Fiber Optics: Flax Fiber Cultivating & Processing Workshop w/ Chico Flax

Discussions on regenerative agriculture tend to focus on food production, and sustainable fashion on labor exploitation, microplastics from fossil fuel-derived synthetics, and discarded garments in overflowing landfills. At the intersection of fashion and agriculture are fiber plants like flax and hemp, among the world's oldest and strongest cultivated textile plants that were considered essential crops until the invention of the cotton gin—a development correlated with the increased exploitation of enslaved labor alongside the gradual neglect of bast fibers, derived from plant stems, whose production was harder to mechanize and exploit at scale.

Fiber Optics,* a new Stanford Humanities Center (SHC) research workshop in honor of John Bender dedicated to building the field of critical fiber studies, believes that recovering overlooked histories related to and atrophied knowledges about fiber plants must be part of the conversation on environmental justice and climate change. In line with this mission, they are partnering with the Stanford Educational Farm to host Chico Flax for a one-day hands-on workshop on flax farming, harvesting, and fiber processing. Please join us!

Schedule

9-9:30 am—check-in (light breakfast & coffee provided)

9:30 am-10:30 am—intro/overview on flax fibers, planting, history/theory; Q&A 

10:30-noon—hands-on planting 

Noon-1 pm—break for lunch (light snacks provided)

1 pm-2 pm—intro/overview of flax processing techniques, including retting; Q&A

2 pm-3 pm—hands-on fiber processing with tools

Space is limited, please RSVP. We will conduct a lottery if oversubscribed.

Note: We believe that members of the campus community should be able to participate regardless of ability to pay, so we have secured sufficient campus funding to ensure everyone can attend for free. The going rate for these workshops outside of Stanford is $275/pp; we ask everyone to please be mindful of the significant costs being shouldered by campus organizations when RSVPing and to show up fully to ensure the event's success as well as future funding. 

*Sponsored by the Stanford Humanities Center and made possible by support from an anonymous donor honoring the Directorship of former SHC Director John Bender, the Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.