Spinning at the FARM

Last week there were three Farm-to-School trips out to FARM 2.6, where we have a dye garden. (We’re also growing flax but it seems like we’re mostly growing Bermuda grass, so we may abort the flax for this year.)

I’m not very comfortable around children, but I volunteered to come over and show the kids the dye garden, help them dye their silk bookmarks in solar-cooked plant dyes, and show them some spinning. The one day I volunteered for turned into three; three different age groups, learning about where their food comes from. Not just food: This was also an opportunity to teach them about the principles of Fibershed.

We had a great time. I sang the spinning song in French for them (well, for two of the classes; for the César Chávez Spanish immersion group, I told them about spinning in Spanish). They asked intelligent questions and seemed truly interested. It was fun.

I joined my friends Vera and Jen on a trip to the Spinning at the Winery event in Livermore on Saturday for a change of pace. We all somehow ended up with Tibetan support spindles. Here’s mine, with a cop of pure pygora — it’s a tricky little instrument, but fun to learn on. Trying to think of a name for it.