A CONVERSATION WITH TSIA CARSON, AUTHOR OF “CRAFTIVITY“
by Gayla Trail
I am always thinking big. Whether it is crafting or gardening it is high concept, low skill level.
I recently had the occasion to interview Tsia Carson, editor of the craft as art website, Supernatural.com about her new book Craftivity. The book is an extension of the site offering 40 inspired projects creatively imagined by several contributors to the site and features very easy-to-follow how-to instructions and accompanying photos. The book tackles many skills from the yarn arts to building projects and while it doesn't cover gardening per se there are projects in the book that will appeal to the gardener, but even more specifically crafty gardeners like myself. I went straight for the crocheted Flower Brooch project by Desiree Haigh (I've already made three!), and am eager to tackle the Tyvek Basket woven from recycled FedEx envelopes and perfect for proud harvest displays. Gardeners will also like the Wheelbarrow Fireplace, Moss Graffiti, and the Lighted Display Shelf. What began as an interview evolved into a conversation, which I have edited down to some of the key points that hint at Tsia's personal life philosophy and what has driven her to produce both the site and book. We also got to talking about gardening, permaculture and growing an edible forest. From her roots as a graphic designer, to a lifelong maker and food gardener, Tsia is both an inspiration and a gal after my own heart!
Gayla: There is an emphasis in your book on recycling and thrifting for materials. You also suggest that readers not overindulge in crafting to the point of excess, but take care in choosing what they make rather than trying to make everything. Are you an environmentalist or is there another reason for your more mindful approach to craft?
Tsia: I totally take the mixed CD approach to this kind of stuff generally and mass-produce jam unless I know the giftee very well. I feel uncomfortable calling myself an environmentalist because it could suggest a holier than thou kind of thing. I am overwhelmingly concerned with the environment and yet still manage to throw out a banana peel into the trash almost daily. It is a bit schizophrenic as I sort through my recyclables freaking out about tiny little plastic containers. We consume too much and most of the world has so little. What the hell are we doing?
Gayla: I know what you mean; the word ”environmentalist” carries a burden of perfection. My approach to the word is to be as mindful as I can about the choices I make... but not to slag myself when I screw up. I think people are so overwhelmed they end up doing nothing or think that even the small things don't matter so they give up entirely.
Tsia: I am totally obsessive compulsive, which doesn't help. A perfectionist. I don?t know anyone who isn't concerned with sustainability in my social and crafting circle. I really want to do more with the site to help people understand what small things they can do.
Gayla: So maybe environmentalist is too loaded a word but you are "concerned with sustainability."
Tsia: 100 percent concerned and I think this is reflected throughout the book. Or I hope so. I don't think we should be f-ing around any more with the earth. Honestly we have mucked things up pretty good. But I do try to take a light hand both on supernaturale.com and with my clients in my day gig as a designer otherwise people tune out. Plus who wants to have their food fertilized with human waste. I think I might be hating agriculture now a days.
Gayla: Yes, but while things feel dire at times I have gained a hopefulness that I didn't used to have... it may seem cheesy but these small things, making things by hand, slowing down, growing our own food... they carry a hopefulness about them. I have found that my politics and in turn my choices have shifted over the years in part because these activities are like gateways to other ideas... So I still maintain a non-preachy stance because I hope that people will arrive at conclusions themselves simply through the act of doing.
Tsia: I agree. I spent a few hours yesterday morning working at my CSA local farm co-op and I have to say -- that is some hard ass work. Man, you couldn't pay farm workers enough. True, I am not really cut out...but while a home garden is fun picking for 130 families is not. We don't understand the true costs of things like food and oil and I think that obfuscation is intentional. The act of doing is key. That is why I am such an ardent supporter but totally slack parishioner of the Church of Craft that seems crafting as a spiritual practice.
Gayla: Making your own things, growing your own food gives people some idea of how much work goes into those activities on a larger scale... At least I hope it does because it has had that effect on me.
Tsia: This is a great point. I definitely felt that yesterday at the farm as I was picking wax beans.
Gayla: As a designer, how do you think that work has informed your 'craftivity??
Tsia: I enjoy learning so I love to make things and grow things and learn. I love to bumble through. It's a hard thing for me to separate out any of my creative projects. I see a continuum between all my work so I don?t separate out my work as a designer, a crafter, a pathetic gardener, or my parenting. It's just a different audience, or clients, or needs. I have worked really hard to come up with a mental framework that makes all these things as one so there isn't some kind of hierarchy between them. I definitely learn on the job with my design work. That is why I enjoy it.
Gayla: How do you feel about making mistakes?
Tsia: Some of the best things I have done or made have been mistakes!
Gayla: Are you ever frustrated when you can't make something work or figure it out?
Tsia: My frustration level is unbelievable. I almost think it is karmic for me to continually do things that are so unknowable it is scary to get over this issue.
Gayla: I say that about frustration because I experience deep frustration with knitting and crochet... not in the doing but in deciphering the patterns! But I keep going back for more.
Tsia: No one can decipher those f-ing patterns. They are absurd!
Gayla: Thank you! I often wonder if it is just me and think, "Why can't they just spell it out in long hand?"
Tsia: I made sure that this book was more readable in this regard. I did have a few throw downs with the technical editors on this. The patterns have been very carefully vetted for us common folk. No one lets them spell it out! The rules are arcane like the fan language of the French courts of Louis the 14th. Damn sadists! I think that the best way truly to learn these obtuse yarn arts is via someone else. I know that that has always helped me. I think that Craftivity is pretty good in this regard. I also think that there are some killer out-of-print 70's books that help.
Gayla: Do you garden or grow plants?
Tsia: I try. I am still learning. I know my way around a houseplant but now that I am no longer a city girl I have a fever for gardening.
Gayla: Well gardening is a never-ending learning process. Every gardener is still learning. What do you like to grow?
Tsia: I have 4 acres on the side of a mountain in the Hudson Highlands -- in NY state and I am trying to figure out what to do with it with my husband who is now obsessed with permaculture, as am I. Doug really wants to become a gentleman mushroom farmer. He keeps talking about the yield and how great it is. We have some good property with that. I am really into trying to make mast.
Gayla: That's quite a jump. I'm assuming outdoor space was minimal in the city?
Tsia: I actually had a nice patio in the city but it was hotter than hell and the tomatoes tasted like gasoline. But while I lived there I started drawing up plans to make a rooftop nature preserve using the plants that used to grow in lower Manhattan. I had all these old 19th century topographical maps and was charting it all out. So I am always thinking big. Now that we are here I totally want to make an edible forest garden. Whether it is crafting or gardening it is high concept, low skill level. The thing about permaculture, unlike agriculture, is that the maintenance after the initial set up is really low. Like a few days a year of working on it. Of course you need to like to eat acorn burgers and elderberries.
Gayla: Right. Ha! I was going to ask next what you would like to grow besides mushrooms.
Tsia: We got the ferns, acorns, elderberries, black caps, there are lots of mushrooms- although I am still learning to pick- morels even. I think we might try out shitakes next year. I think I could get some greens going next year too in the forest way. I have been buying books on wild edibles, at first as a joke and now in earnest.
Gayla: Do you have a forest on your property, an orchard, or both?
Tsia: My property is just forest. The forest is an orchard of sorts.
Gayla: Can you explain what an edible forest is for readers who have never heard of it?
Tsia: Well, the idea is that for hundreds of years, possibly more, the original people of the northeast (and other areas) practiced a kind of forest agriculture where they got all their sustenance from what they could grow in this climate. So that what Europeans understood as wilderness was actually a carefully managed ecosystem of edible and useful plants and fruits. One of the mainstays of this edible forest were the nut trees that were made into a protein rich drink called mast and ground into flour etc. Some people are advocating a return to nut flower because it is a sustainable crop that doesn't have to be replanted or fertilized year after year like other grains.
Gayla: So rather than clear-cutting away the trees to make room for agriculture, you work with what is already pre-existing and adapt your diet accordingly.
Tsia: Permaculturists see agriculture as wasteful in terms of resource and energy. Permaculture produces food with much less work. I think I will keep a little kitchen garden for some things and permaculture the rest. This interest grew pretty naturally in thinking about native plants versus invasive species. I always think that the radical end of the spectrum opens up possibilities and I try to hang out somewhere around there. I try to reflect that in the book, on the site, with my love for the Church of Craft and with my obsession with permaculture.
Gayla: You are a mum to a youngin?. Do you garden with your daughter? What sorts of activities do you do together?
Tsia: YES! She loves to garden. She is just 2 and a half. This year we went to the nursery together. I got her, her own gardening tools and plenty of gloves for all her friends. And we got strawberries at her request and planted them. She loved that! We did bulbs this fall: crocus, anemones and garlic for the roses. Like her mother she loves to eat nature and we have a bunch of black caps -- a blackberry raspberry mix growing wild on the property so we ingested an amazing amount of those. We are always gardening together. She likes to do it with her friends when they come over. I let them dig anywhere. Life is too short to worry about it.
Gayla: And finally, a question I love to ask gardeners? Describe your dream garden.
Tsia: One that takes care of itself mostly and is almost entirely edible.
Related Links & Resources
Gardening By the Book: My Crash, Burn, and Regeneration
The Perfect Garden
...Or how I learned to stop worrying and start enjoying my garden.
The Adequate Gardener Nobody has to be the perfect gardener. How one woman learned it the hard way.
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