Dear Friends of Cold Hill,
As we transition into another new season that includes Covid and climate change, we hope this letter finds you in good health and spirits. At Cold Hill, we feel so fortunate to have a healthy family and burgeoning business as we continue to plug along in the studio manufacturing modern and sustainable housewares.
Our biggest news is the addition of napkins to our line of products. Our napkin fabric is 100% hemp, and it is a natural fit with our other handmade products.
Why hemp? Hemp is soft, light, and luxurious and gets even softer when washed, but there’s more to hemp than just being pleasant with which to dab one’s mouth! Hemp is easy and fast to grow and has a very low impact on the environment.
Here’s why:
Hemp requires very little water to grow.
Hemp does not require use of pesticides, insecticides, or synthetic fertilizer.
Hemp requires about half the territory of cotton to produce a ton of finished textiles.
Hemp is carbon negative, which means it absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere during its growth than is emitted by the equipment used to harvest, process, and transport it.
Hemp’s long roots aerate soil for the benefit of future crops, remove toxins, and prevent soil erosion as well.
Hemp also has deep roots in history:
People used hemp as early as 8,000 BCE for making pottery and rope.
1533: King Henry VIII, king of England, fines farmers if they do not raise hemp
1616, the first permanent english settlement in the americas, jamestown, grew hemp to make sails, ropes, and clothing.
In the 1700’s, early laws required american farmers in several colonies to grow hemp.
1937, hemp became illegal. Congress banned hemp because it was said to be the most violence-causing drug known.
1957, farmers in Wisconsin plant the last commercial hemp fields in the us
It is time to bring back hemp!
and no, you won’t get high from hemp, even if you want to. Hemp plants and marijuana plants are both the same species. Legally, hemp is defined as a cannabis plant that contains 0.3 percent or less THC, while marijuana is a cannabis plant that contains more than 0.3 percent thc.
Our napkins are sewn in nearby fall river massachusetts in one of the last sewing factories in the region, by a third generation sewer with 42 employees.
We have a few more items that are in development for the holidays. Stay tuned for more details!
All the best,
Will and Laura