Black Walnut Dyeing ...

Wild Rose Farm Walnut Dyed Rambouillet 2-Ply Yarn & Combed Top

Goldenrod Dyed 2-Ply 

We've done some dyeing over the winter. Black walnuts harvested here on the farm were soaked for several weeks and then boiled to extract the dye. The yarns were done first and then we followed up with the combed top. We created several shades of brown and down through caramel as the natural dye bath was exhausted. The Rambouillet wool combed top would also be excellent for felting projects!

Pollinators & Gathering Goldenrod!

Wild Rose Farm - Lots of Bees Here!

There were plenty of honeybees & other native pollinators buzzing around as I gathered more goldenrod for more natural dyeing projects. This picture came from a clump of flowering goldenrod stems next to the roadway. I ended up leaving one of the "not fully opened" stems for the bees ... feeling a little guilty, I guess!  There are also a TON of black walnuts falling everywhere right now. Every walnut that I gather from along the driveway goes right into the pot of water to soak for a dye bath.
We've finally gotten a bit of rain, but not as much as we'd like. Take a look at how dry the soil is here as we broke a little ground for a small garden next year.  The soil test sample has been sent off to the lab at Penn State and we're waiting for the results & soil pH to come back.

Talk About DRY Soil! 

The Dyeing Goes On ...

Natural Dyeing at Wild Rose Farm

Greens & Lace Weight Indigo Skein 

Here are the results of our natural dyeing yesterday ... some of the goldenrod has been over-dyed with indigo to produce some lovely greens. Once you have an indigo dye vat up & running, it can be used until it is exhausted. The dye vat will take multiple dips of the yarn skeins to darken the blue color.  The yarn airs out between dips as the dye vat rests. The light blue lace weight yarn skein was done after we finished the greens ...
Everything from yesterday is rinsed and hanging out to dry, whew!  Next up - more blue & purple.

We're getting prepared for the "Beaver County Self-Guided Farm Tour" on Saturday,September 30th. We'll have our Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet yarn, combed top, & wool available for sale.

Of course, we have lambs for sale too if you need some of those, lol!   

Sign Up For the Self Guided Beaver County Farm Tour!

*** Wild Rose Farm Is One Of The Tour Stops *** 

We're Dyeing Now!

Wild Rose Farm Indigo Dye Vat & Our Yarn

We started to do some natural dyeing over the weekend with our new yarns. The indigo dye bath is working out nicely. We've done some of the 2-Ply Bulky Art Yarn in 2 shades of blue so far. The foam & bubbles, aka the "flower" that you see on top is a sign of a healthy indigo dye vat. The bath is yellow-green under the flower.

Indigo Yarn & Goldenrod Dye Bath

Next up is the goldenrod dye bath. The goldenrod flower tops are soaked for 24 hours, simmered for and hour, and then the yarn is added to the bath and also simmered for an hour ...

Rambouillet Wool Yarn Entering the Dyebath

Here's the result!

Wild Rose Farm - Naturally Dyed Goldenrod & Indigo Wool Yarns

More Rambouillet Yarn Arrives!

News Flash! Yarn Arrives At Wild Rose Farm!

We've been hanging out & waiting for our next batch of yarn to arrive from The Mill At Meadowlands.  Here it is! A box of 2-ply, 200 yard skeins of our own 100% Rambouillet wool yarn arrived on Monday.  Now it's time to get serious about dyeing, lol. Three different types of yarn have been weighed so that I can start the natural dyeing process.

Now, out to clip some goldenrod ...