This is an update of Encampment Notes #3, 1 Jan 1998; Copyright Alistair Ramsden 1997-1998; May be copied freely by members of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Revised 5 Mar 1999.

Hi, guys. This was originally a missive to all my NZ buddies telling them what I was doing at Rowany 1998. Herein now lies an overview of how the St Sebastian Campsite will function at Rowany 1999, and what we all ought to expect, both formally and informally.

Our household (The Company of St Sebastian), whilst in hard times financially (as always), will still be travelling to Rowany (even if it kills us). We are looking at having a campsite of about ten people, those people being Rachael, Alex, Rachael, Troy, Peter, Rosemary, Alistair, Kevin, Ros, Dominic & Stephanie, plus a number of Caidans from the Shire of Ildhafn (Auckland, NZ). [Actually, Seth and Keely from Christchurch, NZ; and Derek, Kelsie, Mason, Matthew and Briar-Jane from Auckland, NZ.]

Due to financial considerations in 1998 we did not attempt, or at best attempted less than a full 15th Century re-enactment. However, we were still able to do all of our cooking over open fire, and I did indeed get a really nice tent finished. Unfortunately it took three months to finish the damn thing, during which time I went quite mad, and it rained far too much for everyone to have a particularly nice time cooking over an open fire. Enough said.

This year will be different. We will actually have enough people to make the campsite function effectively. We will be hiring a three ring gas burner in case of rain/pyrophobia. We will be setting down a menu and chores roster on paper before we leave. Everyone will have a copy, and I will be responsible that everyone to keeps to that roster. (So do, please. I don’t like being the bogey man but I will be if necessary.) And since we are making more tents and are going to camp in the so-called period campsite area, I hope we will all be, and I mean on our honour, trying to keep both the campsite and our activities whilst there as period as possible.

We are block booking with the Von Beck household. Each of us needs to get $60, which covers your site fees and (hopefully all) equipment hire to Ianto van Diemen ASAP and definitely before the 30^th November.

Apart from clothing, armour and weapons, tentage, alcohol and transport to and from site (which I’m not covering here), we each need to bring our own cutlery, as well as basic communal items like carpets, blankets, cushions, chairs, wall hangings, etc.

I will be arriving on site Thursday lunch time-ish, so someone else will actually have to go and do the Wednesday grocery shopping, apart from meat, which will be bought and pre-frozen in Brisbane. We will be setting down a shopping list, depending on our menu. Food will cost $40 per person from Thursday to Monday. (We paid $50 per person last year and overcatered considerably.) Ianto is also brewing a large quantity of beer, which is already paid for, for both our and the Von Beck household’s consumption (as I understand it), so consider that when you do your alcohol shopping.

^{This is based on a list of equipment we drew up last year as what we needed as a group to go to Rowany. What we need to do now is to be able as a group to provide, hire or purchase all of these items.}

We also need to purchase a quantity of dry ice for the eskies and somewhat larger quantity of wood, but that should come to no more than $150 total.

Notes:

Where it says “we have some” means “Rachael, Alex & Alistair have some but we could use some more if you’ve got any”.

Where it says “could hire” means the shire has some available.

We will not be taking shower facilities; the camp facilities ought to be sufficient.

As far as I know, we have at least four 2-seater chests plus one chair so we can currently seat nine.

First off, nothing here is fixed in stone. If you don’t like what you read here, please suggest an alternative.

As far as camp set-up goes, our equipment is travelling down in a big truck with the Von Beck household’s equipment. This ought to cost about $50 to $75 per person. Some of us and some of the Von Beck people are going down early to set everything up, but do not be complacent. Best laid plans and all. Be prepared for a day of hard work first day on site.

The work roster. (Frightening musical interlude.) The plan is that we roster each person to one day’s chores so that everyone else doesn’t have to worry about cooking and cleaning and can go out and enjoy themselves. This means on four days out of five you have no camp chores! This is much the same labour principle as in a tavern I ran in AS XXX which worked pretty successfully.

The roster system will cover Thursday to Monday. Each day, two people get to play camp servant. Ham it up if you feel like it, I will be. I estimate that each day’s chores (cooking three meals for ten people, plus tidying & cleaning up) will take about eight hours per day, or four hours per person. The basic duties will be to:

• Make sure the campsite is tidy at all times. Call armour bombs and unsightly messes to the attention of those responsible, or at last resort dump it in their tent.

• Cut firewood & stoke the fire before meals.

• Cook or arrange the cooking of the meals.

• Do all the washing up.

• Leave the kitchen & communal areas clean and tidy for the next day.

Before Thursday and after Monday we will be setting up or packing up, during which I hope everyone will pitch in to the communal stuff as needed. I have made some further notes below about how to make sure everything runs smoothly:

Remember there is fighting scheduled on every day except Saturday, so fighters choose your day of servitude to coincide with whatever fighting / lack of fighting appeals the least.

The two “camp servants” can share the work however they like, but I think if they work together rather than separately then they will complete their work more easily. Misery loves company. Also, choose your partners in servitude wisely; match your strengths to their weaknesses and vice versa.

Try to get all the cooking and most of the washing up done before dusk, as doing it in the dark is a pig.

Because the cooks on any one day also clean up completely at the end, there is added impetus to keep things clean during the day, and to be as minimalist in your preparations as possible.

Assuming all the washing up is being done regularly, people can prepare food in advance. Cook extra eggs, bacon & sausages at breakfast time as part of lunch. Marinade meat at lunch time for dinner. Stir hot water into oats in the evening for the next morning’s porridge, or cold water into dried pulses and legumes for use the next evening.

Yes, I would like us to cook primarily over an open fire! This is not as difficult as it sounds, however I know a few of you hate it with a passion. That’s OK, I hate sewing with a passion, but you gotta do what you gotta do. If you really, really hate it you can chicken out and use the gas burner.

I also feel confident enough to enclose the following tips for cooking over an open fire:

• Do cook things you are skilled at cooking.

• Do cook things that will not require well controlled heat levels.

• Do keep your eyes on the food constantly.

• Do transfer unburnt food from a partially burnt dish into another piece of cookware before the burnt flavour spoils the dish.

• Do cook chicken and pork thoroughly.

• Do be conscious of hygiene.

• Remember that, mainly, open fire cooking just takes a bit longer. Double the estimated cooking time to take account of the time required to stoke the fire.

We are trying to re-enact a late 15th century (c. 1475-1525) household living in the Western Mediterranean, so we will be eating that sort of food. The food fund will not be buying New World or otherwise a-historical foods (except possibly tea and coffee, those essential caffenating constituents of our wonderful culture), so if you need to have coca cola (as I do, alas), chocolate, tomatoes, potatoes, bananas, etcetera, then BYO. I would like to re-enact fish days on Friday and Sunday, so if you want to cook vegetarian and fish dishes, choose one of those as your day of servitude.

Now this may seem on the face of it to be dietarily constrictive. Au contraire! Possible foodstuffs include: bacon, beef, beer, biscuits, bread, butter, carrots, cheeses (parmesan, edam, gouda, ricotta, brie & camembert), chicken, chickpeas, cordials, cream, cucumbers, dried fruits (apricots, currants, dates, figs, prunes & raisins), eggs, fish, flour, fruit (apples, grapes, lemons, melons & oranges), garlic, ham, herbs (basil, coriander, organum, parsley, thyme, etc.), honey, jam, lamb, leafy green vegetables (cos lettuce, celery & spring onions), milk, mushrooms, nuts & seeds (almonds, almond meal, hazelnuts, pine nuts, walnuts & sesame seeds), olive oil, olives, onions, pasta, pastry, pickles, porridge, radishes, red wine, rice, salami, sausages, spices (cardamom, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, fennel, ginger, nutmeg, pepper, saffron & salt), sugar, veal, vinegar & yoghurt.

Bold items are staples which we ought to be using in almost every meal.

We will probably have two cold bins again, one for meat and one for dairy. This is an attempt to minimise our refrigeration as much as possible. We could possibly go with no refrigeration at all, however (i) it will limit our diet further, and (ii) I don’t see the point since on the heating up side of things, we are taking a gas burner anyway. However, later in the weekend I propose we try some Lenten non meat / non dairy recipes, as even the dry ice refrigeration got a bit dodgy by Monday last year.

Unlike last year, we will also be setting down a menu and sticking to it, more or less. For main meals I propose steak and chops on Thursday, fish & vegetarian on Friday, roast on Saturday, breast of barnacle goose and vegetarian on Sunday and smallgoods & vegetarian on Monday. Sunday night is also going to be a combined feast with Von Beck household (and possibly Calais household?) where each group will provide one course of dishes.