07/02/2026
Phew! Just harvested our flax field. Read on if you're interested in the details:
During our class in Spring, we planted 1000 sqft of Aramis Flax Seed from Landis Valley. We divided the field into 3 sections which we prepped differently.
Section A: we tarped to kill the weeds, then broadcast the seed.
Section B: we tarped, then amended the soil with compost, then used an Earthway seeder to sew the seeds into the compost.
Section C: we spread straw, let it break down for a month, then broadcast the seed into the straw.
We had a very wet year with a lot of weather. As a result we experienced a lot of lodging in the field. Lodging is when the weather blows the flax over. Sometimes it can start to grow straight again, resulting in a curved stem. In our field, there was a lot of fully lodged fibers that had already started to rot as well as ones that had begun to curve upward and grow up again. I left much of the short and badly lodged fiber in the field and focused on the higher quality stems as I harvested.
Section A had medium germination rate and a ton of weeds. The straw that came from this section was straight, though. The section likely needed to be tarped for much longer to ensure root death for the weeds.
Section B was fascinating. This section had the lowest germination rate with a large section of it not growing at all. What did grow was great. As it grew, the leaves were darker in appearance than the other areas of flax, due to the compost amendment. This section produced the tallest, straightest flax.
Section C had the highest germination rate by far, producing 3-4 times what the other sections produced. This section also had the most lodging, which wasn't surprising, as it is on the north side of the field and when we get flooding, this is the direction it comes from. It had the lowest occurance of weeds as well, even though early I saw a lot of grass seed sprouting from the hay seed. A lot of curved stems, but should still be usable.
Future plan: This fall we'll look at mowing down the remaining weeds, amending the entire field from our chicken run, covering with straw, and then tarping.
