This introduction workshop is being led by Sandy Fisher along with her husband Durl Van Alstyne from Golden State Linen who have been growing fiber flax in Chico for over 14 years. Golden State Linen was awarded a UCSAREP University of California Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Small Grant program to help expand opportunities to grow this amazing plant throughout Northern California. With all of the diverse climate regions we can grow fiber flax throughout the year.

During the workshop you will have learn with hands on experience:

• Plant flax seeds. Learn how to prepare soil, ways to broadcast the seeds, best spacing and ways to avoid future lodging in your plot.
• Harvest flax. Understand when is the flax ready for harvest. Demonstate fiber flax pulling at the Learning Center garden.
• Learn about retting: Water rett and dew retting techniques. How to tell your fiber flax is done retting.
• Have an open discussion with experienced flax growers Jay Holecek, Alex Tolbert, and David Evershed from the Sonoma Area, and professor Hossein Zakeri from the CSUC Center for Regenerative Agriculture and Resilient Systems.

Details:

Tickets and more information is available via Eventbrite. The cost is $85.00 per person plus Eventbrite fees.

No cost to limited-resource growers or growers who commit to publicly sharing data from their flax trials. If desired, please fill our out Scholarship Application; email learningcenter@fibershed for more info.