I looked out my kitchen window this morning and found that my fig tree is covered in many tiny baby figs. There are more figs than any one family could possibly eat. Which won't be a problem because if years past are any indication we will get exactly none of them.
The critters in the neighborhood aren't very good about sharing.
At least I can use the leaves to dye with.
Isn't it just the best when you can make use of something that would usually be thrown away? It's like discovering a treasure under your bed or something.
Today's treasure is the water that turns all bluish dark color when you soak dried black beans overnight. The beans become dinner and the soaking water becomes a dye bath.
I had seen pictures of other people's black bean dyed yarns, and so I was expecting mine to come out as a member of the blue family. However, natural dyes do not always play by my rules. They play by the rules of science, which can sometimes seem indistinguishable from the rules of magic.
Hence, my yarn came out a purplish brownish color. It looks brown in some lights, and rather lavender in others. It's quite pretty, but I will continue to play with heat, mordants and ph, and I'm sure I will get the black beans to do many more things.
Horsetail! It's everywhere! It makes sense that it's so abundant, it's a survivor - it's been around since 100 million years before there were dinosaurs! Super cool!
It is also a useful herb and dye plant - and its abundance (some consider it a weed) makes it a great plant for sustainably-minded dyers and herbalists to forage without worry of negative environmental impact. Just make sure to harvest when the leaves have spread out in their characteristic tail-like formation; that means that they have had a chance to release their pollen.
Horsetail yeilded a nice soft brown in my dye pot, and it is also a welcome addition to my teapot.
Horsetail is rich in silicon, which is good for skin, bones, blood vessels and connective tissue. Add small amounts of the stems and leaves of horsetail (harvested in a clean area) to tea blends or soups to reap the benefits of this amazing plant!
(However, horsetail is not recommended for people who are pregnant or nursing or have kidney disease)
I dyed yarn with Scotch Broom! Scotch Broom is absolutely everywhere around here - it's invasive so it's a perfect plant to harvest and use for dying.
I pre-mordanted the yarn in alum.
It yielded a soft, cheerful yellow. I'm going to give it to my sister for her birthday - she is a knitter also and was with me when I harvested the Scotch Broom. No one tell her though; it's a surprise!
It’s time for spring planting! The last frost has passed and my seedlings have been allowed to harden and get used to being out of the greenhouse so it’s time to get the little guys in the ground. This year I planted kale, cabbage, chard, collards, snap peas, fennel, onions, and leeks. I’m staying away from summer squash because they require more water and I’m concerned about the possibility of drought this summer.
My kale, chard and collards from last year are still producing but they're old ladies now. I'm letting them flower and produce seeds!
Then there are the strawberries, which have been coming back every year since before we lived here.
Now I have dirt under my fingernails and a garden full of food plants, and I'm unwinding with a knitting project. No need to buy industrially produced vegetables this summer!
Today my sister Owl and I took a mini road trip to Tolt Yarn and Wool. What a wonderful shop! I want to stay there all the time. They have such a great selection of hand dyed and small-producer yarns! The staff are also really great - so friendly and really exited to talk about yarn. It's really a very special place.
I got 3 skeins of Yoth - two big sister and one little brother, a skein of Twirl Petals, a skein of Madelinetosh Pashmina, and a skein of Hazel Knits lively dk.
I can't wait to get these babies on some needles! Wheeeee!
After our trip to Tolt we explored some woods and foraged some scotch broom, horsetail and nettles. The scotch broom and horsetail are destined for my dye pots, and the nettles went home with Owl for her soup pot. There were carpets and carpets of horsetail that weren't quite ready to harvest, but I guess that's a good excuse to head back out to Carnation before too long!
Things that happened today: we found some mushrooms that looked like toes and I got to meet a bunny!
Blúndur is Icelandic for lace. This is a smaller shawl with a lace edge that I made for my mom out of nice warm Icelandic wool.
I improvised the pattern so I'll have to recreate it someday and write it down!
My friend Madeline took these lovely pictures for me.
Here's a fun little dude - it's so simple I don't know that it deserves a pattern; I just knitted a rectangle then folded it into a purse shape. A single chain crochet closed up the sides and attached the shoulder strap to the purse.
I spun the yarn for this project, then improvised the pattern, then felted it. It turned out pretty nice, I think.
Have you ever seen chickweed? I bet you have. And if you don't think you have, I bet after reading this post you'll start seeing it everywhere.
It grows everywhere. It's growing in my garden right now, although I didn't plant it. I just left some open space in a bed and it showed up on it's own.
The leaves are edible and so good for you! They have vitamin C, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, iron, and zinc among other nutrients. They are SO good for your liver and kidneys, and supposedly boost metabolism too so throw some in your smoothie if that's your thing.
Or just toss them in a salad. They have a very bright flavor, with an almost lemony aftertaste - perfect for a summer salad!
Chickweed can also be used as a topical treatment for skin irritation. Is there anything it can't do??? Just grab a handful of chickweed stems, leaves and flowers and mash it into a pulp to soothe itchy skin from bug bites, nettle stings, or mild rashes.
Plants are magic!
This is a tea blend I created to help calm active minds when it's time for sleep. It's not only soothing, but it tastes good and looks lovely!
Parts are calculated by weight, so get out your scale instead of your measuring cups.
Sweet Dreams Tea:
1.5 parts spearmint
1 part chamomile
1 part tulsi
1 part rose petals
1 part lemon balm
.25 parts lavender
Yum!
