Slow and Local 2025

gather. nestle in. create

SLOW AND LOCAL 2025
a community project

We have been thinking about what makes a good life, and how we can continue to move toward hope, to put into practice what we believe in. To care for ourselves we must also care for our soil, our plants, the animals. And we must continue to take action: to vote, to call our elected officials, to change our habits, to educate each other. What else can we do in times of need? Come together to learn, support, and move toward meaningful change. We need each other in order to become the best versions of ourselves.

Following on from our popular Slow and Local Clothing Project, and Diary of Color, we invite you to continue the work of engaging our hands and minds in a discovery of the color, fiber, and people of our bioregion. Welcome to Slow and Local 2025: virtual gatherings, guest speakers, and local yarn!

When we grieve, our hands want to get busy. In the spirit of making and rediscovering community, of finding each other anew and nesting into place, please join us for a guided, three-month gathering and project space to learn more about the material of our place, and to make something with the fiber from our bioregion.

THE DETAILS

The project will consist of three parts: a making component with yarn sourced from our So Cal bioregion, online meet-ups with guest speakers, and an online exhibit. Circumstances pending, we'll also arrange either an in-person exhibit and / or a gathering (perhaps a field trip to a local ranch, mill, or other location of interest).

Slow and Local 2025 is appropriate for all skill levels. Each of us can meet the material and chosen techniques wherever we are in our respective practices. We’ll provide the material and community. You’ll provide your time and spirit of adventure.

The goals of this project are to

  • Celebrate and economically support producers in our fibershed

  • Develop a new awareness of and connection to our own local bioregion

  • Connect with each other through monthly cohort meetings where we can share projects, progress, questions, and connections

  • Create a collection of personal stories and a body of work that will provide a glimpse of our particular region

THE GOLDEN RULES

  1. You live, work, or have an affinity to the Southern California Fibershed or Inland Empire Fibershed, which is all of the land south of San Luis Obispo to the Mexican border, from the Pacific Ocean to the Arizona border.

  2. You may purchase the skeins we’re offering (let’s keep our monies as local as our ecologies!), or gather your own fibers. If you gather your own fiber, please source from your local bioregion. This could mean any local bioregion. (Please consider this range of options an invitation to meet us where you are. Whether that’s supporting the So Cal Fibershed, supporting your fibershed, or some mash-up of what works for you now, please jump in!)

We encourage you to develop a project specifically for this meet-up series, so that you are connected viscerally to the material and place. Your project can be an article of clothing, house goods, art – anything you like. You may work independently or as a team.

THE OPTIONS

Yarn Bundles (choose one)

  • We are excited to share the first ever Southern California Fibershed Farm Yarn with our community! This season’s blend is a beautiful aran/bulky weight yarn of 80% merino and 20% alpaca fibers, from animals raised in Southern California on small ranches. The natural colors are ideal for colorwork. The bouncy nature of the yarn makes it extra squishy while providing excellent stitch definition.

    Milled in Wyoming. Cream and Brown.

    110+ yds / 4 oz skein

    a) A two-skein bundle of light or dark 80-20 wool-alpaca blend

    b) A four-skein bundle of the same

    c) No fiber, thank you, I'll just join in for the talks!  

    d) More fiber, thank you! (Please email us and we’ll make this happen!)

Meet-ups

We’ll meet three times. We have invited guests from within our Fibershed community to discuss regenerative agriculture, grazing for wildfire mitigation, and building community resilience. These guest talks will run about 30-45 minutes with 15 minutes for Q&A. The remainder of the meetup time will be for sharing / show-and-tell with your fiber projects.

  • Launch gathering on Zoom, Tuesday, March 4 at 12 noon with special guest Amy Dufault of the SE New England Fibershed. Amy will talk about waste wool and community resilience.

  • NEW DATE!!! Midpoint gathering, also on Zoom, on Wednesday, April 9 at 6 pm with special guest Jenya Schneider of Cuyama Lamb. Jenya will talk about wildfire mitigation, resilience, and the So Cal wool ecosystem.

  • Final gathering, still on Zoom!, Wednesday, April 30 at 6 pm We’ll spend more time amongst ourselves, talking about our projects, our bioregion, and what we’d like to do next.

We’ll record the meetups and post them for you to watch if you miss a session!

If you’d like to ensure (insofar as anyone can ensure anything!) your fiber arrives before our first meet-up, and you live in Southern California, please order by end of day February 27.

We look forward to seeing familiar faces and meeting new friends. Hope you'll join us!