Fast like a beanstalk

the week's news, plus Turmeric Tie-Dye Tees

Dear Frog Troublers, how was your week? Fast, like beanstalk, or slow, like a green tomato?

Ours was beanstalk variety, but we’re gonna fry up some green tomatoes and enjoy them at a leisurely pace this morning.

Bea graduated from fifth grade and did her ceremonial final walk out of elementary school. Harriet is now a Brownie, and walked across the ceremonial Girl Scout bridge. I celebrated the tenure of the thirty-three professors at UNC-Chapel Hill whose tenure had been postponed in a gross power move by the UNC Board of Trustees by organizing with other higher ed workers doing interviews with local media. We are so grateful for the North Carolina-based reporters who are covering this story and the other alarming attacks on higher ed and academic freedom in our state (Support them by subscribing to The Assembly, the News and Observer, and local press near you! Follow and support The Hometown Holler!).

Because you know why those professors, who worked extremely hard for this milestone, finally got tenure? Public pressure: outrage from people like us that Board members would play politics with our state’s flagship university, a source of so much outstanding research, public good, and state pride. Look for more ways to support our universities in next week’s post.

We’re also busy getting ready for Art Party camp, which starts tomorrow at Clapping Hands Farm. Mamie and Skipper are arriving today, and we’re planning to ride mountain bikes, forage for chanterelles, and play with the dogs. We expect to have some new art projects to share next Sunday, and in the meantime here is an oldie but goodie from our archives:

Turmeric Tie-Dye T-shirts

This weekend tie-dye project will not hurt your rivers, streams, fish, or wildlife—not with the dye it uses, anyway! Turmeric! It makes a beautiful, earthy yellow-orange that fades to a sunny yellow, and you probably already have it in your pantry.

Here is how to tie-dye a T-shirt (or other cotton fabric) with turmeric:

1. Choose a white or light-colored 100% cotton T-shirt. It’s great to tie-dye something that needs new life, but we happened to have two plain white T-shirts.

2. Wash or soak the T-shirt in hot water if it hasn’t been washed. This will help prepare it for tie-dyeing.

3. Bind your tee in rubber bands, tie-dye style. We had some rubber bands saved from various grocery store items, but not enough, so we used a few hair ties too. They worked great, didn’t transfer their colors, and can still be used after tie-dyeing. You could also use twine.

4. Next, dissolve 2-4 tablespoons of alum in a cup of hot tap water. We used 3 tablespoons for two small T-shirts. Then, add your alum-water to a non-reactive (stainless or enamel) pot of water, with just enough water to submerge the T-shirt. Add the T-shirt, and simmer for about an hour. This is called mordanting the fabric, which helps the dye stick to the fibers.

5. After about an hour, remove the shirt, and drain it in a colander. Discard the alum water.

6. While you’re waiting for the fabric to cool, simmer another 2-4 tablespoons of turmeric in enough water to submerge the fabric again.

7. When the mordanted fabric is cool, wring out the water. Don’t remove the ties/rubber bands. Submerge your fabric in the turmeric water and simmer for 1-2 hours, keeping an eye on the water level. The longer you simmer, the darker/more vibrant your tie-dye will be. You can also turn the stove off after an hour, and just let the fabric soak—even overnight. But we are not that patient. We simmered for one hour, soaked for one.

8. Carefully remove your T-shirt, drain it, and rinse under cold water. Removing the ties is the most exciting part. Ta-da!

We dried ours on the line, then ran it through the rinse cycle in the washing machine. (We’ll also wash it with darks until we know it’s no longer shedding dye.) Since it’s a natural dye, the color will fade over time, but we like the way both the bright tie-dye and the more faded color looks (see this photo of Bea for a more faded shirt).

For an extension, you can...

-Write or retell your own how-to

-Embroider your shirt (especially nice if you have a pocket)—we used plain, graphic stitches when we did this but Mamie is a master embroiderer.

-Have a fashion show

-Research and experiment with other natural dyes.

We think these shirts would be great to wear to a No Kings protest against the Trump administration’s corruption and abuse of power next Saturday, June 14. Are you going? Here’s a link to find one near you.

Oh, and here is a playlist Richard made for our AAUP conference. Enjoy!

Lots of love from us!