Flax

Ephemeral beauty, flax is a zero waste plant

From its root to the seeds, nothing is lost.

Ephemeral because its pretty blue flowers which delight us in June only bloom for one day ...

Sown between March and April, it is harvested in July.

The flax plant is not cut, it is pulled up.
Indeed, its precious fiber is also present in its roots.
The flax grower collects his seeds, which will be used either for the next harvest or to be transformed (linseed oil for example).

The flax retting phase follows.

This is a crucial step, and the quality of the flax will depend on the weather.
Cultivé principalement du Calvados à la Belgique, pour que le rouissage soit optimum, il faut une alternance équilibrée entre la chaleur et l’humidité.

Guided by his know-how, the flax grower turns the flax straws several times in order to obtain the best possible fiber.

When retting is well advanced, the flax grower practices scutching in order to check the quality of his fiber.
Scutching is the action of separating the different components of the stem.