When you think of plants that are associated with Christmas, what do you think of first? For most people it’s the Christmas Tree that probably comes to mind.The tradition of Christmas Trees probably began with the ancient Romans. They had an a

16. Part 2 MONETIZING YOUR CRAFTSTEADING HOBBIES. Where can you sell your Craftsteading products and skills online? What about packaging supplies and freight shipping calculators?

Nov 23rd, 2022 10m 57s

You can sell handmade products online with very little expense in at least 5 ways:* your own store built with a platform such as Shopify, Squarespace, Wix, BigCommerce, Weebly, Ecwid or Shift4Shop.* your own WordPress website with Paypal butt

15. Part 1 MONETIZING YOUR CRAFTSTEADING HOBBIES. What products or skills can Craftsteaders sell? Where can you sell them in the real world? And how do you set your prices?

Oct 19th, 2022 10m 39s

Whether you’ve grown your own gourds and decorated them, grown your own broomcorn and made artisan brooms, grown your own Jobs Tears and made botanical jewellery, grown your own willow or bamboo and made baskets, grown your own wax myrtles and

14. NETTLES - YOU WON’T BELIEVE THEIR USES! From food and medicine to cosmetics, paper, cordage, textiles, dyes, fertilizer and insecticide!

Sep 21st, 2022 13m 10s

The humble and underrated stinging-nettle (Urtica dioica) has some amazing secrets. From food and medicine to cosmetics, paper, cordage, textiles for clothing and household linen, dyes, fertilizer and insecticide, nettles have a wide range of u

13. LEMON - YOU WON'T BELIEVE ITS USES! It’s a common fruit but it has a wide range of uses other than as a decoration for a cocktail or a garnish for seafood dish!

Aug 24th, 2022 8m 14s

This episode is about lemons, Citrus limon. I’ve chosen lemons because it’s pretty likely that most listeners will have access either to lemons the fruit, or a lemon tree, or both.You can eat the pith, juice, rind and even the flowers of the l

12. PLANTS USED FOR LIGHTING. Many plants you can grow in your garden produce a wax or an oil that can be used as lighting fuel or candle wicks.

Jul 20th, 2022 14m 32s

Plant Oils, Waxes and Wicks for Alternative Lighting:Many plants you can grow in your garden can be used to provide lighting. Some of these plants produce a wax or an oil that can be made into candles, some yield an oil that can be burnt to pr

11. HOW TO USE NATURE’S COLORS. How to find, preserve and enhance nature’s extraordinary colors when you make stuff out of plants.

Jun 22nd, 2022 20m 2s

How to find, preserve and enhance nature’s colors when you make stuff out of plants. How can you make multi colored cordage? Can you stop the colored patterns on gourds from disappearing when you dry them? How can you preserve the beautiful

10. HOW TO HEAR COLORS IN A PODCAST. How can colors be experienced through a podcast? Listen to our home-made sounds and find out if you can hear colors.

May 18th, 2022 13m 11s

Can colors be experienced through a podcast?It’s great listening to podcasts and radio and audio-books because you can use your imagination to visualize everything. One small drawback, however, is that it’s hard to evoke colors with sound. And

9. BASIC BASKETRY TOOL SET, AND WEAVING YOUR OWN TRAY (Basketry Pt 3 of 3)

Apr 20th, 2022 13m 12s

What’s in the cheapskate’s basic basketry tool kit? What is a tension tray and why is it tense? And how can you make your own beautiful Catalan tray from foraged materials? All this and more!If you’re new to basketry you don’t have to outlay

8. BASKETRY METHODS AND BASKET NAMES (Basketry Pt 2 of 3) What different methods can you use to make baskets? What does randing, waling and scarfing mean? What on earth is a creel, a trug or a tattie

Mar 22nd, 2022 11m 11s

Over thousands of years people have developed numerous different basket making styles and methods, in addition to the many colourfully named traditional styles and designs of the baskets themselves. There are 5 main basketry methods: Coiled bas

7. PLANTS USED FOR BASKETRY (Basketry Pt 1 of 3) Grow your own basket-making materials or forage for them. The list of basketry plants is much longer than you’d have thought!

Feb 21st, 2022 14m 55s

The ancient rhythms of basket weaving are so therapeutically satisfying and peaceful, you’ll want to have basket-making as your new relaxing hobby. And you end up with beautiful, useful creations to show off to your friends. Baskets can be made

6. DYE PLANTS: Grow dye plants in your own garden, to dye textiles in a rainbow of beautiful natural colours.

Jan 19th, 2022 16m 45s

Cornerstone dye plantsThroughout history the plants that produce the best dyes include indigo, madder, woad, weld, turmeric, saffron, noni, and henna. I’m growing many of these cornerstone dye plants in my garden, and depending on your climate

5. LAVENDER - Learn more about one of the world's favourite plants. It's fragrant, edible, medicinal and can be used in many ways you might not have thought of!

Jan 13th, 2022 6m 18s

In this episode I speak to gardening expert Kurt, of Berryman Gardens, about lavender. Sweet-scented lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), also called English Lavender or True Lavender, is one of the world's most beloved plants. IN your garden, i

4. NATURAL DYES The three sources of natural dyes, the accidental discovery of manufactured dyes, and the strange stories of Carmine and Tyrian Purple.

Dec 23rd, 2021 18m 31s

Beautiful dyes have been obtained from plants throughout human history. You can grow your own dye plants or use a wide range of other plants as a source of dye.Archaeologists have found evidence of textile dyeing dating back to the Neolithic p

3. BOTANICAL JEWELLERY: The traditional craft of making necklaces, bracelets etc. out of seeds and other plant materials.

Dec 15th, 2021 20m 4s

For as long as human beings have walked the earth people have decorated themselves with jewellery. The earliest was made from natural materials such as shells, bamboo, bone, tusks, claws, teeth, wood, coral, gemstones, pearls, the fossilized re

2. CORDAGE: how to make string, twine and rope out of natural plant fibres growing in your garden.

1 Dec 2nd, 2021 8m 57s

Plants for cordage You can make useful string and twine and rope out of plant fibres. The term cordage encompasses everything from fine string to cords to thicker ropes. All of these things begin with strands of fibre twisted or braided to

1. GOURDS: growing, drying, carving, cutting and decorating gourds to make useful containers and more.

Nov 27th, 2021 6m 51s

Grow your own gourds and use them to make and decorate handy household containers, bowls, bird houses, soup ladles, dippers, scoops, musical instruments, table décor or even tiny earrings. A gourd is the hard-shelled fruit of any of various p

CRAFTSTEADING INTRO

Nov 26th, 2021 2m 40s

101 ways to save money, get happy, relax and find your creativity by making stuff out of plants you grow, forage or buy. And even monetise your hobbies! Craftsteading is about self-sufficiency and handcrafts and gardening.It’s about prepping fo