Dyeing Black: A Happy Accident!

A quiet and unassuming rainstorm tiptoed through this weekend. As we are counting down for the mother of rain seasons that we have been promised here in California, this little teaser at least left us with that fresh smell of leaves and earth that I have been longing for.

When I left the house in a hurry on Friday, I forgot to take down my dyed fabric that I had left out to dry. It was a piece of piggy pink cotton gauze that I had soaked in green tea, then left in an iron bath. I was quite pleased with the mild, warm gray that I was left with and when I came back on Monday morning it still looked ok although it had gotten tangled in the branches of the old oak tree. 

At a closer look I saw that some oak leaves and acorns had gotten stuck on the fabric, and when I brushed them off they had left dark, almost black, stains. I was disappointed at first, but then I had an idea.

I had heard that gall nuts, acorns and even oak leaves can be good dye stuff. I was still surprised with the striking chemical reaction with green tea and iron! I collected some leaves and acorns and boiled them for 20 min or so, then I strained the mixture and dunked the fabric in it. 

Lo and behold, this is my fabric after 10 min of soaking!

I will leave my fabric in this concoction over night. Crossing my fingers that the dye will stick...

After a day of soaking and a couple of baths to rinse off the excess dye, this is the color of the fabric. I will definitely be dyeing with oak and acorns again!

Luxurious Facecream For My Sister

My sister is spending some time at my brother's house is Spain. It is a very, very old house at the foot of the Basque mountains in a tiny little village of seven houses or so. She is writing, working, riding horses and lighting fires in the fireplace when it gets cold and dark. I only see her once a year when Lilian and I go back to Sweden. I miss her terribly in between. I wish I could go there right now, sit in front of the fire with her and talk and drink gallons of tea.

Today I made an extra luxurious face cream especially for her. It smells of vanilla, rose and cardamom, and contains oils with extra fine properties - rosehip seed- and sacha inchi seed oil, both cold pressed and organic. There are no preservatives except natural vitamin E oil, so she will have to store it in the refrigerator. 

My sister deserves the best this world has to offer, and this is some of it.

Elderberry Syrup with Vanilla and Cloves. Recipe for Immune System Boost!

I decided to make a small batch to test a new recipe for elderberry syrup. It turned out great. I spiced it with a hint of cloves and vanilla, and now we have a super potent, completely natural immune booster to protect us from the flu and colds this season. I pour a little bit in a glass and fill it up with sparkling water for a refreshing dinner libation. 

Here's the recipe:

ELDERBERRY SYRUP WITH CLOVES AND VANILLA

400 grams (14 oz) elderberries, cleaned from twigs

1/2 apple

1 dl (1/2 shy cup) water

3 cloves

1.2 dl (1/2 cup) sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Mix berries, apples (cut into large chunks), water and cloves in a sauce pan. Slowly bring to a boil and let it simmer for 20 min.

When the berries have released their liquids, pour the mixture into a juice strainer positioned over a pot, or a strainer covered in a couple of layers of cheese cloth. Let it sit for a few hours. Do not push on the berries - let gravity do the work.

Pour the juice back into the sauce pan, add sugar and lemon juice and let the syrup come to a boil. Make sure that all the sugar is dissolved and discard the foam (if any) on top of the syrup. Add vanilla and stir.

Pour into perfectly clean and dry bottles and seal. You can also let the syrup cool, pour it into a container, and freeze it. Depending on how much sugar you use, you can freeze in ice cube trays and use as needed. If you use a lot of sugar the mixture will not freeze. If you want the syrup to last longer, use a larger amount of sugar.

Voila, and enjoy!

Also, check out my Etsy shop if you fancy:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/cloudberryandmoss

Elderberries

  

  Coming back from work today, tired after a week of stretching the limits of what I am physically really able to able to, I realized that I needed to go out and pick something. Harvest. 

Every summer I take Lilian with me and spend one whole month in Sweden. I was born and raised on the west coast of Sweden and it was only 14 years ago that I moved here, to Oakland, California. Being able to go back and visit is an absolute necessity for me. There is such a stark contrast between the life I live here and that month that we spend with family in the forest, in the ocean, on the smooth granite rocks or in the comfort of my moms house and garden, eating all of the edibitities that it has to offer! 

One of my favorite things to do there is harvest. I find it to be extremely soothing, meditative and generally therapeutic. I'll harvest anything: blueberries, lingonberries, currants, chanterelles, porcini. I'll pull up potatoes or carrots, and I feel like the fumes I've been running on for the past few months are replaced with fresh, truly green and all around organic fuel.

So, I pick Lilian up from school and we go to see if there are still Elderberries out there to be picked. It turns out that still, late in October, elderberries are hanging from the branches of the Sambucus Mexicana - The Mexican Elderberry tree.

 Mexican Elderberry grows everywhere in the Bay Area. Coming from Sweden I was used to ripe Elderberries being black and shiny, but the Mexican Elderberry  has a light blue frosted appearance when fully ripe. And you do want to make sure you pick them ripe, if you intend to eat them. All of the parts of the elderberry trees are poisonous except for the flowers and the ripe berries. You will not die from eating unripe berries, but it might cause you a severe stomach ache.

Elderberries have a natural strong antiviral effect, among numerous other benefits. When the flu comes around this year, we are armed to the teeth! I store my elderberries away in the freezer, take them out as needed and make a delicious syrup out of them. 

Velvet Acorns

One day, a few months ago, I was cruising along in my neighborhood when I noticed a beautiful European Oak tree with large bountiful acorns hanging from the branches. I filed this memory away until a couple of days ago, when I had an idea. 

I have a craft fair coming up. For several years now I have been making velvet pumpkins with real stems. I remembered the oak tree, and realized that by now, the acorns might have fallen, and with them their beautiful caps.

 In addition to my velvet pumpkins this year, I will be selling these little gems: velvet acorns with real acorn caps. 

Peep into my etsy shop:

www.etsy.com/shop/cloudberryandmoss

Scarves

For a long, long time I have been thinking about making scarves and wraps. Having had a lot on my plate for the past few years, the idea was put on the back burner, but resurfaced this past spring when I found myself with just a little bit of extra money. I decided to get some high quality, light weight organic cotton fabric and started experimenting with natural dyes. This is the result so far! I have found three colorways and three sizes that work for me. I love the chemistry part of the process, and the fact that they all come out a little bit different.

This is my large size scarf, dyed with natural organic indigo.

The salmon color, dyed with a mixture of organic madder, cebracho and cocineal.

...and the purple color, dyed with organic logwood

Here's a link to my Etsy shop:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/cloudberryandmoss

Autumn Birds

It's october 12, and it's HOT here in Oakland. I've been home today, and will be, every Monday, from now on so that I can work on my Etsy Shop and all of the things that I really want to do. I'm sitting here in my little apartment up in the trees, on the second floor, spying on the squirrels hurrying up and down, back and forth, to gather as many acorns as they possibly can, only to bury them in my flower pots and forget about them.

Somehow, in this October heat that we call "Indian Summer", I am supposed to muster up some Autumn-feelings. Get in the mood for the season. I've been lighting candles at night, planning my daughters Halloween costume and yesterday we went to a pumpkin patch. I'm still waiting for the triggers to trigger and inspire me, but in the meantime my little yarn bird friends do their part from their home on my wall.

/Maria