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.