From flax to linnen, part 1

 After a long snowy winter, spring came cold and wet. Drizzly days followed one after the other. But one day it was suddenly there, summer heat! Deep blue skies and the sun's rays caressed the earth. The greenery exploded overnight. Hawthorn, lilac, and apple trees sprouted and bloomed, and our whole garden was covered in the delicious sweet floral scents.

On one of these beautiful spring days, somewhere at the end of April, a bag of flaxseeds arrived in our mailbox. I had signed up for a textile museums project here in Sweden. These send everyone who participates enough seeds for 1 squaremeter, with a newsletter about the history of flax and linen, how to sow, harvest and process. Until the late 1800s, linen was an important crop, especially for making undergarments. Later this was completely taken over by cotton, which could be produced more easily and cheaper. Now almost no flax is grown for linen anymore and so an important handicraft is lost and with this project they hope that the knowledge will be preserved.

Now that the white wagtail, which symbolizes the sowing time, has arrived again, it is time to sow my square meter. The birds were chirping in the hazel bushes that began to sprout along our homestead and the first bumblebees buzzed by. I had taken a good look at the garden to find a nice spot for my flax, preferably sunny and not fertilized. Finally I sowed them near the well. Soon the green stalks were sticking up from the black ground and just as the hay harvest was in full swing, the flax was blooming so beautifully! The frail blue flowers swayed in a warm summer breeze. I wasn't the only one who enjoyed it, bumblebees, and all sorts of other insects loved it too.

Summer was slowly coming to an end and the last flowers of the flax had finished blooming and the seed pods started to rattle and it was time to harvest the flax. The sheaves were then allowed to dry upside down in the shed. Then it was time to the rippling, that is, to remove the seed pods from the flax. Unfortunately I didn't have a very nice ripple comb, but it went well with an old mane comb from the ponies grooming box. Now I can sow 5-6 square meters next year!

I put the flax stalks on the lawn after the rippling. Neatly spread out so that all stems are in front of them and all root ends are in the same direction. They have to stay in the wind and weather for ten days and then you turn them over to "rot" them for a few more days. After this, the flax is ready to be processed into real linen. More on that later