Have you heard of Fibershed? They are a brilliant nonprofit promoting the use of local fibers and plant-based dyes.
I recently spent a lovely day on-site at Fibershed in Northern California, where I learned about using invasive plants to make baskets.
I feel super inspired by their work! Just being in their space brought me a sense of hope and peace that has lately been hard to find lately.
I took a lot of photos (the coastal light there was unreal), and I learned so much, including how to:
- identify invasive plant species
- harvest, process, and prepare them for weaving
- create useful and beautiful objects out of non-native plants (thereby helping, in a small way, with ecosystem restoration in the process)
How cool is that?
Some Non-native Materials
Pampas Grass is an ornamental grass, often used for landscaping despite being an invasive species here in California. (It’s a hard-to-control fire hazard whose sharp-edged leaves can hurt pets!)
Big Sagebrush originates from Southern California.
Wild Rye is native to California and harvested sustainably.
Creating to Restore Balance
It’s a beautiful thing, collecting non-native plants that “shouldn’t” be there. These plants, which you might also call invasive species, they’re not trying to invade; they’re just doing their thing. It just happens that their thing is being super efficient and out-competing a lot of the native, local species that we love, upsetting the delicate ecological equilibrium that’s evolved over thousands of years.
That fits with Oolie’s philosophy, that everything we make should improve the world — not just for the people who use our products, but for all the ecosystems along the way.
The Dye Garden
My favorite spot was Fibershed’s dye garden, where they grow all the plants they need to create many different dyes! In this photo, all the green rows in the foreground are indigo. (Yes, indigo the plant, from which the color indigo gets its name!)
Back indoors, here are all the plant-based dyes made from plants grown in that very garden! (The indigo jars are just right of center in this photo.)
Finally, I loved admiring these indigo dye samples on natural fibers.
If you’re interested in native plants, natural dyes, and fiber arts, check out Fibershed!
Nora
