Anyone growing flax this year?

I created two little plots for flax this spring!

Germination was not that great, but I have some growing! Hopefully rest of the season goes well and I get to try processing it into linen fiber!

Is anyone else growing flax this year?

Yes, I am. This year is the first one, where I am growing to grow grains and seeds, for flour and oil. I have 6 test plots where I am testing flax, amaranth, Sorghum and jops tears. I also sowed sunflowers on a larger spot in the front yard, so I can grow a lot of seeds.
It will also be interesting to see if I can make some thread or rope with the stems.

Saana Jalimauchi wrote:I created two little plots for flax this spring!

Germination was not that great, but I have some growing! Hopefully rest of the season goes well and I get to try processing it into linen fiber!

Is anyone else growing flax this year?

Flaxseeds are a really good source of omega 3

I planted two plots. One in the mulch in a shallow pond early this spring and the other last week where I removed the mulch and broadforked the soil. It is golden flax and both have very good germination this year.

Have got my little plot going! 😊

I planted flax a few years ago here in southern Indiana. Although i got some lovely flowers, it really wasn't much output. Instead I am casting my hopes towards wood nettle for a fiber source, and walnuts for an oil/fat source.

What a great idea. I grew flax several years ago, but was intimidated by the process of retting it to make fiber for spinning yarn. I'll be interested in how this goes for you. Maybe I'll try it again next year.

I hope so? Lol. I saved seeds from my best plant last year. I haven't seen any pop up yet but also have weeded that bed in a couple weeks. Here's hoping they're hiding down there!

I'd love to grow flax for fibre. I'm thinking it might like our cool summers. I gather there have been strains cultivated for seed differently to fibre production. I did get a few seeds to have a trial, but think it may be too late to plant now this year.
I was thinking they might grow well in with my fava beans and peas. Has anyone tried a polyculture? Any success?

I was growing flax for fiber in my front yard for several years (only a little patch). I wrote more about it in a thread somewhere here on Permies (I'll search for it, if I find it I'll share a link). I kept the stems (more on that later) ...

This year I started growing flax again, this time on the allotment. I read about a project here in the Netherlands for growing 1 square meter of flax. They sold the seeds of the specific fiber flax. Because I had grown fiber flax already, I searched my flax stems for seeds. There were plenty for a square meter (in my opinion).

Then my sister contacted me that she had joined that project. She told me that together with the seeds she had got a link to a website for more information on growing flax. The advice was to measure exactly 1 meter length and width and to sow in rows every 10 cm. This wasn't my way of doing things ;-)  I eyeball about a square meter and throw in as much seeds as possible. Now and then we compare photos of our patch of flax, my sister and I.

Here's a photo of my flax growing:

May 16th

What I use my flax for:
I work as a volunteer 'stone age person' in the Hunebedcentrum (a museum about the megalithic stone graves found in this region. Link webpage) demonstrating how the neolithic people processed flax and other plant fibers into yarn/thread/cordage. That is without retting, only using stone tools and my hands.
I like the method to process flax (and stinging nettles) without retting, though if it isn't for educational purposes I prefer using a more modern knife instead of the stone tool. Maybe if you want to spin it retting (and using the 19th century tools) works better. But I don't spin, I twist and twine (splice) with my fingers.

I found the thread about growing flax. R Ranson started it 9 years ago. Here's where I first wrote about growing flax in my front yard: https://permies.com/t/40/47529/Linen-Flax-Flax-plant-spinning#464432

How wonderful to come back to so many replies and hear about everyone's projects!

I'm thinking about creating two more little plots for flax.. I read about growing flax and it was written that May is a good time to start, but sometimes the spring weathers push the starting to the beginning of June, so I think it's not too late yet! (Pointing out that this is for Finland, we have our midnight sun so a lot of light for the plants.)

It would be really nice to hear how everyone's growing season progresses, let's keep this thread updated, shall we? :)


Fibershed Finland is organizing a Fiberweek in the second week of July, I'm so excited! Each day has a theme: plant fibers, wool, dyeing.. So much to learn!

Nancy Reading wrote:I'd love to grow flax for fibre. I'm thinking it might like our cool summers. I gather there have been strains cultivated for seed differently to fibre production. I did get a few seeds to have a trial, but think it may be too late to plant now this year.
I was thinking they might grow well in with my fava beans and peas. Has anyone tried a polyculture? Any success?

Yes, I use polyculture in my raised bed garden. The flax are growing together with Peppers, melons and onions. The only bed where I only have 1 crop is my garlic bed, and it’s not doing well. Last year I grew garlic with other plants and they looked way better than they are doing this year.

Saana Jalimauchi wrote:I'm thinking about creating two more little plots for flax.. I read about growing flax and it was written that May is a good time to start, but sometimes the spring weathers push the starting to the beginning of June, so I think it's not too late yet! (Pointing out that this is for Finland, we have our midnight sun so a lot of light for the plants.)

Well I'm not that far South of you at 57 degrees, so maybe I will sow my seeds in my (failed) roots bed and just see what happens!

I am new to permies and haven’t posted much yet but so delighted to see this thread on growing flax!! I started a tiny patch(like maybe only 10 plants) a couple years ago when I had a bunch of expired flax seeds that I had used for baking and smoothies. It was more of an experiment to just see if anything would actually grow but I was also interested in one day growing them for the seeds for food, and also for fiber(as I had recently become obsessed with hemp for clothing and also found out about processing flax for fiber).
To my surprise they grew great! Even through the winter! (I am in California zone 9b Mediterranean climate)
I’ve harvested seeds from that original plant and sprinkled them in different spots all over my yard(living in a new development with small front and back yard). They seem to do well wherever I plant them and when planted at different times and grow at all different times in my climate. Most of the spots I’ve planted them do get a decent amount of watering(mostly planted in my fruit tree guilds-with trees being very small to medium in size) The ones I planted last fall/winter under my Japanese maple have dried seed pods on them but I never harvested and they stayed standing and now I’m seeing more green growth and flowers. Will need to look closer to find if it’s coming from the same old plant or if they are new plants from dropped seeds.

I have big dreams of one day growing my own plants(mostly flax and hemp and maybe try nettles) for making into yarn and weaving to make clothing and other household linens. My mother was a spinner and I inherited her spinning wheel so I hope to learn to use it for this! And maybe for now try drop spindle spinning.

Who is planning to spin it? Will you use drop spindle or wheel? Has anyone already tried?

Saana do you plan on retting and spinning it?

Inge, that is so cool that you work where they are demonstrating the old ways of processing flax! Done without retting and spinning? So does it just use fresh fibers and you spin or braid with fingers? Do you have any examples or links to resources for this process?

Also, I’m sure there are specific verities of flax that are better for fiber vs food right? Anyone know the best for both? I know with hemp there are some that are especially good for seeds and others for fiber and some for both. I’d love to have both for flax too.

I love this topic!!

Roni, welcome to Permies!  :)

Yes, I'm planning on retting and spinning it! I want to try all three retting methods I read about, I cannot remember the english words for them right now but with soaking in water, letting them ret on the field/grass and also retting on snow.

I have zero experience on any of this, but I'm going for it! Everything I do this year is just to test and learn. :)

If you go scrolling down the plant fibers forum, you can find a lot of great threads about flax and linen!

Flax has gained a foothold on the Canadian prairies as an agricultural specialty crop.  When it was first grown on my father's land (he'd stopped farming owing to health issues and was renting out the land) in the 1980s, just the seed was harvested.  The straw was gathered and burned as it breaks down so slowly - I did hear of others who would bale flax straw and then spread it on muddy areas to help keep livestock out of the mud.  It is quite lovely to see the blue fields of flax in flower among the cereals and yellow flowered canola.

I don't have time at the moment to go down the rabbit warren of the process, but how big of an area is needed to get a given amount of linen?  We have space on our acreage.  I heard Anna, the chief shepherdess of Longway Homestead in Manitoba speak about locally grown clothing at a Young Agrarians even.  In a province that used to have many wool mills, they have now created the only wool mill presently in Manitoba.  

Good luck to all who are pursuing this.  It would certainly be interesting to see a groundswell of interest in locally grown clothing.

Derek Thille wrote:I don't have time at the moment to go down the rabbit warren of the process, but how big of an area is needed to get a given amount of linen?  We have space on our acreage.  I heard Anna, the chief shepherdess of Longway Homestead in Manitoba speak about locally grown clothing at a Young Agrarians even.  In a province that used to have many wool mills, they have now created the only wool mill presently in Manitoba.  

Note I hadn't read ahead in the Dailyish to notice the next topic was in answer to my question - https://permies.com/t/108802/space-needed-flax

Nancy Reading wrote:I'd love to grow flax for fibre. I'm thinking it might like our cool summers. I gather there have been strains cultivated for seed differently to fibre production. I did get a few seeds to have a trial, but think it may be too late to plant now this year.
I was thinking they might grow well in with my fava beans and peas. Has anyone tried a polyculture? Any success?

Flax is an easy plant. You can sow it early or later, it will grow, and probably flower. But if you want a yield (linseed, flax seeds or the fiber for linen) it needs to grow a certain amount of days to ripen.
You can grow the flax in the same bed with other plants. If you want nice straight long stems for fiber there are two things to keep in mind: 1. get seeds for a fiber-flax cultivar* and 2. grow them in a patch close together. So don't spread them out between other plants in a polyculture.
*linseed or ornamental flax (with bigger flowers in more colours) don't give the nice long straight stems.

Roni Goodman wrote: ...
Inge, that is so cool that you work where they are demonstrating the old ways of processing flax! Done without retting and spinning? So does it just use fresh fibers and you spin or braid with fingers? Do you have any examples or links to resources for this process?

Also, I’m sure there are specific verities of flax that are better for fiber vs food right? Anyone know the best for both? I know with hemp there are some that are especially good for seeds and others for fiber and some for both. I’d love to have both for flax too.

I love this topic!!

Hi Roni. Myself I don't do retting and I don't spin flax/linen (others at the same museum do). I use dried flax stalks (they can even be many years old), crush them with a stone, then scrape (with a flint scraper) untill the fibers show. I do a lot of moving, rolling, crushing between my hands. When I have some clean fibers I start twisting them into fine cordage (it is possible to make this as fine as embroidery thread!).
More on making cordage/twine: https://permies.com/wiki/105498/pep-textiles/twine-PEP-BB-textile-sand
At the youtube channel of Sally Pointer you can see many interesting videos on processing plant fibers in (pre-)historic ways.

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote: I use dried flax stalks (they can even be many years old), crush them with a stone, then scrape (with a flint scraper) until the fibers show. I do a lot of moving, rolling, crushing between my hands. When I have some clean fibers I start twisting them into fine cordage (it is possible to make this as fine as embroidery thread!).

Inge, does this technique work with nettles? Have you posted pictures of this technique anywhere on permies? I was also wondering how sharp the flint scraper was?

I created another little plot for flax, about 4m2, this time I seeded it a bit more heavily. Fun to see if they make it into usable fiber!  :)

Jay Angler wrote:

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote: I use dried flax stalks (they can even be many years old), crush them with a stone, then scrape (with a flint scraper) until the fibers show. I do a lot of moving, rolling, crushing between my hands. When I have some clean fibers I start twisting them into fine cordage (it is possible to make this as fine as embroidery thread!).

Inge, does this technique work with nettles? Have you posted pictures of this technique anywhere on permies? I was also wondering how sharp the flint scraper was?

yes, with nettles it works good too, but a little different.
I do have photos of the processing of nettles, not yet in a Permies thread ... If there is a thread about nettles I'll put them there, if there isn't I'll make one. And then I'll give a link here.

I posted my photos of processing nettles in this thread: https://permies.com/t/80/50840/Nettle-Long-harvesting-stinging-nettle#2435802
It's in two parts, in two consecutive posts.

I wasn't going to, but this thread made me so tempted to try. It is not ideal: I only have regular flax seeds bought in the spice section of grocery store; the temperature is going to be over 70F/90F or 21C/32C while the flax is growing.  I sow  a 1 m^2 plot densely to reduce branching and will watch out for the optimal timing to harvest for fiber use. But how about temperature, high in summer can reach over 100F /38 C? To what extent does the hot weather affect the quality of fiber? Should I put up shade cloth?

I added the final (third) part in the Nettle-A-Long thread. About sorting the fibers and making them into thread (twine, cordage) for sewing...
https://permies.com/t/80/50840/Nettle-Long-harvesting-stinging-nettle#2436820

May Lotito wrote:I wasn't going to, but this thread made me so tempted to try. It is not ideal: I only have regular flax seeds bought in the spice section of grocery store; the temperature is going to be over 70F/90F or 21C/32C while the flax is growing.  I sow  a 1 m^2 plot densely to reduce branching and will watch out for the optimal timing to harvest for fiber use. But how about temperature, high in summer can reach over 100F /38 C? To what extent does the hot weather affect the quality of fiber? Should I put up shade cloth?

I don't really know. I know fiber flax is/was grown in the Netherlands, in Belgium and in Northern France. As far as I know temperatures here are never that high. Even in Summer often the weather is cloudy and there can be rain. When I see my small patch of flax it looks very happy now with all the rain ...
So a shade cloth could be of help in your climate. And you'll probably have to water your flax plants.
The 'optimal timing for harvest' is easy: when it's totally ripe. Then it has a golden yellow colour and seed-balls with seeds. For fiber the stalks are pulled out, with roots (these are removed before processing).

I sowed a small handful of seeds I got and the flax seedlings are growing strong after 4 weeks. I should have enough fiber to make some flax twines. How donyou all plan on to process the raw materials? Do you have the specialized equipments or make your own simple tools?

I found these posts very useful:

https://permies.com/t/flaxtolinen#408084

https://permies.com/t/107862/Sources-Flax-Linen-Processing-Equipment#890338

May Lotito wrote:I sowed a small handful of seeds I got and the flax seedlings are growing strong after 4 weeks. I should have enough fiber to make some flax twines. How donyou all plan on to process the raw materials? Do you have the specialized equipments or make your own simple tools?

...

As I wrote a few weeks ago I'll process my flax without retting and with the use of only some 'stones' (one is the largest stone I can hold in my hand, that one is for hammering on the stems, the others are small flint scrapers) as my tools.

two flint scrapers and a some processed flax (last year, 2023)