Hi Bill
Can you share this with the Guild members who might be interested ? Lois Thadei, Olympia
Dear Olympia Weavers Guild Members:
OK, my Aleut basket weavers. It’s beach grass getting’ time again. Hooray. This is the traditional grasses I harvest every spring for weaving. You are invited to join me.
If you’ve been weaving with the waxed linen following our presentation last month for the Oly Weavers Guild you can join me. If you wish to continue your weaving using the traditional wild grasses, this is the last time I will be sharing a wild grass harvest session.
Hopefully you can make it.
How it Works:
Let me know if you are coming, so I can expect you. aleutwoman@comcast.net leave me your name, e-mail, phone including cell phone.
We meet at Trader Joe’s parking lot at the 2nd exit to left on Highway 101 just N of I-5 in Olympia, WA.
May 26, 2013 8 AM.
On the coast it will probably be blustery, blistering hot, colder than heck, sunny, rainy, foggy, wet raining, snowy, windy and, and, and …….. Wear layers, bring a scarf, weather resistant shoes/boots, gloves and such.
What to Bring:
· a couple gallon jugs for collecting sea water
· a sharp harvesting knife (I use a pareing knife and also brind a big old chef knife)
· an old bed sheet
· a few zip loc bags (who knows, might find something you want to take back)
· a pocket full of cordage or strings
· munchies, juice
· A damp washrag in a zip loc bag so you can freshen up
· Money so we can stop at a restaurant and eat a hearty lunch when we are done
· Sun block, bug spray, eye glasses as needed, cameras.
What we Harvest
We will be collecting an armload of Elymus Mollis, which appears to be having a GOOD YEAR. We will swing over to Bowerman Basin and also check on the 3 cornered sedge, cat tails and water iris. If it looks like we can harvest some big handsful we will. Also, canary reed grass is usually ready for a harvest at this time. We time the harvest to concide with the ripening of Salmonberries. But, given our hectic urban schedules, sometimes we are off by a week or two. We work with it.
Again, where we meet and how we Travel
We meet a 8 AM at the street edge of Trader Joe’s parking lot at Hwy 101 and Harrison/Cooper Point in Olympia. Once there, we will arrange any carpools that wish to form. We’ll be back before dark. Of course, if you take your own vehicle, you are in charge of your own time schedule. It’s about a 11 ½ hour drive to the harvest site not far from Westport, WA.
Fun
Lois “Louie” Chichinoff Thadei (Aleut-Sealaska)
MAILING Address Only: 120 State Ave. NE #1455 – Olympia, WA 98501
Phone: 360-539-5031
Cell: 360-259-4827
E-mail: aleutwoman@comcast.net
Web Site: www.aleutwoman.com/
Alaska Native Arts Foundation: http://www.alaskanativearts.org/shop-artist-individual?id=148
Aleut People Worldwide: http://wdict.net/word/Aleut+people
Washington State Arts Commission: http://www.arts.wa.gov/folk-arts/master-artists/thadei.shtml
Old Masters (NPR): http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuow/sets/72157622974889054/
My photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aleutwoman/