Colour from the hedgerow

You don't need an indigo vat to start dyeing. Plenty of common plants give good, lasting colour on wool with nothing more than a pot and an alum mordant.

Onion skins give gold to rust. Walnut hulls give browns that need no mordant at all. Weld gives the clearest yellow there is, and madder root, if you can find it, gives a deep brick red.