Target Report #3 October 2024

Writing this on the beach, the chilly autumn wind swirling the leaves across the rock wall behind me, resident squirrels admonishing my being there.

It's been a good year, with lessons learned as nature counters my pushes with pulls. Not everything went as planned, but I was able to bring about initiatives I had not thought possible.

Indigo and woad continue to be works in progress. I've resorted back to a thiox dye bath with my German woad. My organic vats were smelling WAY too much and were yielding greys with very little blue. However, as learning goes, the failed experiences brought a new possibility of pre-mordanting the fabric in lime and trasfering the hot, alkaline fabric directly into the dyebath. This is resulting in an increase in colour uptake, a longer vat life, and more readily available pigment in the vat. In this way, I am able to reduce the amount of woad dye being used, as well as amount of thiox. I'm still experimenting with this, and will check my results with my peers online when ready. I have also reintroduced thiox into my Stoney Creek Colours indigo vat, since it gives me a stronger colour. I found that my customers prefer the darker blue for this style.

My garden gave me a huge madder root harvest this year, and has even regenerated itself to continue providing for the years to come. I will not need to start from seed again next year. The cedars have nearly overtaken the whole garden, however, and I am planning on using a cover crop this winter and tilling again next year. The biochar experiments were not successful because of the time needed to generate and maintain fires in such a long trench. Our milkweed and tall grass plantings do not seem to have taken, but this may require more patience to determine. We continue to work towards the plan for our Managed Forest, and did some work on removing the phragmites from our pond this spring and summer. With such an extensive root system, though, the phragmites is back with a vengeance! I was not able to harvest any cattail as a result of its overcrowding. I have indeed welcomed the return of our resident whippoorwill, and this, along with the constant increase of bird varieties, has been a constant delight for us. 

Sanctuary Innerwear has once again benchmarked Level 3 on the Material Change Index, for the 5th year in a row! My company now holds the top position for Man Made Cellulosics in Level 3, with no company having achieved Level 4. Sanctuary Innerwear is 17 highest ranking out of 180 companies globally!! I'm very proud. I initiated discussions with Textile Exchange with regard to the materials it classifies as "preferred", focussing on those materials which are currently available at this time, such as Lenzing Tencel. I hear and read about other fibres that are being developed which could potentially be better than FSC/PEFC Tencel, (some of which are being developed or co-developed by Lenzing), but so far none are commercially available. I would like to achieve a Level 4 on the MCI next year.

​I'm proud of how far I've come, how dedicated I am, and how much further I'm willing to take Sanctuary Innerwear. There are many more accomplishments for 2024, and I encourage you to keep reading.