Hello! I started this account as a way for friends and family to support my basketmaking. Between an occasional donation (much appreciated!) and the odd basket sale at a market I have been satisfied with the income from my hobby/side hustle.
With wild basketry the materials are free so this arrangement has worked just fine. Once I start talking about willow, though, everything changes.
Willow grows on every continent except Antarctica. In places where willow has historically grown in abundance it has been used in basketry. My European ancestors would have been very familiar with willow baskets. I even found a mention in genealogical research that mentioned Willow Work as a profession down one branch of my family tree.
Unfortunately, willow weaving knowledge was not passed to me via my ancestors. But the love of craft was. Maybe it was inevitable that a lifetime of creativity paired with a passion for plants would lead me to basketry, and to willow specifically. I don’t know.
What I do know is that my forebears could not have predicted that I would move to North Carolina. We are a people from more northern climates (who tend to die in Florida, but that’s another post). My Irish immigrant great-great-grandparents came to New York City on boats and stayed there. A few ventured as far as Baltimore. My parents broke with tradition and moved their family to upstate New York in search of their agrarian dream. I was raised on a hobby farm with gardens, some farm animals, and acres in the country to roam. It was idyllic for a kid, and it shaped who I am today.
After college I moved to Raleigh in search of work and sort of accidentally built my whole life here. I have now been here for 28 years. I started making baskets 6 years ago with the invasive and garden plants I could find near me. Then I fell in love—with willow.
I am unwilling to leave everything I know in pursuit of willow, so I had this crazy idea that I could establish some basketry willow locally. There are three ways to get willow here in central NC: buy it (expensive), grow it (requires land and skills), or partner with local farmers and gardeners to grow willow for basketry in the area.
I am leaning heavily into the latter. This is going to be an exciting long-term project to both grow willow and establish a local basketmaking market to support growers. I am starting by building my skills so I can teach, plus making the contacts I need to find people excited to grow willow.
My hope is that this turns into a business that benefits basketmakers and growers in central NC for a long time. I expect this effort to outlast me.
If you would like to support me and my attempt to bring willow basketry to central North Carolina then I welcome your ongoing support. Reports about the process of building this new venture will be shared with supporters only going forward, while occasional highlights will remain public.
I look forward to welcoming you on this willow journey.
- Amber