I enjoyed the cookery programme much more than the Monastery Farm one! Nigel and Adam work really well together as presenters, don't they?
I suppose I sit there waiting to "nit-pick" with the "farm" thing - and as usual saw and heard things which made me wince. Maybe it's not fair to attribute these solely to the programme's presenters - the producer and director must surely take the blame, so to speak, just as they would with any praise. One of the opening shots showed a chap with a pikel over his shoulder - a relatively modern one, and not something which would have been around in the 1500s. I was interested to see that they did in fact use a wooden one when forking the straw into the steaming pit. The presenters should, however, know that "to blunten" and "sheared" aren't the right words to use (!) and I don't think he really meant what he said when he sort-of explained that the vertical sticks in the pit "transported" heat either.........
However, back to the "nits"........... I wish they would learn how to handle any livestock they deal with. The way they dealt with the sheep was really awful, and it did make me smile when they said that the poor muddy one which finally escaped from that filthy pond would have to dry out for a few weeks before shearing. ....... did they really think the sheep would stay clean? When it came to carding the wool, they were using modern metal-tined carders - whereas in the 1500s they'd most probably have used something made from dried teasel heads - that's where the word "teasing" comes from (in this context). I think they could - and should - have explained that there are varying degrees of fibre quality in any whole fleece, so the sorting of the wool would take this into account. For example, the parts of the fleece from the underside/throat/chest are finer, softer and shorter fibres - whereas the parts from the hindquarters are much coarser, and these would be separated for use in different ways. Imagine, for instance, a rug - and a vest for a baby - both can be made from wool. The other thing they didn't mention is that the fleece/fibre quality is affected by something called "the rise" which is a weakening of the fibres & which happens in the early part of summer when not only is the grass quality better, but the weather's warmer too. This combination of improved nutritiion and warmth causes a sudden growth spurt in the fleece which weakens the fibres and is part of the reason why sheep sometimes appear to moult a bit. The ideal time to shear, therefore is at the time when this weakness is closest to the body. Makes shearing easier & quicker and means the fibres don't have an inherent weakness.
I've really enjoyed the "farm" series until now. Yes they have made awful gaffs throughout the different eras (some more obvious than others) but this series seems to have been really dumbed down and playing more for entertainment than education. It all seems a little thrown together on the hop as though the director had forgotten to get anyone to do any research until the week before and they'd been sent to the childs library with a bottle of coke and a weak bladder.
I really can't decide whether they're trying to high speed it through and cram in as much as they can whilst bouncing from bit to bit (so badly slapping some cloth on a birds feet making the people who used to do the many miles to market look like incompetent village idiots rather than very clever people who worked on their initiative had they made proper boots and shown them to be effective- although at least they weren't putting tar and sand onto the feet of a turkey!) Or whether this is as good as living history gets now?
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I enjoyed the cookery programme much more than the Monastery Farm one! Nigel and Adam work really well together as presenters, don't they?
I suppose I sit there waiting to "nit-pick" with the "farm" thing - and as usual saw and heard things which made me wince. Maybe it's not fair to attribute these solely to the programme's presenters - the producer and director must surely take the blame, so to speak, just as they would with any praise. One of the opening shots showed a chap with a pikel over his shoulder - a relatively modern one, and not something which would have been around in the 1500s. I was interested to see that they did in fact use a wooden one when forking the straw into the steaming pit. The presenters should, however, know that "to blunten" and "sheared" aren't the right words to use (!) and I don't think he really meant what he said when he sort-of explained that the vertical sticks in the pit "transported" heat either.........
However, back to the "nits"........... I wish they would learn how to handle any livestock they deal with. The way they dealt with the sheep was really awful, and it did make me smile when they said that the poor muddy one which finally escaped from that filthy pond would have to dry out for a few weeks before shearing. ....... did they really think the sheep would stay clean? When it came to carding the wool, they were using modern metal-tined carders - whereas in the 1500s they'd most probably have used something made from dried teasel heads - that's where the word "teasing" comes from (in this context). I think they could - and should - have explained that there are varying degrees of fibre quality in any whole fleece, so the sorting of the wool would take this into account. For example, the parts of the fleece from the underside/throat/chest are finer, softer and shorter fibres - whereas the parts from the hindquarters are much coarser, and these would be separated for use in different ways. Imagine, for instance, a rug - and a vest for a baby - both can be made from wool. The other thing they didn't mention is that the fleece/fibre quality is affected by something called "the rise" which is a weakening of the fibres & which happens in the early part of summer when not only is the grass quality better, but the weather's warmer too. This combination of improved nutritiion and warmth causes a sudden growth spurt in the fleece which weakens the fibres and is part of the reason why sheep sometimes appear to moult a bit. The ideal time to shear, therefore is at the time when this weakness is closest to the body. Makes shearing easier & quicker and means the fibres don't have an inherent weakness.
The goose boots were a complete joke!
I've really enjoyed the "farm" series until now. Yes they have made awful gaffs throughout the different eras (some more obvious than others) but this series seems to have been really dumbed down and playing more for entertainment than education. It all seems a little thrown together on the hop as though the director had forgotten to get anyone to do any research until the week before and they'd been sent to the childs library with a bottle of coke and a weak bladder.
I really can't decide whether they're trying to high speed it through and cram in as much as they can whilst bouncing from bit to bit (so badly slapping some cloth on a birds feet making the people who used to do the many miles to market look like incompetent village idiots rather than very clever people who worked on their initiative had they made proper boots and shown them to be effective- although at least they weren't putting tar and sand onto the feet of a turkey!) Or whether this is as good as living history gets now?
For those interested, a reminder to watch both progs tonight.