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plant fibers

* Welcome Raven Ranson, author of Homegrown Linen!

Nicole Alderman

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posted 5 years ago

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Please join me in welcoming (is that the right word? ) Raven Ranson, author of Homegrown Linen: Transforming Flaxseed into Fibre

Read the book review here!

Raven will be hanging out in the forums until April 5th answering questions and sharing her experiences with you all.

At the end of the week, we'll make a drawing for 4 lucky winners to win a copy of Raven's book! From now until Friday, all new posts in the Plant Fibres forum are eligible to win.

To win, you must use a name that follows our naming policy and you must have your email set up to receive the Daily-ish email.

The winners will be notified by Personal Moosage and must respond within 24 hours. Only the winners who respond within that timeframe will receive their book. Watch for a PM, and a notice in this thread announcing the winners!

Please remember that we favour perennial discussion. The threads you start will last beyond the event. You don't need to use Raven's name get her attention. We like these threads to be accessible to everyone, and some people may not post their experiences if the thread is directed to the author alone.

Posts in this thread won't count as an entry to win the book, but please say "Hi!" to Raven and send her cute pictures of sheep and alpacas!

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Judith Browning

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posted 5 years ago

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Lovely to have you here in this capacity Raven!

It does not seem like so long ago that you were putting out feelers about this book and now your book is sitting on the table by my easy chair.

It is a wonderful, informative read...so happy you persevered and can't wait for the next in the series.

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

James Freyr

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Hi Raven, welcome to Permies!!

"Study books and observe nature; if they do not agree, throw away the books." ~ William A. Albrecht

r ranson

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Thank you for the welcome.

Things have been so busy lately, that I've hardly been online. It's nice to have some dedicated time to spend hanging out on permies with you wonderful people.

And I get to give out prizes.

And... I'm setting up a special something in my etsy shop for the end of the event. It will be announced on the daily-ish forum which you can access by subscribing to the permies daily-ish email.

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homegrown linen | crazy chicken lady grows yarn!

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thomas rubino

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Hi R;
Big Congrats on being a successful published author!
May your store become the biggest seller in etsy!

Sorry no lamb or alpaca photos … how bout some piggys!

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Timothy Markus

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Judith Browning wrote:
It does not seem like so long ago that you were putting out feelers about this book and now your book is sitting on the table by my easy chair.

I wasn't hanging around here when she started asking about writing a book but I've read through the threads. I'm incredibly impressed that Ms. Ranson was able to get a book published so quickly. I know it must have bean a herculean effort. I don't know anything about the subject but I think growing your own clothes is super cool.

A piece of land is worth as much as the person farming it.
-Le Livre du Colon, 1902

Liv Smith

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Welcome, Raven!

I am also very impressed by your determination and will to write and publish a book, and the subject is a much needed one!

Thank you!

And, ps: I absolutely love your name☺️. I think it’s very special.

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thomas rubino

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If piggys are not acceptable then how about a new breed of alpaca? If that's no good there is always a cute lamb about.

May you have many books published in your future! Oh and good luck breeding the new alpaca's!

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Tracy Wandling

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Yay!!! So very happy to see this book published and out in the world. Good luck to all the fans vying for a copy of this gem. :)

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Judith Browning

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Tracy Wandling wrote:Yay!!! So very happy to see this book published and out in the world. Good luck to all the fans vying for a copy of this gem.

Tracy, we're all looking forward to more of your illustrious illustrations also

They set the text off to perfection!

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Nina Jay

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posted 5 years ago

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Welcome, Raven the Author!

Loved the book & your writing style! Awesome illustrations too!

"But if it's true that the only person over whom I have control of actions is myself, then it does matter what I do. It may not matter a jot to the world at large, but it matters to me." - John Seymour

Emily Rude

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Hello Raven!

I've just bought your book + kit, and I'm very excited to start learning how to spin! I grew flax as a teen, but the retting went too far and I never got a chance to try my hand at spinning the fiber. I've just got more seed, and I'm determined to finish the job. Thank you so much for your work and for sharing your knowledge and experience -- truly a great service to the world.

Thekla McDaniels

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Just popped onto the thread to say the book is well worth having! Mine came in the mail a short time ago, and I am inspired enough to have bought a pound of flax seed at the grocery store to begin a landrace for my region.

Kudos

Best luck: satisfaction

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Cris Fellows

pollinator

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Yay!!! Raven!!! You are kinda mysterious though...where is your face? And I don't know why I microbacked your project...just enough to not get the book. Perhaps I will be a chosen one. :)

And what is your Etsy shop called?

Together is our favorite place to be

Dillon Langer

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Did you ever have success with that fukuoka style grain production, maybe including flax into the rotation?

Emma Cross

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Hi Raven!

Its incredibly inspiring to see your process in turning flax to linen. I have become very interested in plant fibres and have spun nettles a few times. Once I have the land, linen is at the top of my to-grow list.
Have you experimented with other plant fibres, and can you speak to those experiences? I've heard of folks using Himalayan Blackberry, which would be amazing since its invasive in my bio-reigon.

Many thanks,
Emma

Pamela Smith

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Location: BC Canada Zone 5&6

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Welcome, Raven and congrats on the book. We need more books out that teach us how to make our own fibres. I look forward to reading your book.

Joel Hanger

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I am really interested in this book... I started a small flaxseed crop a while back interested in the linen aspect of the crop.... I've researched a bit and I'm also curious about other fibers, such as bamboo which I have small groves started for utilization ...
But i really have an inquiry pertaining to wool and other types of fibers.... Particularly, Cottonwood grows really well around here in Arizona, and cotton is also a major staple crop in the desert southwest... I'm wondering if anyone has any experience spinning cottonwood fiber (the female fruit production) into cotton? I have a few male trees but want female IF they will be a great benefit... from what I understand the cottonwood is similar in production to cotton but I'm wondering if anyone KNOWS or has experience in this facet because a tree that reproduces year after year vs an annual crop taking up vast spaces for production would be far more benefictial!!! Looking for some good thoughts! Thanks!

Richard Mak

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Location: WA (Zone 8b)

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Welcome Raven! I've been following the progress of your book on the Victoria BC Facebook page.
Great to hear that you'll be contributing on the Permies forum as well!
Looking forward to seeing some great tips here.

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Dale Hodgins

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Richard Mak wrote:Welcome Raven! I've been following the progress of your book on the Victoria BC Facebook page.
Great to hear that you'll be contributing on the Permies forum as well!
Looking forward to seeing some great tips here.

Richard, I see that you are new here. Raven is one of the most prolific contributors and moderators on this site, which makes all the welcomes a little bit comical to those of us who have been around longer. We've heard about this from when it was a spark of an idea, until the finished product. Congratulations Raven.

Can we look forward to another volume in the future, concerning a variety of other natural fibers?

Carla Burke

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What an excellent achievement!! I'd love to try my hand at it, so of course, now I know exactly where to start! Congratulations!!

The only thing...more expensive than education is ignorance.~Ben Franklin

Elena Belfield

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Location: Asturias, Spain

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This is wonderful!!

Tried to grow some flax behind the house last year after watching this video:

(How great is the music though?!)

But unfortunately, I was unsuccessful. Don’t know whether it was slugs, snails or I just did something wrong, but it never grew.

So, awesome that not only have you managed to successfully grow but ALSO to make your own linen. Somehow I get an inkling that these thorough modes of self sufficiency are going to become really, really crucial in our lives

www.peaceandpollen.net

Matthew Bucktrout

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Just a quick message to say well done and thank you very much for putting in the time and energy to produce such a wonderful book on flax. I received my copy a couple of weeks ago and my wife and I thnk it's brilliant. We're following our own path in farming and a part of that is already to produce fibre for clothing. We have sheep, sell spun wool for knitting, are experimenting with felting and I have a pile of flax straw which was waiting for the advice from you book before being transformed into something useful. So, thank you again. Your section on your own story rang very true with us.

As far as pictures go, here's a link to our website, which has a few on it, of sheep, horses, wool and trees: https://lafermedubeau.weebly.com/

Matthew
La Ferme du Beau, central France

Ethan Davis

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posted 5 years ago

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Welcome Raven!
I've ordered some flaxseed from a supplier in MA, to try to grow this season, and will keep your book in mind as I move forward with this project. Thanks for writing it - just the kind of resource we need!
Regards,
-Ethan
Arundel, Maine

Anna Hopping

Posts: 16

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Just what i wanted to learn. I spin other fibers and have woven flax. learning to grow and process flax into linen and spin it has been a goal of mine. i wanted to sign up for the free book but i can not figure out how to do it. I've had this problem before and missed out on things.
thank you for your sharing and your book. I live in high altitude New Mexico, i wonder how flax grows in dry climate?

r ranson

steward & author

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Thank you everyone for such a wonderful welcome.

Anna Hopping wrote:i wanted to sign up for the free book but i can not figure out how to do it. I've had this problem before and missed out on things.

To enter to win a copy of the book, simply post in any other thread in the plant fibre forum or start new threads. Sadly, posts in this thread are exempt.

how permies works
homegrown linen | crazy chicken lady grows yarn!

Daron Williams

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Great to see this happening Raven!

I have your book at my work desk and I'm reading it during my breaks when I get the chance. I'm enjoying it

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Christine Le page

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Location: Zone 4

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We had a snow day😝
It is April.... Seems like the mild wintry weather plans to stay and here I am excited to just get out their and plant things but seems like I will not get the chance to do so for another week or two at the very least.

I have a flax seeds hanging about, hopefully they are still viable and grow up straight. Ah guess, I will just content my self with a few trays of cold crops for now.

But grats on publishing your book R Raven . That is really awesome thing to have accomplished.

Thanks for your kindnesses,
Christine

Nicole Alderman

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It is my honor and pleasure to announce the four winners of Raven's most excellent book.

The winners are.....

*Insert drumroll here*

Liza Stallsmith
Lito George
BeeDee marshall
Beth Wilder

Please respond to your PM by Sunday to claim your book!

Mary-Ellen Zands

pollinator

Posts: 168

Location: Ontario, Canada

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As a fellow fibre addict I know what a big accomplishment this is. Congratulations Raven. Much success with the sale of your book!

Lito George

Posts: 81

Location: VI, BC

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I want to say thank you to Raven and to Nicole and the Permies staff/forum for this wonderful gift. I just opened it with my girls now and guess whats the centre of attention as they go and play?

We're excited. What a fantastic book.

Liza Stallsmith

Posts: 51

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Raven's book arrived. Thank you. I am excited. I actually have flax seed on hand and own a hackle that was used on my husband's family farm years ago when they raised flax. Seeing we still live on part of that farm I would love to raise some flax and put the hackle back in use.

The book is very well written. Instructions, illustrations, and pictures are clear, informative, and to the point. I see her book as kind of a Peterson Field guild to growing and processing Flax. It is not so over detailed and long that I will never get through it. Also, the introduction is welcoming to learning plus individuality. " I suggest that there are thousands of right ways to do things. Not one. Thousands. The only real wrong way is the way that doesn't work for you." Raven Ranson

I really appreciate that she has tried and tested different ways and is sharing her knowledge. Many a time I have been put off by an instructor whose way to do something is the only acceptable way.

Again many Thanks!

"The world is divided into people who do things, and people who get credit. Try, if you can, to belong to the first class, there is far less competition."
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