We spend so long writing about upcoming events, and rarely take a moment to share on our website some of our highlights that you might have missed- So here is a brief overview of just a few or our gatherings this past year.

Flax to Linen– over 30 individuals signed up to participate in our BC Flax Network – we have been meeting online once a month, sharing stories and expertise, asking and answering questions and moving through all the steps of growing flax and processing it to linen. Our group was a wonderfully diverse group of folks from those who have never grown before to those with vast experience, some with urban small plots or using planters, to farmers with much larger flax crops planted. Though many didn’t make it online with us through the full season, a wonderfully supportive group has formed that continues to meet regularly months after the official program ended!

Our harvest event in Richmond was a beautiful, hot summer night and gave us reason to pull together the fibre samples from what Kathy Dunster has been growing in seed trials in her work with Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Our seed stalk has grown again thanks to the plot we were able to grow at the Kwantlen Richmond farm- and expect future weaving research using unbroken flax and other fibre work to come from this straw! If you are looking for your own BC seed source- we recommend reaching out to Carole Hyland at Alderley Grange Farm on Vancouver Island

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Blue Nettles and the 2023 Artist in Residence Program

Anna Heywood Jones has likely got indigo running in her veins as well as staining her nails at this point with all the work she has done on various pigment extraction and dye methods!

Sharon declared it has been a pure delight to spend a second year with Anna as the artists in residence with EartHand, and having the Blue Nettle research group become the monthly focus point and group to share the work and exploration with was a format worth returning to in the future!

Quiet Collaborations

There are many behind the scenes conversations that take place; investigating ways we can collaborate and build our local skill and fibre network. One of the exciting conversations going on has been working with Sam Alder from Salder Design, looking at how the invasive Himalayan blackberry they are are harvesting as a part of ongoing removal efforts can be further honoured through repurposing into drop spindles! we are very grateful to the Vancouver Park Board neighbourhood matching fund which has supported this innovative collaboration.

Below shows an early prototype- follow Sam on instagram (at)salderdesign to follow the process.

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Fireweed Invitational Gatherings

With support from the BC Arts Council, local indigenous skill holders Cease Wyss, Chrystal Sparrow, Rosemary Georgeson, Leah Munier, Cheryl Arnouse and Lilly Teare Cunningham, gathered with EartHand board members Nicole Preissl, Tiffany Muñoz, Lex Battle and lead artist Sharon Kallis for 3 sessions of harvesting fireweed for fibre. Spending time in good conversation, while busy hands gathered fibres from plants grown in the Trillium gardens.

Lex created a beautiful film short from some of our time you can watch here and Tiffany had this to say about her time in our fireweed circle

“The fireweed gatherings held over summer 2023 helped enrich a deeper understanding and identification of plants in our urban environment and spoke to the connection of resilience within ourselves and the important versatility and perseverance of plants like fireweed, especially in relation to these fraught times.  These basic foraging techniques open up so many skill possibilities for culinary arts, visual arts practices, arts and crafts, medicinal use, etc and overall provide a wonderful introduction to local sustainability – plus also a realization of the abundance that surrounds us.  I find accessible gatherings like these help foster an ease of sharing knowledge, storytelling and resources between community participants, while contributing to a better connection and relationship to the lands we reside on of which I am grateful and privileged to engage in.

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The Trillium Land Loom had a few beautiful pieces created on it by both stewards and community members working collaboratively, the loom was warped on summer solstice by our stewardship group and reactivated to finish the season at the Heart of the City festival in November.

So many other lovely community events for gathering took place, either as a part of a larger community partnership, or as a solo event.

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At the Means of Production garden, our weekly stewardship team did a fantastic job of opening up areas in the food forest orchard- removing non fruiting trees and planting more blueberries, the camas bloomed on the western hill we have been replanting from blackberry removal, and we got a new switchback trail terraformed, with a fence woven, fireweed seeded, and more blackberry removed! We will be keeping a ‘trained area” of the blackberries at neighbours request for the seniors that have a hard time making it down the hill. On the far East side, more planting has happened to establish our drought tolerant fibre hill, and in the top area, the milkweed is thriving and our resident raccoon seems happy too.

A mix up of some of the wonderful gatherings, skill holders and groups we worked with over 2023, what a year!

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And as the year closed, here was the view of the new St Paul’s hospital that is being built beside the Trillium Gardens- already taller at the time of posting this from when the photo was taken.

We have just reached the point of the noise from this construction site becoming quieter as most work will now be indoors vs outside, alas the 3 buildings just to the north east have come down and we expect another few years of pile driving and big noise for the building of 2 towers will impact what its like to gather at Trillium – we will stay adaptable to how we gather and what we do for the coming year!