Two programs start up this May that offer different types of opportunities to think about our relationship to plants, our interdependence and cultural connections.

Jess Vaira is leading our Land & Body: Tea-Care Cohort, a group that will gather over 4 Sunday mornings this Spring to tend the plants that offer nourishment, have time for gathering, taste sampling, and be drying and saving teas for personal use from the gardens.

Jess has been volunteering in the Trillium garden as a steward for a few years and we are thrilled to have her leap into this new role with us that brings one of her many passions and areas of knowledge to our community.

A serial creative, Jess Vaira is a maker at heart.  Whether the medium is textiles, music, plants, or community she strives to create things that are purposeful, authentic and as gentle on the environment as possible.  Jess knows the  importance of connecting people with nature through art and community and has a deep passion for sustainable textile/plant arts. An avid gardener, she has participated in many community gardens throughout Vancouver, woofed on an orchard in the Okanagan valley, volunteered at the Trillium Garden with the Earthand Gleaners Society and is currently working on a Herbology diploma program through Wild Rose.

Other training she brings to this program includes Spagyric tincture making/herbs w Holger Laerad at Gaia Garden 2012 and the Herbal Integration Course offered through Urban Herb School with Garliq 2013.

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Anna Heywood Jones will be no stranger to those of you who have been following EartHand for a while. Anna was our Artist in Residence in 2022 and 2023, producing the incredible fibre and dye resource for us that you will find on the Our Fibre Shed page.

In 2023, Anna’s research focused on a deep dive into all things Indigo and we are so excited to be able to offer this class for Anna to share all of the learnings about the intricate, numerous (and sometimes mysterious ) ways of extracting pigment from fresh leaves and holding that colour on textile.

This program is intended as a learning studio – not for production dying- every participant will leave the program with a deep understanding of the full process from seed starts to finished textile, and have personal sampler libraries using both local raw fleece and local linen stricks as the fibres for dying. Over 4 Saturday afternoons meeting in May, July and September, this small cohort will have a dedicated Slack Channel for staying in touch between sessions.

Keep an eye on our Events Page for new program announcements, and register soon to avoid disappointment, class sizes are small!