As much as I hate to admit it, I made a couple mistakes when I wrote Homegrown Flax and Cotton. They were very kindly pointed out to me by Alvin Ulrich of Biolin Research Inc. in Canada. However, In spite of the mistakes, he liked the book and gave me a 5-star review on Amazon. My thanks go out to him for correcting me and for the review. So, I am eating a big piece of humble pie and making things right here. I have inserted a bookmark with the corrections in the books I sell. So, if you buy a book directly from me you will have the corrections plus, I will have signed it. Here are the corrections that I have sent to my editor. They will be included in the next printing, whenever that happens. Homegrown Flax and Cotton is already on it’s second printing, so it may be awhile.

Page 6:

Old text: The variety of flax you will be planting for linen (Linum usitatissimum) is different from flax grown for its seeds to eat (Linum perenne). Also, the planting is different. For linen, you will need to plant the seeds closer together to get a thick stand. The goal is to have straight stalks with no branching.  

New Text: Look for textile varieties of Linum usitatissimum. They have longer stems, thus more fiber, than the varieties grown for oilseeds. For linen you will want to plant the seeds closer together to get a thick stand in order to have straight stalks with no branching. A less dense planting harvested later will produce more seed to save. 

Page 10

Old text: The fiber extends all the way into the roots and you want every bit. 

New text: The fiber extends to about an inch above the roots and you want all. 

Page 14

Old text:  Also, notice that some seeds are black and some are brown. The black seeds are the mature ones and the brown seeds are immature. 

New text: Also, notice that some seeds are black and some are brown. The brown seeds are what you are after. The black seeds indicate stress.  

Page 117

Old text: flax: the plant grown that, once processed, is called linen. The botanical name for the varieties best used for linen fiber, rather than culinary uses of its seeds, is Linum usitatissimum  

New text: flax: the plant grown that contains fiber in its stems that, once processed, is called linen. Varieties of Linum usitatissimum specifically for fiber grow taller than the varieties grown for oilseeds. 

When I did my last edits of the book, I was also deep into taking seeds out of cotton for the overalls I made for my twin grandsons and for a new shirt for me. It was the slick black seeds of what I called naked seeded white. More about that name soon. Occasionally there would be immature brown seeds that I would discard. My mind must have still been in that mode when I wrote on page 14 that it was the black seeds you were after in flax. No doubt about it, good flax seeds are brown. The black ones are the result of stress and would have been taken out in the winnowing.

About that naked seeded white cotton. We renamed it Spinner’s Ivory. Spinner’s because the naked seeds were easier to take out for handspinners than fuzzy ones and Ivory because the final color after scouring is an off-white. Daughter Betsy grew Spinner’s Ivory out for a seed crop in 2023 and it is available for sale in the 2024 Southern Exposure Seed Exchange Catalog. The photo in the catalog was taken by daughter-in-law Stephanie, photographer for Homegrown Flax and Cotton.

That’s about it. Come and see me if you can at the events you will find on the events page of my website. I will be at Landis Valley Farm and Museum in Lancaster, PA helping with the Flax: Field to Fabric class as part of their Summer Institute from July 5-7. On July 6 at 4pm I will be giving a one-hour lecture about my work, showing clothes that I have produced from my homegrown fibers, followed by a book signing. The 3-day class is full now, but there is still room to sign up to attend the lecture on July 6.

July 20 I will be at Scotchtown, home of Patrick Henry in Hanover County VA, from 10am-1pm helping with the celebration remembering the Hanover Resolves which proclaimed independence leading up to the American Revolution. September 30 I will be at the State Fair of Virginia in the Horticulture Pavilion talking to anyone who comes by about my work with cotton and flax from 10am-2pm

I will be back at Scotchtown for their Fall Festival on October 5, processing flax and signing books. October 18-20 I will have a book signing at the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair (SAFF). Look for me at a table in the Davis Event Center there,

Sorry about the mistakes in the book. I wish you all well in your fiber endeavors.