Here We Go Again...

Several weeks ago I had lunch at my friend Barbara's house. Barbara grew up in Irvington, spent decades living in New York, where she served as a fiber historian (read about Barbara here) and ran a bed and breakfast. Now she has this amazing cabin in the hills o' Brown where she researches the county's history, spins and dyes wool and raises chickens, a goat, a donkey, rabbits and more.
     I met Barbara when I attended one of the first meetings about putting together a 175th anniversary book for Brown County. I compiled the photography and wrote and edited the book (Here's the cover.)

     Seated among colleagues at a conference table in the Traditional Arts Building in Nashville, Indiana, Barbara was the only one at the table spinning wool while we all spoke. From early on, it became clear Barbara was a force in the area, and her opinion would be regularly heard throughout the development of the book. She and I quickly became friends.
     Months later, then, over homemade vegetarian minestrone, we chatted about our many similar interests: growing and canning food and raising animals (I took a million pictures of the two peacocks that live next door to her, as well as her other fur-covered residents). We also discussed dying fabrics. In her living room sat several bags of dog hair that a friend of hers had supplied; Barbara was going to spin the excess hair and return it ready to use. During the course of our discussion and after her passing book after book from her overflowing shelves to me to peruse, Barbara decided I needed to write another book of my own. "Grow, Cook and Dye," she said, "there's something to that."
     "Grow, Eat and Dye," I countered. There's something to that. And so I have begun.