A Pot To Cook In
March 9, 2022
It is believed that the start of fired pottery began when someone who needed to boil water covered their willow basket with clay and put it over the fire. The fire got hot enough to burn away the willow and fire the clay. This site has a good description of the progression of the early art of pottery, as does this excerpt from this book "Man's Prehistoric Past" by Hawthorne Harris Wilder.
![By Aslar73 (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.echoesofthegarden.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Stridsyxekeramik.jpg "By Aslar73 (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons")
Baskets are still useful around the home and finding a sturdy, well-made one in the style that you need most can be a difficult and expensive undertaking. The answer, of course, is to make your own.
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You can choose to purchase your basketry supplies, either from a local source or online, but willow is such a useful and attractive plant why not plant it somewhere on your property and raise your own? There is something to be said for having a ready source of withies at hand.
If you'd like to try starting your own willow bed for a ready crop of withies to make baskets with, here's expert advice on how to do it.
This video tells how to plant a willow bed,
and this one tells how to harvest and make a basket.
And since cooking pots shouldn't stay empty for long- here's a recipe for pottage, a medieval soup/stew which Aelfrida would have been very familiar with and which I make frequently. Enjoy!
Note: willow is wildly useful around the self-sufficient home. It can even be used to build a shelter in a real pinch. You can find information on how to make wattle and daub in my "Willows in the World" post.
