Growing Up Forager & Co
Hi, I'm Lily – the owner and dye master here at Forager & Co. Welcome to my little dye shop.
I grew up in coastal rural Alaska with my large family consisting of my parents four brothers and two sisters. My Dad was a carpenter and my Mom was a herbalist and our homeschool teacher. There was always a book to be read, a garden to be weeded or watered, salmon to smoke, herbs and berries to forage, and remedies to make. We were always together, always in nature, and always looking for ways to honor the seasons and welcome creativity and happiness into our home. In many ways, my little dye shop, Forager & Co, is an extension of my happy and wild childhood where my love for plants and natural materials was given room to grow.
I discovered the world of natural dyes quite by accident—doomscrolling through Instagram early on during the pandemic. I saw a reel from a well-known natural dyer. She was dyeing with onion skins, and I couldn’t believe how golden and vivid the color was. I knew that dyes had originally come from plants, of course. I had even dyed a t-shirt with indigo before while in school, but I had never seen anything like that. It was golden and magical, — and like, that color came from onion skins?? What? It was unbelievable and also a strange moment for me. It was like something tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Hey, it’s about time you got here."
I dedicated the next year to learning all I could about the craft, starting with the basics, of course. Just dipping my toes in on the weekends, dyeing strips of cloth with kitchen scraps, reading every book and article I could find, and soaking up the knowledge given out by artists online who have made natural dyeing their livelihoods. I felt so inspired by them. What once was a monthly hobby I thought about every once in a while turned into a project every weekend, then it was every day. Before I knew it, I was staying up late and getting up early to work. I even opened a new Etsy shop before giving it a name. Although, it did came to me eventually. The rest, they say, is history.
I have a lot of beautiful memories from those early days. I was learning and experimenting, feeling bold and enriched. I was enjoying the sun, my garden, and having the time of my life. With my work hung up on the clothesline, swaying with the breeze, smelling lightly sweet from the dye bath—I could lay there under the dancing shade and feel completely at home for hours. And still, to this day, I feel the same.
There are times where I feel bogged down by running this little business. Dyeing is hard and physically demanding. Vats of water and wet fabric can weigh hundreds of pounds. Suppliers can be unreliable and inconsistent. Dye stuff is expensive. The products you work the hardest on don’t always sell. I have to wear many hats: the dyer, the marketer, the fulfiller, the web designer, the customer service representative, the content creator, and more. It’s not for the faint of heart. But during the moments where I think maybe it’s not worth it, I remind myself why I named my little dye shop Forager & Co. I am a forager. I am here gathering everything that this little business needs to thrive. My family, the company, helps me carry the vats that weigh 100 pounds to the compost pile, troubleshoot the napkin crises that happen often, love the products that don’t sell, proofread captions, and approve my website edits. They help me take packages to the post office, buy me a coffee when I’m sad, attend markets for $0 an hour, listen to me be stressed, and cheer me on every day.
