Having mentioned in my last update that I'd put in an abstract for the German Tolkien Society's seminar in October, I should probably update yous that it got accepted! If you were at Oxonmoot 2022, you might have been there for my very first ever conference
Hello friends! I thought it was time for a wee update here – I've not been able to do as much blogging as I wanted, but for very good reasons! Alongside my MSc project, which is going in earnest, I've been busy with Tolkien-related scholarly things.
One of the things I got to do last year, in amongst finishing one degree and starting another, moving cities, and taking on generally Too Much, was the Tolkien Society Seminar. The co-chairs were my wonderful friend and co-conspirator Clare Moore, and Journee Cotton, and the title was
Sorry, this probably means a second email in your inbox for my current subscribers, I promise I'll stop once I've done this! If you were already subscribed to the blog, you'll have seen this post explaining why we're here: https://ethnobotanistinarda.substack.
or "Oops, I realised I've written nothing for ages despite wanting to!"
For my first real post on this blog, it feels right and proper to start where Tolkien starts: the Shire, and specifically, its gardens. When we first meet Bilbo in The Hobbit, he is outside his front door having a leisurely smoke; Frodo’s journey likewise starts from Bag-End,
(That’s “hello universe” for folks who don’t read Sindarin!) Welcome to this fun new project of mine! I’ve been interested in Tolkien’s plants for a long while, and in plants in general for even longer. The idea for writing about them here in particular came after