Notes on linen and flax

A few notes about linen

Back in early February we received a packet of flax seeds as a door prize.
The seeds are for American flax and originated from stock plants raised by
the University of North Dakota.

Following Sally (the donor’s) advice we planted them up immediately in two
long planting boxes, figuring we could move them into or out of the sun as
necessary .We used standard potting soil from a garden center and have been
using miracle grow fertilizer on them as some net research indicated that
they were heavy nitrogen feeders.

Within two weeks they sprouted and now they are approximately 24”-30”
high and blooming furiously. The blossoms are transient, a beautiful blue, but bloomed out and gone between morning and afternoon, leaving behind a pin head size seed sacks. According to the various sources of information on linen culture I have been perusing, this means harvest is about a month away.


We never thinned it out and I am wondering now as I re-evaluate it in terms of future harvest, whether or not we should have. The stalks are quite thin, barely the size of a sport weight yarn and seemingly frail. But in reality the stalks are both incredibly flexible, and resilient. Although they blow over flat in the breeze or under a spray of water, they are almost immediately and rampantly upright again.

Other signs of pending harvest include the dying off of leaves from the bottom of the stem upwards and the continual multiplication and growth of the seed pods.

I plan to do a continuing saga about the harvesting and processing as we have no tools but our bare hands and ingenuity but in my research have found a marvelous list of the benefits of linen fabric. I am hoping we manage to secure enough hand picked and processed flax to spin some linen thread and produce a small sample square. Perhaps there will be enough to weave on a small in hand loom, and enough to knit. What lovely possibilities to contemplate.

In the meantime, in the hopes of inspiring an appreciation for the flax plant, linen thread and linen fabric, here is a bit of botanical and historical information and a partial list of the benefits of linen.

Botanical

Flax is an annual plant of the family Linaceae. There are over 200 varities of flax that range from 25 to 125 cm in height, in various shapes including sparsely and heavily branched and a range of maturity dates from the fast growing types of northern latitudes to the slow growing and maturing linens cultivated in irrigated terraces of Asia.

Flax blooms in clusters of bluish, navy- blue and seldom violet , rosy and white flowers that open at dawn and close and fall around noon. Each bloom lasts only a few hours. Bees can collect up to fifteen kilograms of honey from one hectare of flax.

Flax is traditionally grown in only 20 countries worldwide, mainly in middle Europe, Egypt, Turkey, China, Argentina and Chile.

Commercially grown flax crops are of two main types, fiber flax and seed flax, with the former being referred to as long stalked flax and the latter as crown flax.

Flax is historically traceable to the Neolithic Age although the majority of flax finds date from the Iron Age. The domestication of fiber flax and flax seed occurred before that of cotton nearly 5,000 years ago and there is also strong evidence that flax was grown in 4,000 BC in Mesopotamia, Assyria and Egypt.

Flax culture is believed to have traveled from Egypt with the Greeks and Romans and was brought to the Gauls and Celts by the Romans and to eastern Europe from Greece. Supposedly the voyage of the Argonauts from Hellas to Colchis for the Golden Fleece was in fact inspired by the desire to obtain the secret of making fine flax yarn that was treasured as much as gold and was as good as that produced by Egypt.

Several advents of new, less labor consuming fibers such as cotton, viscose and other synthetic fibers have threatened economic ruin for flax culture. Each time flax culture has continued to survive and advance by offering textile fabrics of desirable properties which come from combining with linen with other new fiber materials.



Some interesting facts about Flax and Linen

• Before the invention of paper, manuscripts were written on linen. The most famous is the Linen Book written by the Etruscans in 7th century BC
• The flax cell is compatible with the human cell. The human cell is capable of completely dissolving the flax cell. This makes linen or flax fabric is the only natural material applied in surgery for internal sutures.
• Linen reduces gamma radiation by nearly half and protects against solar radiation.
• Linen does not cause allergic reactions and is helpful in treating some types of allergic disorders.
• Linen cloth does not accumulate static electricity. An addition of an amount as low of 10% flax fibers to other fibers in cloth will eliminate static electricity.
• Linen is hydroscopic and can rapidly absorb and yield moisture. It will evaporate water as quickly as a pond surface and can absorb up to 20% of its own weight in water before it feels wet, which is why linen cloth always feels fresh and cool.
• Linen has high air permeability and heat conductivity. Heat conductivity of linen is five times as high as wool and 19 times that of silk.
• In hot weather those dressed in linen clothes are found to show skin temperatures 3-4 degrees Celsius below those not wearing linen clothes.
• According to additional studies, a person wearing linen fabric perspires 1.5 times less than when dressed in cotton and 2 times less than when dressed in viscose.
• The tensile strength of linen thread is twice as high as cotton and three times as high as wool.
• Linen can be washed in hot water, boiled, sun dried and hot ironed thus ensuring maximum sterilization.
• Linen has a smooth surface that does not pill, rejects dirt and feels pleasant to the touch.

And that list provides an excellent reason for why we all need to cultivate, process flax, spin and weave linen in hot humid Houston!


Next time- how we processed our flax.

Marni Harang