As part of our Earth Centred Design and Cultural Sustainability class we will be maintaining and tending to our natural dye garden. Due to the covid-19 lockdown the garden had been neglected for some time. During this time plants sadly could not outlive the overgrown weeds. Despite this, majority of the madder root plants that were planted survived. Before we can plant any new plants, we took to cleaning out all the weeds to allow for a nice clean sleight. It is important that when weeding that you are pulling out the weeds from the root. As soil had hardened up in the heat the weeds were breaking just above the root. In order to address this, you can either break up the soil to help lift the the weed from the roots or your can wet the soil as it softens it up and makes it easier to bring the weed out from the roots.
Having a dye garden is a great way for us to really connect and educate ourselves on the method of natural dying and on the environment. Educating myself on what is required for a garden to flourish has been very eye opening. Soil health, the location of where plants are placed e.g. in the shade or in direct sunlight as well as understanding how to prevent weeds from interfering with the growth of our plants, fostered a new found appreciate for the time and effort required with gardening. The growing process of plants, specifically plants that we will be hopefully using for our natural dying, has made me more cautious around wastage. Because I have a new level of understanding and connection to the process there is real sense of mindfulness with how I intend to use these crops.
Considering it is still early days in our gardening journey, this just shows that the idea of educating consumers and having them be involved in the process of the production of clothing, that we may in fact be able to change the appetite of consumption. Of course we will need to take into consideration that when something is taken to larger scale the outcome can drastically change however I feel that it is worth giving it a go. When facing a global warming crisis, any effort to try and change our current way of living is worth it.
Here we can see the students and Harita pulling our the weeds. The weeds had completely taken over the garden patch.
Hartia is showing one of the students how to break up to soil in order to remove the weeds from the root.
In order to get the weeds out from the root, you can see the students are pulling as close to the soil as possible. This allows for a better grip on the weed and also prevents the weed from snapping just before the root.
The 2 photos above is the end of result of our weeding for the day. As you can see, the path has been cleared the new plants that we will be planting in the dye garden.
Seini's Blog for Earth-Centred Design and Cultural Sustainability 