"An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving"

An Old Fashioned Feast to Be Thankful For!

What a splendid turkey!

Pumpkins grown in the Corgyncombe Vegetable Garden for making pies.

Sage gathered from Corgyncombe Garden of Herbs.
In the story "An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving" written by Louisa May Alcott, when the children were left alone due to an emergency, the older girls of the family thought they would continue fixing the Thanksgiving meal. In pondering what "yarbs" would be best to put in stuffing for a turkey, sage was considered but sweet marjoram and summer savory were decided upon. Mistakenly catnip and wormwood were the "yarbs" grabbed in the darkness of the storage area. The catnip and wormwood totally ruined the stuffing!
Diane's 5th great grandfather Eliakim May was 1st cousin to Louisa May Alcott's great grandfather Samuel May.


Crushing sage and thyme for stuffing for the turkey.
The sage and thyme were gathered and dried at the Corgyncombe Herbary.
Displayed on the art stand is "The Williamsburg Art of Cookery" by Mrs. Helen Bullock.


Diane used her Tasha Tudor Reproduction Tin Kitchen for roasting the turkey in front of the fire. Here it is shown with the door open for basting. Isn't that turkey a beauty!


Whilst tending the turkey, Diane's husband kept making toast using the old fashioned wrought iron toaster. The toaster has a swivel so that you can turn it around and toast the other side.


A view of the turkey that faces the fire.
Using the Tasha Tudor Reproduction Tin Kitchen is such a delight!


Regularly the spit is turned and put in the next hole to ensure that the turkey is done evenly all round.


At the proper time potatoes from the Corgyncombe Vegetable Garden are peeled and set over the fire to boil. Even though a lid is placed on the kettle, these potatoes cooked over the fire have a mild smoky taste that is just delicious!

Cranberries cooking over the hot coals.
Cranberries have to be done the day before if you put them in a mold as they need time to chill and set whilst in the cold.

Some of the acorn squash harvested from the Corgyncombe Vegetable Garden. Corgyncombe Cottage always has squash at Thanksgiving Dinner.


Cranberry Sauce after being chilled and set in a yellowware mold.
What a pretty addition to the Thanksgiving table!


In the bowl are Red Pontiac mashed potatoes, made according to the receipt in "The Tasha Tudor Cookbook". The turkey on the platter, all set for carving! Diane uses her Grandmum's platter for the turkey with bay leaves from Diane's bay tree tucked around the edge.
As Tasha Tudor herself said, a turkey roasted in a tin kitchen is "Simply unsurpassed!"

Diane made pumpkin pies from pumpkins grown in the Corgyncombe Vegetable Garden.

The photographs below show the steps in preparing the pumpkins for pumpkin pie.
Extreme care must be taken whilst cutting the pumpkins.


After the pumpkins are cut in two, the seeds are scraped out and the pumpkin is then put on a baking pan and put into the oven. The seeds were dried and saved.


After cooling, the outer skin is peeled off and the pumpkin is mashed.


The pumpkin is then put into cheesecloth and tied up.


The cheesecloth bag is put into a colander in a bowl and pressed with a weight overnight in the ice box to remove the excess liquid. In the morning the cheesecloth bag with the pumpkin in it is squeezed to get the rest of the liquid out.


The pumpkin is put into a bowl and the rest of the ingredients are added.


Cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and a little bit of nutmeg make the Corgyncombe Cottage kitchen smell delightfully like Thanksgiving.


The pumpkin pie before baking.

After barn chores pumpkin pie is served with cheese... always with cheese!

In Tasha Tudor's "Around the Year", Tasha has illustrated a tin kitchen with traditional Thanksgiving food around it. In "A Time to Keep", Tasha Tudor illustrated a lady basting the turkey in a tin kitchen in front of the fire. Hungry corgyn gather round, hoping for a taste of turkey. "The New England Butt'ry Shelf Cookbook" written by Mary Mason Campbell and illustrated by Tasha Tudor, also features an illustration of a woman using a tin kitchen with a table of Thanksgiving food. In "A Basket of Herbs", illustrated by Tasha Tudor, on the Sage pages there is a lady fixing a turkey to be put in the tin kitchen with hungry corgyn looking on.

In "First Poems of Childhood", for the poem "Over the River and Through the Wood" by Lydia Maria Child, Tasha Tudor illustrated Thanksgiving food and a family going over the covered bridge with horse
and sleigh to a lovely old house and barn where they will enjoy Thanksgiving dinner. The old house and barn remind The Corgyncombe Courant of Corgyncombe Cottage and barn.

An old fashioned Thanksgiving for those at Corgyncombe Cottage, a delicious feast to be most thankful for!


Diane brings out some of her Tasha Tudor Christmas card collection to enjoy at tea with pumpkin pie, cheese, and Tasha Tudor's Welsh Breakfast Tea. Birds have always been a favorite subject for Tasha Tudor at Christmas and throughout the year.

In "Take Joy! The Tasha Tudor Christmas Book" there is a chickadee illustrated on the title page surrounded by nuts, berries, and winter greenery. There are some lovely birds illustrated on the cover and inside "Wings from the Wind, An Anthology of Poems" Selected and Illustrated by Tasha Tudor.


Chickadee and Sparrow

Diane has always loved watching birds, too. In grade school one of Diane's teachers loved birds and always fed them in a tree outside the window. Diane always liked to watch the birds instead of concentrating on school work. Diane received an award for perfect attendance which was a certificate to be redeemed at the bookstore. The second Diane walked in the bookstore she knew which book she wanted... a big wonderful book about birds. The book included a recording of all the lovely bird songs.

The Corgyncombe Courant encourages their dear readers to feed the birds throughout the winter and never forget to feed them daily as our little winged friends depend on us! The birds are always such a joy to watch and to hear! They can also be amusing to watch, like the nuthatch who likes to perch upside down.

Here is a link to a YouTube video where they prepared pumpkin for pumpkin pie using a similar method with the cheesecloth:

Pumpkin Pie from Scratch on YouTube

It has more instructions on cooking times and preparation.


Here is the link to Tasha Tudor and Family where you can purchase your own:
Tasha Tudor Reproduction Tin Kitchen.
Click on "Kitchen and Home" and then click on "Tin Kitchen".

Carl Giordano is the talented tinsmith who made Diane's Tasha Tudor Reproduction Tin Kitchen (sold by "Tasha Tudor and Family").

Here is a link to: Carl Giordano, Tinsmith

Tinsmith Carl Giordano makes two different tin kitchens.
The Tasha Tudor Reproduction Tin Kitchen can be ordered through Tasha Tudor and Family.

The Corgyncombe Courant hopes that all of our Dear Readers had a wonderful Thanksgiving!


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Thanksgiving Eve!

Cozy and Warm Inside, Icy and Frozen Outside!

Crushing sage and thyme for stuffing for the turkey.
The sage and thyme were gathered and dried at the Corgyncombe Herbary.
Displayed on the art stand is "The Williamsburg Art of Cookery" by Mrs. Helen Bullock.

On the art stand, lit by soft kerosene lamplight, is the Tasha Tudor book "First Poems of Childhood".
The book is open to the poem "Thanksgiving Day" by Lydia Maria Child.
The farm Tasha Tudor illustrated reminds us of Corgyncombe Cottage (pictured above), with all of our traditional favorite Thanksgiving foods drawn round.

Outside, everything was dripping with icicles from freezing rain!

Ice covered Morning Glories.

Frozen in time, the above photograph was taken a previous year.

This morning the trees were covered with beautiful lacy ice.

Whist photographing the apple trees, I looked down and found a purple violet, the same kind I made jelly from back in May!
I hadn't seen any violets for months.
'Twas the only flower in bloom in the garden!

Back to the warmth of lamp lit Corgyncombe Cottage again!

Happy Thanksgiving to the Dear Readers of the Corgyncombe Courant!

We have added more photographs to our previous post.
Here is the link: Remembrances on Veterans Day post.

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Remembrances on Veterans Day

Hoping the War Will Be Over Soon So We Can See Each Other Again...

Diane's Mum Sally Ann had three brothers in the service during World War II.
The brother pictured above died whilst in the service.
He was only 19 and had a special sweetheart at home who he planned to marry.
In a letter to one of his brothers in the service he wrote that he was hoping the war would be over soon so that all the brothers could see each other again.


In his last letter home he wrote of his love for his family.
Also in the photograph above is one of the Western Union Telegrams sent when he died.
Sally Ann said that at the funeral there was not a dry eye in the church.
Her brother's favorite hymns were played at the service on the organ.
The older two brothers were unable to attend the funeral as one was in Panama and the other in Africa.

Diane never knew or met her uncle but his presence was well known in their home and it always felt like she knew him.

Uncle's Service Photo Album, Fort Andrews, Boston Harbor, Mass. The photograph is of him leaving home after his last leave.


Uncle with his Grandmum (his Father's Mum)
His Grandmum's ancestors in the Scott, Keyes, and Adams families served in the Revolutionary War.


Sally Ann, sad to see her brother leaving to go back to Fort Andrews.


Uncle and his Sweetheart


Sally Ann's baby brother, wearing his aviator hat, posed atop the mailbox in front of the family home. The family mailbox where news from home was sent and news from the three brothers in the service was eagerly watched and waited for.


Letters sent home by the three brothers.


Sally Ann's three older brothers and her father played for dances and special occasions.
The three brothers above all served during World War II.
The brother in the middle is the brother pictured at the top of this post, the one who died in the service.

Sally Ann and her brothers had numerous direct ancestors who served in the Revolutionary War, on both their Mother and Father's side of the family.

Below are links to more stories told by Diane's Mum Sally Ann, to Diane and her daughter Sarah.

Here is a link to the Corgyncombe Courant's post:
Independence Day! Freedom to Pursue What One Loves Doing Best!

Here is a link to the Corgyncombe Courant's post:
Childhood Christmas Memories During the Depression!


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Winner of Corgyncombe's Tasha Tudor Book Giveaway!

Lily Dibble Dabble Draws a Winner!

Gathered at the marble water pool, the Dibble Dabbles have placed leaves with numbers written on the back, representing each entry in the Corgyncombe Courant Tasha Tudor Birthday Celebration Giveaway of the book "Drawn From New England, Tasha Tudor; A Portrait in Words and Pictures by Bethany Tudor". Mama Duck has given strict orders to her little ducklings to stay out of the water and to keep from dibble dabbling in the pool of leaves! Knowing how ducks love water, this is extremely difficult!


There is a bit of a squabble as Lily and Debbie Dibble Dabble both want to pick the winner of the Giveaway! Lily is the first one to grab a leaf and so the winning number is 22 which is:
Julie at Life in Skunk Hollow!

Congratulations, Julie! We know you will enjoy this book!


Mama Dibble Dabble is wearing a handknit shawl that was made as a gift for Corgyncombe's doll Amelia by a friend of hers. Tillie Tinkham's Frocks & Fashions shoppe can be seen in the background. On August 28th, Tasha Tudor's birthday, on the very spot where Tillie Tinkham's shoppe stands in the photograph above, the floods from Irene raged through!

Bubbles Dibble Dabble is standing upon a pumpkin for a better view and Dilley Dibble Dabble is down by her Mama's side in a pink frock and bonnet, making her look like a little "Sunbonnet Baby" Duckling with only her orange bill peeking out!

Thank you to all of our dear readers who entered the Giveaway!

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Cider and Doughnuts!

"Treasures of Jolly Autumn" Washington Irving

Cider and doughnuts, a refreshing and delicious autumnal treat!

When I was growing up, my family usually enjoyed cider and popcorn on Saturday night. We liked the cider the best when it wasn't as sweet and it had, as we called it, "bees in it". Now I prefer my cider on the sweet side. At our wedding my husband and I served sweet cider.

At Tasha Tudor's wedding she served her guests 16 dozen doughnuts.


In 2005 I wrote a comparison between Meg's wedding and my wedding as we both had simple, country weddings.
In Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women" Meg is the first of the sisters to get married. Reading about Meg's simple wedding reminded Diane a great deal of her own. Diane's 5th great grandfather Eliakim May was 1st cousin to Louisa's great grandfather Samuel May. In "Little Women" Meg said "I don't want a fashionable wedding, but only those about me whom I love, and to them I wish to look and be my familiar self." When Meg's proper Aunt March arrived at the wedding Meg ran out to greet her and the aunt saw that the groom was fixing a fallen garland, she told Meg "Upon my word, here's a state of things! You oughtn't be seen till the last minute, child." Meg replied "I'm not a show, aunty, and no one is coming to stare at me, to criticise my dress, or count the cost of my luncheon. I'm too happy to care what any one says or thinks, and I'm going to have my little wedding just as I like it." At the end of the chapter, after all of the festivities, one of the guests, who was quite fashionable, said to her husband, "That is the prettiest wedding I've been to for an age, Ned, and I don't see why, for there wasn't a bit of style about it."


The reception was held in an old 1796 building that was originally in the Kaatskills.
It was decorated for the reception in elegant, dignified simplicity.
An artist friend of Diane's brought in several portraits that she had painted.


Always favorites to read as the leaves are turning and the days are shortening are Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle". The Kaatskill mountain area and the Hudson River valley has been home to my ancestors since the 1600s and has always felt like home to me.


Diane's great great grandfather, who was born near the Kaatskills.
Diane always thought of him as the family's own Rip Van Winkle.
On the 1865 Agricultural Census he is listed as having 30 apple trees, 20 bushels of apples, and 1 barrel of cider on his farm. In 1864 he had 10 acres in meadows for hay and 10 tons of cut hay. In 1864 he had 2 acres of Indian corn and harvested 20 bushels.


Hay stored for winter in the high big old barn at Corgyncombe, that we call "The Ark".

As Ichabod, the "itinerant pedagogue", is journeying on his horse to attend the party at the Van Tassel house, Washington Irving wrote the following in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow":

"It was, as I have said, a fine autumnal day, the sky was clear and serene, and nature wore that rich and golden livery which we always associate with the idea of abundance. The forests had put on their sober brown and yellow, while some trees of the tenderer kind had been nipped by the frosts into brilliant dyes of orange, purple, and scarlet. Streaming files of wild ducks began to make their appearance high in the air; the bark of the squirrel might be head from the groves of beech and hickory nuts, and the pensive whistle of the quail at intervals from the neighboring stubble-field."

"The small birds were taking their farewell banquets. In the fullness of their revelry, they fluttered, chirping and frolicking, from bush to bush, and tree to tree, capricious from the very profusion and variety around them. There was the honest cock-robin, the favorite game of stripling sportsmen, with its loud querulous note; and the twittering blackbirds flying in sable clouds; and the golden-winged woodpecker, with his crimson crest, his broad black gorget, and splendid plumage; and the cedar bird, with its red-tipt wings and yellow-tipt tail, and its little monteiro cap of feathers; and the blue jay, that noisy coxcomb, in his gay light-blue coat and white under clothes; screaming and chattering, nodding and bobbing and bowing, and pretending to be on good terms with every songster of the grove."


The apple stem is caught in the V of the old apple picker and a gentle tug will bring the apple from the tree. It is then brought down in its cage and deposited carefully in a basket.

"As Ichabod jogged slowly on his way, his eye, ever open to every symptom of culinary abundance ranged with delight over the treasures of jolly autumn. On all sides he beheld vast store of apples; some hanging in oppressive opulence on the trees; some gathered into baskets and barrels for the market; others heaped up in rich piles for the cider-press."

Corn harvested from the fields at Corgyncombe.

"Farther on he beheld great fields of Indian corn, with its golden ears peeping from their leafy coverts, and holding out the promise of cakes and hasty pudding; and the yellow pumpkins lying beneath them, turning up their fair round bellies to the sun, and giving ample prospects of the most luxurious of pies; and anon he passed the fragrant buckwheat fields, breathing the odor of the bee-hive, and as he beheld them, soft anticipations stole over his mind of dainty slapjacks, well buttered, and garnished with honey or treacle, by the delicate little dimpled hand of Katrina Van Tassel."

"Thus feeding his mind with many sweet thoughts and "sugared suppositions," he journeyed along the sides of range of hills which look out upon some of the goodliest scenes of the mighty Hudson."


Corgyncombe corn shock with pumpkins round and pumpkins in the wheelbarrow.

My daughter Sarah and I are researching ancestors who were married in the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow.

Amongst some of our early Dutch families are the Van Alens. There have been reports that Washington Irving was inspired by a Van Alen girl when he created the character Katrina Van Tassel.

Our direct ancestor Jacob Van Alen married Rachel Quackenbush. Corgyncombe's Quackenbush the Duck's name was inspired by our old Quackenbush families. Our early Quackenbush family had kilns and were famous for making bricks.


Dilley Dibble Dabble and Quackenbush at a Valentine tea party!
Quackenbush had a special red paper hat made for the Valentine's Day occasion, which sports one of Post Mistress Phidelia Finch's feathers tucked in the side. The instructions for making the paper hat is in the book, "Tasha Tudor's Old-Fashioned Gifts". The Corgyncombe Courant reporters Diane and her daughter Sarah have had a personal lesson in paper hat making from Tasha Tudor herself.


Picking apples with an old fashioned apple picker on a pole to reach the high ones. Diane takes great joy in using antique tools for their original purpose.

"A mellow October day, when the air was full of an exhilarating freshness which made the spirits rise, and the blood dance healthily in the veins. The old orchard wore its holiday attire; golden-rod and asters fringed the mossy walls; grasshoppers skipped briskly in the sere grass, and crickets chirped like fairy pipers at a feast. Squirrels were busy with their small harvesting, birds twittered their adieux from the alders in the lane, and every tree stood ready to send down its shower of red or yellow apples at the first shake. Everybody was there, - everybody laughed and sang, climbed up and tumbled down; everybody declared that there never had been such a perfect day or such a jolly set to enjoy it, - and every one gave themselves up to the simple pleasures of the hour as freely as if there were no such things as care or sorrow in the world." - from "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott

Diane's 5th great grandfather was 1st cousin to Louisa May Alcott's great grandfather Samuel May.


Corgyncombe's favorite apples in Diane's old crock.


Peeling apples for a pie.


A Corgyncombe homemade apple pie.


Daisy made her own little apple pie, completely homemade by her "delicate little dimpled hand", to serve her friends and their Baby Dolls.


The little Dibble Dabble Duckies have their bills together quacking and discussing how to pick the winner of the Corgyncombe Courant Tasha Tudor Birthday Celebration Giveaway of the book "Drawn From New England, Tasha Tudor; A Portrait in Words and Pictures by Bethany Tudor". They have settled on a plan to pick the winner of this delightful book. Tomorrow's post will divulge the winner!!!


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Izannah Walker Doll at Corgyncombe Tea!

Izannah Walker (1817-1888) made dolls using a special technique.

Izannah Walker lived in New England and her Walker ancestors lived very near where Diane and Sarah's Walkers came from.

You can find more information about Izannah Walker dolls and the technique used in making them in the Christmas 2011 issue of "Early American Life" magazine and in the August 2011 issue of "Antique Doll Collector" magazine.

On the art stand is a hand painted Poppy and butterfly print and some late blooming lavender from the Corgyncombe Garden of Herbs. The art stand made by Seth Tudor is a replica of the art stand that Tasha Tudor had. In the little cup alongside are dried and saved Calendula petals.

A framed specimen on the Seth Tudor doll-sized art stand.

This Izannah Walker reproduction doll, made by Margie Herrera, is so delightful and sweet and everyone at Corgyncombe loves her!

She is enjoying a cup of Tasha Tudor Welsh Breakfast Tea.

Izannah and Kitty in front of a wonderful old quilt top.

A stunning view of rolling hills, meadows and cornfield in Corgyncombe Country!

Autumn

"With what a glory comes and goes the year;
The buds of spring, those beautiful harbingers
Of sunny skies and cloudless times, enjoy
Life's newness, and earth's garniture spread out;
And when the silver habit of the clouds
Comes down upon the autumn sun, and with
A sober gladness the old year takes up
His bright inheritance of golden fruits,
A pomp and pageant fill the splendid scene."

~ Longfellow

The Corgyncombe Courant soon hopes to be announcing the winner of "Drawn From New England, Tasha Tudor; A Portrait in Words and Pictures by Bethany Tudor". Readers have written us saying that they have had trouble leaving comments to enter the giveaway. There is still some time left to enter the giveaway by leaving a comment.

In honor of Tasha Tudor's Birthday, the Corgyncombe Courant is having a Giveaway of the book
"Drawn From New England, Tasha Tudor; A Portrait in Words and Pictures by Bethany Tudor".
Bethany Tudor is Tasha's older daughter.
This is a beautiful copy of "Drawn From New England", the inside pages look like new!

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