The Flax Vat Ret Has Begun!

Today, Friday, September 6, we began retting the Gale Woods linen flax. This is precisely four weeks after we harvested the flax and two weeks after we rippled it (removed the seed capsules). The stalks were a beautiful light brown, and most no longer had the green tint mentioned in my last blog.

 

We started with three vats but realized only two would be needed, so we moved flax from the smallest vat to the two larger ones. (The flax doesn’t need to be free-floating in the vats; it just needs to be fully submerged, and two vats were enough for that.)

 

When filling the vats with the stalks, the flax must be placed with the root ends together and in alignment. This is important for the remaining processing steps.

Large pavement blocks were placed on top of the flax in the vats, but we found that additional weights were needed to fully submerge the stalks. A few field rocks did the trick!

The temperature in the greenhouse was 70 degrees when we started the process (the "live" reading is on the right in the photo). The water was cooler, maybe 50–60 degrees, but it will warm up quickly as the sun hits the greenhouse and the ambient temperature increases. The weather temperature is supposed to be in the 80s during the next week, so I expect the ret to move along quickly. I will be monitoring the vats every day, draining some of the water as the anaerobic bacteria (bacteria that thrives in water) does its work (the bacteria make the water bubble and smell awful!), and photographing the progress up to the point of the flax being well-retted. 

My next post will show the retting results, so keep in touch!

 

 

A Rippling Good Time Was Had!

The flax stalks had been drying on the fence line for nearly two weeks, but the farm staff moved them into the greenhouse because of another bout of rainy and stormy weather. 

That was a good move since we were able to ripple (remove) the seed ovules (the capsules containing the seeds) inside the greenhouse last Friday, August 23. That was two weeks after the harvest and the typical drying period before rippling. A few of the stalks had a green hue in the middle of the bundles, so perhaps they were not fully dry. But we moved ahead with the rippling anyway.

Since we didn’t have a “true” seed-removing hackle, we used an open-tined garden rake as the first tool to pull off the capsules and followed it up with a wool hackle (used in preparing wool for worsted spun fiber—something I had in my teaching tools). This two-step process worked quite well.

 

After three hours of rippling with four of us rotating between the hackles, we ended up with a LOT of seed capsules. Considering the capsules average five seeds per capsule, we undoubtedly had a lot of seeds to try germinating and sowing for next year. 

Greg, the garden supervisor, took aside about two cups of capsules and debris and winnowed it down (cleaned out the debris) to about a half cup of seed. In the photo, he is letting the wind blow away the lightweight chaff as the heavier seeds drop into the bucket. There wasn't enough time to winnow all the seeds that day, but with what was gathered in the tarp under the rippling hackles, there should be more than enough seeds to give it a go for another crop. We also left a quarter of the stalks in the field dedicated to harvest for seeds, not for linen fiber. So, there should be no worries about having enough seeds for next year’s crop!

As I write this, an UPDATE! The winnowing has been completed, and there were 5.5 pounds of seed just in the approximately 125 lineal feet of harvested flax! Considering that we started out with 1.5 pounds for the entire 150 lineal feet, that is a huge seed yield!

The winnowed seeds show a variety of maturity levels. The lighter-colored seeds are probably not mature enough for sowing next year, while the mature flax seeds are medium brown. Interestingly, based on my research, the stalks with the less mature seeds will likely have finer flax fiber, so harvesting the stalks at this stage should be good for our fiber goals. What is left in the field will be more suited for next year’s seed crop since those stalks, maturing longer, will be too woody for good linen fiber. Greg will do a germination test of the seeds to see if the seeds from the stalks still left in the field will germinate better. It will be interesting to discover the results!

The rippled flax stalks are now resting in the greenhouse while we await the next step: retting (rotting) the rippled stalks. (Check out that corn stalk in the middle! It was from a rogue kernel of corn that germinated in the greenhouse and was probably the tallest corn stalk at the farm this year due to the poor growing conditions. That is why they left it standing! 😂) 

We are waiting until after Labor Day weekend (the first week of September) to begin the retting process. I am crossing my fingers that we will have warm weather into September since we are retting the flax outdoors, probably in vats or laying them in a field to dew-ret if we cannot find large enough vats. Warm weather is essential to keep a warm environment for retting in a vat or field. 

The stalks need to be retted and thoroughly dried before the final mechanical step, which is processing them into fiber. Time is getting tight! We have a deadline of October 13—the Gale Woods Fall Fest day (10 AM – 4 PM), when I will demonstrate those last steps—hopefully with the Gale Woods Linen Flax!

A Visit from University Researchers and 

Flax Harvest at Gale Woods Farm!

A couple of weeks ago, three researchers from the University of Minnesota Department of Horticulture Science visited the Gale Woods Farm flax crop. The U of M has been testing perennial seed flax (not linen flax) to develop the most suitable seed flax for the Upper Midwest region. I first met one of their researchers, Matt, after I gave a presentation and demonstration about linen flax in April at the Weaver’s Guild of Minnesota. He became intrigued by the Gale Woods Farm linen flax project I mentioned at my talk and has been following its progress. On July 29, Matt and his colleagues from the U of M traveled to Gale Woods Farm for a literal field trip to learn more about linen flax and see it growing in real life. We had such an enlightening visit sharing and comparing the different varieties of the flax species! 

 

Matt gave me a few bundles of their perennial seed flax stalks, which he had retted and dried. Note that these bundles have been cut and not pulled. (The cut end is on the left in the photo.) The crown and roots of the perennial varieties need to remain in the soil for next year’s spring growth, so they are cut. (Linen flax is an annual plant and is pulled.) I have promised to mechanically process these cut stalks with my flax processing tools to see what sort of fiber might emerge. Seed flax has many flower branches and is shorter than linen flax (these bundles are 3 feet in length, and an optimal linen flax stalk will be another foot longer), so I don’t expect to recover fiber that will be that useful for spinning unless it is blended with other fibers. But we shall see! I LOVE such real-life experimentation! 

Gale Woods Farm Harvest Day Has Happened—
Friday, August 9th!

This is what the plot looked like on August 9. It was ready to harvest!

We (the Gale Woods garden staff, a farm volunteer, and I) harvested the flax last Friday, August 9th. The harvest date snuck up on us. Most of the stalks had quickly become yellow about one-third of the way up the stalk, perhaps because of the warmer turn in the weather from the past week. Since August 9 was 94 days since the sowing on May 8 and within the 90–100 days from sowing, which is the expected growing window for linen flax, it was ready, even if some flowers were blooming on a few of the slower-growing stalks. Our harvest day just happened to be on a beautiful, cool day with a brisk wind, so it was another reason to take advantage of the perfect weather for harvesting!

 

In four hours, we pulled about three-fourths of the 150-lineal-foot plot and left the tallest last quarter of stalks to stand in the field, where they will fully mature to a brown color, and their seeds will also complete their maturation. Those stalks will then be pulled, and their seeds will be used to plant next year’s crop in hopes that they will also result in a tall crop for next year. (See them at the far end of the image above. The green plants in the pulled plot are mainly weeds left behind after the harvest! It was a weedy plot, even though you couldn't see all the weeds through the dense, tall stalks. Better preparation of a plot area in the fall will make next year's plot much cleaner. We didn't have that opportunity for this year's crop.)

Another sign that the crop is ready to harvest is the sound of the seeds bouncing inside the seed ovules (capsules). Turn up your sound to hear the gentle rattling of these ovule “maracas”!

The harvested plot yielded 157 flax bundles (“beets”), which we hung on the adjacent fence to dry with the seed end down. Hanging flax is the best way to dry the stalks since it allows the stalk and seeds to mature further, as all moisture remaining in the stalk will move to the stalk tip and the seeds during the drying process. The other method is to set them upright in “chapels” in the field (chapels are beets set upright in groups that support each other like a teepee). But because our summer has been so wet and space for the chapels to sit was challenging, hanging them was the best option. They will dry very quickly when hung and make a lovely visual along the fence line!

I drove past the fence yesterday, and in just four days, the harvested stalks have already started to dry and turn brown! 

When they are fully dry, maybe in a few more days to a week (there is no urgent timeline for the next steps), we will ripple (pull off) the seed capsules, and the stalks will be ready for retting. The farm has vats that we can use to ret the stalks in the field. Vat retting is the fastest retting method. But, since we cannot artificially heat the vat, we will need to let the ambient temperature and sun participate in the ret, which takes about a week longer than a controlled heated vat. (The other retting method is dew retting them by laying the stalks in thin layers on the ground. That usually takes at least two weeks or more and can result in an uneven ret. Besides, since ground space is also limited, that was another reason to vat ret!)

 

The stalks should be ready for rippling off the seeds sometime during the next week. Stay tuned!

The Bloom is Off the Linen Flax

and the 30-day countdown begins!

I visited the Gale Woods Farm flax plot last Friday, July 19, and found the blooms essentially done. There were only a handful of flowers in bloom and multiple capsules. (The capsules are the “ovaries” left behind after the bloom. These capsules contain flax seeds that may be rippled [removed] when the stalks are fully mature, harvested, and dried. They may also be left in the field on some unharvested stalks to mature even further, and those can be used for next year's sowing.)

Based on what I saw when I last visited the plot on July 11th and the state of the bloom on the 19th, I am calling July 15th to be the height of the bloom (69 days since the initial sowing) and the date to begin the 30-day waiting period before harvesting. After 30 days, so around August 15th, the stalks should be fully matured, and the harvest may begin. This is right in the ballpark with the 100-day maturation expectation for linen flax, counting from the sowing date to the harvest date.

But there is always something to discover when I visit the plot. This time, I noticed that the plot had a “visitor” who went through the center of the 4-foot-wide plot and lodged several of the center stalks. 

Unless it was a very precise downdraft of wind, the visitor was most likely a rabbit, raccoon, or some sort of small to medium-sized critter that wandered through the plot. At this stage, the stalks shouldn't be affected by such lodging, so we will let them lay as they are. Hopefully, that will be the only intruder in the plot by mid-August, when harvesting will begin!

The Height of the Bloom

I need to catch up on updating the blog! 

I visited the Gale Woods Farm linen flax plot last Thursday, July 11th, and found it in full bloom! You could definitely see it from the road this time, even though the flowers are quite small—about the size of a quarter.

This plot is a pollinating wonder! I shot a video to show the action. Turn up your volume to hear the hum of the bumblebees swarming around each flower!

This rogue weed/flower (I believe it is called Hairy Vetch) has popped up in the middle of the plot. It is quite pretty against the blue flax flowers, even if unwanted in the crop. 

Here, you can see how densely the flax was sown and how successful a dense sowing is for the health of the plot. The stalks have had no problem reaching full height, which they are essentially at now, even in such tight quarters!

Look at this gorgeous flower that will only survive for a few hours! I hope you visited the plot in the past couple of weeks since the blooms will soon be gone if they aren't already. 

When the plot reaches its maximum blooming phase, the countdown begins for setting the harvest date. I plan to revisit the plot later this week to see if there are fewer blooms and if we might enter that 30-day waiting period before the harvest.

A Blooming Good Time!

I don't have much to update you on the Gale Woods Linen Flax crop except to say... it's blooming like crazy! Since rain was forecast every day for the next week, I dropped by the farm on what was to be the sunniest day (this past Wednesday, July 3) to see how the blooms were coming along. 

There are so many blooms and so many buds about to flower! 

The height of most of the stalks is now over 3 feet.

Since it was a beautiful day and there wasn't much to report from Gale Woods Farm this week besides the blooms, I stopped by the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Look who greeted me on one of the back paths! A giant, ancient tortoise! The moss on his back is fantastic!

Rolling With the Punches 
A Thriving Linen Flax Plot and… the Death of a Plot

Update on the Gale Woods Farm linen flax plot

The Gale Woods plot is thriving! On June 20th, I saw the first flower in bloom. Actually, there were three flowers in bloom in the entire plot, which indicates that I probably arrived on the first day of the bloom. 

This was earlier than I expected to see the first blooms. Surprises are part of the process! The total time from sowing to bloom was precisely 44 days. 

It was interesting that the blooms were not on the tallest stalks. I guess height is not necessarily an indicator of bloom readiness. The average stalk height was around 30 inches.

I revisited the plot this past Wednesday (June 26th), 

and there are multiple blooms! It was a windy day, so getting the flowers to stand still for their portrait was difficult, 

so I made a video of the flowing stalks. (Turn up your sound to experience the site. At 7 seconds, there is the faint call of a farm rooster!)

The tallest stalks are now over 36 inches—beyond the reach of my yardstick—and many are 42 inches tall! There are still several shorter stalks, and they are all looking very healthy.

Based on the number of buds ready to burst with flowers, I suspect that starting this weekend, the plot will be in a great blooming phase, which, considering the number of stalks, might last one to two weeks. Get out there soon, or you will miss the bloom time! Each flower only survives for a few hours, which I can testify is true since I watched a flower drop all its petals during the short time I visited the plot around midday. 

Update on my personal linen flax plot

Now, some bad news, at least for me. This summer has shown no mercy for my poor personal plot. If you have been following this journey through the weeks, you know that my plot had challenges in its not-so-sunny location and being near the end of a house downspout. And we have had a LOT of rain this summer in our part of Minnesota. With one particularly heavy overnight deluge, my stalks became lodged (laid on the ground). I hoped they might recover, but they never even got a chance to try. The downpours of rain have been relentless. I finally have accepted this: my plot is toast.

Goodbye, personal plot! (And hello to needing to purchase flax stalks for any workshops I might schedule in the next year. Darn!)

 

As any gardener or farmer can tell you, the ability to roll with the punches is essential. The whims of nature will always be a factor. But after several years of trying to produce a decent linen flax crop at home, my rose-colored glasses are finally put away. I am convinced that, as things are, my home location is never going to work as a site to grow linen flax. I will need to look elsewhere. Fortunately, for this year, I have the Gale Woods Farm plot to follow and process (crossing my fingers that no significant weather events will affect that plot!). So, the remainder of my blog this summer and fall will follow the Gale Woods project. Onward!

 

Flax Weeding is Done – Now Growing is the Focus

Update on the Gale Woods Linen Flax Crop 

I visited the plot at Gale Woods Farm today. No more weeding is necessary! The crop is filling in very nicely. Grasses around the area have been mowed, so it’s easier to see the plot from the entrance road. It has been raining nearly every other day, in fact, almost too often, so watering the crop hasn’t been needed for a while. We are expecting some warmer days ahead (80+ Fahrenheit), and it will be interesting to see if the crop bolts in height during that period or slows down.

I remembered to bring my yardstick to check the actual height this time. There are various stalk heights, with the differences being roughly between 14 and 21 inches. This makes sense since some sprouts didn’t emerge until about a week after the first seedlings. If they grow at a rate of one inch a day, which I have been observing, that seven-inch difference in height would be expected. I suspect the heights will even out as they grow and mature.

A very pretty Damselfly, the Enallagma, seems to be attracted to the stalks. These damselflies (Bluets) have also been visiting my flax and sitting on the stalks, which is a good thing since, from my research, I have found they eat aphids, mayflies, and small flies that are harmful to plants. The things you learn when growing flax!

 

Other than that, there isn’t any significant news to report. It’s simply time for the crop to grow and eventually develop flower buds—although that will be several weeks from now.

 

Update on My Personal Linen Flax Plot 

With all the rain we have been experiencing, the trees around my plot have become even denser. Therefore, there is even less sun hitting the plot than last week. There has still been growth, though. The tallest stalks are around 25 inches, with a range between 20 and 25 inches.

 

Linen Flax Enjoys the Month of June 

Update on the Gale Woods plot

Yesterday, I was doing a minor weeding of the linen flax plot at Gale Woods Farm—mainly looking for more thistles. The best part of the work is being outdoors on a gorgeous June morning! Aside from needing to button up to avoid ticks and douse myself in mosquito repellent, there is nothing like a real garden experience in open fields in June! Huge, puffy clouds were sliding across the most intense blue sky. There was a crazy wind, though—gusts of 30+ mph. But that was natural bug repellent! Yay!

Above: The flax plot is in the foreground. Use your close-up vision to see the red barn and silo in the distance!

It was fabulous to see the dramatic growth in the plot! It is beautiful! At one month (precisely 30 days), the stalks are tall enough to blow in the wind (on average, they are about 8–10 inches tall). It is a wondrous sight! If you come out to visit, the plot is easier to see now that the stalks are poking up more from the surroundings. Look for it behind the fence, to the right along the entrance road, and across from the red pavilion building. There are some tall grasses between the metal fence and the plot. You will need to climb over the open wooden fence to get closer to the metal garden fence. (Careful about ticks in this area!) Perhaps in another month, the plot will be visible without going over the wooden fence.

One section towards the middle of the plot has meager growth with smaller stalks. Why? I don’t have a clue. Maybe there was something in the soil in that area—too much or too little of a particular nutrient? Maybe that bunch of seeds was less vigorous? It is curious.

 

Update on my personal plot

It’s a mixed bag of heights between the front and back of the plot. They all received the same amount of moisture and were sown and emerged at mostly the same time, so I assume the height difference is because of inconsistent sunlight. The stalks in the front receive more sun and are dramatically taller. 

After nearly 2 months of growth (precisely 54 days), the maximum height is 17 inches. That is almost halfway to their final ideal height (about 40–48 inches). However, due to the sunlight issue, I suspect my crop will be shorter at harvest time than the Gale Woods flax, even though they are the same flax variety. We shall see! (Having mostly dense woods for a backyard is wonderful, especially for the fireflies that will soon be dancing back there, but it’s not optimal for a linen flax crop!)