Kickstarter

      Black Mesa Weavers for Life and Land (www.blackmesaweavers.org) has had nine successful years organizing a community-run wool-buy on the Navajo Nation in NE Arizona. Over two days each June, a minimum of 2000 lbs of wool from the legendary Navajo-Churro breed is purchased directly from the family producers, at fair prices, and sold to fiber artisans on the national market. This year, as an addition to the wool-buy, we seek to develop this event as a stronghold of traditional arts and crafts by supporting Navajo women to research, practice, and teach plant dying within their home communities, particularly to youth. We will produce a small booklet of the dye plants and recipes for free distribution within the community. We will also host workshops on other traditional fiber arts and ecological knowledge, including land management and livestock care.

      This money will pay for the time of these women to research and connect with the knowledge base within their communities, gather and prepare materials, and offer workshops during the wool-buy. It will also pay for the compiling, copying, and distribution of the booklet of plant dye recipes and traditional ecological knowledge.  It will also support the organization and outreach for this event.