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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Flax

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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: Dan Conine <dconine@bertramwireless.com>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Flax
  • Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2009 10:44:15 -0600

I've grown some flax for experimental purposes. Here's the gist of what I've learned:\

You need a good clean seedbed, the seeds are small and fine and relatively inexpensive.
Plant fairly thick if it's your first time. Mostly grow like wheat as far as germination season and moisture.

It's beautiful stuff.

I think Seeds of Change has a few different varieties of it. I grew a standard blue flax.

I harvested with an old combine. If harvesting by hand, I would say you'll need a very sharp scythe, as the stems are fine. With a combine, see if you can find someone with an Allis "All-crop" with rubber rasp bars in the cylinder. Good luck keeping it from plugging up on the fibers.

Before spinning, you are supposed to soak the straw in order to separate the fibers. I don't know much else from there.

Chickens will eat the grain if mixed with their feed, but not a lot of it.

Dan C.
Belgium,WI
Message: 4
Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2002 00:50:08 -0700
From: "Desert Eagle" <jimi@hdc-nm.com>
Subject: [Livingontheland] Flax?
To: "Desert Eagle" <jimi@hdc-nm.com>
Message-ID: <5D2D18662E6F4318954B84F37B0332F5@jimi>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Anyone on the list familiar with growing, spinning or using Flax? Am considering adding some of it to our short fields this year.

Any insight as to growing, harvesting, (both seeds and Fiber), would be appreciated.
Jimi
NM Certified Master Gardener






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