Pear leather

 I made fruit leather this week, thanks to the generosity of two friends, one who has extended me a very long loan of her dehydrator (I store it for her in my cold celler) and a wonderful lady and her fella who were willing make room for, and bring, a big tote bag of free pears back on a return trip of 300km from their parents backyard up north.

Pear leather is a delicious and simple snack that is much like fruit roll-ups only made with real food and nothing else.

My recipe does not have many measurement, because it's always based on what fruit I can find at any given time.  This is a good thing to do with windblown apples and wild harvested fruit, items that might be to tough or tart to eat out of hand can be really good if you just find the right way to process them. You can easily cut away bruised areas and adjust flavors by adding other fruit.

• Wash core and slice all fruit

• zest and juice 2 lemons to brighten flavor
• Add a tiny bit of water to get things started

• Cook covered 30 min on med-low (yes, the pizza stone above is my lid)
• Mash up some more and open up the pot to begin thickening sauce
• Season with cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg to taste

• Puree with stick blender when everything is soft 
• Cut parchment paper to fit dehydrator trays

• Pour 2 cups of sauce per tray, smooth out evenly in tray, keeping back from the fan holes
•  stack 4 high 

• Dehydrate for 12 hrs YMMV till firm and translucent and not too sticky (above image is only 1/2 done)

• Slice each tray into 4 
• each piece has apx the same calories as a 1/2 cup of applesauce and it is far easier to eat on the go or carry hiking or backpacking

Enjoy with friends!

Root of the Madder

Well a wonderful place out of time called Pensic allowed me to pick up all of the mordents that I could need for my early experiments.   Also, I have been enchanted while searching the web, by all of the examples of madder dyeing I had seen, so in the same booth I picked up a 4 oz bag.

 Now, not having a good idea of the concentrations need for many of these experiments I have been using a 1 part fiber (by weight) to 8 parts fresh plant materials.   With this being a dry and fairly concentrated dye stuff I went with 1:1 ratio with the dried, powdered roots.

So the steps...

mordent wool 115 g and 15g cotton with 1 tbls of alum 1 hr

bring powdered madder (4 oz) in a silk bag up to just under 80'c but no higher, over 1.5hr in water with 1 tbs washing soda

add wool keep at below 80'c 1 hr, open bag 1hr let cool over night

squeeze out excess and dry, shake out root dust when dry, wash and then dry again

madder, last two on far right

Now this was not as dark as I would have liked, but I have read in a few places that the longer you mordent your fibers the better the dye is taken up, especially with madder.  So just for the heck of it I froze my very dark red dyebath and I will follow the advise of a few recipes and mordent my wool for a few weeks (yikes).  Though I may stage it up so that in one dyebath I can show yarns that have been in the mordent bucket for 1, 2 and 3 weeks.  This could be a real/interesting experiment, now to find a spare bucket.

The woe's of woad

Last spring I purchased woad seeds from Richters Herbs ( Then later got razzed by a friend for paying good money for weeds, when she knew someone who has way, way, more seeds, than she could ever hope to plant.)  Any how they grew fairly well in the full sun spot where I planted them. Then, after spending all that time growing them and tenderly weeding them, I decided to rush right in and try to dye some wool using a direct dye method outlined in Rita Buchanan's "A weavers garden".  To be fair she does say that results can vary in a range from brown-blue to grey-blue, but what I unfortunetly got was a very light tan with lovely greeny yellow over tones (that mostly washed out)

 Needless to say whatever I did or did not do wrong, I will not be repeating this rash and direct method again.  In a few days or a few weeks if the weather is fair, just before the first frosts I will gather all the leaves that have regrown on the plants and extract the indigo pigments to be used in a "sig vat" later...  then maybe I will have some images of success to show.   Till then here are some glimpses of the whole sad affair.  

"Some days you get the bear, some days the bear gets you." 

Diving into the natural dye-pot, a beginners adventure

So, where did I begin, well in my back yard, in my neighborhood and in my area.

Ok, like most things I get into, I caught a glimpse of something or heard a few words about this or that or read about it in a book years ago and it stirred around my head until enough things came together that I could bring it into my life. I have done fiber arts for years, simple weaving and simpler knitting and I have some experience in silk dye-painting.

But my rustic/pioneering/eco-freak side was itching for more ways to add colour and warmth to my projects. I find weaving takes so much time that I really have to love my fibers to enjoy the whole experience. and what could be better than using herbs and wildflowers that are so abundant at this time of year, to transform pure white yarns into a rainbow pallet of choices.

First thing I have to say is that although I took notes YMMV always applies, My home turf is in the sw part of ontario, so what and when I find things growing and blooming may vary considerably from wherever you call home. Pictures are my way of logging most processes and it's reassuring to see proof that the muddy mess you have really is about to change radically when you add some alum or iron in at he last minute.

so with no further adu, here are the first posts in my dyeing adventure.

Goldenrod lives up to it's name

Oh the wonders of weeds, I pay nothing, and yet they give me so much.  This one smells like heaven, by which I mean it filled my kitchen with the aroma of honey and flowers. The smell even made it's way into the wool. So delicious!

harvest flowering golden rod tops flowers only, strip flowers off of stems

weigh out 400 g and stuff into pot, bring to simmer 1 hour remove goldenrod and toss into compost Add 1 tsp alum to pot

Add 40g of wool and 5g cotton that had been mordented with 1 tsp alum, on low heat for 1hr

simmer together for 1 hr

cool overnight in dye wring out dry for a day wash dry again goldenrod dyed wool and cotton in center of image

Sumac in Progress

So sumac, what can I tell you about it.
Native americans used to make a high vitamin c tea out of it, that is very tasty and kinda like lemonaid in flavor.
That the red berries are good to eat and the plants with white ones are toxic and can cause contact dermatitis, much like poison ivy or poison oak.
That stands of staghorn sumac are all over the place in my area.
That it's best to harvest the bright red berries after they are ripe but before the fall rains wash away all their pink, acidic goodness.

And lastly, that the dye produced is very ph sensitive... how much I don't know, I have tests yet to run, but, I know that you can turn it from a cheerful pink to a teal-ish grey by simply bringing the liquor down in ph with soap or baking soda. To keep the pinks this fiber must be washed with vinegar only. light and wash fastness also will be tested soon.

So ok... here's the pretty pictures and the process...

• I broke the berries off of their stems into an old aluminum pot, 410g 
• skeined up wool 50g, worsted weight and chained up some cotton, 5 g 
• added water and let the berries sit for 2 hours, added more water and brought slowly to a simmer, 30 min 
• washed my wool with Bronners lavender soap, rinsed it and then soaked it in hot water with alum 2 tbsp 
• removed berrries and fuzz from dye pot with a strainer 
• brought wool up to same temp as dyepot, gently rung water out and then put wool and cotton into dye pot, Simmer 30 min 
• allow to cool over night 

• Rinsed when wet (I might not do this next time)
• Hang to dry in inside

The cotton stayed bright and pink, the wool's red rinsed out, mostly ending up as a nice, warm, tawny yellow. Almost a tanned skin-tone.



Rinsed again after drying for a few days, with no noticeable bleeding.

Skein winder

So after Macgyver-ing a spinning office chair and a lg silk stretching frame to make my first skein. I realized I would have to break down and get a skein winder, umbrella swift or niddy noddy. Well again, years back, I had seen one online that was simple and folded flat and of course I couldn't find it now. The ones I could find were upwards of $50 to start. So since I have enough skills to cut wood and drill holes, and friends with a well outfitted carpentry shop in their basement, I figured I could get this done, no problem.

So plans got drawn up in my sketchbook and then it was off to the hardware store to see if I could find the parts I wanted for this project.

One hour and $18.50 later, I had nearly everything needed to make a simple winder that is adjustable and folds flat. The following images show it set up and in need of some finishing up of edges but other wise I am very pleased with it's functionality.

Parts list:

• 4 washers 
• 1 long bolt (roughly 5x the thickness of my lumber) 
• 3 nuts 
• 1 3/4" piece of narrow copper tubing 
• 1 4" piece copper tubing with end cap (for use as a freely spinning handle) 
• glue 
• 1 8' length oak 
• 1 4' length hardwood dowel 
• 2 screws 
• assorted hand tools and a drill 

What's tall and green and stings all over?

Nettles!

Wear gloves, double bag 'em and in general be careful until they are boiled. If you get stung, apply mud or even better, if you can find it, some jewel-weed pulp.

Step one, find a friend who has some nettles running amok on their property and become their hero of the day by removing many of the flowering tops of the plants from their property.

Or, find your nearest river flat and look for these tall deep green lovelys in the rich soils of the river banks and alongside paths. I've seen large stands that top 8 feet and their fibers can actually be processed much like flax from what I've read, but that adventure is for another day.

Today they dye... to give me all of their chlorophyll-y goodness to make one of my favorite mossy green colours.

• Harvest flowering and budding nettle tops and leaves (rescue caterpillar) 

• weigh out 400 g and stuff into my old aluminum pot 
• chop roughly inside of pot with long handled knife till they fit better 

• top up with water and set to simmer 1 hr 
• discover that you added too much water, clean up floor and dip some water out to add back in later 

• simmer and 2 hours more till quite reduced and dark 
• skein and wash wool 50g, and cotton 5-10g 
• mordant fibers at a low heat, ½ hour with 2 tsp alum 
• strain nettles out, add wool and cotton simmer ½ hour 

• check colour... shit, not yellow again!!! 
• add ¼ tsp iron sulfate coupras... to deaden colour... ah much better a sludgy greyey-greeny hue 

• soak over night 

• wring out 
• dry for a day 
• wash 
• dry