Clove Orange Pomanders!

Christmas Time Traditions!

'Tis now the season when we make apple, orange, lemon, and lime pomanders. After the cloves have been put in all round the fruit, it is rolled in an orris root and cinnamon mixture.  Orris root is a ground powder from the rhizomatous roots of Iris Florentina. Pomanders, with their pleasing scent, have long been a tradition at our house at Christmastide!
Tillie Tinkham, the seamstress mouse for the dolls at Corgyncombe, with clove in paw, explains to Emma how to make a delightful smelling clove orange! Tillie made the smaller clove orange several years ago.
Emma is a doll inspired by the old Izannah Walker dolls.
September 25th, 2017 would have been Izannah Walker's 200th birthday.

Click Here for Music

December Moon over Corgyncombe
In Eleanor Farjeon's poem "The Clove Orange", she speaks of selecting "a small orange as round as the moon is, ..."

Corgyncombe's "Emily & Ethlyn's Potions & Perfumery", where lavender, rose, and clove oranges are favored fragrances. According to the "American Dictionary of The English Language" by Noah Webster, 1828, a potion is: a draught; usually, a liquid medicine; a dose.

Making Dundee cakes for tea is another tradition around Christmas time at Corgyncombe Cottage.
During the days before Christmas, delicious and festive Dundee cakes are enjoyed at tea time.
At the Corgyncombe Bakery I make many Dundee cakes in all different shapes and sizes.
 Dundee cakes are made a month ahead of time and put in cold storage until time for St. Nicholas Tea.

The receipt for Dundee Cake is in "The Tasha Tudor Cookbook".
I never add the citron nor the raisins as called for in the receipt, but add more than the called for amount of currants and in addition to the almonds in the receipt, add walnuts.
This combination makes the most delicious Dundee cake!

In her cookbook Tasha Tudor says to decorate the top of the Dundee cake with cherries and almonds. I have always decorated my Dundee cakes in a different pattern than those that I have seen Tasha illustrate. I use the cherry as the center with almonds or other nuts around the cherries forming flower-like shapes. I also use the currants to decorate the top of the Dundee cake.

Oranges, lemons, and cider for making wassail.

Miniature sized fruit and a clove orange pomander.

863 Park Avenue where Tillie has her shoppe "Tillie Tinkham's Frocks & Fashions" with Millinery and Tea Room.
Nearby the dollhouse is our old fashioned table top Christmas tree like my Grandmum always had! The tree is surrounded by an old fashioned fence; it looks like a park in the distance from the house. In front of the dollhouse are little trees and another fence.
The address 863 Park Avenue is above the door.
The dollhouse, with its two large opening doors, reminds us of Beatrix Potter's doll's house at Hill Top.

 The dollhouse was from the Parsons family's stone summer home at their estate in Connecticut. The dollhouse is a miniature version of 863 Park Avenue in Manhattan where the Parsons family had lived at one time.

Tillie has a millinery shoppe and tea room at 863 Park Avenue. Tillie is helping the little dog decide on a hat. Trying on hats, what fun!

The blue and silver scenes on the walls are like diamond shaped windows looking out to fashionable folk walking about on cobbled streets. The rows of close buildings with their steep roofs and chimneys are reminiscent of the charming old English villages Lacock and Bibury in the Cotswolds.

This Regency lady is charmingly similar to Cassandra's portrait of her sister Jane Austen.

Hitty pours herself another cup of tea at "Tillie Tinkham's Frocks and Fashions" with Millinery and Tea Room at 863 Park Avenue. Tillie balances on her rose tuffet and sips her tea.

Silent Night at Corgyncombe

We hope all our Dear Readers
had a wonderful Christmas!

Some of the photographs and some of the writings on this post are from previous Corgyncombe Courant posts that can be found here on the Corgyncombe Courant and from our web site and our previous postings elsewhere on the internet.

Please do not "Pin" our photographs.
Please do not post our photographs on facebook.

Our email:
atthecottagegate@yahoo.com
If you receive an email you think is from me from this email, please make sure it is atthecottagegate@yahoo.com, and not just something that sounds similar.

Photographs, images, and text copyright © 2000-2017 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson. All rights reserved. Photographs, images, and/or text may not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson.


http://corgyncombecourant.blogspot.com/2017/12/clove-orange-pomanders.html
copyright © 2017 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Christmas Calendar Inspired by Tasha Tudor, Day 14!

"The Days Until Christmas: Amelia's Favorite Things"

For years we have been inspired by our friend Tasha Tudor's doll families. Tasha Tudor made her dolls look so real and we know that they were real to her. Our dolls seem very real to us, too. Our doll families have many children, cousins, Mums, and Aunties who like to do all the favorite things that we like to do best!

Tasha Tudor created many delightfully fun Calendars for Christmas and Valentines Day.

Diane and her daughter Sarah were inspired by Tasha Tudor's Advent Calendars and delightful dolls, to make this Christmas Calender, "The Days Until Christmas: Amelia's Favorite Things". This is the 6th year that Diane and Sarah have made A Calendar to Count "The Days Until Christmas" featuring Amelia's Favorite Things. This edition of "The Days Until Christmas: Amelia's Favorite Things" was originally created in 2008 and we know you will enjoy it also this 2011 Christmastide Season! Amelia and her family like to celebrate all the special days throughout the year!

Everyday, starting December 1st, a new photograph should appear for the Christmas Calendar, however we ask your patience dear readers, as sometimes there might be a delay due to the weather (such as blizzards, ice storms, high winds and snow), technical difficulties, Finch Post delays, etc.

The Corgyncombe Courant doesn't have a set time when we add the photograph of the day to the Calendar, as there are many other tasks to do and animals to care for.

As it is a Christmas Calendar of Amelia's Favorite Things and Amelia is a doll who lives at Corgyncombe Cottage & Corg'ery, the photographs in the calendar are appropriately small.

How we look forward to celebrating Christmastide traditions and the many surprises as we

Count "The Days Until Christmas" with Amelia!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seasonal Changes at Corgyncombe Cottage!

Hush, Is That The Peepers I Hear!

Corgyncombe Nubian Goat Louisa May in the barnyard.
She was named after our cousin Louisa May Alcott.

The rushing waters of Corgi Creek.

At the beginning of winter, a snow fence is put a little ways up on the hill to keep the snow from drifting into the yard so much. During the height of winter the snow can make it to the top of the snow fence and over. This is how the fence looked last Saturday as the snow is slowly melting but there is still a huge snowbank left. After the snow melts, the fence is taken down for the season.

Diane's husband took a walk down to the lower forty and gathered a bunch of pussy willows along Corgi Creek's edge, much to Diane's delight!

Corgyncombe Moon on April 9th, 2011.

The snow is melting, the days are warming, the peepers were heard last night, but what's this we hear about snow flurries in the forcast!

There are a lot of goats and goat kiddles that Tasha Tudor illustrated in "The Springs of Joy". In "Around the Year", written and illustrated by Tasha Tudor, one of ways April is portrayed is with a creek with rushing waters and emerging ferns at creek's edge. In "A Time to Keep" Tasha Tudor illustrated goat kiddles running and jumping in April.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Big Moon O'er Corgyncombe!

Lovely Lunar Light!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A White Corgyncombe Christmas!

Flying Reindeer, Doves, Sparkling Snow, Icicles, Feathery Frost, and Moonlight!

The other day the sparkly snow covered everything with a fresh layer of fluffy, white snow. In the Corg'ery, the area where the Corgyn run and play Diane always hangs a kissing ball. Beyond the kissing ball you can see the smokehouse where the birds gather at the feeder. The squirrels also gather at the feeder. They hop along the limbs of the trees to the roof of the smokehouse, where they slide down the roof and jump over to the feeder.




Gingerbread cookie dough made into Reindeer and Evergreen tree cookies.


In the morning when Diane gets up the first thing she does is feed the birds. There are usually seven or more doves waiting on the fence for her to come out. They are very hard to photograph because with the first noise they take wing but Diane caught three that hadn't flown away. The Corgyncombe Courant hopes their readers are feeding the birds this winter and if you start feeding them remember to continue feeding them as they wait for you to replenish their feeder.
Mourning doves make such a lovely sound when they take wing...


Frost on the window that looks like feathers or fern.


The deer, stars, and trees on the cookie sheet tell a true story of one recent twilight when Diane stepped outside. Seven deer came winding through Diane's snow covered lawn by the creek looking amazingly like reindeer, all in a line, flying over the creek, curving as they ran following each other in the cornfield. Really it was much like the reindeer pulling Saint Nicholas' sleigh.

Four pages in the 1975 version illustrated by Tasha Tudor of "The Night Before Christmas" by Clement Clarke Moore, illustrate so beautifully what we mean when we say winding and curving. It was just amazing, like magic! The pages in the book to look for accompany the text:

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came, And he whistled and shouted and called them by name: "Now, Dasher! Now Dancer! Now Prancer and Vixen! On Comet! On Cupid! On Donder and Blitzen! To the top ofthe porch to the top of the wall! Now Dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

The selecting and felling of the Christmas tree.

A December Corgyncombe Moon!

Corgyncombe Dairy Goat Carmella Lucille recently returned home after a visit to see her husband, who she calls Romeo. Unfortunately, the lingering scent of Romeo's cologne makes it necessary for a refreshing stop into Corgyncombe's "Emily & Ethlyn's Potions & Perfumery", where lavender, rose, and clove oranges are favored fragrances. According to the "American Dictionary of The English Language" by Noah Webster, 1828, a potion is: a draught; usually, a liquid medicine; a dose.

Making clove oranges, also called pomanders, especially near Christmastide, is a tradition at Corgyncombe Cottage. After the cloves have been put in all round the fruit, it is rolled in an orris root and cinnamon mixture. Orris root is a ground powder from the rhizomatous roots of Iris Florentina.

Iris Florentina

In the old days people used herbs, tussie mussies, and pomanders to cover up unpleasant odors.

Winter's outdoor wear.


Gingerbread cookies baking makes the old farmhouse kitchen smell so pleasant!

When we arrived home with Carmella Lucille and led her down the ramp, Diane's husband led Carmella Lucille in the beautiful blue moonlight through the snow to the barn. It was a lovely moment in the moonlight, it reminded one of Saint Nicholas or a Laplander leading their Reindeer through the winter's night.




Carmella Lucille's Romeo


The candle in the window glowing against the winter's chill.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grandmum Has Always Reminded Me of Tasha Tudor!

Gathering Pearls from Meadow and Lawn!

A recently gathered puffball which has been sliced, with the bottom of the puffball cut away a bit.

My father's Mum reminds me of Tasha Tudor. When I think of my Grandmum, I think of a large garden, canning on her Kalamazoo wood cookstove (she was known as a canning fool), the smell of dill, her out cutting grass with a scythe, wearing aprons, and finding and preparing puffballs. Grandmum always thought she had found the greatest treasure when she found a puffball! A treasure that she was always delighted to share! I can still see her now getting out of their old antique truck carrying a huge puffball carefully in her hands. My Mum would look out the window, roll her eyes, and say "Oh no, not another one!" My father and I would devour these pearls of the meadow and lawn with enthusiasm!


We sliced them, cut off the outer layer, dipped them in egg and milk, covered with breadcrumbs, and sautéed them in butter. Recently, whilst visiting Lantern Light Cottage, I found five of these pearly beauties on the lawn! I could just imagine Grandmum's joy and excitement!

In "The Tasha Tudor Cookbook", Tasha has a receipt for Cream of Mushroom Soup and says: "This soup always brings to mind the overcast yet warm fall days in Redding, Connecticut, when my mother and I would roam over huge pastures hunting for field mushrooms, puffballs, inky caps, and even morels." In "The Tasha Tudor Cookbook", Tasha suggests you buy your mushrooms at a grocery if you can't identify mushrooms.

I just love mushroom soup and will have to give this receipt a try!




A Corgyncombe almost St. Distaff's Day Moon!

The Corgyncombe Courant advises its readers to make sure they know what mushrooms and food they find in the wild is safe to eat and what is not, before eating.


My father's Mum came from old New England stock, Standish, Taylor, Starr, Swift, Strong, Freeman, Towne, and many others.

Grandmum as I remember her best, in her apron, and my Grandfather holding me.
I know I was their little delight!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~