Don't forget that the food you have in excess at war, as well as the jugs of water or unwanted, but still functional camping gear, can all be donated to the Pantry.  This service provides a huge help to the local communities and you know you do not want to lug all of that home!

Want to read more about the program?  Check out the AE Gazette piece here:  http://aethelmearcgazette.com/2015/06/19/paladins-pantry-plans-for-pennsic/

Here is the official message from the Pantry:

Dear Gentles,
Have you ever found yourself with more to pack at the end of Pennsic then you did when you set out from home, only to find that your vehicle seems to have shrunk? Is your kitchen area full of boxes of cereal, pasta, jars of peanut butter, and jugs of bottled water you can't remember buying?

Never fear! The annual Paladin's Pantry Food Drive is here to help by conveying your camp's extra food and drink to a local food bank. Just drop any unopened foodstuffs or beverages (no alcohol, please) at one of our handy collection points:
BMDL Baronial (N10) Central Serengeti
Venshavn (E24) Next to Wulfden's Back Door
House Sable Maul (N29) Count Jehan's Bounty
House Finisterre (B09) Far West Side
Clan Blue Feather (E12) Slope of Horde Hill
House Akeru Thunder (E17) Hill Road
The Lusty Wench Tavern (E17) Across from Chalk Man Pub
The Chalk Man Pub (E17) Hill Road and Good Intentions
House Iron Lance (W13) Base of Runestone Hill
House Arindale (B08) Just west of Battlefield
Puffin's Rock Inn (N01) Next to Great Hall
Offices of the Pennsic Independent --Top of Runestone Hill
Northshield Royal (EO2) Between Low Road and The Strand
Aethelmearc Royal (N04) Next to Pennsic University or call or text our donation coordinator at 703-344-8479 or 304-283-5640 to schedule a pick up, our faithful minions will come by your camp to collect your much-appreciated largesse!

In addition, this year the program will be collecting used tents, sleeping bags, cots, and rain gear, (especially those in child sizes), which will serve no one in a dumpster, to benefit the homeless.

Exercise your charity, lighten your load, and help members of the community that has made us so welcome over the years!

Please direct any questions to Morien MacBain (Lusty Wench Tavern, E17) 304-283-5640.
We put the Large in Largesse!

From the Mayor’s Office Regarding Campground Restrictions due to Weather Conditions

Be advised that these restrictions & closings only apply for PW44.

Due to abnormal rainfall this year some areas of Cooper’s Lake Campground are very wet and muddy (and have a high probability for vehicles becoming stuck). Due to that and potential complications of further rain, both before and during the event, the Mayor and the Land Staff are placing the following restrictions and closings into effect. See the list below to find out if your campsite is affected; on site look for Red Lines which will be painted around or within blocks denoting closed sections.

Blocks that are closed or restricted:
• All of E-32.
• All of W-19.
• All of W-23.
• Part of W-21 closed, west of site 52 (the fire pit is okay).
• Part of N-15 closed, the eastern portion just past the water spigot.
• E-31 (The Island) is no longer handicapped accessible! The Island is campable, but muddy & prone to flooding in severe weather. Camping on the Island will be allowed, but campers are advised that this is at their own risk due to the possibility of flooding. No vehicles will be allowed on the Island. No trailers will be delivered to the Island. The foot bridge is the only access to The Island; if you choose to camp there your encampment must make arrangements to move your gear by hand from storage to your encampment & back to storage at the end of War. Note: The Cooper’s will not be able to make any site improvements to the Island to alleviate muddy conditions.
• W-09 is not closed, but has Driving Restrictions—cars may not drive off of the of the gravel road.

Roads that are closed or restricted:
• Howard’s Fenway is closed.
• Nagashino Road, between B05 and B09 is closed.
• Hill Road, is restricted to one way traffic (south bound only!) from the Low Road to Good Intentions.
Other block restrictions/concerns:
• N-12 is not closed, but there will be no single campers on the block.
• W-20: very muddy & prone to flooding in severe weather.
• No ground fires are allowed on the Battlefield.
• No ground fires are allowed in the southernmost section of E11.

Land staff will be in touch with those groups affected by closings and restrictions and every attempt will be made to accommodate needs of campers. If you are forced to move this year you will still get your land point. Next year you will be allowed back into your block.

Storage Trailers

If you have a storage trailer that the Cooper’s deliver to your campsite for unloading, it may be required to remain there for the duration of Pennsic depending on your encampment’s conditions. No extra footage will be allowed for your storage trailer; you must make room it in your encampment. While the driver will attempt to meet your requests, we cannot guarantee that your trailer will be placed where you want it to be.

If you choose not to have your trailer moved to your camp site, you are responsible for unloading, moving the contents of the trailer to your site, & loading it again at the end of war. You will not be allowed to tow your trailer yourself from storage to your site.

Construction Projects

We understand that due to muddy conditions some groups may wish to build structures or modify the land to alleviate the mud, be advised, however, that NO changes to the landscape or building projects in encampments may take place without the direct permission of the Coopers! If you have a water/mud issue and you MUST come to the War Room and discuss it with the Coopers BEFORE you can make changes/build anything in your camp. NO ONE will be allowed on site before July 24th to view or work in any encampments. Failure to get appropriate permissions from the Coopers for modifications to alleviate mud may get you expelled from the site.

A Final Word

This is a difficult situation, we know. We also know how you all feel about your Pennsic encampments, but we hope that everyone will be understanding of the unusual conditions this year that require these changes. These block restrictions & closings only apply for PW44. We hope our attendees will be understanding of the compressed conditions necessary this year and conserve and share the space with grace and courtesy.

If you have any questions concerning the above announcements, please email Land Staff.

Thank You for your patience & understanding.

Baron Illiam Uaine, Mayor Pennsic War 44

I have not done one of these posts in a while, so thought I would share this amazing site that I just saw on one of the Facebook forums.  Wow.  This woman's kit is impeccable.  Click image below to go check it out (it is definitely worth the time)!

"The Pennsic Mayor and Land Staff want you to know that they are monitoring the weather situation with recent rain and mud concerns in mind. Although at this time we feel it is too early to make any recommendations (since Pennsic is still 2 weeks away), Pennsic staff wants you to know we will make every effort to help attendees make any adjustments that we can to their land assignment if weather conditions require it. We ask for your patience while we work out the details.

If you have not yet received your land packets, please be patient. We are running a bit late due to the weather concerns, but we are working on those as well. We would also like to point out that Cooper's Lake is a primitive campground & thus we are constrained in our options.

In all things, the safety of our attendees is our primary concern."

The single most important bit of advice I can offer to anyone interested in pursuing a serious A&S path in the SCA is to build a library. It will be the source of your inspiration for years to come. It will answer questions you haven't yet thought to ask. And it will provide the the building blocks you will need for classes, competition pieces, and future projects.

You do not have to buy every book out there, especially given that many of them are old and impossible to get without spending hundreds of dollars. ILL (Inter-Library Loan) is an invaluable tool to get your hands on those books. Copy the articles that pertain to you or take photos of them with your phone (there are even "scanner" apps available) and take notes on the parts you do not save.

Make sure you track down the "right" books. Find out what items are considered essential to your area of interest and get your hands on them. Do not, however, limit yourself! Often books will contain an assortment of articles, read those that fall just out of your time frame, or that pertain to nearby cultures. You will never know what connections you will make by reading those (or which actually have information in them that more directly pertains to your research).

If possible, set aside a book fund to buy new things as they come out. It is much easier to afford to buy a book when it first comes out than it is to wait until it goes out of print and find that the prices has tripled. Also, watch bookfinder.com for lower prices on out-of-print must-haves.

Also look to the internet for academic articles that might be obtained for free or for minimal charge. There is a host of information out there on sources like Academia.edu and hitting up a library with Jstor access is also time well-spent.

Further, organize your library. File pages you print out and keep a spread sheet with each article or book and add keywords so that you can use that to cross reference things easily. Even better, explore the free research programs that are offered online. I love Mendeley, but there are many others. I can store all of my PDFs and webpages in one place. I can take notes on them there and everything (the PDFs and the notes both) is searchable! I can type in a few words and call up resources I had already forgotten about. If I pursue a new area that is related to what I am already doing, I will likely already have half of what I need to start.

Even if your interest is just to "make all the things" right now, you might opt to do more heavy research later, and those notes you took while working on your most recent project might serve as the foundation for documentation for a larger undertaking later.

A couple of recent things have made me think more, and reflect, on my course.  One of the things I have seen was some works-in-progress from some very excellent artisans.  These are not people I know well (in some cases, do not really know them at all), but as I watch these projects build out I am really impressed with the level of work that not only is going into the current items, but the amount of work that had to go into getting their skill to this high level.  I am not comparing myself in any way to them in terms of those things, but rather, I look at their work and it is easy to categorize what they are doing.  Likewise, I have heard some conversations with others as they discuss what paths they should take in their arts, whether they are looking for direction or trying to find a smaller focus in a broad field.  Both of those things make me look at myself, and my work, and try to see how it fits into world of SCA A&S.

To me, arts and sciences in the SCA are about more than just producing work.  There is another step that goes beyond making the pretty thing and that is sharing it.  It might be a period feast served at an event that gives others a taste of medieval life.  It might be an exquisitely crafted costume that inspires someone else.  That can lead to a conversation with an artisan, a class, or even just inspiration for others to make something similar.  Even in the mundane world art is a thing that is shared, but the environment in the SCA that fosters education allows us to take that a step further.

It is one of the things that drew me to the SCA, and keeps me coming back.  I am happy that over the years I have found my own place in that cycle of artistic sharing as well.

Now, to discuss my more personal take on this... I will say that I am happy with my progress of late.  I have some very exciting things that I am working on that I am absolutely thrilled to be able to share with others soon.  It is, however, a bit difficult to compartmentalize exactly what it is that I do.  I research (excessively, lol).  But I do not write research papers (though someone that has looked at my tomes of documentation might disagree with that).  I do have a focus in terms of time and place -- Viking Era Scandinavia (though I do branch out to the the early Norse in the British Isles as well).  I am a costumer to some extent, I research and have taught others to craft garb, but that is not my first love.  Fiber arts is definitely key in what I do.  I love weaving, and I am decent at spinning (even if the car accident this past winter has made spinning for any length of time difficult).  But I am far from an expert at either, there is so much more to learn, do and put into practice in those arts. 

What I do think that I am very good at is what I would guess I could call "illustrated research".  I work to craft samples and items that can help others get a better feel for fiber, textiles and spinning as it was done in period.  I illustrate charts with tactile objects that can help even a neophyte in the fiber arts get a sense of how wool has evolved over time.  Reading a text that discusses thread count in cloth means nothing, until you can feel what a period weight fabric actually could be or see the fine grist of the yarn that people in the past actually could have used.  I read about things that make me curious (things like Z/S fabric, where the spin direction is different in each system - something very uncommon to find these days, especially in fiber types and thread counts that are comparable to what was used in period), and I learn to craft the item and then can share that with others.  Yeah, this is what I do and what drives me to read more, research more, drive the ILL librarians nuts and spend copious amounts of time weaving a tiny sample that can help me (and hopefully others) better understand how something possibly could have looked, felt or been done in the past.

Illustrated Research, I am not sure that is even a valid thing, but it very much describes my passion as an artisan in the SCA.