Cousin Emily Dickinson's Herbarium

Wandering Through "A Brighter Garden" with Emily Dickinson and Tasha Tudor

When Emily Dickinson was a young lady it was very fashionable to make an Herbarium. Specimens were pressed until dried, then put in a book and labeled.

The fresh cut rose on the flower press is Diane's old fashioned rose that never fails to bloom around Independence Day. After the photograph was taken it was put in the flower press to be used later in The Corgyncombe Herbarium.

Corgyncombe Cottage has several flower presses in use for pressing and drying flowers that will be used for making The Corgyncombe Herbarium.

A simple and lovely white geranium.

Emily Dickinson would bake the gingerbread for the "neighborhood children" and transport it down from her window with rope and basket to the eagerly waiting children on the lawn below. Diane used Emily Dickinson's receipt to make Gingercakes.

 In "A Brighter Garden", the illustrations by Tasha Tudor go through the seasons, as does Emily Dickinson's poetry. The poetry in the book was collected by Karen Ackerman. Setting in front of the book are Emily Dickinson's Gingercakes and a cold glass of Corgyncombe Dairy Goat Carmella Lucille's good milk to enjoy at elevenish whilst wandering through "A Brighter Garden" with Emily and Tasha. The Gingercakes are delicious with milk!

We named our Corgi Emily after Diane's great great grandmother Emily Jane (Jones) Shepard and Emily (Jones) Shepard's cousin Emily Elizabeth Dickinson, as well as Emily Dickinson's mother Emily (Norcross) Dickinson.

The old fashioned rose by candlelight.

The pink rose tussie-mussie above also has forget-me-nots, baby's breath, lavender, lady's mantle and thyme. Diane oft' times makes a tussie-mussie with the pink rose to take to evening Independence Day festivities.

Because of her love and interest in flowers Emily's father built a conservatory for her. Like Emily, because Diane found such pleasure in gardening, her father built her a greenhouse.
Here is a link to: Diane's Greenhouse

Charlotte also did some baking using Emily Dickinson's receipt.
Here is a link to: Emily Dickinson's Gingerbread ReceiptHere is a link to: Emily Dickinson and Cooking

Emily Dickinson's Herbarium is viewable online.
Here is a link to the first page of pressed specimens in Emily Dickinson's Herbarium.
On the left is a list of pages that you can click on to view Emily's Herbarium further.

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