My regenerative dye garden is where everything begins. It’s where I grow many of the plants I use to dye my clothing—indigo, marigolds, and coreopsis among them. The garden is my creative space. It’s where I feel connected, inspired, and grounded in the rhythms of the earth.

But the dye plants I grow aren’t the only source of color. The land surrounding our home is rich with wild color—willow, sumac, nettle and trees growing along the edges of the property, offering tannin-rich dyes. I work with what grows here, both cultivated and wild, in conversation with the land itself.

I don’t choose to stop dyeing in the winter—it becomes too cold for me. When the seasons shift, I can no longer wash, mordant and dye clothing outside by hand. I make as much as I can when the plants are blooming and the earth is warm enough to hold the work. Some years, just in the warmer months alone, I dye over 400 garments—one by one—using multiple outdoor dye pots. It’s extremely laborious to work this way, physically demanding and all-consuming.

But I remind myself: in winter, I can rest. Like the garden, I go dormant. The colder months offer a time to reset, to slow down, and to focus on new clothing designs and fiber art. The land leads, and I follow.