Flax seems to be booming in Sweden. One reason for this great interest is a project that now connects 6,000 people, all of whom grow 1 m2 of flax in the2 Growing flax in the garden.
There are videos on every step of the process, large regional groups that meet to exchange ideas, online events and a dedicated website.
Inspired by the ethnologist Inger Widhja, the idea of sending flax to interested parties and information on cultivation was born in 2020, in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. One of Inga's favourite textiles is an old towel that she made with her grandma when she was a little girl. At a time when flax was hardly grown any more, but many tools were still available on the farms. To show little Inger the process, her grandmother grew a square metre of flax.
From a regional project with 700 producers in Vรคstra Gรถtaland, 1 m2 Flax has become a Nordic phenomenon. It is not only in Sweden that flax is flourishing in more and more gardens; similar initiatives have also been set up in the Netherlands, Denmark and the UK.
In my opinion, hardly any other idea has done more for the dissemination of flax knowledge than 1 m2 Flax and I hope many more countries will follow.
DE 
EN