The Misty Manor, Mercers

The article from tonight's talk on US silver coins is here: http://thestatesmen.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=76:....

You can now purchase and download a copy of Pages From An Ozark Herbal from Scribd as a PDF (the same file included when some of you bought it on CD). This is experimental, but it will let you 1) use and search the Herbal offline (i.e. no Internet) and 2) help fund further improvement of the work. In particular, we are working on producing a Kindle/Nook friendly document in the near future.

We operate a small, homestead farm. It's primary purpose is fiber production. To that end, we raise Shetland sheep and Angora rabbits, are experimenting with local production of flax, upland cotton, and exotic fibers such as milkweed, wool processing and natural dying. We are capable of taking fiber straight from the animal (or plant) all the way through to finished product, including scour, carding/combing, dying, spinning, weaving or knitting, and sewing. We sell fiber at all of these stages: as raw fleeces, spun wool, hand-woven (or knit) scarves, shawls, mittens, hats, and bags. We custom design document-able period costume for several historical periods, including Elizabethan formal wear. As a secondary line, we sell handmade lye soaps and renewable wax candles (palm wax, beeswax, tallow, and bayberry).

Like historical manors, we produce goods for our own use first and for sale second. This means that our products are of the high quality we expect both from and for ourselves. We try to make things beautiful, but they must be functional. We often experiment on ourselves with new products for years before we start selling them to others. This allows us to tailor tools, materials, and products to a unique vision of homestead life.

Medieval manors were held by earls, barons, or knights in exchange for military aid. Each manor, ideally, had to support the needs of a single cavalryman. This included the provision of food, clothing, and food for his household as well as the means to obtain armor and arms. The manor was a farm, some of it farmed by the lord, some of it worked by tenants.