Tea Time Stories
Winter evenings brought to Tasha a quiet expanse of hours between the end of evening chores and bedtime. After the dishes were washed, dried and put away, the goats and chickens fed and watered, corgis walked and the canaries' cage covered with an old grey apron to diminish drafts, Tasha sat in her wooden rocker with the blue wool checked blanket over the back, put her feet up on a chair near the cook stove fender, and wrote letters. She wrote to family, friends, publishers and people she had not met but whose lives and endeavors were of interest to her.
By January the snow on the ground at Tasha’s home in Vermont is here to stay until spring. Tasha was always grateful for the snow and the cold. Her perennials were far more likely to come back in the spring if able to sleep beneath the snow, and the cold killed some of the diseases and troublesome insects that haunt all gardens. Her barn, house and animals were warmer when a nor’easter banked two feet of snow around the foundations and on the roof. She always commented on the beauty of blue shadowed snow immediately after a storm.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of Tasha Tudor's first published book, Pumpkin Moonshine, published in 1938, and still in print and available to this day.
Happy Birthday, Tasha Tudor!
Did you enjoy your St. Nicholas Day last Thursday? We sure hope so! we heard from many of you that you included Tasha's traditions of the first appearance of Dundee Cake at tea time on December 6th, one of our favorite traditions!
By this time of year the garden has been weeded for the last time, cleared of dried stems and brown leaves, and compost spread upon the beds. The ground will soon be frozen, and the long shadows that shield the frost on the grass for much of the day, arrive late and depart early. In between it is dark, for winter is here.
It is springtime in Vermont, and that is marked with many subtle and not-so-subtle shifts in routine. Four o'clock is no longer dusk, and as such, our tea times feel lighter, and more refreshing...compelling us onward into the now-light evening. Tea has taken on a distinctly spring-like feel, filled with pastel chocolates, citrusy delights, and a table laden with fresh flowers. As if a riot of daffodils in Tasha's garden, and the perfectly clear blue skies aren't lovely enough, Easter and April birthdays make the time seem even more exciting. Here are few recent scenes...