Are you interested in Natural Dye plants? Gardening? Community? Art!?
At Still Moon's Gardeners' Gathering Work Parties, we’ll be weeding, watering, and maintaining the Colour Me Local Dye Garden. Participants will work together to tend the garden, be able to ask questions, and at some of these gatherings we will bring a dye pot and fabric test strips so we can experiment with natural dyeing while we work!
The Schedule:
- Saturday, April 13, 10am-12:30pm | Planning, Weeding, Soil Prep
- Tuesday, May 7, 5pm-7pm | Planting Seedlings, Madder Dye Pot
- Saturday, May 11, 10am – 12pm | Planting Seeds & Seedlings, Special Guest Presenters Masumi Rodriguez and Elena Kirby talking about papermaking with Invasive Species
- Tuesday, June 11 ,5pm-7pm | Weeding, Watering
- Saturday, July 27, 10am – 12pm | Dye Experiments
- Tuesday, August 6, 6pm – 8pm | First Indigo Harvest
- Saturday, August 24, 10am – 1pm | Dye Experiments
- Saturday, September 7, 10am – 1pm | Second Indigo Harvest
- Saturday, October 12, 10am – 12pm | Weeding, Watering, Harvest
- Saturday, October 19, 10am – 12pm | Garden Clean Up
Facilitated by:
The Gardeners' Gatherings will be Facilitated by Eco-Arts Program Manager, Ada Dragomir. During some sessions, Still Moon Youth Connect program participants will be joining us to make light work of our many tasks.
The Garden:
Still Moon's Colour Me Local Dye Garden will be bumping with crops of coreopsis tinctoria, scabiosa atropurpurea, rubia tinctoria, or persicaria tinctoria over the summer and fall.
Join us to start this beautiful process starting April!
The Invitation:
Join the Still Moon team for some fun getting your hands dirty, while connecting with other gardeners in the community. Play outside with us and take your knowledge to your own garden spaces!
Notes:
- This is a free-to-attend experience
- Wear weather-appropriate clothing & closed-toed shoes
- Bring a water bottle and a hat for hot weather
- Food will not be provided. Feel free to bring your own snacks
- Tools will be provided. Feel free to bring some if you have (gardening gloves, hand trowels, knee pads/mat to kneel on if you have one)
>> If you play an instrument, feel free to bring it along and join in with the chorus of neighbours who jam in the garden!
>> You can choose to attend one or all of the gatherings, that's up to you!
Accessibility:
- The Colour Me Local Dye Garden is an unpaved grass garden located in the northwest corner of Renfrew Ravine Park, and wheelchairs may require assistance.
- There is free parking in the neighbourhood.
- Washrooms are not available onsite, but can be found at the Renfrew Community Centre located 10 minutes away (~1 kilometer)
- There are benches available.
About Colour Me Local Dye Garden:
Still Moon’s Colour Me Local Dye Garden, located on the West Side of the Renfrew Ravine, is a community engaged initiative focused on planting, maintaining, harvesting, processing and using plants most known for their pigments. In addition to natural dye extraction, the garden supports pollinators, insects and wildlife, and is home to many Indigenous plants stewarded by our Indigenous neighbours.
About Still Moon Arts Society
Still Moon Arts Society mobilizes community and creates positive change through eco-arts and environmental stewardship programming, and produces the annual Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival. Still Moon is a registered charity whose mission is to inspire vibrant and connected communities by creating artistic experiences and nurturing a passion for nature.
