living with nature

Susannah lives off-grid on a canal boat on the Grand Union canal just outside London with eight quails. She uses plants along the towpath for natural dyes.

Workshops and talks

I offer workshops and talks for adults and children about organic and permaculture gardening and traditional crafts. Book me here.

Traditional wool skills course: spinning, dyeing and felting starting Wednesday 9th April

Garden designer

I design private gardens and community spaces.
My balcony design won Camden in Bloom Best Mini-Garden 2021 (right). More details.

Woad and Weld workshop on Sunday 9th March: blues from woad, yellows from weld, greens overdyeing both and reds/pinks from madder.

Feedback

“Absolutely exalted, it was more than I hoped for, and all I wished for!”

“Thank you – really enjoyed it!”

Susannah’s teaching style was
“Excellent”
“Really accessible – clear & open to questions”
“Coaxing… not dogmatic except when it mattered”

Spring 2025 workshops

  • Traditional wool skills course – spinning, dyeing and felting

    Wednesdays 6.30pm-8.30pm
    9th, 30th April, 14th, 28th May

    Kentish Town City Farm, NW5 4BN

    Come along to learn about the traditions of hand-spinning with a drop-spindle and felting. This introductory course will start by meeting the Jacobs sheep at the Kentish Town City Farm whose wool we’ll be spinning. You’ll learn how to use a drop spindle and once spun we’ll ply into yarn and then dye with plant dyes. Finally you’ll learn how to make felt, making a felt pouch.

    Timetable:
    Week 1: Meet the Jacob’s sheep and their wool. Learn about processing wool: washing and carding. Start spinning with a drop spindle.
    Week 2: Focus on spinning with a drop spindle. Learning about plying and fulling.
    Week 3: Dyeing the yarn you have spun. Learning about mordanting and dyeing with plant dyes.
    Week 4: Learning about felting and how to make felt. Make a felt pouch.
    No experience necessary.

  • Madder and Weld – Natural dye workshop

    Learning about red and yellow that comes from plants

    Saturday 26th April 12.30pm-4.30pm

    £60

    Calthorpe Community Garden, Kings Cross

    Very few plants produce a red dye. We’ll be using the traditional Madder to produce a range of reds and pinks. The roots of madder have been used for thousands of years in England because the plant is hardy enough to survive our winters.
    We’ll dip-dye to blend with yellow from Weld and over-dye to create oranges.

    No experience necessary.

    You’ll take away two silk scarves you’ve dyed.

Madder-dyed silk scarf (patterned) Madder-dyed silk scarf (patterned)
Quick View
Madder-dyed silk scarf (patterned)
£30.00

This silk scarf has been dyed with madder, a traditional plant dye that uses roots from the madder plant (Rubia tinctorum). It is a beautiful red colour

The size of the scarf is 114cm x 28cm.

Woad-dyed silk scarf Woad-dyed silk scarf
Quick View
Woad-dyed silk scarf
£30.00

This silk scarf has been dyed with woad, a traditional plant dye that uses the leaves of the Woad plant (Isatis tinctoria).

The size of the scarf is 114cm x 28cm.

Weld-dyed silk scarf (plain) Weld-dyed silk scarf (plain)
Quick View
Weld-dyed silk scarf (plain)
£30.00

This silk scarf has been dyed with weld, a traditional plant dye that uses the weld plant (Reseda luteola). It is a beautiful yellow colour

The size of the scarf is 114cm x 28cm.