General
We welcome all to learn about Agricultural Arts and Sciences at LEAFS!
Some activities will include classes on how to get started – even if you live in an apartment, historic topics, and perhaps even a plant swap!
You can learn more about Agricultural A&S in Atlantia on their Facebook Page.
Patuxent River Park is a scenic site, with wooded trails as well as open fields. There is the river nearby, as well as streams nestled in the hills. This would be a great site to lead a saunter, teach a class over a fire, introduce a special interest topic, coordinate a craft, or whatever else you can dream of!
Agricultural A&S Coordinator
Noble Elvira de Luz (she/her)
Noble Elvira de Luz is our amazing Agricultural A&S Coordinator for LEAFS! She has been active in the SCA for only a few years, but has taken leadership roles due to her interest and investment in Agricultural A&S. She is apprenticed to Their Excellency of Highland Foorde, Magistra Beatriz Aluares de la Oya.
You can contact Noble Elvira with all questions for Agricultural A&S via her email.
Agricultural A&S Classes & Schedule
The priority deadline for class submissions has passed, HOWEVER we are still accepting class and activity proposals which we will schedule around existing classes and activities.
Bee Myths and Medieval Magic
Michael Russ
Friday, 10:15am-12:15pm
Agricultural Classroom
Throughout the medieval period, the humble bee was far more than a producer of honey and wax—it was a living emblem of divine order, mystical transformation, and the eternal interplay between nature and the sacred. Medieval scholars and religious writers alike imbued bees with layered symbolism: their regimented social structure became a metaphor for the ideal human community, while their mysterious methods of reproduction and the phenomenon of bugonia (the spontaneous generation of bees from decaying matter) were read as signs of divine or magical intervention. This class is 2 hours long
Working Sheep: An All Things Title
Lady Rignach of Argyll
Friday, 4:30pm-5:30pm
Agricultural Classroom
In this course, we will explore the role of sheep in the lives of medieval societies, sheep keeping, and the husbandry throughout the year. We will have a brief section on the uses of sheep for meat, tools, and fiber.
Maryland Gardens c 1535
Lady Melissa of Highland Foorde
Saturday, 9:00am-10:00am
Agricultural Classroom
Come see what the garden behind your house might have looked like in the early to mid 1500’s. This class will include a handout and sample seeds for you to try at home plus recipes for what you might get. Main discussion: Atlantia range gardens of the 1500’s or First peoples gardening on the East Coast between New York and North Carolina.
The Animal Turn in the SCA
aka Examining the Modern/Medieval World through the Lens of the Role of Animals
Landsgrafin Else Hunrvogt
Saturday, 9:00am-10:00am
Forestry Classroom
Public Health Officials recognize the importance of including the impact of domestic and wild animals on disease in human populations
Mental Health Professionals recognize the crucial role that the Human-Animal Bond plays in mental and physical health of human populations
Anthropologists, Sociologists, and Art Historians consider the impacts of animals on the establishment of culture and what they leave behind
Come join a discussion of all the areas we can incorporate animals into the context of period practices as well as extending that reference frame to our weekly activities in the SCA
Instructor Background:
The instructor LOVES animals and has experience working with cooks, scribes, wood workers, leather workers, fiber artists, fighters and many more populations on incorporating animals and animal knowledge into historic study and SCA practices.
Flocks of Gold: The Spanish Wool Industry to 1700
Magistra Beatriz Aluares de la Oya
Saturday, 10:15am-11:15am
Agricultural Classroom
Spanish merino wool was regarded throughout medieval and renaissance Europe as the finest wool fabric on the market. What sets the Spanish sheep and wool industry apart from others, and why did the once-prized global market for Spanish wool collapse in the 17th century? Class is limited to 25 people
Creating Static Displays for Non-Static Arts
aka Sharing Your Passion When Confined to a Table Top
Landsgrafin Else Hunrvogt
Saturday, 10:15am-11:15am
Equestrian Classroom
It’s hard when your art doesn’t fit on a table and isn’t well understood by John Q Populace.
Come join in a discussion of how to make connections with those who share your passions and more importantly how to create niche-art-apprecitors from arts display viewers
Instructor Back-ground: The instuctor LOVES arts displays and has experienced them as displayer, event steward, and royal patron. More importantly, the instructor has 40 years of experience in extending agricultural education to the urban population and 20 years of experience explaning how equids are documentable and how riding is art to the West Kingdom’s largely urban populace.
Iron Age Central European Brewing with Grain
Lady Anubh de Mona
Saturday, 11:30am-12:30am
Agricultural Classroom
How do you recreate a prehistoric brew without a historical recipe you can redact? In this class, after a brief overview of all-grain malting and beer brewing, we will discuss how we know about prehistoric brews, including evidence from textual sources, archaeological evidence, and chemical residue analysis. Then we will lay out ways to recreate Iron Age brews from West Central Europe. We will discuss methods for small-scale malting, wild yeast capture, campfire brewing, and open ferments. Malting and wild Yeast cultivation both involve growing living organisms, so can be considered agricultural–on a very tiny scale!
Raising Poultry in Classical and Early Modern Europe
Landsgrafin Else Hunrvogt
Saturday, 2:00pm-3:00pm
Agricultural Classroom
This class will cover:
- an introduction to classical farming manuals
- an overview of poultry species and types in Europe prior to 1601
- some common prodution practices
- best readily available modern analogues for food and fiber purposes
Ideal Students:
Are you a cook looking for the best fit ingredients? This Class is for you
Are you a poultry fan curious about the period breeds? This Class is for you
Do you like doing obscure research? This class is for you
Have you heard about my poultry classes and are frustrated that I don’t allow them to be put up on YouTube when I teach them online? This class is very specifically for you
Useful Equipment: Curiosity
Instructor Background: Our Instructor funds her horses and her medieval habit through full time work as a chicken gynecologist. She holds a wealth of modern credentials in addition to her SCA awards.
The Foods That Built Spain
Doña Mariana Ruiz de Medina
Saturday, 3:15pm-4:15pm
Agricultural Classroom
Foodstuffs are one of the oldest currencies in the world and are intimately tied with the concept of political power. The relationships between sociopolitical groups and food help paint a picture of the development of countries and cultures over time. This class will explore a series of food items, the cultures that brought them to the Iberian peninsula, how food culture and power hierarchies interact in that space, and recipes for each of those food items from the pre-Roman era to the age of Spanish colonialism. Class size limited to 10
Botany and Herbalism of British Brewing
Lady Eva Nethyrwode
Saturday, 4:30pm-5:30pm
Agricultural Classroom
From Bronze Age archaeological finds to medieval writings on household management, primary sources on the brewing arts in Britain show a strong reliance on agricultural products, as well as foraged and cultivated herbs, to create some of the beverages we still know and love today. This class will go over three of the most popular brewing bases (grain, honey, and apples), along with a look into the medicinal properties and uses of the herbs used to flavor them, based on medieval herbal manuals. Hands-on demonstrations will be provided to give a sense of the plants used, as well as a tasting of different honey types and a demonstration of how malted grains make the sweet wort needed for ale. If permitted, I can also bring an example of a medieval style ale for sampling by of-age participants. Class size is limited to 24 people.