19 seconds of sunlight

The day after winter Solstice's longest night is 19 seconds longer than the day before.  These fleeting moments of light and visual warmth are precious where we live, just below the arctic. 

We make a meal of salmon on the Solstice, we gather round the Yule tree and we share gifts of love to lighten the heart.  The salmon's life is a potent symbol of rebirth, and this meal honors the cyclic nature of the season.  Salmon return in the last year of their lives to the rivers and streams where they were spawned, spending the last of their life energy in spawning the next generation.

Every summer, when the days are long and the nights are oh so short, we journey to the river where the salmon are, we harvest gratefully the lives they offer and bring them home to our freezer.  Our dipnets wait under the snow for the next season, and the salmon feed our bodies and lift our spirits through the dark and the cold. 

Snowdyeing Seaweed

I'm truly and deeply in love with doing my own dye work.  This was snow-dyed, which is a technique that requires ceding much of your artistic control to the process.  It was a really fun reveal for me, seeing what the dye job looked like once rinsed and dried.  I'm excited to play more with yarn and snow and dye together.  One of the benefits of living in Interior Alaska is that I have snow available to me for at least half of the year! 

This skein is made of 100% seaweed, processed in the same manner bamboo is to make rayon.  It will be used on my upcoming warp "Surfacing" which is inspired by the selkie of northwestern European mythology.  I love the romance of using seaweed to weave a woman who shapeshifts into a seal!   

Shop Now Open!

The 14 Mile Farm online shop is now open! 

I'm excited to offer my work through this venue in addition to selling directly via the 14 Mile Farm Chatter group on Facebook.  My hope is that this allows friends, family, and acquaintance an easier way to get a bit of 14 Mile Farm into their lives.  I currently offer shipping to the US and Canada through the shop.  If you live elsewhere globally and would like to make a purchase, please contact me to set up a listing with shipping calculations for your locale.

The shop is currently stocked with wrap scrap items (scarves, scrap, and a baby blanket) and a skein of handspun yarn.  Bookmark the site to check back in the coming weeks and months for more of the same as well as wildcrafted herbs, tapestry weaving, and other goodies.