Pine Needle Basket

 Coiled Basketry has been found worldwide in a variety of indigineous cultures including Uganda, England, Australia, and many regions in the United States.  They form a very tight container and can include delightful colors and patterns.  Along the western states, these baskets have been made from the long Ponderosa Pine needles.  Trees will naturally shed a great number of these needles each fall and they can be collected from the ground.  

I collected these needles at our SCA Principality's Fall Coronet in Chiloquin, OR.  The first step is to make sure most of the needles are fully intact and mold-free, and it's best for them to be completely dried before beginning.  Once that is assured, soak the needles in warm water for at least an hour or until they are a little more pliable.  As the basket gets wider, this is less necessary, but it keeps the long needles from snapping.  

The materials you'll need for this are:

~Lots of pine needles (I used a large, double handful for this tiny basket)

~Thread of choice - waxed or sinew is preferred, I used embroidery floss

~Needle

~hollow threader - large feather shaft, tightly rolled piece of paper, portion of drinking straw or pen exterior.  The interior circumference of this will determine your fiber bundle size.

    When the needle bundles fall from the trees, they have a papery covering over the tree-end.  This should be removed from each set of needles before working.  Stuff the tube with needles so they are all going the same direction, lining up the tree-end on one side.  The tube should be snug, but not so tight that the needles can't continue to slide through.  With all the tree-end (connected) needles, start tightly wrapping with your thread, tucking the short end under the wrapping.  Continue this for about an inch before folding the wrapped area over as pictured above.  Thread needle on long end and past through wrapped areas several times to secure.  Continue wrapping and stitching until secure.  

    As you work, add more pine needles going the same direction into the center of the tube bundle any time it loosens up.  When you run out of thread, try to tie a new strand on in a way that the knot will be covered as you continue to work.

  

  After the center of your coil is tightly secure, continue wrap needles around and secure with stitches by going around the new and back under the last coil round.  It will look most consistent if you put each additional row's stitches coming through the stitch of the previous row, splitting it.  Eventually you will need to add extra stitches in between.

    Continue until the base of your basket is the desired size. 

At this point, you will need to pull the needle bundle on top of the previous row as you stitch along in order to begin shaping the sides.  Continue in this direction until the desired height is achieved.  Continue stitching around until all needle ends are tacked down.

  

    Enjoy your coiled basket!  I found this to be very strong and sturdy.  It could hold very tiny things without them falling through, perhaps even liquid if it was made well.

Elderberry Experiments: 2024

Sap green paint from unripe blue elderberries

In Theopholis' "Divers Arts" he mentions a green pigment from elderberry. The Sambucus nigra species is most common in Europe through the Middle East.  The most common in the United States is a sub-species of this, Sambucus canadensis, that does not grow as large, has a pale yeast that grows over the berries causing them to appear blue, with lower levels of total anthocyanins (provide pigment). 

Ripe and unripe blue elderberries along with a small piece of ochre.

In experiments this past summer I used what was available to me: blue elderberry.  Although the anthocyanin levels were lower, I hoped to get at least a paler version of the green that Theopholis might have used.  Since anthocyanin levels are at their highest when the berry is ripe, I suspected the ripe berries might be shifted with the addition of an acid to a green color like the purple of the iris.  However when I tested this, shifting through the pH range by addition of ammonia, and vinegar or lemon juice, I got shades of pink to a grey blue.  I decided to try the unripe berries.  These little orbs were mostly filled with hard, colorless seeds.  But the small amount of flesh and skin burst with intense, sap green!  

Columns of testing, from left: fresh green berry, fresh ripe berry, air dried berry

I tested with a variety of additives, and the most vibrant green seemed to be from adding a small amount of alum water.  Even after taping a sample in the window for several days, the color maintained surprisingly well!  Perhaps artists of Theopholis' time were using unripe elderberries to make their green paint?  To test further, I would like to repeat this experiment with Sambucus nigra next year to see if there is any difference.  

Freshly ground green elderberry paint

Bog Hat

 

I've been wanting to make myself a sun hat for about a year now.  I'm not a basket weaver, so I started researching and testing materials that grow in abundance where I live, twining ropes and making mini baskets.  

Most examples of sun hats in the Middle Ages seem to be made of straw.  In the SCA (Medieval recreation) my persona is from 11th C. Ireland on the west coast where large scale grain agriculture was less likely.  But there are coastal sedges and swamp rushes in the bogs, conveniently, the same variety that grow wild here in Oregon.  There are many instances of these rushes being used for basketry in the area, and this includes a few references to hats.  

Early this spring, I foraged the thin Pacific blackberry vines, pasture rush, and lakeside sdges and hung them to dry.  The day before I began, I soaked them in a bin of water to soften them.  I began with a simple weaving of the thorn-stripped vines, and twined a few rows of the rushes.  This was accomplished by maintaining a strand of at least three stalks at all times, twisting and weaving through the spokes. I  propped this on a bowl and used the sedges for the vertical part of the hat.  They were chosen for their length, however these were more brittle and difficult to work with.

When I reached my desired depth, I re-wet the spokes and added more to allow fanning as well as reinforce the walls.  By this point I had run out of the sedge and was back to using more of the rushes.  I gently bent the spokes to a 40 degree angle to achieve the flat brim and continued to twist and weave until it was wide enough.  I wove in the ends of the spokes to finish.  The hat was quite heavy at this point, but that changed drastically as it dried.  Once completely dry, I trimmed any long ends, except for the seed heads at the edge of the brim, which I left for character.  

I wore it first to this years' Egils Skallagrimson Tournament in the Barony of Adiantum (outside Eugene, OR) and it worked great!  We had quite a bit of sun and this hat kept me cooler and free from burns!  I'm excited to make another for my husband now.  It will be a little bigger and (hopefully) a little more uniform.  I received many compliments on it as well as requests to teach it to others.  Perhaps that will come after a little more practice!

Whole Wheat Sourdough

Whole Wheat Sourdough is so tricky!  There're sooo many variables involved!  I have found a method that I love and I'd love to share it with you!

My main trick with making sourdough 100% whole wheat is that the starter needs to grow from whole wheat yeast and  will do even better if it is local!  Did you know that each sourdough microbiome (lactic acid bacteria and yeast) is unique?  And it adapts to incorporate the local, airborne mycology.  That's why, even if you brought sourdough starter from San Francisco, within a short period of time it's flavor and texture will adjust to whatever the local yeasts taste like!  (1)

My second bit of advice is to make sure your starter stays highly hydrated. Equal flour to water ratio seems to work well, but the better hydrated the starter is the higher the acidity (tartness). (2) While the starter will collect natural, wild yeasts and bacteria from the ambient air, I like to give mine a boost with the natural microbes from the blue elderberry that are ripe this time of year. (3)  When I harvest elderberries for medicinal syrup, I soak the berries in water.  Afterward, I take the strained water to mix with the whole wheat flour to begin my starter.

 Whole Wheat, Herbed Sourdough

Whole Wheat Sourdough Starter:

Ingredients:

1. 3 cups whole wheat flour, divided

2. 3 cups water, divided

3. 1/2 cup elderberries

Soak elderberries in water overnight to leech the natural yeast.  Strain and use elderberries in another recipe or freeze for later.  Mix 1c water with 1c flour in a large jar and cover tightly with cheesecloth or linen, allowing to rest in warm place.  Each day for the next 4 days, remove 1/2c to use in a separate recipe and stir in a new 1/2c flour and 1/2c water.  Then use for following bread recipe or store in the fridge, repeating the feeding process once per week, allowing rest in warm place for at least 4 hours.

Whole Wheat Herbed Sourdough:

Ingredients:

1. 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2. 1 cup water

3. 1 Tbsp salt

4. 4 Tbsp dried herbs (I used rosemary, thyme, and lemon balm)

5. 1 cup starter (at least 4 hours past last feeding)

1. Mix all ingredients: dough will absorb more water over time.  Adjust adding flour or water until it’s just thicker than batter, but very moist dough. (Morning, day before)
2. Fermentation: once mixed, cover bowl with towel and rest in warm place 30 min.  Stretch and fold, then rest 30 more minutes.*  Repeat stretch, fold, and rest 30 min two more times. After the third time, allow dough to continue to rest another 4 1/2 hours in warm place.  *If dough is too runny to stretch and fold, slowly add more flour, 1/4 c at a time.  (Morning, day before)
3. Shaping: remove dough from mixing bowl and shape on counter.  May continue to dust with flour to keep from sticking.  Rest 30 min, then flip seam-side-up into large bowl. (Evening, day before)
4. Proofing: cover in linen and allow the dough to proof overnight or up to 24 hours in fridge or cold place.  (Evening, day before)
5. Scoring: preheat oven to 450*F with lidded dutch oven inside.  Remove dough from fridge and flip it out onto parchment paper.  Score as desired, at least once.  May sprinkle with additional herbs at this time.  When dutch oven is to temp, carefully remove from oven and set parchment paper with dough inside.  Cut of excess paper and replace lid (Day of)
6. Baking: Place lidded dutch oven inside preheated oven and bake at 450*F for 20 min, then remove lid and bake another 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool at least 1 hr. Before slicing.  

1. Dees, J. PhD. (June 26, 2020) American Society for Microbiology.  Last Visited September 11, 2023 from https://asm.org/Articles/2020/June/The-Sourdough-Microbiome
2. Modernist Cuisine (September 26,2018) "Sourdough Science". Last Visited September 11, 2023 from https://modernistcuisine.com/mc/sourdough-science/
3. Haaker, Meredith L. (December 2022) Raising Native Plant Awareness as a Method for Re-Naturalization. Last Visited September 11, 2023 from https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/socssp/169/