Sustainable Tips Blog

Planting Japanese Indigo

So you've either gotten some Japanese Indigo Seeds or you're considering getting some to plant.  This magical plant produces a natural blue color from it's bright green leaves!  It's a wonder to grow... And if you let it grow to maturity - it will produce more seeds than you can ever imagine for next season.  

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Climate Beneficial Cotton Farm Tour

A wonder of nature and one of the most diversely used materials in the apparel industry for the time of humanity.  Rows of puffs of cotton are both alluring and strange looking.  Cotton is a material that has gotten many of us through life.  From the first swaddles and baby garments - to bedsheets and undergarments.  Tees that we wear like little billboards to tell everyone what we’re into - and Workwear and Denim for durability and strength.  Cotton balls to soothe our faces or cover our wounds and filling for puffy blankets to comfort us. 

While our associations may be comforting and warm - the trade of cotton holds some of the darkest stories.  In the history of The United States and many other countries cotton picking involved slave labor.  Learn more about this incredibly useful crop and how Fibershed is assisting farmers to transition their fields to Climate Beneficial Verified... and how you can support it!

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Re-Used Coffee Grounds Natural Dye

I have a passion for Natural Dyeing.  It’s such a beautiful practice - both asetethically and holistically.  The compounds in leaves, seeds, bark, flowers, insects and other natural dye creating materials are full of anti-oxidents and anti-microbrobial materials.  When it comes to food waste - including Avocado pits and skins and pomegranate skins - sometimes the parts of the food we throw away include even more of these healthy compounds than the part we eat!

So I was SUPER excited with Califia Farms reached out and asked me to lead a coffee dye activity for baristas and coffee fans during LA Coffee Fest.  

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Food Waste Dye Workshop Flyer. Onion Skins. 3/31 11am pst Instagram Live @eastweststuff and TikTok Live @eastwestshop
Dyeing with Onion Skins Natural dyeing and tie dyeing are a fun way to cover stains on stained clothing and/or cloth napkins and rags The goal of this post is to not overwhelm you with information or teach you a...
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