What a year we have planned! The first two programs are our feature longer durational learning opportunities that we are offering as ‘stand alone’ programs.
After our year of research into collectivizing the way we tend to this non-profit and our community, we are excited to announce our first steps towards what’s next… read on to find out about our new Annual Membership for the Patch Work Programming with lots of social opportunities for new ideas and learning/discovery groups to grow!
All events take place at Trillium Park in our outdoor learning space unless noted otherwise.
BC “Flax Chat” 2025
Tuesday March 11, 7-8.30pm(PT) virtual program
Are you planning on growing flax for linen this year somewhere in the province of British Columbia?
Join us for a meet and greet of others in the province who will be growing- both small and large plots- of flax for fibre.
EartHand’s first in person Flax Grow-Along cohort took place in 2017, and since then our community has grow so much!
We know many individuals and community groups around the province- and beyond- who are invested deeply in the process of turning straw into gold through the processing of linen straw to spinnable line.
We are excited to launch into the 2025 year with a conversation amongst any growers/processers who are able to join in and share where they are growing and hear what adaptive plans might be in place from lessons learned based on previous experiences.
Those new to growing flax for linen are welcome to join in, listen and learn!
Host: Sharon Kallis
Seasonal Gleaners Basketry
5 Saturdays, April- August 11am-4pm
Dates: April 5, May 10, June 7, July 12, Aug 23, and apple gleaning at MOP Sept 27
Sliding scale $675, $625, $575
Instructors: CZarina Lobo, Sandra Vander Schaaf, Carla Frenkel, Amy Walker, Sharon Kallis
This feature program runs outside of our membership series of Patchwork Programming, and is an excellent starter commitment for folx interested in joining in to learn new skills, meet many of the artists that work with EartHand as well as some of our favourite plants that grow in the learning gardens.
Week one (with CZarina) will be the building of a hoop-style willow basket frame and each monthly session is a chance to focus on a different plant coming into season in the gardens for weaving in the form.
Plants to be used over the season include willow, english ivy, willow bark, blackberry and daylily and more. Techniques include forming willow hoops, Ojo de Dios bracing, twining, short rows, braiding 2 ply cordage, vine and branch splitting.
Flax Grow Along 2025
6 Sundays, 11am-3pm
April 6, May 11, June 8, Jul 6, Aug 17, Sept 28
Instructor: Sharon Kallis
Sliding scale:
$545, $ 515, $480
Includes all supplies except seeds for personal planting
6 Monthly sessions take the group through sowing, weeding, harvesting, retting and all the steps leading to spun linen.
Using heirloom variety flax straw grown at Kwantlen University in 2023 as “learning flax” participants have the opportunity to practice breaking straw, hackling, and spinning stricks to linen thread. A small demonstration plot at Trillium gardens will also be grown, tended, harvested and retted by the flax cohort so all the steps from seed to thread are experienced.
Some experience in spinning is an asset but not a prerequisite, those new to spinning will have a steeper learning curve for the spinning of line.
This group makes an excellent chance for learning the seasonal steps as they unfold while also gaining familiarity with the full steps of processing straw to linen ready for weaving or knitting.
September-/28 growers reunion!
Growers in the group bring back retted straw for collectively processing and “tactile-tasting of ” the ‘terroir in the straw’ that’s been grown in different places.
This will be a chance to do all the steps in the first retted straw of the 2025 crops for comparison of both different seasons and seed varieties.
Participants wishing to plant their own crops will be directed to a local seed grower for local flax seed.
Urban Fleece Sale
Sunday May 25th 12noon-4pm
A unique chance to purchase wool directly from the farmers in the heart of the city!
Susan and John Russell from Barnston Island will be present with bags of raw wool unwashed, and limited amounts of washed wool in smaller amounts. The day will include fleece washing demonstrations, spinning demos, displays of finished garments made with Barnston Island fleece. The Barnston flock is a beautiful small flock of sheep raised especially for their fibre. Fleeces are pure Gotland, or Gotland crossed with BFL, Romney, CVM, Charollais, or some combination of the above.
Find unique fleeces to spin for weaving, knitting or felting and dying. Many white fleeces and coloured fleeces, especially the blue tone grey fleeces for which Gotlands are famous for. Expect a full and fun day with other local fibre people. Bring a cup for tea, your knitting, spinning- and especially any Barnston flock items you want to show others!
Bring Cash for fleece; prices range approx. from $12-$ 30 a pound depending on the quality and breed for raw, unwashed wool. Full fleeces are between 4 to 7 pounds.
Patchwork Programs & Membership
For 2025 we are trying something a little different…
Announcing our Membership Program that gives access to register for what we are calling our Patchwork Programming. Being an EartHand Member is a way to connect more deeply to a community of folx interested in learning together- how we tend both the gardens and our community network.
We hope this can serve as a ‘choose your own learning adventure’ style of programming for our community. Also, our Members’ Friday Night Drop-in Socials happening from late April to early October provide lots of time for people to meet each other, pollinate ideas for new skill-learning pods and slowly continue to build the collective infrastructure that keeps us gathering in good ways.
Expect a few public Open Studio dates to be added to our calendar, and other Patchwork Programs still to be announced.
Purchase your Membership soon to get early access to the booking form for these programs.
https://www.zeffy.com/ticketing/earthand-gleaners-society-memberships–2025
Members Socials
Ongoing on most Fridays 3-7pm from April 25 to October 3
First Friday each month- Friendly Fridays! Members bring a friend night
Sunday March 16 12noon to 4pm
Meet and greet, work and garden planning launch at Trillium.
A start to our year of working together! Lets sow some seeds, literally and metaphorically… expect some seed tray starts and direct sowing in the afternoon along with conversations about what things we want to grow in our community ecosystem, what seed-like skills or ideas are you bringing to share? A chance to meet each other, drink garden tea, visit the plants waking up in the garden and familiarize with our seasonal calendar of tasks and find places you would be interested to participate.
Free for members, please RSVP here
https://www.zeffy.com/ticketing/membership-meet-and-greet
Introduction to Flint Knapping
Saturday April 12, 1-4pm
Instructor: Harley Slade
Sliding Scale $125, $100 and $75 includes materials
Begin your journey to the ancient art of making stone tools!
Local master knapper, Harley Slade guides a workshop introducing students to the various skills required to shape suitable rocks such as obsidian, chert, glass and ceramic into useful cutting tools, arrowheads, knives, spear points and chisels.
Learn to strike flakes from a rock! Learn to pressure flake.
Ground yourself in the local history of materials and methods of this and other regions.
This three hour comprehensive course can serve both the novice and adept practitioner.
Botanical Spring Printing
Saturday April 12th 11-4.30pm
Sliding scale of $150, $125, $100
This celebratory day of printing on linens will focus on highlighting the high-tannin leaves of spring and offers a chance to explore the chemical and colour results from the exciting relationship between tannin and iron. Linen square swatches suitable for quilting, small textile projects and patching will be provided and participants are invited to bring one small cellulose fibre garment –clean and scoured, tank tops, t-shirts or light weight linen shirts ready for a quick iron mordant before bundling.
Expect strong black/dark tone botanical image transfers and generally muted prints.
Participants are encouraged to attend stewardship sessions and the Friday socials leading up to the program to help in the gathering and preparation for the session.
Bark Basketry Spring Intensive:
2 Days: April 26 and 27 Sa. 10am-4pm, Su. 11am-4pm
Instructor: Sandra Vander Schaaf
Sliding scale $ 280, $250, $220
This weekend program is a wonderful opportunity to spend time working with the beautiful willow bark coming from the urban learning gardens under EartHand’s care. Hosted during the spring bark harvesting window, participants will be able to strip some bark from our local willow, and explore techniques from plain weaving, twining and more with simple finishing edges. Expect other locally bountiful plant fibres to make some guest appearances too! Participants can expect to leave with a small completed basket (or two)
Please note this workshop is outdoors and undercover as required. Please be prepared to dress warmly for the weather, bring a cup for tea and your personal lunch and snacks.
Members are encouraged to attend the Friday night socials in the weeks leading up to the workshop for assisting in bark stripping, and the stewardship nights for branch harvesting.
Material gathering and processing dates: Tuesday April 15, 22
Tube Building Made Easy!
3 Saturdays 1-4pm, May 10, May 31, June 21
Instructor: David Gowman
$285, $250.00, $215.00 materials included
Are you tired of inhabiting a world without the skill to rebuild society from the tube up?
Do you find yourself staring idly at sticks and wishing out loud,
‘Gee, wouldn’t it be great if I could make that hollow?’
Look no further, friend, for these skills are not only available, but ancient and respected.
David Gowman, local instrument builder, leads a three day course in multi-purpose elderberry tube manufacture using hand tools and garden sourced wood.
Participants will learn to crack, halve, scrape out and rejoin an elderberry stave. Other skills encountered are scraper manufacture, mouthpiece carving, binding and tube joinery. Applications of wooden tubes include: flutes, trumpets, whistles, oboes, saxophones, clarinets, campfire puffers, underwater breathing pipes, storage containers and drinking straws.
Previous carving skill is an asset, but not required. Adults only.
Wild Fibres for Textiles and Basketry
5 Saturdays 10am-4pm, June 14, July 19, Aug 16, Sept 20, Oct 18
Instructor: Sharon Kallis
Sliding scale $750, $625, $500
These sessions will provide opportunity for seasonal witnessing, tending, gathering and processing of plants both native and introduced growing in The EartHand urban learning gardens.
Participants will leave each session with fibre bundles for personal use, a growing knowledge base of the seasonal support we can offer the plants we are working with and inspiration for personal basketry and textile work. Research time over the various sessions will include exploring retting and cooking treatments of barks for softening fibres and fibre processing to spun and twisted line. Plants we will be working with include nettles, fireweed, dogbane, blackberry, various wood barks and more. Each session includes some hand processing of fibres for collective equitable sharing amongst the group. Participants are strongly encouraged to come out to the Tuesday or Wednesday evening stewardship sessions as they are able.
Sunday June 22 12-4pm
Instructor: Sharon Kallis
Sliding Scale $130, $100 and $75 includes some materials
An intensive afternoon session focused on technique and skill building in spinning flax and other baste fibres. Let’s play around with fibre blending; spinning blended tow, work on spinning mid length fibres from the fold and get ambitious on dressing distaffs!
This afternoon session is a time to connect in-person with a group of similar focused fibre folx. A slack channel will be set up for the group to stay in touch virtually and find times informally to meet up. Cohort members are encouraged to keep gathering to spin at the Friday socials and to put September 20 on their calendar for the Worldwide Spin in Public day at Trillium!
Some previous experience with a drop spindle is required, some fibres are supplied, participants encouraged to bring fibres along to share if possible.
Tansy Green Day Wool Dye Session
Saturday June 14 11am-4pm
Instructor: CZarina Lobo
Sliding scale of $160, $135, $110 includes all materials
A focus on spring greens, especially tansy pre-flower, offering a lovely range from soft cool yellows through to vibrant greens. Iron modifiers and dying portions of both a white and a grey fleece will give a full range of green heathered tones. Washing and mordanting fleeces and some harvesting for the dye session will be attended to during Friday night member socials leaving the studio day for focusing on the plant processing, dye pots and post dye modifications.
Two Barnston Island fleeces that are a gotland/romneyX or gotland/BFL X that will blend together well in a finished project will be split between the three single dye sessions we are offering. Based on raw wool weight, we anticipate approximately 100 gms of dyed wool going home each day with each participant. Participants are strongly encouraged to attend either stewardship sessions or the Friday socials in the few weeks leading up to the studio day.
Willow Market Baskets with Catherine Langevin
Sat and Sun June 28 and 29 10-5pm
( Full program, waitlist being accepted)
Sliding Scale is $ 450, $410, $370
Extra Monday session $ 85
Participants will be making market-style stake and strand willow baskets with an oval base. Techniques include french randing, 3 rod wale, and twining. Leather cross-body strap in is included and participants will be using willow from Salt Spring Island.
Optional Monday: for folx wanting to be more ambitious and weave slightly larger baskets, a Monday session could give extended time to weave an alternate border with either a single willow handle or two rope-style willow handles. Minimum 2 people required for going forward
Monday June 30th extended time 12-5pm $85 ( must be confirmed prior to weekend start)
Instructors bio:
“Catherine Langevin is a willow weaver based in Qathet, British Columbia, with a focus on creating sustainable, functional pieces like foraging baskets, backpacks, and home decor. Her work is inspired by a deep commitment to living gently with the earth, with each creation reflecting this intention. Beyond her craft, Catherine is passionate about teaching. She offers weaving workshops across the Sunshine Coast, Lower Mainland, and Vancouver Island, where she shares her love of weaving and empowers others to create their own sustainable woven pieces, fostering a sense of community and environmental mindfulness.”
Summer Yellows Wool Dye Session
Sunday July 27 11am to 4 pm
Instructor: Carla Frenkel
Sliding scale of $160, $135, $110 includes all materials
Exploring the seasonal bounty in the gardens mid-summer including weld, goldenrod, mahonia bark and other plants/funghi in season offering a multitude of yellow dyes on a white and grey fleece.
Washing and mordanting fleeces and some harvesting for the dye session will be attended to during Friday night member socials leaving the studio day for focusing on the plant processing, dye pots and post-dye modifications.
Two Barnston Island fleeces that are a gotland/romneyX or gotland/BFL X that will blend together well in a finished project will be split between the three single dye sessions we are offering. Based on raw wool weight, we anticipate approximately 100 gms of dyed wool going home each day with each participant.
Participants are strongly encouraged to attend either stewardship sessions or the Friday socials in the few weeks leading up to the studio day.
Grass, Barks and Braids Exploration
Thursday August 21 5.30-8.30pm
Intructors: Carla Frenkel and Sharon Kallis
Sliding scale: $100, $75, $50
Join Sharon and Carla for an informal play night with the local grasses and expanding our capacity of braids. Let’s talk about all things bias- the benefit and utility of braids is in the flexibility! We will explore some core skills and make some samples that could lead to future ambitious cohorts such as braided hats, bags and more. Fibres we will have available to
explore include the abundant grasses at Trillium, as well as barks, fireweed, blackberry and sedges.
Members in the Wild Fibres for Textile and Basketry program will find this a helpful chance to explore techniques they can use with their own fibre stash, but all members are welcome.
Autumn Botanical Prints
Sunday September 21 11-4pm
(FULL PROGRAM membership waitlist )
Intructor: CZarina Lobo
Sliding scale of $150, $125, $100
This autumn dye session will focus on printing on post consumer linen using tannin and alum as a mordant for bright and bold colours and prints that celebrate autumnal abundance such as coreopsis, marigolds, fallen leaves and other seasonal offerings.
Linen square swatches suitable for quilting, small textile projects and patching will be provided and participants are invited to bring one small cellulose fibre garment –clean and scoured, tank tops, t-shirts or light weight linen shirts ready for a quick iron mordant before bundling.
Expect strong black/dark tone botanical image transfers and generally muted prints.
Participants are encouraged to attend stewardship sessions and the Friday socials leading up to the program to help in the gathering and preparation for the session.
Autumnal Reds Wool Dye Day
Saturday October 4th 11am-4pm
(FULL PROGRAM, membership waitlist )
Instructor: Sharon Kallis
Sliding scale of $160, $135, $110 includes all materials
Dying with our local madder and coreopsis, a journey from pinks to salmons, warm reds and burnt orange brings some warmth to our cold autumn days.
Washing and mordanting fleeces and some harvesting for the dye session will be attended to during Friday night member socials leaving the studio day for focusing on the plant processing, dye pots and post-dye modifications.
Two Barnston Island fleeces that are a gotland/romneyX or gotland/BFL X that will blend together well in a finished project will be split between the three single dye sessions we are offering. Based on raw wool weight, we anticipate approximately 100 gms of dyed wool going home each day with each participant.
Participants are strongly encouraged to attend either stewardship sessions or the Friday socials in the few weeks leading up to the studio day.
Mushroom Introduction and Appreciation weekend!
October 18th – meet at Trillium and carpool or at Strathcona Community garden
October 19th – at Trillium
Sliding scale $ 280, $250, $220
A local foray into looking for mushrooms in the Strathcona area, discussion around identification, ecosystems and reciprocity,
Instructors: Carla Frenkel and TBC, more information on this program to follow!
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EartHand Gleaners Society 