Embracing Flax Harvesting: Community Project Front Garden Stories
I recently embarked on gaining the knowledge to build a community project growing, harvesting, processing, and creatively using flax, all from plants grown in my typical domestic front garden in Derbyshire.
The slight technical hiccup came from finding myself on the other side of the world in Australia when harvesting was to occur. So, the experiment had to recruit its first community participants - all the other parties that lived in my house! Everyone stepped up to help and reported (that, as I had found) looking after flax in my front garden was indeed a gratifying endeavour. Cultivating flax in a small, domestic garden has not only provided me (and now them) with a hands-on connection to the ancient tradition of working with this versatile plant right at home, but also fostered a sense of community and shared experience.
I had explained my hair-brained project to anyone who would listen. However, the people who know me are not surprised by the unique ideas I come up with. They wish me well and are happy to watch from the sidelines. My trip to Australia brought these parties into the adventure with me, and we all embarked on a journey of learning and discovery.
As this was my first planting and harvesting of flax, all I had to develop my knowledge from was the blogs and articles that littered Google. These varied in their instructions, which I was happy to negotiate on an ad-hoc basis if I did the digging. However, since I was now guiding others through video, voice, and flow diagrams, I had to nail my colours to the mast and produce a methodology.
Flax is generally ready to harvest 100 days after germination. However, this is not a hard and fast science for the domestic gardener. The longer the plants are left, the coarser the fibres will be. The rules I came up with to aim for harvest day were:
Leaves start to turn yellow and drop at the lower stem
90% of the seedheads have turned tan or gold
Seeds rattle in the pods
Flowers gone
Calls, texts and videos were exchanged to agree that harvesting day had come. It's a tricky activity virtually assessing the plants but I'm hopeful we harvested on the right day. However, watching from afar the delicate blue flowers blooming amidst the green foliage, I added a delightful touch to my front garden landscape, and it was exciting to see the progress of the flax plants as they matured. The beauty of the trembling blue flowers and the vibrant green stems added a touch of wonder to my front garden.
Now, best practice suggests that careful tending to the growing plants throughout the summer should happen. My bench of harvesters had let this bit lapse, and the OG residents of the patch, the thistles, had asserted themselves with vigour whilst backs were turned. This had caused the yield to be lower than I'd hoped, as the flax had not thrived in these patches and lost the growth competition to their stronger 'weed' neighbours.
Big tip:Â Weed as you go along.
I hadn't planned to devise my instructions so early in this journey, but I needed to create clear and easy steps. As I worked on this, I recognised that photos would be critical to demonstrate the acts written down visually. As if by magic, my new-found skills in Miro from the VAA's curation course came to the rescue, as I could develop a written and pictorial board that I could digitally share with all parties. It was a fabulous partner.
Researching the articles on flax harvesting (and retting the next stage to be undertaken straight afterwards) revealed a lack of clear, simple instructions. Most information was shared in blog posts and articles in lengthy paragraphs describing the activities that had been undertaken. No one seemed to have needed to translate these events for an unwitting set of gardening novices to follow - the situation I had found myself in. My bench had no or few horticultural skills, which would offer the perfect test.
Days were spent perfecting the steps in simple language, design, and pictorial flow. As I couldn't assume prior knowledge, no micro step could be missed, so I created the most detailed (but fun) process possible. After all, this was not homework but a true-nature connectedness experience for my volunteers.
The sun shone on harvest day, and the flax plants indicated that they were ready for processing. The seed pods had turned brown, and the stems had begun to yellow. Armed with simple hand tools, tarpaulins, and mobile phone videos, the team weeded the plot (which took the longest time.) Weeding involved carefully removing any unwanted plants or debris from the flax plot to ensure the flax plants had the best chance to grow and produce high-quality fibres. They then carefully pulled the plants at the base, ensuring that the precious fibres remained intact for future processing.
After harvesting, they arranged the flax bundles back on the soil the plants had come from to dry and begin to ret. Observing this part of the process later on video was particularly satisfying, as I felt connected to the age-old tradition of working with natural fibres - they did too. I knew each step was bringing me closer to producing my very own flax-based products.
As they worked for hours, the estate community passed by saw what was happening, and was curious. Questions and conversations were started as the dog walkers saw young people toiling on this unusual garden plot. This was everything I had hoped for. Connections were spontaneously made, and people were genuinely interested in what was happening.
The stories behind the project had been shared so my glorious gardeners could talk about the history of rope making at the nearby mine and that this process had used flax - we were nodding to our history. People liked that.
The following retting and further processing stages are still ahead of me and the team. However, the experience of harvesting flax in my front garden has already provided me with a deeper appreciation for the skill and craftsmanship involved in producing this remarkable plant. In addition to the practical aspects of obtaining fibres, the entire process has allowed a reclaiming of a connection to a time-honoured tradition and created a touch of natural beauty in my front yard.
Ultimately, the journey from planting flax seeds to harvesting the plants has been a fulfilling and enriching experience. It has allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of the origins of textile production and how I might translate this experience to others as I work towards creating a nature-connectedness collaborative community project.
