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Roycroft Blog / Yum! Maple Weekends Soon Will Be Here

Sugaring season is here. The Roycrofters were sugar makers. They used their maple syrup to make their specialty, Roycroft Pecan Patties, filling orders all across the country.

 

in 2015, you can sample New York’s finest maple syrup during the New York State Maple Weekends, March 21-22 and 28-29 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. The website www.nysmaple.com has a list of sugaring operations that you can visit to see the process of boiling maple sap into maple syrup. It is a family friendly outing, so come to the western New York countryside and enjoy the taste that says winter is almost over! 

 

- Sue

 

Roycroft Blog / 38 Below in 1934

The winter of 2015 is proving to be a cold and snowy one in East Aurora and the rest of western NY - if not all of the Northeast - but until today, we weren't approaching the temps of 1934 when East Aurora was 38 degrees BELOW ZERO, and that's not a wind chill figure. Today Jamestown got close to that at 30 below zero. Find your WNY town in this 1934 news clipping.

- Sue

 

Roycroft Blog / Roycroft Goodies

A popular Roycroft holiday item in the early 1900’s was the “Goodie Box.” This wooden box was approximately 2 feet long, 1 foot high and 10” wide and was filled with an assortment of foodstuffs from the Roycroft Farms - sausage, nuts, honey, maple sugar, cheese, jam. The advertising slogan for the box was “From Farm to Family”. 

Nowadays you can shop at the Roycroft Copper Shop Gallery this holiday season to create your own box of Roycroft “goodies.” Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily until Christmas eve. 

- Sue

November - Native American Heritage Month and Thanksgiving

       At this time of year when Americans get ready to tuck into their Thanksgiving holiday dinners, I would like to remind them that November is also Native American Heritage month. 

       The Roycroft has several connections to Native American culture. Elbert Hubbard’s son, Ralph, was very interested in Native American culture. He went out west in the 1920's to learn more firsthand and later invited Boy Scout Troops to his ranch where he taught them  Native American dances and culture. Today’s Kwahadi Dance group is a direct descendant of Ralph Hubbard’s early work.

       Another link between Native American culture and the Roycroft is the fact that the American Arts and Crafts Movement (of which the Roycroft was a part) was heavily influenced by Native American decorative arts. Authentic Navajo rugs and ceramics were often used in Arts and Crafts interiors and A&C designers were inspired by the colors and shapes in Native American designs.

        A Native American ritual you may wish to honor this Thanksgiving holiday is the Seneca Nation or, Haudenosaunee, Thanksgiving Address. Many non-native Americans are not aware of this Iroquois address which is over 1,000 years old; passed on from generation to generation in the oral tradition. This address gives thanks for everything we are given from the ground to the sky and is spoken at the opening and closing of all ceremonial and governmental gatherings held by the six Iroquois nations throughout the year. 

 May your Thanksgiving be filled with thanks, love and respect,

-Sue

Roycroft Blog / Western NY Weather Predictors

    It's that time of year when western New Yorkers begin to wonder how bad the coming winter will be and seek telltale signs from wooly bears. Not the four-footed kind, but the ten-footed kind, wooly bear caterpillars. This method from European folklore is an amusing way to attempt  to forecast the winter season.

     This fuzzy guy that curls into a ball as soon as you touch him is usually divided into three colored bands that “predict” how severe the winter will be and what part of the winter will be the worst. If the brown band in the middle is large, it will be a mild winter. If the black bands on the ends are bigger, it will be a rough winter. And depending on the length of the black bands at the head or tail end of the caterpillar, either the beginning of the winter or the end will be difficult - more black being colder and snowier.

     Most of the wooly bears I have seen this October have a wide brown band, but this little guy in the photo also has a wide black band at his head. So a rough start, but then milder. And if you don't like this prediction, keep looking for another wooly bear. 

     Just remember, regardless what the winter brings, there are cozy fireplaces on Campus to welcome you and keep the winter at bay, in the Copper Shop and the Inn.   

• Sue 

RCC Blog / Graduation Season Brings Elbert An Honorary Degree Followed by a Lawsuit

    Elbert Hubbard tried his hand at higher education by auditing several classes at Harvard  after he left the Larkin Soap Company, but it wasn’t a good fit for him. Nevertheless, he ultimately received an honorary degree. The East Aurora Advertiser of June 22, 1899 noted, “Mr. Elbert Hubbard, who is achieving considerable notoriety as Editor of the Philistine, and his preachment entitled “A Message to Garcia” (which, by the way, every employee as well as employer ought to read) had the degree of Master of Arts conferred upon him last week by Tufts College.” 

    The article went on to contrast that good news with this zinger, “and right on top of that was sued by Rudyard Kipling for infringing on his copyright by publishing the Dipsy Chanty and other Poems.” Elbert no doubt was equally pleased with both pieces of news, believing that all press was good press, or, in his words, “every knock is a boost.” 

     I wonder though, if Elbert knew that Rudyard Kipling was the nephew of Edward Burne-Jones, the artist and creative business partner of Elbert's idol, William Morris.

- Sue

This image of the 1898 Roycroft publication of the Dipsy Chanty and Other Poems is from the website www.roycroftbooks.org, photo by Tim Fitzsimmons.