Seed to Dye to Seed

Start Date: 25th February 2026
Duration: February – September 2026 (9 live sessions across the growing season)
Format: Online – Live seasonal sessions + garden demonstrations
Tutor: Tristan Lienhard (Organic Gardener, Seesaver & Educator)

Grow your own dye garden from first sowing to seed harvest.

Seed to Dye to Seed is a structured seasonal grow-along designed to guide you through the full cycle of growing dye plants — from planning and propagation through harvest, seed saving, and preparing the soil for the next year.

This is not a short course. It is a steady seasonal journey inside the Academy, moving in rhythm with the garden.

Once you have booked your place, we will guide you through to the Academy and provide access details and Zoom links.

What’s Included

• 9 live online sessions (theory + live garden demonstrations)
• Step-by-step seasonal guidance from February to September via the Academy
• Practical instruction on sowing, planting, tending & harvesting
• Indigo harvest session
• Seed timing, drying & storage guidance
• Recordings available throughout the running of the series
• 4 weeks continued access after the final session

You’ll Learn

• How to plan and start a dye garden
• Sowing and propagation techniques
• Managing plant health through the season
• Harvest timing for leaf, flower & seed
• Seed stewardship and storage
• Preparing beds and sowing green manures

About the Tutor

Tristan Lienhard is an organic Gardener, professional seed saver and educator working with dye plants specifically across growing, harvesting and processing. Through the Academy, Tristan supports learners in developing a grounded, seasonal understanding of dye plants and seeds — connecting soil, plant and pigment through practical experience.

Who This Is For

• Beginners starting their first dye garden
• Gardeners curious about growing dye plants
• Fibre artists wanting to grow their own colour
• Makers looking for seasonal structure and guidance

Pricing & Access Options

Season Pass – €95 SOLD OUT

This pass gives you access to the full Seed to Dye to Seed online series, including:

• All 9 live sessions
• Recordings available throughout the series
• 4 weeks continued access after the final session
• Access to the free Academy space where the series is hosted

This option is ideal if you are joining specifically for the dye garden grow-along.

Full Membership – €65/year

Full Membership includes:

• Seed to Dye to Seed (this entire series & recordings)
• Indigo Week
• Dye & Fibre Week
• Dyeworks: Real Conversations (winter series)
• Full access to the Academy Resource Library
• Year-round access to the Academy

If you plan to engage beyond this seasonal series, Full Membership offers broader access at a lower annual cost.

In a nutshell

• 🌿 9-session seasonal grow-along
• 💻 Live online + garden demonstrations
• 🌱 From seed to harvest to seed again
• 📼 Recordings available + 4-week replay window
• 👨 Tutor: Tristan Lienhard

🌿 INDIGO WEEK

Join Us for a Live Online Indigo Journey

I am genuinely thrilled to bring this group together — it’s rare to have such a depth of knowledge, experience and perspective in one place.

With contributions from historians, researchers, artists and practitioners working deeply with indigo, this is shaping up to be a truly rich and engaging two weeks.

Across two weeks, we move through a sequence of live online sessions, practical vat building and shared learning — exploring indigo from plant to fermentation.

All sessions take place online and can be joined from anywhere, with recordings available afterwards in the Full Membership Resource Library.

Due to the nature of the programme and the number of live sessions involved, access is offered exclusively through Academy Membership.

📅 PROGRAMME (GMT Dublin Time - Online)

🔵 OPENING

3 June — 6:30pm
Dominique Cardon
Global indigo & purple traditions

🔵 CONTEMPORARY PRACTICE

4 June — 6:30pm
Rosa Chang
Indigo, culture and community

🔵 SUKUMO PROCESS

5 June & 11th of June  — 6:30pm
Britt Boles
Small-scale sukumo making

🔵 LIVE VAT MAKING SESSIONS

8 June — 1:00pm
Fermentation vat (live)

9 June — 1:00pm
Organic vat (live)

10 June — 1:00pm
Mineral vat (live)

Led by Jennifer Lienhard (Recordings available later)

🔵 RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

10 June — 6:30pm
Tristan Lienhard
Indigo research & plant trials

🔵 CLOSING SESSION

11 June — 6:30pm
Britt Boles
Building a sukumo vat

🌿 WHAT THIS OFFERS

• A rare combination of historical, cultural and practical knowledge
• Live, guided vat making sessions you can follow or observe
• Direct access to leading voices in indigo and natural dye
• A structured yet open format for discussion and shared learning
• Full access to session recordings in the Membership Resource Library

If you would like to work alongside the sessions, an optional Indigo Week Supply Bundle is available — either added with your membership or purchased later through our course supply bundles.

• Indigo (natural) — 150g
• Iron (Ferrous Sulphate) — 100g
• Lime (Calcium Hydroxide) — 250g
• Fruit Sugar (Fructose) — 125g
  
• Madder, ground — 200g
• Wheat Bran — 100g
• Potash — 500g

🌿 HOW ACCESS WORKS

Indigo Week is delivered as a series of live online sessions across multiple days, supported by recordings and ongoing discussion.

👉 Access is managed through the Academy platform
👉 Session links and recordings are organised centrally

For this reason, individual ticketing is not offered

🌱 MEMBERSHIP REQUIRED

To join Indigo Week, you will need:

👉 Natural Dyers & Growers Academy Membership

€65 for the full year

You can purchase your membership directly through this listing.

Once you have joined, we will guide you step by step via email — including how to access the Academy platform, join Indigo Week and find all session links and recordings.

🌿 MEMBERSHIP INCLUDES

• Full access to Indigo Week
• Lifetime access to Indigo Week recordings via the Resource Library
• Sukumo Make-along
• Ongoing Academy learning and discussions
• Full Access to the Garden Series & recordings
• Full access to DYEWORKS Conversations & 
• Future live sessions

🌿 WHY MEMBERSHIP

Rather than offering fragmented access to individual sessions, Indigo Week is designed as:

• a continuous process
• a shared experience
• a space for ongoing practice

Membership allows this to happen in a structured and supported way.

👉 JOIN HERE

Join Membership to access Indigo Week →
(link to membership product)

🌿 CONTINUING THE PROCESS

Following Indigo Week:

Members receive ongoing support for the indigo vats made during the live sessions:

• maintaining and adjusting fermentation, organic and mineral vats
• troubleshooting issues as they arise
• observing and understanding changes over time

Support takes place within the Academy through shared discussion and exchange.

🌿 SUKUMO VAT MAKEALONG

Members are invited to continue into a shared Sukumo vat making process:

• building and maintaining a vat together
• working through the process step by step
• exchanging observations and experiences

This extends the work of Indigo Week into a slower, ongoing practice.

🌿 CONTINUING BEYOND

This process can continue into the:

4-Day In-Person Indigo Gathering (August 13–16)
(optional, separate booking)

♻️ APPLEOAK APPROACH

At AppleOak FibreWorks, indigo is approached as a living system:

plant → pigment → fermentation → vat → fibre

Indigo Week opens this process — and invites you into it.