A Garden to Dye For

 A Garden to Dye For, by Chris McLaughlin (St. Lynn’s Press, Pittsburgh, 2014) is a resource for the home dyer, gardener, or crafter. McLaughlin brings all these domains together in this gem of a book. Her focus is to provide simple recipes that make dyeing accessible to gardeners and crafters, and not complex, scientific formulas for the advanced dyer. The book includes beautiful photographs, lots of ideas, and information about flowers, plants, and herbs that yield an amazing rainbow of colors. 

The Introduction and Chapter One provide an overview of dyeing terms and concepts that is useful for both new and seasoned dyers. Chapter Two is about tooling up - fiber, equipment, mordant, extracting color, and easy dye projects to get started. Chapters Three - Six describe plant color sources from flowers in your garden, vegetables and fruits, herbs, spices, and foraged material from nature. The descriptions for each plant include a "Where the Color Is" section (very useful, because sometimes the color source is unexpected). Chapter Seven provides information about planning and planting a dye garden. The back matter includes a plant index; sources for fiber, textiles, dyes, mordants, and dye plants; online information sources; and books.

This book promotes dyeing as an adventure. Experimentation and curiosity are encouraged. McLaughlin is a California gardener and dyer, and I appreciate that she includes plants that can be foraged locally, such as coyote bush, toyon, lichen, blackberry, eucalyptus, juniper, oak, and more. Kitchen waste, such as avocado skins/pits, tea bags, coffee grounds and onion skins are dye sources; as are marigold, dahlia, and calendula from the flower garden. She has inspired me to try dyeing wool yarn, a protein-based fiber (my sister has also encouraged me to try this). Up until now I've only dyed plant-based fiber. Other fun projects include eco-printing, Easter egg dyeing, and dyeing home made play dough. I highly recommend this book, whether you're just starting out or are an experienced dyer. If your interests spill over into multiple domains (dyeing, gardening, and crafting) all the more!

Month-by-Month: Winter

Today it is a beautiful sunny day here in the San Francisco East Bay. It's a chilly 57 degrees, but sunshine is streaming through the windows and the furnace is humming away. Outside, the hummingbird feeder is full and attracting a lot of visitors, and the sunlight is filtering through the pittosporum leaves in the side yard. The sunny weather looks inviting from inside, but it's not quite warm enough to lure me out of my sunny, cozy office. 

Planning in progress!

Instead, I'm spending time on the University of California Master Gardeners of Alameda County website, specifically the Your Alameda County Garden, Month-by-Month page. My mission is to see what garden activities I can be doing in January, February and March, until the warmer days of spring. Activities listed for the winter months include planning the summer garden, and starting seeds indoors for cool season leafy vegetables and warm season crops. Two especially useful resources for the East Bay include:

• Lake Merritt Trials Garden - see the historical "Recommended Veggies" and "Spinach Trials" articles for specific varieties that do well in our area.
• Plant Recommendations West of the East Bay Hills - see when to plant cool and warm season crops, and herbs in our cool coastal climate.

In the spirit of "homesteading in the city", I've already procured seeds and supplies needed to sow seeds early. I've set up a spreadsheet with seed information, and room to record notes and observations. I admit that I'm not very accomplished at growing vegetables, but I enjoy the process of trying. Plus, it makes me grateful for the bounty at Safeway and Lucky down the street, and the weekly Farmer's Market in Montclair (all worthy food sources for homesteading in the city)! 

 

Four Walls Against the Wind

This year, instead of viewing movies where plants are the stars, we're reading some "homesteading" books to celebrate how resourceful and innovative people are, whether they are living off the land, pioneering something new, or choosing an alternative way to live. This ties into our theme for 2022, "homesteading in the city". Plants may not be the stars in these books, but I'm pretty they'll make an appearance.

Our first book is Four Walls Against the Wind: Finding our Alaska Dream, by Marge Hermans Osborn (Virtualbookworm.com Publishing Inc., 2009). In 1994, Marge and Tom Osborne set out on an adventure to build their dream cabin on a remote island in Southeast Alaska. Over a period of twelve years they held down jobs in Juneau, and spent every free minute building a sawmill, cabin, and workshop, and an infrastructure that came to include a wind-powered electrical and battery system, compostable toilets, and inside plumbing (with both cold and hot water). Five or six neighbors provided companionship, dinner and cocktail parties, and support. A container garden provided potatoes, rhubarb, and greens. 

The book is written as a series of journal entries, organized into chapters that reflect process from preparing the land, to building the cabin, to settling in and enjoying life in the wild. Osborn is a gifted storyteller, weaving keen observations about nature and wildlife, with challenges from bears and inclement weather, and thoughts about following your dreams. The black and white photo gallery provides an added dimension. Osborn writes about their transformation, from wanting a small cabin with pristine wilderness, to desiring more room in which to live and work, and a balance of nature, sustainability and conveniences. I recommend this book for anyone interested in a vicarious homesteading experience! 

Learn more:

• Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast, by Jim Pojar and Andy MacKinnon. Published by Pojar, Jim (COM)/ MacKinnon, Andy (COM), 2004.
• Reflections: A Pioneer Alaskan's Personal History from the Gold Rush of '89 to 1980, by Lazette M. Ohman. New York / Los Angeles / Chicago, Vantage Press, 1988. 
• Southeast Alaska's Natural World, by Robert H. Armstrong, Marge Hermans. Todd Communications, Anchorage Alaska, 2004.
• The Humanure Handbook, by Joe Jenkins, Chelsea Green Publishing, 2019 (4th edition).
• The Sibley Guide to Birds, by David Allen Sibley. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 2009.