Inspiration: A collection of Victory Garden posters from the web

Papermaking with Plants

Our tin can deckle boxes

Julia pouring the pulp through the filter

DIY papermaking! 

Finished products

My love of plants has led me on a beautiful journey to learn about medicine, color, cloth, and many other applications of plants. Recently papermaking has been coming up in all sorts of conversations and events. Paper, like cloth and color, is something most of us use every single day and take for granted. Just like the industrial textile industry, papermaking can be an extremely exploitative, chemical laden and environmentally damaging industry. I had the chance to take a two part workshop with paper-maker extraordinaire Julia Goodman.  If you haven't seen Julia's unbelievably beautiful beet papyrus check it out - she just had a great show at 18 reasons. We watched a Japanese documentary on traditional papermaking. They say "if you're angry, the paper will not turn out" and "you must be peaceful and happy for the paper to come out beautiful." I really kept that sentiment with me. Papermaking can be a very easy and rewarding process. And you can make a simple filter (Deckle box) out of tin cans and window screens.  We used abaca (Musa textilis)  and cotton (Gossypium) pulp that came from Magnolia Editions. You can imbed beautiful dried flowers, photos, yarns, or anything else into the paper - let the experimentation begin! 

Colors of Nature

I'm only sharing this one pic today, but I really think it captures alot. I've been working with this simple Shibori pattern and after the eclipse I realize why this simple beautiful resist is so evocative - it looks just like the partial solar eclipse!

This is a photo from a Natural Dye workshop held at the UC Botanical Garden in Berkeley, one of my most favorite places. The silk scarf is dyed with eucalyptus leaves with a post-dip in an iron bath. The bright orange red is from madder root. Enjoy! 

oak gall dye

Last week we gathered some friends and dyed some fabric with these gorgeous oak galls that a friend harvested up in Ukiah. Oak galls are growths on oak trees created by interaction of the plant hormones with the chemicals the wasp deposits. The wasps lay their eggs in the newly formed leaf buds and the gall results. The gall is a  contained space for the wasp's larvae to hatch and a food source for the larvae. The dye has been historically used across Europe and the Americas to create ink and brown, grey, and black dyes. Because the galls have alot of tannic acid they were used for tanning animal leathers. We dyed some cotton sheets and some silk scarves over a wood burning stove.

seaweed evening

Last month we had the good fortune to have our friend Kacie lead us in an evening of seaweeds. Seaweeds are a type of algae and some are deliciously edible and very nutritious! Kacie learned how to harvest seaweed on the east coast and now lives in the Bay Area where she harvests from the Mendocino coast.  Kacie's burgeoning business SheSellsSeaweed is a great resource for purchasing ethically harvested seaweeds and a source for great recipes. Seaweeds have many minerals that are not found in any other sources and have properties known to fight cancer. During our session we learned about these properties and we got to prepare a delicious feast together. I never knew that you could so easily incorporate seaweed into such a variety of dishes! 

Preparing the apples and dulce for our turnovers.

We sauteed the apples in butter and cinnamon sugar then added the dulce, which wilted beautifully over the apples. this was the filling that we put inside phyllo dough and then baked in the oven for 25 minutes or so. dulce was probably the most "seaweedy" of all the seaweeds. it has a strong, but delicious flavor!

Our dulce apple pastries ready for the oven. 

Kacie the seaweed expert! 

Homemade falafels from scratch! We added Sea Whip to the mixture and baked the falafel for extra healthfulness! 

Yummy yummy! Cucumber tzatziki with Wakame and kefir. And fresh carrot salad with Sea Palm.

Not pictured is the amazing Miso soup we had. The dashi broth was prepared with kombu and we mixed in miso and loads of veggies.

You can now purchase Kacie's seaweed at Monterey Market or on her website. 

Got to love Eco-Bundling!

I am a complete eco-bundle convert. Just when I thought Natural Dyes couldn't blow my mind any more, they have. A couple of weekends ago I got to help my friend, collaborator and dye mentor Sasha Duerr of Permacouture Institute at a workshop at California College of the Arts in Oakland. The workshop was centered around gardens for fibers & dyes and we spent the day in the garden harvesting and dyeing. One project Sasha led us through was making "eco-bundles" inspired by the Australian textile artist India Flint. Warning: you may be seeing alot of these eco bundles on my blog from here on out!

First we lay out our silk scarves and places dye plants throughout.

The scarves are rolled up into bundles and secured with rubber bands.

Our bundles are then steamed. 

Voila! Beautiful Color!

terrarium/tillandsia crazy

well after that horticultural commission from my sister i sort of went on a binge of making some tillandsia containers and a carnivorous plant terrarium. G thinks that the trend of air plants in pots, in glass jars, mounted to the walls, etc... is to the horticultural world as molecular gastronomy is to cuisine. i don't agree - enjoy! 

 the original, made for delivery. 

globe #1

globe #2

globe #3

a spray of tillandsia along my shelf - i love that you can still see the roots/base through the vase. 

carnivorous plant terrarium!! the plants include: Pinguicula, Nepenthes, and Drosera 

message in a bottle 

i love a horticultural commission!

when  i got a call from my sister asking me to put together and deliver  a terrarium for a close friend i was so thrilled. it is so exciting to go on a mission, find just the right container, pick out stunning and delicate tilandsias and assemble it all.  i couldn't resist tagging on a  delicate and colorful floral bouquet for some extra cheer.  enjoy! 

bouquet of leucodendron, leucospermum, mum & echinops, decorative lichen and bark globes in a recycled glass vase

terrarium of clear blue stones, moss and lichen and several varieties of tilandsias

at your doorstep. 

if you like what you see and would like to send a plantspeople telegram, let me know.

sources: 

design: plantspeople (www.plantspeople.org coming soon!)

tilandsias:  flowerland nursery

eco-friendly flowers: gorgeous and green

stones: the gardener

Mills College Landscape Tour

I've been meaning to walk through the Mills College campus in the Oakland Hills for sometime now and finally got around to it yesterday. The campus is beautifully landscaped, has two LEED platinum buildings, a native botanical garden, and a medicinal plant walk. Enjoy the tour! 

The campus chapel with a gorgeous skylight. 

A Spanish style courtyard with a tiled fountain. 

The green roof atop the school of business with euphorbias, echevaria, aloes and various succulents 

A beautiful and cushy lawn alternative = a fescue meadow. 

Along the healing plant tour we stopped at the willow. 

A thriving food garden. 

A native sage in the botanic garden