our llieinwe flax at St Fagan’s museum was planted on 11th may last year.planting flax seed in rowsflax after a month

it was ready to pull on 11th august – 91 days later. a warm n sunny day. we dressed in linen hats and pinnys made by martine 🙏🏻after pulling easily, was stacked in the field for a week to dry and ripen. stacked flax and the harvest crew sorting

It was split into 3 lots to try different methods and timings of drying and retting

lot 1. seeds pods removed. flax was then laid back and field retted for 10 days. weather was was warm and moist – so it almost over cooked! but it’s just okay. then it was stacked to dry under cover outside Gweithdy for winter. taken inside to fully dry in january.lot 1. field retting

lot 2. seeds pods removed. flax was then tank retted for 10 days. turned after 5 days. a lighter colour but uneven due to sloping tank so not fully immersed. then it was stacked to dry under cover outside Gweithdy for winter. taken inside to fully dry in january. lot 2 and 3. tank retting and 3. drying with seeds pods left

3. dried under cover but outside, seeds left on. this has resulted in the lower half and inner of larger bundles retting from moisture. so it’ll need to be sorted and retted upside down somehow to even it out! it was dried fully and the seeds removed in march (today!)lot 3. dried but see partially retting from moistureseed pods removed after winter. maybe a little easier.. 

there’s not much difference in seed yield tho i didn’t weigh individual lots. i’m yet to properly check the planted seed gm/area/yield of flax once processed and seed yield. * UPDATE! we have 500gm seed! 

There’s an amazing colour difference. a lot of variation on the dried and tank retted. processing will tell more. i like the brightness of tank retted from last year at gg when it was fully immersed and turned regularly by me, also it was in aluminium not stainless-steel and i think that made it brighter. our linseeds 

now to process! 

if you want to get involved this year, contact me. we’ll be preparing the field in march/april and hopefully planting around easter.