Local Color — A Natural Dye and Permaculture Course (April-October 2025)
(or 5 x $250.00, see below for monthly payment option)
Exploring the art of natural dyeing from seed to harvest.
Join Mariah Palmer from Local Earth and Kareen Erbe from Broken Ground as you embark on a journey of deepening your connection with the local landscape through the art of color, community, and permaculture.
In this 6-part series, we will follow the seasons and learn all about growing and foraging for local plants to produce color for natural dyeing. This series will cover everything from using a permaculture approach for site selection to planting and growing dye plants and working with those plants to discover a wide range of colors. You will also learn about ethical foraging and the benefits of clearing invasive plants as a way to both honor the plants and support native species. In addition to learning the foundations of natural dyes, we will study various design techniques, including bundle dyeing, eco printing, and printing with direct application of mordants. Working with these various techniques will give you a hands-on, in-depth understanding of the relationship between fiber, plant, and mordant.
This course is designed for in-person instruction and community building, however, if you are not able to make every lesson in person, you can easily catch up via our online Teachable platform. You will also have access to all the materials in perpetuity, so you can go back and review the course long after the session is over. See a list of what’s included as well as the full schedule and itinerary below.
Space is limited, so register early!
(or 5 x $250.00, see below for monthly payment option)
Exploring the art of natural dyeing from seed to harvest.
Join Mariah Palmer from Local Earth and Kareen Erbe from Broken Ground as you embark on a journey of deepening your connection with the local landscape through the art of color, community, and permaculture.
In this 6-part series, we will follow the seasons and learn all about growing and foraging for local plants to produce color for natural dyeing. This series will cover everything from using a permaculture approach for site selection to planting and growing dye plants and working with those plants to discover a wide range of colors. You will also learn about ethical foraging and the benefits of clearing invasive plants as a way to both honor the plants and support native species. In addition to learning the foundations of natural dyes, we will study various design techniques, including bundle dyeing, eco printing, and printing with direct application of mordants. Working with these various techniques will give you a hands-on, in-depth understanding of the relationship between fiber, plant, and mordant.
This course is designed for in-person instruction and community building, however, if you are not able to make every lesson in person, you can easily catch up via our online Teachable platform. You will also have access to all the materials in perpetuity, so you can go back and review the course long after the session is over. See a list of what’s included as well as the full schedule and itinerary below.
Space is limited, so register early!
(or 5 x $250.00, see below for monthly payment option)
Exploring the art of natural dyeing from seed to harvest.
Join Mariah Palmer from Local Earth and Kareen Erbe from Broken Ground as you embark on a journey of deepening your connection with the local landscape through the art of color, community, and permaculture.
In this 6-part series, we will follow the seasons and learn all about growing and foraging for local plants to produce color for natural dyeing. This series will cover everything from using a permaculture approach for site selection to planting and growing dye plants and working with those plants to discover a wide range of colors. You will also learn about ethical foraging and the benefits of clearing invasive plants as a way to both honor the plants and support native species. In addition to learning the foundations of natural dyes, we will study various design techniques, including bundle dyeing, eco printing, and printing with direct application of mordants. Working with these various techniques will give you a hands-on, in-depth understanding of the relationship between fiber, plant, and mordant.
This course is designed for in-person instruction and community building, however, if you are not able to make every lesson in person, you can easily catch up via our online Teachable platform. You will also have access to all the materials in perpetuity, so you can go back and review the course long after the session is over. See a list of what’s included as well as the full schedule and itinerary below.
Space is limited, so register early!
“Local Color was such a beautiful blend of plants and art – grounded in the Montana ecosystem and shared in community. I learned so much practical information about dyeing with plants and felt rejuvenated by and connected with both the plants in my garden and in the wild.”
What’s Included
-
A complete plant dye kit which includes everything you need for the course, plus extra materials to experiment with at home.
The kit includes;
a collection of natural fabrics
mordants, assists and modifiers
plant dyes
seeds
-
One home visit with both instructors for further guidance in your overall site plan. This could include addressing permaculture specific questions and/or how to optimize creative workflow in your home.
-
26 hours of in-person instruction including:
permaculture principles and growing instructions
ethical wild harvesting
foundation of natural dyes— an in-depth study of the relationship between fiber, plant, and mordant
multiple design techniques including; bundle dyeing, eco printing and printing with direct application of mordants
-
Detailed written instruction to accompany each session.
-
Each session will include readings and journal prompts designed to initiate deeper thought and discussion around how to develop a robust creative life and how that can deepen our relationship with the land.
-
Meet your local flower farmers! We will tour Kokoro Flower Farm and learn all about their small-scale organic operation. We will also harvest some of their dye plants to then experiment with, right there on the farm!
Enjoy a tour and harvest meal at the Broken Ground Homestead—a living example of a thriving food forest right in the heart of Bozeman!
-
At the end of the season we will celebrate with a harvest meal including wood fired pizza with toppings from the garden.
Schedule and Itinerary
-
Planning Your Dye Garden
Location: Local Earth Studio (Kelly Canyon, Bozeman MT)
This class covers the principles of permaculture and how plan for maximum connectivity within the context of nature-craft and gardening.
This class includes:
Site planning
Seed selection
Step-by-step guide to starting your own dye garden
-
Planting Your Dye Garden
Location: Local Earth Studio
This class will expand on permaculture design and how to prepare your soil for planting.
This class includes:
Soil building and health
Water capture
Drawing a site plan
-
During the month of June Mariah and Kareen will schedule a home visit with each participant. This is an opportunity to ask specific questions about your overall site plan, including permaculture questions and how to optimize creative workflow in your home.
-
Wild Foraging and Foundations of Natural Dyes
Location: Local Earth Studio
In this class we will gather to forage St. John's wort and discuss the benefits of working with invasive plants as well as how to forage ethically. We will use the plants we have foraged to demonstrate immersion dyeing. This part will cover the foundations of natural dyeing including mordants, fiber types and what makes a plant a dye plant.
This class covers the following:
Ethical foraging and working with invasive dye plants
The foundation of natural dyeing, including mordants and fiber types
What makes a plant a dye plant
How to create an immersion dye bath using plants that we have foraged locally
How to achieve a range of colors from just one plant
-
Harvesting and Eco Printing
Location: Kokoro Flower Farm
This part will focus on harvesting plants, plant anatomy and two design techniques that involve using fresh plants.
This class includes:
A tour of Kokoro Flower Farm
How and when to harvest plants and different possibilities fresh vs. dried
Two techniques using fresh flowers: bundle dyeing and eco-printing
-
Weekend Intensive - Printing with Natural Dyes and Harvest Meal
Location: Local Earth Studio and Broken Ground Homestead
This will cover more in-depth printing and dyeing techniques.
This class includes:
How to create prints using direct application of mordants
Tour of Broken Ground permaculture garden and food forest
Further exploration of permaculture principles and creating a self-reliant life
Harvest meal featuring wood-fired pizza with toppings from the garden
-
Saving Seeds and Prepping for Winter
Location: Local Earth Studio
This class includes:
How to save and store seeds
How to prep your garden for winter
・・・・・・or, pay in full ・・・・・・
Before signing up, please review our terms and conditions.
“This program was an incredibly meaningful part of my creative process + education as a gardener. We created a meaningful community, learned fabulous skills to explore the alchemy of dye plants, and had a beautiful opportunity to connect with a remembering in our ancestry that held this knowledge long ago.”
About Mariah
Mariah is a nature-craft artist with an endless fascination for natural dyes. She works with local and homegrown plants she grows or forages and especially loves working with invasive plants. In her latest endeavor, she co-founded Wilder Goods — a shop and art gallery in the Emerson Center for Arts and Culture. In that space, she began offering workshops, which sparked a move away from retail and into teaching and hosting workshops rooted in connecting with the land. She now teaches and creates under the name Local Earth in her home studio outside Bozeman. Over the past few years, she has pieced together the school of her dreams by attending workshops that centered around nature and art, including a Master Naturalist certification through the Montana Outdoor Science School, Resilient Homestead, a permaculture course with Broken Ground–as well as various dye courses, including Screen Printing with Natural Dyes in Brooklyn at the Textile Arts Center, Printing with Natural Dyes with the Maiwa School of Textiles and The Chemistry of Natural Dyes, also with the Maiwa School of Textiles. She lives and works outside Bozeman with her husband, 11-year-old daughter, and animals, both domestic and wild.
About Kareen
Kareen, owner of Broken Ground, is a garden design consultant, homesteader, and educator. For over a decade, she has helped thousands of people in cold climates grow their own food through consultations, design services, her signature Resilient Homestead Program, and her YouTube channel. In addition to being a Master Gardener and Master Composter, Kareen is certified in permaculture design, a whole-systems approach to land management and sustainable living. She is on the faculty of the Permaculture Women’s Guild, Green Path Herb School, and the Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute. Kareen lives with her husband on a suburban homestead in Bozeman, Montana, with a greenhouse, pond, vegetable gardens, a food forest of fruit trees and berry bushes, a flock of chickens, and her blue heeler dog Beni.
“This course was well worth every moment. It was multidimensional and invited me into the rich world of gardening and natural dyes in a way that was not only practical but also deeply meaningful and personally satisfying.”
Interested in learning more?
send an email to mariah@localearthstudio.com