old ways

from Zem spieva - Karel Plicka (1933)

a past in the flax

Vlasparlee - een verleden in het vlas from Centrum Agrarische Geschiedenis on Vimeo.

contrasts

The weather was crisp and clear this morning. The river water catches the sun and it shines like moonlight against the silhouettes of the trees.



We had a scant amount of snow fall overnight.



...and today the winds have caught up with us. On my way to the henhouse, I grab my earflap hat that I knit from handspun Icelandic Sheeps wool. As I slip it on my head, I think of how many years ago I made the hat, and how it has worn so well. It seems to get better with age.



The sky is bright blue, without clouds at the moment. The wind will bring them, soon enough. I walk past the old tree and wonder if some critter is asleep..curled up in one of those cozy holes in the trunk. I used to think owls slept in there. If I were an owl, I would inhabit that tree.



Glancing up in the other direction, I notice the eagle. Probably looking for breakfast. I tell him to move along, and go fish the river for his breakfast...leave my chickens alone!



Back inside the cabin, I stoke the coal-fire in the woodstove. It will be a good day to stay inside and finish up some projects...



...or maybe start a new one!

Double Flyer Spinning Wheel & Wetting the Line

A few weeks ago, I had a chance to make a video of how to wet the line while spinning on the Double Flyer Wheel.

With both hands busy, it is a little tricky to take time to dip, and smooth the line while spinning!

But it can be done! Occasionally, you can hold back both lines with one hand and use the other hand to dip.

If you had asked me, several years ago, if this move was possible, I would have answered, NO! But practice has proved me wrong...it isn't impossible, it is tricky to get the timing just right.

In the video, I have dressed the distaff with some hemp that I purchased at the Endless Mountain Fiber Festival. I was told it comes from Romania. It is very nice quality, and comes in a roving type of package.

We won't talk about the weather. There has been a lot of snow shoveling going on, and there is still more to come. Temps are dipping down into the sub zero zone. And February is a good time to sit by the fire and spin. And weave!

weftember weaving

The garden harvest has been getting ahead of me. Every third day I pick and for the next two days, I pack or process. There isn't much time for fun things like spinning or weaving. Moments are snatched.



Usually, those moments come in the morning. This happens, mostly, because I have been waking before the sun is up. We have been having chilly mornings, filled with fog. I make a small pot of coffee, and reach for the distaff and spindle. There is a purpose, a plan, to spin enough linen to weave some cloth.

While at the Endless Mountains Fiber Festival, I picked up some Hemp Sliver in a sort of roving type package. I was told it was imported from Romania. It spins up very well, and I've been amazed at how very much it resembles some of the better flax that I've spun.



Can you tell which spindle holds the spun hemp?



This image shows linen and hemp singles, side by side on the nod. It is difficult to tell the difference.



After finishing these singles will take a trip to the warping board (gulp).



And weaving on the Double Hole Tape Loom has filled some moments in the afternoon. Grace has added some wonderful handmade 4 and 6 inch maple shuttles to the Etsy shop!

chambers

The icicles that surround our cabin are slow to melt. I see the world outside my window through frozen bars of ice. Ice Jail. I am ready to be freed from my indoor chambers.




Even though the morning thermometer readings are close to zero, my calendar helps keep track of the days, and gives me encouragement. Spring will come, and it will be time to plant. I need to be ready. I reach for the jar of Hungarian Flax seed that I rippled from the plants I raised last fall. It is time to free the seeds from the boll.

The USDA sent me only 200 seeds to start with. Flax seed is generally self pollinating, but cross and even outcrossing can occur. I'm not sure these seeds will all be true to type. There was another variety of flax (Elektra) that was going nearby, and though most of it matured earlier, there is a chance they cross pollinated.



I open each boll by crushing it with a spoon. The base of the boll shows the different segments (they look like little chambers), the wall that separates the segments is called the septum. On average, I'm finding about 7 seeds per boll, and have found as many as 9. Occasionally, there will be only 1 seed in the entire boll.



The color of the seed is lighter than I expected. See the shiny coating? That is the mucilage. If you soak the seeds in water, the mucilage is released and makes a sort of jell that is silky and slippery. Flax mucilage is used when spinning flax to smooth down the wispy ends and hairy surface of the spun linen thread. The mucilage maybe also be used to dress or treat the warp on the loom when weaving with linen. The dressing (when dry) helps to prevent the warp threads from sticking together.

After about an hour of this task of crushing the bolls, I have counted 370 seeds. I have only removed about half of the bolls from the jar so far....so I am very happy with the number. I at least doubled the count that I originally started with. Now remains the test of germination.



So, yes. Spring is coming and although the landscape outside does not show much of a change, the extended daylight hours are upon us! The sun gives me great pleasure on those days that it chooses to shine. I find a spot to soak up the warmth and light and bathe in its goodness.

in preparation

Roc Day is upon us again!



My Almanac states that today is Twelfth Day....

"At Twelfth Day (Jan. 6) the days are lengthened a cock-stride."



The garden is sleeping.

But in the bud, there is a spring that waits to be.

"As the day lengthens, the cold strengthens."

In preparation for tomorrow, Roc Day (St. Distaves Day), I'm clearing the bobbins. And preparing for the icy weather that is predicted.



I look forward to opening up the flax and dressing the distaff!



and to weaving with linen!

Happy Roc Day! Celebrate the Distaff!

lots of pots or counting cucurbitas

This past summer, my little gourds grew well.
I planted the seeds along the fence and allowed their tendrils to coil and cling to the poultry wire.
They bloomed, were pollinated (thankfully!) and eventually became fruit or little pepos.
Some of them grew very large!
I allowed them to mature on the vine, and finally harvested them just before frost.
I've been curing my cucurbitas in the mudroom, near the woodstove.
A few gourds have finished within 2 months time...and the mesocarp and endocarp are completely dry.



Now they are ready to be turned into flax water pots.



Once they are opened and cleaned, I sand and polish the exterior and create a hanger from my handspun linen.



Then I send them out into the world, to spinners near and far! They will hang on a spinning wheel and assist those who like to spin linen. The spinster will fill the pot with flax slurry, made from flax seed, and dip their fingers into the pot when they need to smooth the line.

granulobacterium pectinovorum or retting success

There is a bit of mystery that surrounds the process of wet retting flax. The procedure sounds simple enough. One need only submerge the dry flax stems in water and weigh them down so they are entirely covered for a period of time long enough for the bark to soften and allow the easy extraction of the fiber. The bark is macerated by active bacterium...specifically, granulobacterium pectinovorum...which dissolves the pectose present in the stems without injuring the bast fibers that will be spun to linen. There is science involved.



The mystery is "how long?" a period of time is required for the operation. How long will it take the microbes?? If it is under-retted the process is incomplete, the bacterium has not done the job and the retting has failed. If you over-rett, you have allowed the bacterium to go to far and it has ruined the flax. So, there is a decision to make about the timing...when is it "just right" to pull the flax from the pool?



It is an operation which for success calls for much judgment, vigilance, and precision. The determination of the exact point at which to stop the process demands much experience. So says Alfred Stewart Moore, author of .."LINEN" published by The Macmillan Company in 1922.

So, it isn't any wonder that I approach the retting pool with trepidation and proceed with caution. After raising the plants from seed and having a successful harvest, no one would want to risk it all and loose the fiber in the retting pool. I've lost linen in the pool in the past, and expect it will happen in the future. There is a learning curve. So, I rett small amounts at time, and take good notes.



I wait for the weather. When I see a good heat wave approaching on the weather map, I prepare. I had some dried flax in storage. This is flax that has been harvested, dried and rippled before storage. (Rippled meaning that the seed has been removed, so as not to attract hungry little critters).

My husbands cement tub is used for the pool. I position it in the streambed, where I channel a trickle of water to flow into the tub. Since there is a slope to the land, the pool has a deep end and a shallow end, and the water overflows on the deep side. The root ends should be positioned at the deep end of the pool. The flax wants to float, so rocks may be used to weigh the stems down. My flax was too long for the tub, so I had to bend the blossom end and tuck it under the rock.



In the slow flowing, soft, warm water, the microbes of putrefaction work on breaking down the pectins that trap the fiber. They convert the insoluble to soluble, and free the cellulose substance.

"The change is stated to be achieved by a special enzyme, pectokinase, which converts pectose successively into pectin and sugar, the bacteria afterwards fermenting the sugar with the production of hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and a little butyric acid. It may seem strange that this pectose is the same substance with gives apple jam its peculiar glutinous stiffness." ASM

I've been making raspberry jam, and have to add pectin in some form (fresh or powdered) in order for it to "gel". But out in my retting pool, I'm trying to remove pectin in order to retrieve my fiber. I find it ironic that adding and subtracting pectin can either create success or failure, depending upon ones objectives! You see, I've been thinking about pectin a lot.

There is no way of knowing exactly how many days it will take the microbes in my retting pool to do the job. There are estimates, anywhere from 3 days to 7 days. Water content, water temperatures, and the quality of the flax are all factors to consider. I test the stems daily after about 3 days...and pull the flax when I think it is ready. Then I hang it to dry for a few days. Then comes the moment of truth.



The shive or boon the broken fragments...some would consider waste, I will save this and use it this fall, for starting wood fires in my kitchen stove. The Longs, the Shorts and the Tow...I separate and set aside. I am relieved to see that the retting pool has yielded good results this time.



First we "completely remove all the pectin that binds the fibers together, and then the aim is to join them together again, by contact and twist inserted by the spinner".



I select a handspindle and fasten some of the new flax to the distaff...I cannot resist and must sample, just to see how it will look when it is spun. It really is a marvelous process..taking a little seed and raising it up..removing the tough outer shell to release the golden fibers so they may be spun...for me ...it is worth the work. Yes, Alfred Stewart Moore said it best...



"when you look at a dainty feather weight cambric handkerchief, you virtually see the soul of the flax plant"

now come the greens and blues.

The garden continues to produce a good crop of both! Every other day, I must make time to pick, prepare & pack. We also enjoyed a meal with our first potatoes of the season. They were small and gourmet style, yummy.



Gathering the equipment, setting up and actually canning the produce is not my favorite chore. Once it starts, I know the kitchen will be set up for preserving for another month or so...soon the tomatoes will come, and then the cucumbers. Pick, prepare & pack. Some will be frozen, but most will be jarred.



During the heatwave we had, the retting pool was set up for action. Flax that had been dried and then stored was added to the pool and weighted down with rocks.



It didn't take long, just over a week. It is drying now, and still has a way to go before it will turn into linen. Meanwhile, the flax growing in the garden is starting to flower. With a little luck, I will get a small harvest of Elecktra and the Hungarian Variety. Enough to sample. Doubtful that I would have enough time to ret this season, so it will have to be stored until next summer.

I've been spending a lot of time in the garden, not only working, but taking a moment or two ...looking. observing. enjoying. Morning and late afternoon hours are the best. I like to to take the distaff and spindle with me, dressed with Hemp these days. Standing and spindling while I watch the bees and hummingbirds provides time to pause. admire the beauty. the abundance. the peace.



With cooler weather on the way, and the subtle change of light, I am reminded that we are moving into late summer. The Queen Annes Lace is in full bloom, Joe Pye Weed and Golden Rods point the way to the next season. There are times I feel ready to move on to autumnal pleasures, past all the work of picking and packing...to cooler nights and cozy sweaters.... but I catch myself, and make the effort to linger in the summertime a little longer. Grab an empty basket, the beans need picking again!

flax connection

May has slipped away. It has been a busy month.

Most of it has been spent in the garden. The fence was repaired, new fruit trees were planted (plum, cherry and peach). Peas, lettuce, kale and new asparagus plants were sown early in the month and are growing well. The tomatoes and peppers and annual flowers that we started from seed in the green house, have been transplanted.

For those of you that follow this blog, you may know that I have previously raised textile flax, and processed it successfully. And as much as I wanted to try it again, I was frustrated because the only variety that was available to me was the one I had already grown. The seed type was from Holland and goes by the name, Marilyn.

By the time March had rolled around, I had pretty much given up on being able to obtain another variety of flax to grow this year. I was planning the garden, and know from experience that I should be sowing the seed in April. It takes about a hundred days from seed to harvest, and I had not found anyone who was offering flax seed for sale (other than Marilyn).

But with a little help from my friends, I was connected with a few people who have helped me to obtain some seed to sample. Many thanks to you! (and you know who you are!)



Although I am past the date when I would normally sow flax seed, I'm hopeful that it isn't too late. The unusual cool weather we have been having is good for something, in this case, germination.

About a week ago I planted a small plot of flax cultivar, Elektra, which is another cultivar from the Netherlands, and as reported from other field trials, scores high marks for fineness of the fiber, and good yields.



The seed was obtained by my friend about a year ago, so I am very please with the overall results of the germination!



Yesterday, much to my surprise, my request for seed from the USDA was approved, and I received a small amount (about 200 seeds) of a cultivar from Hungary. I am very excited to be growing this, and plan to sow it later today.



So, thanks to the help of others and all of you who have been patient with my whining and complaining and frustration about the importance of biodiversity and the lack of availability of textile flax cultivars in the United States in the year 2013! I am again growing some flax for linen. A very small amount of it, but enough to do a comparison and draw some conclusions.

curious customs

January mornings have been mostly gray, with little bits of sunshine. The big oak looks like an etching or a pen & ink drawing in the sky. The buds on the branches of the big oak are waiting. Spring will come. All in good time, I tell myself. Besides, I've yet to place my seed order ...there is a forecast for an icy mix. And I've been spinning flax to linen.

When the sun shines in through my kitchen window, I reach for my sitting distaff. I spin on the spindle. I wrote an article for the Spinning Wheel Sleuth about my Guzaly..and it was published in the recent issue.

The spindle (that came with the distaff) has two whorls. I keep both of the whorls on when I begin spinning. The extra weight is helpful. As I fill the spindle, and the weight is no longer needed, I take one of the whorls off. Look at these beautiful lines, left by the maker.

I have been reading about different folklore customs..... tales that have to do with spindles and spinning. Some of the lore is interesting. ...and sets me thinking about the origins...the where and how and why these customs, traditions and stories started out...

...for instance..one of the customs involves putting a spindle in the cradle of an unborn child for which a girl is desired. If a boy is wished for, onions would take the place of a spindle. hum. why onions?

I wonder.

I also read about a ceremony that would take place for a new home. The new owners would throw a ball of yarn through the doorway and into the house. Then, the oldest member of the household would cross the threshold, holding onto the "guiding thread". This would insure good fortune and happiness in the new dwelling.

Some of the customs involve tying herbs and bells upon your distaff. So ...of course...I saw fit to play along.