Slow Living

Blueberries and Blue Jeans

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It seems fruit picking is the order of this summer.
First there were the blackberries and then the figs, now it’s time for blueberries.

Recently spent a rainy morning at Eastfields Farms. A hidden gem in Mathews County. I believe it was their last weekend of picking, which was hard to believe with how full the bushes were. We picked two gallons for a mere $18 (which might both sound expensive and like an insane amount of blueberries, but if you factor an organic pint at the store being about $4…. that’s $64 worth of blueberries… and now the freezer is stocked for smoothies and pies!)

It is such a primal and satisfying thing, picking your own food straight from the bush or tree that it grew on.
I swear the fruit I’ve picked this year with my own hands has tasted like the best I’ve ever had. And perhaps that is some amount of imbued romanticism at the practice of it all, but I think there is something good and natural about that too that connects to our souls on a deeper level.

(Although my Dad said these tasted like the best blueberries he’d ever had, and he had nothing to do with the picking of them so… interpret as you will.)

Grateful to live in a place with such an abundance of natural bounty…
I suppose apples are next?
Virginia, I do love you so.

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Fig Season

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Fig Season

Figs are a hallmark of the Virginia seasons for me.

Their picking has stood out as the last height-of-summer activity, and the beginning of ushering in fall.

(I have written about figs a time or two before, as seen here… And here… They have also made it on the instagram a time or two or three…)

They’ve also been the happy excuse for the visitation ties between beloved family members.
I used to bike from The Fan in Richmond to Northside to pick and revel in my Aunt and Uncle’s juicy fig offerings. In other seasons I’d drive further East to my Grandparents to partake in their riverside tree’s bounty.

Recently a friend, my first in this county I started calling home a number of years ago, offered to share her fig supply and I jumped at the chance. It had been a few years since I’d been able to steep myself in the nostalgia this fruit picking always brings up for me.

It was a happy sun-soaked, mosquito heavy afternoon.
More of nature gifts were shared, and stories swapped.
Friendship of this type is an enduring gift in all times, but especially in the midst of uncertain ones. A beautiful constancy and promise of goodness amidst a world in a heightened state of upheaval.

It is my dream to have a home, a piece of nature similar to this, with budding plants and growing gardens to offer to and share with others in the way of love and familiarity.

One day…

In the meantime, I am grateful for the yards and gardens of others so near and dear in my life who don’t mind impromptu sunkissed-barefooted-visits on hot August afternoons.

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Folkling Shop Update: Naturally Dyed

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One of my main ethos’ in selling vintage is encouraging a more sustainable and ethically responsible lifestyle in myself and in others. It goes along with my five year pursuit of the art of slow living.

These pieces are a collection of vintage that I’ve held onto over the years because, despite stains or perceived plainness or lack of wear, I believed their bones were just too good to not be given a second life.
(See some of the before photos here!)

I have had various adventures in natural dyeing in the past, primarily with yarn and knitwear (see more here), but it was so much fun experimenting with clothing this time and some natural and simpler ways of dyeing that I hadn’t used before.

I had so much fun working on this collection and I hope you all find a little bit of inspiration to perhaps repurpose or recycle something in your own closet vs. throwing it out.

Sometimes we just need the chance to look at something through a different lens to fall in love with it all over again.

Suggested listen: Shades of Man by Khruangbin

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Natural Dyeing

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I have been working on natural dyeing some vintage pieces for Folkling over the last few weeks. Pieces that I have been collecting that were otherwise unused, unworn, stained or just needed some new life.
I thought it would be fun to show a few before photos!

The after will be revealed and available in the shop later this week. Follow Folkling on Instagram and turn on post notifications to be the first to see!

It’s been a long while since I’ve experimented with natural dyeing, but I thought I would share some fun 35mm film photos of when I did it for a knitwear collection I had at a Quirk Gallery Trunk Show back in the day!

When I lived in Richmond, this was how I would dye my knitwear and yarn.
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I’d set the dyes in my tiny kitchen on the stove and then I’d rinse the pieces in the alley next to my apartment and dry them on the roof of my building (where I wasn’t really allowed to be… but I digress….)

This time in my life and chapter in my creation process is such a special one to me.

I have always been proud of my tenacity and resourcefulness in not allowing limitations to stop me from achieving my goals.
This is something I’ve learned partially because I’ve had to, but also because I learned early on that out of limitations creativity and some of my best art is born.
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First two portraits of me were taken by my fellow natural dye/fiber artist friend, Emily.

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A Type of Heaven

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Voices mix with the ice in the whiskey and the night pulls up around us.

Worn boots rest on weathered decks.

Half-mast eyes look on. 

Glass rims are raised to meet knowing smiles.

Time pushes back against the tide coming in and for a moment it is within this still alcove of water that all else in the world pauses too.

It is a storied wonder that this is perceived as a type of heaven. 

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