In 2017, Joanna Ball (‘The Flax Lady’) organised the sowing, growing and the harvesting of flax in lots of places in West Coker and elsewhere. HERE is her project blog.
The project centres on Dawe’s Twineworks – after all, flax was the basis for the twine, rope and sailcloth industries – and we had three plots next to the main walk. One was sown by children from the local primary school.
Dawe’s flax from two of the plots was harvested by volunteers and visitors on our August 2017 open day.
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- From tiny seeds……
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- Ready to sow
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- First flower
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- Flax is ‘pulled’
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- ..as it was 100 years ago
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- Jo hangs the flax to dry
Once dry, it was ‘retted’ (soaked to soften the fibres). We hope to spin it into yarn.