You must notice it too. That time of the year that marks the transition between summer and fall. The spiders build their ostentatious webs in very conspicuous and often inconvenient places. What's that all about? The hops flowers are lengthening. It might rain tomorrow and we sure need it.
Last week Penny Coupland and Emily Smith gave a wonderful workshop on natural dyeing at the MOP Garden. Participants brought jars and animal fibers to practice some eco-alchemy. Penny and Emily showed us beautiful samples of naturally dyed wool and cotton. Many of the women at the workshop were into fleece: the wild, woolly women of Vancouver!
Those really bright pieces of raw wool are actually dyed with Kool-aid.
As Penny gave us a tour of the dye plants in the garden a fritillary landed on Sharon's hat. Penny has been experimenting with Natural Dyes for about a year and she highly recommends the book Wild Color by Jenny Dean.
Some dye stuffs such as golden rod (which is blooming right now) can be frozen or "canned" as a dye stuff if you don't have time to use it while it's fresh. Preserving the flowers this way will give a brighter color than the dried blossoms.
We all headed into the garden and chose plants for our jars. Then the participants poured water from the kettle into the jars. Some plants will lose color if you get them too hot, whereas others need to be made into a decoction and boiled.
Sharon got good results with these bright pink geranium petals.
Some people tried using Rudbeckia and others the blossoms of the tall coneflowers.
As a general rule of thumb you need about the same weight of plant stuffs as your fibers. We added a small pinch of alum as a co-mordant.
Todd got some good yellow color with the roots of Oregon grape.
Some people made "cocktails" of mixed plants.
Penny also noted that the internet is a great source for info on eco-dyes but you can often find conflicting results due to many wild cards such as ph readings and different varieties of plants.
Penny says you can get a pink color from rose hips and rose petals. Tansy will give a neon yellow color when the pollen is fresh and a duller browner yellow when the flower is older or dried. Emily reminded us to keep all dye containers separate from food containers because many dye stuffs are toxic. Some should be handed with gloves because they contain skin irritants as well.
It's a beautifully sunny Labor Day, which is supposed to be unusual. According to my father-in-law it always rains on Labor Day in Vancouver and then the sun comes out when the kids go back to school. Well, we struck it lucky today, but it's cool enough in the kitchen to bake fresh scones.
I had an unopened jar of lime marmalade from Gypsy Jams that was tempting me from the window sill. "Open me! Eat Me!" I heard the little lime voices calling me. And so I made my favorite lime scones. My son came pounding down the stairs. "Scones." I said. "I haven't made them yet." So he headed back up to the computer.
My favorite scones recipes is lightened up with the tang of yogurt:
Sivia's lime marmalade lists three ingredients: lime, water, sugar. It's got a lovely tang that sits well on top of a smear of creamy labneh. We enjoyed our warm scones with jasmine pearl tea that was a gift from my sister. I'm going to ice some of that tea and take it with me today to the natural dye workshop at the MOP. Happy Labor Day!
My friend Robin gave me some greater celandine (Chelidonium majus) plants for a dye experiment. She says they are somewhat weedy, so it was no problem to pick a handful with the roots. The stems and the roots ooze a bright yellow liquid. It is considered an invasive plant in North America if it escapes the garden and moves into the woods or other natural areas. Its latex sap is a skin irritant and the plant is toxic. How charming!
I simmered them in water for half and hour and then put them in a jar with some pieces of cotton mordanted in tannin. I just put the jar in the garden in the sun for a day or two.
The cloth came out a lovely soft, buttery yellow.
Robin has created her garden with an artist's eye. It's always a pleasure to visit and feast on its colors and textures.
It's already time to start saving seeds. I harvested my poppy pods a couple of days ago because I felt damp in the air and wanted to save them in case it rained. Turns out I didn't need to, but in a Pacific Northwest climate you have to be ready to take in those seeds before the rains start. Let's hope for a nice dry fall. When the poppy pods are completely dry, the lid pops up and reveals the holes designed to release the tiny black seeds. You can see in the photo, the pod on the left has popped and the one on the right is still sealed.
I love the sinewy muscular quality of these poppy pods.
Each pod and stem has a personality of its own.
My sugar snaps are starting to dry up and the cerinthe and borage are just about finished as well.
I love the bumps and ridges on seeds, carrying a profound sculptural resonance. Enjoy your seeds and take the time to meditate on their beauty. Let your fingers explore them in order to lodge their aesthetic power in your memory. Our souls need seeds.
Sad to say that this is my last tea party as a member of MOPARRC. It's been wonderful working with Sharon Kallis, Lois Klassen, Jody MacDonald and David Gowman and the Environmental Youth Alliance. Blessings and thanks to Oliver Kellhammer for creating such an incredible space and leaving us with this profound legacy.
We had a sunny, yet shade-dappled party with bee talks by the EYA, an invitation to participate in Haruko Okana's new project, tours of Peter Leichner's garden, and music by the League of Flying Monkeys Horn Orchestra and the Pan Flautists.
These little spikey balls are the seed heads of Echinops.
Folks were eager to hear what the EYA had to say about their hives at the MOP.
Participants were invited to make their own bee hats and have a close up look at honey extractor.
We collected chamomile, mint, fennel and little white roses from the garden for our tea blends created by Jody MacDonald.
Fritillaries, syrphid flies and all kinds of bees were having their own tea party in the mint flowers.
Sharon supplied parasols to help participants to stay cool. We really needed them!
Haruko Okano talks about her project which will take place at Granville Island in September. Check out her Ocean Flotilla blog to find out how you can participate. Don't just think about it, do it!
Participants wrote messages of hope to send in Haruko's beautiful boats. On her blog, Haruko states:
Dr. Legume told us the sad story of trying to undo the damage done to plants by the artist Peter Leichner.
This pea is one of his experiments.
There were some awesome sun hats at the party.
I love the patterns of shadows on this umbrella.
