fibrics and yarn in the dahlia dyepot
First, I managed to make a dyepot a week or so ago using dried dahlias from last Summer. I figured I had better use them as this year’s dahlias are just starting to bloom. The colors were so varied!
from left to right: wool yarn, cotton thread, linen, cotton, cotton with old rusty nails wrapped into it, cotton with rusty nails added to the dyepot
I used a soy milk mordant prior to adding all the materials to the pot, except the wool. The wool yarn went into the dyebath when the water was boiling, then the cotton thread, linen and cotton fabric were placed in a the dyebath once it was cooled down. After allowing those to sit in the dye for a couple days, I removed them and added the cotton piece with nails wrapped up inside for the day. Last, I dropped all the nails into the water along with the last piece of cotton fabric and allowed it to sit for a couple days.
I’m happy with the results and plan on using them soon for a few projects I have in mind….
I have been trying to harvest the last of the Winter crops and move onto the Spring/Summer crops.
Last weekend it was overcast and ugly so I decided to pull lots of veggies out of the garden and do something with them. I used the green sugarloaf cabbage, carrots and beets/beetroots to make a beautifully-colored sauerkraut - just shredded cabbage, grated carrots, grated beets and salt!
Some of the darker beets were turned into beet kvass. The silverbeet/Swiss chard, carrots and snow peas, with the use of coconut oil, tamari, onion, garlic and coriander/cilantro became a stir-fry dinner. Some of the greens went into a huge, 12-egg frittata. It felt very rewarding to use all my own veggies in my cooking this week!
I’m also working on an idea in the garden…..I have been playing around with planting seedlings in the same bed as seeds which produces two crops in quick succession.
Here I have broccoli that I am currently harvesting with leeks growing from seed all around them, so once the broccoli is finished and I pull the stalks out to feed to the chickens, I will be left with a bed of leeks to harvest shortly after.
This strategy seems to work well with alliums (onions, leeks, Spring onions, etc.) and with herbs like parsley and coriander - they seem to be hardy enough to grow as ‘understory’ crops. I’m not sure if this gardening strategy has a name - if it does, please let me know. I’m going to continue to do this throughout Summer and Autumn to see how it goes….I will keep you informed.
The main reason I like this strategy is that I don’t have to prepare the bed as often (dig up roots, add chicken poo and mulch) and, therefore I’m disturbing the soil, and the associated fungal networks, less than I used to.
my ‘big’ garden after being watered on this hot day and trampled by the dogs having a game of chase-y
Another thing I am doing in the garden is to sow many different plants together to break up any habit I had to monocrop. In this garden there are California poppies, potatoes, chives, comfrey and calendulas growing with the garlic (which is not looking all that great - I will tend to that over the weekend….maybe a bit of chicken poo will help or some kelp/seaweed). There are recently-planted zucchini amongst the silverbeet, cress and kale. Coriander and parsley are coming up from seed with the onions. Beets, onions, rainbow chard are growing nicely with more potatoes.
My hope for this strategy is that the veggies are more resilient to pests and that I can attract more pollinators to the garden. Both seem to be working so far - none of the potatoes are being eaten by the beetle which tends to devour them; the brassicas are not infested with cabbage butterfly larva; and, I am seeing not only European honey bees, but native Australian bees, too!