Flax to Linen
Layered Histories of Flax and Land
Flax has deep roots in the West Kootenay region. The Doukhobor communities who settled here in the early 20th century brought with them the knowledge of growing and processing flax into linen—a tradition that once sustained households and local economies.
At the same time, the confluence of the Columbia and Kootenay Rivers (kp’itl’els, now called Castlegar) has always been home to the Sinixt people. This land carries layered histories of presence, displacement, and resilience. The Christian family, of Sinixt lineage, was displaced from their home at kp’itl’els when Doukhobor settlers purchased the land in 1912, a history documented in Wilkinson & Sutherland’s From Our Side We Will Be Good Neighbour(s) to Them (read here).
To deepen understanding, we recommend White Grizzly Bear’s Legacy by Lawney Reyes, which shares lived stories of Sinixt memory, loss, and resilience.
Reviving a Crop Together
In 2024, the West Kootenay Fibreshed began exploring the viability of flax in our bioregion. A community plot was planted in Meadow Creek, and volunteers gathered to weed and later harvest the plants by hand, re-enacting skills that have been nearly forgotten but are ready to be revitalized in order to connect people with the cloth they wear and the stories of people and place that it holds.
After harvest, the flax was bundled, dried, and placed into retting experiments, the critical step where fibre begins to separate from the woody stalk.
“We are re-learning nearly forgotten skills - pulling, drying, retting - that connect us to both land, history and community.”
Danielle Soucie, Coordinator
Why Flax, Why Here?
In our mountainous valleys, where pastureland is limited, flax may offer a more viable fibre crop than wool as a primary focus. With less land required to grow significant yields, flax offers resilience and adaptability for our communities.
And flax has another gift: the seed, which is separated during processing, is part of our foodshed as a nutritious food and an oil crop.
Hands-On Learning
With recent grant support from Kootenay Savings Community Foundation and CBT, we are building full sets of flax processing tools - brakes, ripplers, scutching boards, and hackles - that will allow community members to learn and practice turning flax into linen during upcoming workshops. They will also become available through our Fibre Tool Library. Thanks to Scott Fettes, Meadow Creek resident, for building these tools for us!
The workshops are all full. If you would like to see some flax to linen action in your community please get in touch with us! We are currently expanding the program for 2026/27 and would love to hear from you.
This pastel drawing was drawn by Argenta based artist, Deb Borsos. We are eternally grateful to her for creating this beautiful piece for the Fibreshed
Grow Flax for Linen in 2026!
We are rebuilding a regional flax-to-linen system from the ground up, and it starts in the soil.
For the 2026 growing season, the West Kootenay Fibreshed is exploring a community-based flax pilot. We are looking for people who are curious about growing flax for fibre, whether that is in a garden bed, a farm field, a shared plot, or something in between. You do not need prior experience growing flax. What matters most is interest, access to land of any scale, and a willingness to learn alongside others.
Right now, we are in a listening and planning phase. Before designing a program, we want to understand what is realistic in our region: who has land, what kinds of growing conditions exist, and what support growers would actually need to participate in a meaningful way. This helps us avoid building something idealistic but impractical.
Expressions of Interest are now closed