of a prince.  But she refused to show any weakness in the face of her brother’s obvious scorn.  “I have not grown careless.  I’m doing this for us, our family, and the Iron Islands.  Like it or not, the Targaryens and their dragons control Westeros.  Ships burn, brother.  I do not think it's careless to ensure the dragons are burning the ships of our enemies and not our own.  We cannot raid enough food to feed everyone and as the Starks are so fond of saying, winter is coming.  The favor of the crown means our people might not starve, no matter how long winter proves to be.  I don’t like it any more than you do, but one of us has to deal with these things.”  Saying the words made her feel better, though the guilt remained.  All she had said was true, having the Targaryens and alliances with other houses would help the people of the Iron Islands, but there was a part of her that feared she was betraying the Drowned God by stepping into this new world and leaving many of the old customs behind.  

She was unsurprised that her crew’s focus quickly turned back to her after Toron had finished speaking.  They may allow him certain concessions due to his position as heir, but ultimately, they were her crew and waited for her command.  “Leave us, please.  I’ll meet with all of you later,” she said, addressing them.  Asha and Metteno were quick to leave, though Sylas lingered, his eyes focused on Toron.  He was the half-brother to her aunt’s late husband Greydon Stonetree, a salt son from one of Greydon’s father’s salt wives.  She had met him in her childhood on one of The Raven’s numerous trips to visit her aunt and they had bonded quickly.  Sylas saw her as a younger sister, which made him someone she deeply trusted, but it also made him overprotective even towards her actual brother.  Thankfully, after a few seconds and a final glare towards Toron, he turned on his heel and followed Asha and Matteno.  Alannys sighed.  “The situation here isn’t any different than it is on Tyanna’s ship or even on father’s.  Yes, my crew is bored and more distracted than they would be on the open ocean but it’s a consequence of having been in one place for so long.  I will sail again, once I’ve finalized my betrothal, and I have no doubt my crew will be ready once the time comes.”  

Alannys glanced over to her shoulder where her cabin was before turning her attention back to her brother.  Her crew might have been distracted, but she had a feeling they wouldn’t have missed an intruder trying to sneak onto the ship, which meant one had been brought by the only person who could get away with that type of activity on her ship.  “Who have you dumped in my cabin?  A previous lover of mine or some poor lost soul you’ve decided to accost?”  Alannys had had a few flings with various men in the weeks leading up to the King’s death, though honestly her brother could have kidnapped anyone.  She wouldn’t put anything past him.

[katyazvonkovna]

northern sea oats

they're about as flat as a sheet of paper

[infinitesismall]

chasmanthium latifolium

[shrubbucket20]

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