Corgyncombe Apple Orchard

Corgyncombe Bakery and Orchard

Apples from Diane's favorite tree at The Corgyncombe Orchard.

The apples that grow at The Corgyncome Orchard are organic.

When Diane bakes a pie she often uses old New England Table Talk Flaky Crust Pie tins. Sometimes these tins have a deposit amount of five or ten cents stamped in the tin.

An action photograph of the White Mountain Apple Parer, Corer, and Slicer. The peels were just whizzing off!

The apples with the sugar and spice mixture dotted with the Corgyncombe Dairy Goat Carmella Lucille's butter. The old wooden rolling pin was Diane's grandmum's. In "The Tasha Tudor Cookbook", at the beginning of the Christmas Treats chapter, there are apples, apple peelings, a rolling pin, and an apple pie illustrated by Tasha at the bottom of the page.

The top pastry crust has been added and crimped round the edge.

The pie has been baked and placed into the old pie basket to enjoy at a pleasant outdoor Autumnal tea.

Apples are a frequent subject in Tasha Tudor's illustrations. They easily and beautifully show and fit in with the loveliness that she is known for and the celebration of Autumn where work goes hand in hand with play.
Some of her books with apples are:

"The New England Butt'ry Shelf Almanac", written by Mary Mason Campbell and illustrated by Tasha Tudor, dust jacket cover features a boy in the apple orchard with baskets and baskets full of apples. Inside, at the beginning of the September chapter, is an illustration of children picking apples in the orchard. A girl is putting apples that she has gathered in her apron, into a large basket with a helpful corgi watching. A boy is carrying a small basket of apples to be emptied into a larger basket.

Tasha Tudor's "1 is One" features a little girl in a bonnet, carrying a basket as she reaches up to pick one of the 7 apples on the tree. On the opposite page is one of The Corgyncombe Courant's favorite illustrations: the seven apples and the basket by an old crock decorated with a bird. Both pages are bordered with lovely pink apple blossoms.

The favorite apple tree in May.

In "The New England Butt'ry Shelf Cookbook", written by Mary Mason Campbell and illustrated by Tasha Tudor, caramel apples are illustrated on the table of Hallowe'en party treats, as well as a basket full of apples beside the door. In the color Christmas illustration, apples in a yellowware milk pan are sitting on a box, whilst a corgi looks longingly at the treats on the shelf above.

Sarah was the model for Tasha Tudor's illustrations of the little girl Kathy in "The Real Pretend".

In "The Real Pretend", written by Joan Donaldson and illustrated by Tasha Tudor, apples surround the pages as Kathy is visiting her neighbor Mrs. Rose who is busy by the clothes line. At the bottom of the oval border around one of the pictures is a yellowware milk pan full of apples and on the other page is a small basket of apples with a rooster pecking at an apple on the ground. Apples also surround the old school scene pages, along with the children's old fashioned lunches packed in baskets. On another page, there is also an illustration of Kathy crying in the kitchen. As she sits at the table, kittens play in and around a large basket of apples beneath the table and a cat rests in another mustard colored chair. The kitchen illustration is Tasha's kitchen at Corgi Cottage. In the store illustrations, a boy sitting next to a barrel of apples bites into an apple, as Kathy can be seen trying on a hat by the counter. On the opposite page apples in a basket are offered for sale.

Sarah sitting on a stile writing on her slate. Her tin lunch pail is beside her.

For September in "Around the Year", Tasha Tudor illustrated a rooster atop a large basket of apples, as the leaves fall from the apple tree above. Children playing around an old school house are featured for November. Inside the school, apples and children's lunch baskets are on the shelf, with hats, scarves, and skates hanging on the pegs below. On the October pages children are bobbing for apples.

Apples appear on the cover of Tasha Tudor's "First Delights, A Book About the Five Senses". In the book, Sally experiences the five senses in the wonderful, old fashioned ways of the country. On the "Summer changes to fall." page, the little girl Sally can be seen getting ready for school, her lunch basket already packed along with an apple and her slate, waiting to be taken with her.

In "The Tasha Tudor Book of Fairy Tales", Tasha Tudor illustrated Red Riding Hood carrying her basket of goodies for her Grandmum. From the bed, "Grannie" is looking at Red Riding Hood in a very hungry manner. "Grannie" looks very much like a bigger Lydia Corgi with a bonnet on... the nose, the whiskers, the smile, the tongue, the ears, and the white paw... but Lydia does not have a big bushy tail. "Grannie's" bedroom is filled with old fashioned things and is bordered by apples, a robin, a chipmunk, a wren, and a mouse.

On the October pages, apples in abundance are to be found in "Rosemary for Remembrance", illustrated by Tasha Tudor. In the corners apples border the page, as a man peels an apple in the barn whilst a boy, girl, and corgi watch. The pages also contain many baskets of apples, a straw hat, sunbonnet, farm tools, a jug, and a darling sleeping corgi. A yellowware milk pan with apples is in on the kitchen table of the December page, as a woman, girl, boy, and two corgis admire the baby in the cradle.

In Tasha Tudor's illustrations of September in "A Time to Keep", apples and purple asters border the doll fair, which shows several dolls and stuffed animals that attend the fair. October features cider pressing with baskets of apples and jugs, and bobbing for apples.

In Tasha Tudor's "Seasons of Delight, A Year on an Old-Fashioned Farm", apples are prominent in many of the activities Tasha illustrates for Autumn: Apples in profusion being gathered in the orchard, cider pressing, and bobbing for apples. In the text Tasha says in Autumn "It's time for picking apples, for making cider, and baking apple pies."

The delightful gentle movement of the wind made tea even more lovely. In the mottled sunshine with the leaves drifting down an outdoor Autumnal tea with apple pie is enjoyed.

In "The Night Before Christmas", 1975 version illustrated by Tasha Tudor, on the page with the words: "A bundle of toys he had flung on his back," in one corner Tasha Tudor illustrated apples by a piece of pie covered by a screen.

That reminds the Corgyncombe Courant that this summer they had a serendipitous find of many of Tasha's old cards and an Advent Calendar that they did not have. Our readers will have to wait 'til later to share the joys of these wonderful finds.

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Tasha Tudor Corgi Cottage Soup

Lima Beans

Lima beans from the Corgyncombe Vegetable Garden.

"The Tasha Tudor Cookbook" opened to the Soups chapter. In the illustration are some of The Corgyncombe Courant's favorite things: copper, yellowware, a crock, ironware, herbs, and vegetables. In front of the book are some vegetables gathered from the Corgyncombe Vegetable Garden and tarragon from the Corgyncombe Herb Garden.

Corgi Cottage Soup in a kettle atop the stove. Diane grew her lima beans especially so that she could put them in Corgi Cottage Soup.

The receipt for Corgi Cottage Soup is in “The Tasha Tudor Cookbook”. We have had the joy of having the soup made by the author, artist, and cook's own hand... Tasha herself. Delicious!
In the above photograph is a bowl of Corgi Cottage Soup made by Diane. Excellent and warming on a chilly autumnal day!

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Churning Goat's Cream into Butter

The Corgyncombe Dairy

A pat of Corgyncombe Butter stamped with a swan print.
But that's getting the butter before the cream...

At The Corgyncombe Dairy, a bowl full of dairy goat Carmella Lucille's cream.

Diane's butter churn that is a reproduction of a churn Tasha Tudor had.
Diane's husband planted cosmos in the vegetable garden at Diane's request, for cut flowers to be arranged in bouquets.

Cream is churned in the dasher churn by moving the dasher up and down. The repeated agitation of the cream causes the fat part (the butter) of the cream to separate from the buttermilk. The buttermilk is saved for baking.

The butter is then put in the wooden butter bowl, washed with cold water and worked with the wooden butter paddle to remove all of the remaining buttermilk from the butter. Diane uses her grandmum's wooden butter ware for making butter.

Butter rolled into a ball to press into a butter pat.

The butter is pressed into pretty butter prints. Printed butter is lovely to use at the table. Years ago farm wives would print their butter and take it to the country store for trading. If the housewife was known for superior butter, people would seek out the butter with her print. During the Depression, Diane's grandparents on both sides churned butter and traded it at the same general store. Diane's father's side had a wheat pattern butter print and Diane's mother's side had a star pattern butter print. The Corgyncombe Courant wonders who made the best butter!

Tasha Tudor added to a nice long four page letter to Diane, a P.S. about how she enjoyed Diane's article about butter making. Tasha commented about how white goat's butter was and she said "I use it in all my cooking! Delectable!"

In "The Tasha Tudor Cookbook", on page 63, there is an illustration of a girl churning with a young boy and four cats watching. At the beginning of the "Desserts and Beverages" chapter, on page 67, is an illustration of the original churn that Diane's reproduction churn was based on. Right beside the churn is a sweet little corgi peeking up on the table edge at some cookies. In the illustration on page 88 there is a girl churning with two corgis and a cat close by.

In "Mother Goose", illustrated by Tasha Tudor, on page 19, there is a lady named Mary churning in the dairy, with milk pans set on the shelves for the cream to rise to the top and then to be skimmed off. This has always been a favorite of The Corgyncombe Courant.

In "Seasons of Delight", written and illustrated by Tasha Tudor, on the Winter page there is a fun illustration of Tasha Tudor churning butter with a dasher that you can make move up and down. There is a corgi and cat at her feet.

Little Tasha commences churning. In the background, in "Seasons of Delight" Tasha Tudor has illustrated herself churning butter. The doll was named after Tasha because The Corgyncombe Courant was reminded of the portraits of Tasha Tudor when she was a girl painted by her mother Rosamond Tudor.

In the book "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers" or "The Roly-Poly Pudding" by Beatrix Potter, there are illustrations of the goings on in the dairy whilst the mischievous, missing kittens were being sought. Whilst Tabitha Twitchit was looking for her missing son Tom Kitten, another one of her kittens, Mittens, had hidden in an empty jar near the milk pans in the dairy. When Tabitha finally found her, Mittens exclaimed to her mother that she had seen a huge and terrible rat who swiped away a rolling pin and a pat of butter. Another kitten, Moppet, reported that she had spied a woman rat who had pilfered some dough from Tabitha's dough pan. Upon hearing the news of the stolen items, and remembering a roly-poly sound in the attic under the floor, they feared that perhaps a roly-poly pudding, with Tom as the main ingredient, was in the make...

Here is a link to: "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers" on YouTube

Photographed several years ago, Lydia Rebecca Sly Corgi watches the butter making process in hopes of a taste! Lydia reminds The Corgyncombe Courant of the sweet little corgi peeking up on the table edge at some cookies on page 67 of "The Tasha Tudor Cookbook".

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A Tasha Tudor Birthday Tea!

Cake, Ice Cream, and Goat Races!

At The Corgyncombe Dairy the mixture for making goat ice cream is ready to be put into the old White Mountain Ice Cream Freezer. The receipt is Old-Fashioned Vanilla Ice Cream from "The Tasha Tudor Cookbook".

Cranking the ice cream freezer.

The goat ice cream is done and the dasher will be removed.

In "The Real Pretend", written by Joan Donaldson and illustrated by Tasha Tudor, Kathy goes around to her neighbors to take pretend orders from the Larkins Catalog. Sarah was the model for Tasha Tudor's illustrations of the little girl Kathy in "The Real Pretend". In the book, one of Kathy's neighbors, Mr. Williams, is very fond of ice cream and he orders vanilla and salt just as Kathy hoped he would. When the pretend orders become real after her brother sends in the order, she has to go around and collect the money for all the goods that were ordered. Thankfully all the neighbors were pleasant about giving Kathy the money for the orders. One can see in Tasha's illustrations that Mr. Williams is indeed very fond of making ice cream, as all the equipment for making ice cream is on his porch. Mr. Williams encouraged Kathy to write the story of her Larkins selling career and reminded her "You're invited to help me make ice cream when I get my vanilla!"

In the photograph above, Sarah is giving her cat a treat in front of the ice box. On the back inside cover of "The Real Pretend" you will see Tasha's illustration of Sarah as Kathy, that is very similar to Diane's photograph of Sarah in front of the ice box.

Tasha told us she had an ice box much like ours for years and that it was her task to empty the drip pan.

Diane's family used to make ice cream when she was little using an old fashioned ice cream freezer. Vanilla was always the favorite.

In "Becky's Birthday", written and illustrated by Tasha Tudor, she describes and illustrates making peach ice cream for Becky's birthday celebration. There is an illustration of Becky and her brother Ned licking the dasher.

In "The Springs of Joy", illustrated by Tasha Tudor, a young boy is turning the ice cream freezer crank, whilst other children, anticipating the ice cream to come, wait with spoons in hand at Tasha's back door. The corgyn also eagerly wait hoping they will get a lick of ice cream, too. Ralph Waldo Emerson is quoted on the page "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."

When you first open up Tasha Tudor's "Seasons of Delight" there is a pop up of Tasha's barn and cottage and there is an illustration of children making ice cream, again awaiting the ice cold treat along with the corgyn.

All at Corgyncombe Cottage are in anticipation of Carmella Lucille's frozen, vanilla delicacy. Lydia Corgi reminds us of the little dog Duchess who was invited to tea by Ribby the cat in "The Tale of The Pie and The Patty-Pan" by Beatrix Potter. Lydia has always thought that ice cream and cake is more pleasant than mouse pie for tea. Lydia, who has tucked her ears in tight, wears an antique baby sunbonnet. Sarah has always said since she was little that corgis tuck their ears back for smooth petting.

At the word that another batch of Carmella Lucille's Vanilla Ice Cream is cooling in the freezer, the goat kiddles race in anticipation! They know how delicious Carmella Lucille's milk is. Brownie is on the fence side, Daisy is coming in last on the pasture side, and little Sweet Pea is in the lead in the middle. Look at those ears fly! The Corgyncombe Courant reporter and photographer Diane Shepard Johnson, snapped this action photograph.

Lydia Rebecca Sly Corgi watches as the goats race by. Like the residents of Corgiville in Tasha Tudor's "Corgiville Fair", Lydia likes to watch the goat races.

Charlotte the doll, who is having tea on the lawn, was heard saying "I hope the corgyn and goats aren't going to run me down in their enthusiasm for ice cream!

For Tasha Tudor's Birthday Tea, a cake from The Corgyncombe Bakery.
The receipt used is Becky's Birthday Cake from "The Tasha Tudor Cookbook". Late summer wildflowers give a cheerful note as they circle the top of the cake.
The ice cream is ready...

and it is delicious!

Charlotte finds a nice place in the shade to enjoy her tea, cake, and ice cream. Her cake, decorated with forget-me-nots, is from The Corgyncombe Bakery and her goat ice cream is from The Corgyncombe Dairy.

Charlotte is using this delightful tea strainer that she received as a gift. If you look closely you will see a little bear decorating the handle.


After a delightful celebration, Lydia is feeling rather contented.
Lydia sends greetings to Pretty Pearl the Poodle.

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