Happy to have found this thread. Hope it stays alive! I'm also looking to duplicate a french mustard, but NOT grey poupon. I have grape vines, and in my quest to find a Sicilian recipe for "Moo-stard-a" (more like Mustarda) which is a treat made from the must of grapes, I stumbled across Violet Mustard aka Moutarde Violette. This is made in France and is a closely guarded secret! WHAT!! Don't tell ME it's a secret!! I will post what I found about it. It came from a recipe in the 13th century. Well, in my quest, I found many Medieval recipes which I will post the one's I think are what I'm looking for here. I won't be able to test the recipe I will use until fall when the black wine grapes are sweetly ripe, and I get my hands on some freshly squeezed must. I'm thinking either the Cabernet or the Mouvedre will work. I use it for wine, but I can spare a quart to reduce down for a base for some delish mustard. SOME BACKGROUND on Violet Mustard..copied from discoveries on the web: And we had to ask him about his most famous product, moutarde violette. For those who don't know this product (shame -- go buy in the store now...) it is a mustard made with 50% concentrated grape juice, which gives it a distinct sweetness which balances the sharp acidity of the mustard paste. The story goes that many hundred years ago, there was a Pope (one of them) in Avignon , France , who had come from Brive in the South-West. He had missed this mustard which was traditionally made there, and asked his nephew to go there to find the recipe and reproduce the mustard. He did, and the nephew became the first official Papal Mustardier. Mr. Denoix had started development on this mustard many years ago as a part of Maison Denoix, to reproduce this historic recipe. Later when he stared Elie-Arnaud Denoix (or Domaine des Terres Rouges as the mustard is branded today), he reformulated it, and to my mind, improved its mustardyness and spiciness. He had then written a letter to the Vatican asking about the authenticity of the legend of the Papal Mustard, and got a reply stating that the Pope knew absolutely nothing about this. So much for stories. The mustard is good anyway, and we do know it was used long ago because some cookbooks have survived with recipes using it in local cooking. Violet mustard is made from red grape must (this is the freshly squeezed juice separated from the skins and stems) ground with mustard seeds (some say brown mustard seeds, some say black). It is a very pretty dark violet color, with its own distinctive flavor. It is not intended to be a cooking ingredient, but is meant to be served as a condiment with the finished dish. Violet Mustard: In the region called the Corrieze, I tasted a wonderful whole-grain black mustard, which looked like caviar. This particular mustard was an old recipe from the 14th century that somehow got lost in time, but in the past 30 years the Denoix family, who produce great walnut products, brought it back into the marketplace. The condiment is made from black grapes cooked, strained, and left to form a crust that is then mixed with mustard powder. A dollop of this heady mustard is splendid on grilled duck breast, veal chops, or black sausage. Another great use of moutarde violette is as an accompaniment to pot-au-feu and charcuterie. It also makes an extraordinary vinaigrette. Keep an opened jar in the refrigerator, and don't heat this mustard for too long because it loses its taste. Moutarde violette is a rare French mustard that uses grape must to create a purple paste. The best grain mustards should be sharp and give an immediate bite, sometimes like little jumping beans on the tongue. Ingrients : Mout de raisin rouge (50%), graines de moutarde, eau vinaigre dÂalcool, sel, épices. Translated: Must of grape red (black/purple) (50%), black mustard seeds, water spirit vinegar (distilled malt vinegar), salt, spices AND THE MEDIEVAL Recipes I think are the closest: Ancient Medieval Mustards 153. Mustard (124) MOSTAZA You must take mustard seed, and clean it of the dust and the soil and the stones, and grind it well in a mortar; and when it is ground, strain it through a cloth strainer; and then take the mustard powder and put it in a mortar with a crustless piece of bread soaked in meat broth, and grind it all together; and when it is well-ground, blend it with a little bit of lean broth without fat which is well-salted; and when it is blended in a good manner so that it is not too thin, take honey which is good, and melted on the fire, and cast it in the mortar and stir it well until it is well-mixed, and prepare dishes. Some cast a little vinegar in the broth; you can add peeled, toasted almonds, ground-up with the mustard. 154. French Mustard-- MOSTAZA FRANCESA You must take a cantaro (125) of the must of wine, either red or white, and grind a dishful of mustard that is select and very good; and after straining it through a sieve or a sifter, grind with it, if you wish: a little cinnamon, and cloves, and ginger, and cast it all, very well-mixed in the mortar, into the cantaro or jar of wine; and with a cane stir it around a long while, so that it mixes with the must; and each day you must stir it with the cane seven or eight times; and you will boil the wine with this mustard; and when the wine has finished boiling, you can eat this mustard. And when you want to take it out to cast it in the dish to eat, first stir it with the cane a little; and this is very good mustard and it will keep all year. 155. Another Very Good French Mustard Which Lasts All Year-- OTRA MOSTAZA FRANCESA MUY BUENA Y DURA TODO EL AÃO Take a caldron which will hold two cantaros, and fill it with red grapes and set it to cook upon the fire until it is reduced by half and there remains half a caldron which is one cantaro; and when the grapes are cooked, remove the scum with a wooden spoon; and stir it now and then with a stick; and strain this must through a clean cloth and cast it into a cantaro; and then cast in the mustard, which should be up to a dishful well-ground, little by little, stirring it with the stick. And each day you should stir with it, four or five times a day; and if you wish, you can grind with the mustard three parts cinnamon, two parts cloves, and one part ginger. This French mustard is very good and lasts all year and is mulberry-colored. Credit http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-MANUSCRIPTS/Guisados1-art.html Le Menagier De Paris: MUSTARD. If you wish to provide for keeping mustard a long time do it at wine-harvest in sweet must. And some say that the must should be boiled. Item, if you want to make mustard hastily in a village, grind some mustard-seed in a mortar and soak in vinegar, and strain; and if you want to make it ready the sooner, put it in a pot in front of the fire. Item, and if you wish to make it properly and at leisure, put the mustard-seed to soak overnight in good vinegar, then have it ground fine in a mill, and then little by little moisten it with vinegar: and if you have some spices left over from making jelly, broth, hypocras or sauces, they may be ground up with it, and then leave it until it is ready. From what I have learned, I think they use some mustard powder and leave some of those black seeds whole. I plan to toast black mustard seeds to get a nice nutty flavor, but if this stuff looks like caviar, the seeds must be whole. I am assuming the spices are cinnamon, cloves, and ginger. Possibly some pepper. I may also grind some of the mustard seeds with spices in the coffee grinder to get my powder. Hmmmmmmmmm Here is a link that might be useful: Medieval Mustard Recipes and Histories

Hopefully you have studied all the sites related to Arborculture for additional information. Yes, I dabble with the technique also known as pleaching. At the moment I am working on a flowering quince. I have devised an easy method you might want to try. Are you familiar with Single-Wrap Velcro? It is the type of Velcro where a single piece comes around and sticks to itself. Nursery centers sell a flimsy form of it. That is not the type you want. HD and Lowes sell the strong, heavy duty type inside the store. Ask directions to find it. Or, send me an e-mail and I can tell you how to order it online. I use this for pleaching, securing tomatoes, climbing roses, vines, espalier. Great product. So, the technique is easy. Gather together the young trunks or branches you wish to grow together and wrap the Velcro around them so they touch. It is easy to readjust the Velcro lengths as the tree grows and thickens. You just have to keep an eye out to be certain you are not strangling the growth.

Welcome back! Here is a site that I linked below which has instruction for a victorian one. http://members.tripod.com/~Beadme/Ornament.htm The next site only has pictures of ones that come from different books but no free directions that I could find. http://www.arhyonel.com/ornaments.htm Here is a link that might be useful: Ornament Cover

Pinkmountain - I’m glad you decided to continue the discussion. I’m going to be dropping off the thread, but I hope you and others can continue it, if there is an interest. I appreciated the way you have shared your efforts to restore habitat. You are trying to do something about a situation that is really frightening. I realize that and am not really any different, I find it frightening as well and I’m sure we all find the world’s problems overwhelming. I can’t speak for others, I can only say that I have had lots of enthusiasm along the way to also do something about it. Have made the attempt with the resources I have. I’m still making the attempt. I could have used more support and encouragement at different times but wildflower and conservation groups in my area have other goals and agendas that don’t really reach out to people who are just trying to do what they can and need it to be made more accessible. So, I suppose they were doing the best they could and we are all trying to do the best we can. I just popped over to the Native Plants forum and not a lot happening there from my perspective. Not a lot of newcomers being nurtured. And Houzz has not even put a link to the Native plants forum and apparently no one there seemed to think to complain about that or to follow up until there was a link in the directory. A simple thing really. Everyone on this thread has made an effort and expressed an interest, just by contributing to this thread. I was enjoying hearing from members that I already know, how their interest is growing in natives and how that has been working out for them. And hearing from GW members I don’t know, like you. I started this thread because I met someone on another GW thread who was explaining how they had been working on a property for 4 years on a riparian area and I wanted to hear more and maybe see some photos. They had only posted to GW 3x and I thought a newcomer, maybe it would be helpful for her to see if there was anyone else here doing the same. It happened that she’s had trouble signing into Houzz, so she hasn’t posted yet. But the atmosphere on the forums here in regard to natives, I’d have to say it is challenging. From my perspective, any effort or interest on someone’s part in native plants is something to appreciate and celebrate and build on. People need to be met where they are and nurtured and encouraged by those in a position to do so, if that's at all possible. Maybe it's not. They have limited resources, challenging properties, time restraints, energy restraints, competing priorities and yet they still have an interest in trying to do what they can. They would appreciate being heard and supported. Certainly it is an approach that has been very successful over time in many endeavors to draw people in and encourage their interest and support. And this limited exposure I’ve had in the past week or so to those on GW involved in native plants, I’m sure is not the whole of it and maybe there are people here that are being welcoming and supportive. This is just what my experience has been as a newcomer to natives at GW this week. I am impressed by the scope of what you personally are trying to do. I share your sorrow over lost pristine natural areas and mature trees. I’m sure a lot of us do. I wish you good luck in your efforts.