Some of my favorite native dye plants....

In the Mint family, I often enjoy dyeing with Chocolate Mint, Lemon Balm, & Spearmint - either individually or mixed together in the dye pot.  They are all members of the Genus Mentha; culinary and aromatic herbs.  The dye is extracted from the stems and leaves and yields a deep gray in an iron pot.

Tsuga Canadensis, the Eastern Hemlock, is an evergreen tree found in the Appalachian mountains that may soon disappear from our landscape.  Once a very common evergreen, with short, soft needles, the hemlock is now dying at a rapid rate as a small woolly adelgid sucks the life out of these majestic trees.  When they started falling around my home, I decided to experiment by dyeing wool after collecting and preparing the outer and inner bark.  I was pleased with the results, which yielded a good shade of tan in an iron pot, and  cinnamon in a copper pot.

A rich golden dye can be achieved by dyeing with Osage Orange, a member of the Mulberry family. The yellow wood is ground and then used as the dye stuff.

Various size skeins of wool are available for sale from late 2010 summer dye baths.  The soft, natural shades exhibit variation throughout the skeins; a trait that can not be found in industrially dyed yarns.  Every dye bath is unique, filling every dye day with anticipation!