On any given day at UMD, you’ll find students learning, professors teaching…and Dr. Twu carding wool in their down time! Work on the Book of The North is constant, even as we head into these colder months!

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From our very own Dr. Twu, some lessons on flax fibers and processing. These fibers will play a critical role in the crafting of the Book of The North. Using medieval techniques, flax and many other natural materials will be used in to create this symbol of Minnesotan culture and ecology.

Last Monday, the students of Dr. Twu’s Nature Writing course gathered in Ordean Court here at UMD to strip Milkweed!

Specially, these are late fallen stalks of Milkweed, which grows naturally here in Minnesota.

From our flax harvesting last Wednesday, a bit about the process of flax harvesting and processing from Louise Young, our flax expert and ecologist!

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Did you know? Recycling is far from a modern concept. Many of the centuries-old books we see have pages made from people’s used clothes. Dr. Twu brought some old books to the flax harvesting event, some that are older than America!

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