Big Bluestem Yarn

Welcome to the newest yarn in our traceable Canadian yarn line up.

Big Bluestem
3-ply DK weight
235m/100g

Mix and match minis 70m/30g

Naturally dyed using plants and minerals we grow on our farm in Eastern Manitoba.

Polypay wool is known for its equal parts softness and body. Producing a yarn that provides loft and bounce (thanks to its dorset influence) but also will be fine and wearable (thanks to the rambouillet and targhee influence).

Why Big Bluestem?

This new yarn is named after a dominant grass found in the tall grass prairies of our land base. The plant is tolerant of heat, drought and fire. The roots of the plant can reach up to 5 feet - an effective way to improve soil health. These roots can store a large amount of fixed carbon and even when the plant dies some of the roots remain in the soil for hundreds of years as organic carbon humus.

Tallgrass prairies are an endangered ecosystem in Canada with only 1% of the original habitat remaining. Much of it has been plowed under for conventional agriculture - but using plants like Big Bluestem can work to restore tallgrass prairies and add ecological health to our land.

The Polypay breed is a dual purpose sheep and was created to produce good quality meat, but also beautiful wool. It's name actually means "many ways to provide return on investment" It is a mix of Targhee, Dorset, Rambouillet and Finnsheep genetics.

Polypay flock at Silverbend Ranch

We purchase our polypay wool from a local Manitoba farmer and minimally process it here at our mill as a semi-worsted 3-ply yarn. This yarn is perfect for your outerwear projects like sweaters, mittens, hats or shawls and many will find it fine enough to wear next to skin.

We have dyed some mini skeins in a stunning rainbow of naturally dyed colours - perfect for your colourwork project!

This yarn is made with wool from a Polypay cross Rambouillet flock in Western Manitoba. The farm - Silverbend Ranch has won numerous awards for its ecological farming work and managing sheep for wool quality and soil health has always been a priority for this farm.

We believe that traceability and transparency are crucial for our yarn and wool products. We visit the sheep farms that we purchase wool from and work with the farmers to understand how they manage both animal and land. We value the work that sheep producers do and work to pay them above market rates for their wool.

We want you, the consumer, to have a closer connection to the farm and sheep that your yarn is coming from and to have a greater understanding of the process involved in getting from sheep to your hands.

2025 Calendar is here!

2025 Calendar

Many of you have asked about our annual sheep calendar - I usually always have it available for the fall markets and it was definitely missed this year.

Don’t worry - the calendar is coming.

I showed up at the Manitoba Fibre Festival and realized I had completely forgotten to put the calendar together. But pictures have been chosen, and it’s being sent to the printers and ready to ship out by October 25, 2024.

Long Way Homestead Calendars feature our flock of Shetland Sheep and guardian llamas. With beautiful photos, this calendar gives you a small sense of what raising sheep throughout the year looks like.

The calendar is 6" x 9" (vertical) and fastened with a jute cord.

 

Fibre & Farm Fall Market - Saturday, Oct 5, 2024

Fibre & Farm Market

Saturday, October 5th
10am - 4pm
Long Way Homestead & Ferme Fiola Farm (1/2 mile from each other in Ste. Geneveive, outside of Winnipeg)

There will also be a community market happening the same day and the same time at the Ste. Genevieve Community Centre

**The event is free, but we will have a donation box - all the funds will go to support Mama Bear Clan

There will be warm and cold beverages to purchase and pulled-lamb sandwiches at Long Way Homestead

Enjoy the cozy vibes of fall on the farm for the day. Bring your works-in-progress and sit by a fire, visit our sheep, tour the mill, hay rides and shop among local makers and farmers. Check out our list of Vendors!

Bear & Bunny Yarn
Apothecandy
Masagana Flower Farm
Enchanted Grove Alpacas
Swallowtail Farmstead
Sunflower Knit
The Tender
Awaken Herb Farm
Wild Woods Pottery
Between Two Farms
Masagana Flower Farm
Amanda Borealis

Accessibility: We are constantly working to make our facilities accessible. The driveway, walkways, dye studio and outdoor workshops spaces are grass and gravel and accessible by wheelchair. The outhouse, indoor studio space and wool mill all have one step access. We are working hard to improve accessibility on the farm, thank you for your patience.

Check out these images of past fibre and farm events!

Top 10 Take-Aways from Sheep & Wool Camp - by Jane Westheuser

Our inagural sheep & wool camp happened in June of 2024 and we are so honoured to have this recap and reflection from one of our participants of that very special week! (Thank you Jane)

It's September, and I've been catching up with friends who I haven't seen for a few months. Inevitably, someone asks, how was your summer? What did you get up to? And my response is always: I had a fantastic summer. And it all started with me going to Sheep and Wool Camp in Manitoba!

And then I wait for it. The awkward moment where my friend's inner voice is asking, what???? did she say Sheep and Wool Camp? And, every time, no matter who I'm chatting with, the next thing out of their mouth is - oh, so you learned to shear sheep, and did some sheep shearing?

So now I've prepared my "Top 10 Takeaways" and my answer isn't "no, I did not learn to shear sheep, I think you have to go to sheep shearing school for that!" but rather, "I learned so much, and let me tell you about some of it .

But first, a little context. I live in a city, on the west coast of Canada. I am an advanced beginner knitter and am still trying to understand the difference between DK, sport and worsted weight! I am a proud Canadian and like to support local. I am passionate about community and working together to make great things happen.

And that's why I registered for Sheep and Wool Camp: to learn from two Canadian shepherdesses (Anna and Christel) who are all about all of the above!

So, what did I learn at camp?

  1. The term regenerative farming

Not sustainable farming - that means the land is in a steady, static state. Regenerative farming means the soil is restored, biodiversity grows, water and carbon are absorbed. That sure is good stuff for our planet! Anna and Christel told us: "We are not sheep farmers, we are grass farmers".

2. The grass is greener on the other side of the fence!

Long Way Homestead and Ferme Fiola use this nifty, easily movable temporary electro net fencing to create pasture for their flock (that's what the sheep herd is called). And we campers got to help move the fence. As soon as the sheep spotted us coming into their current pasture, they started bleating and nuzzling up to us, because they knew they were going to finally be able to graze on that grass that is on the other side of the fence!

We campers also got to sort out a fence that had been stored hastily and was all tangled up, just like yarn barf!

3. OK – just gonna say it - sheep are amazing, and adorable

Sheep produce meat, wool and milk! FYI - I knew that before camp. Most sheep farmers are raising sheep for meat. Wool from their sheep is a byproduct of the annual shearing. But there are more and more farmers raising sheep for their wool. I learned that the cheese from ewe milk (fromage de brébis – so delicious) industry is highly regulated in Canada. 

Sheep are social. For obvious reasons, your ram is kept separate from your ewes. But you can't keep him on his own. You'll need another ram. He won't survive without the company!

Sheep don't like to let you know that they are sick. You really have to put your hands on your sheep regularly. Feel their spine, top of their tail, their ribs.

4. So many breeds of sheep

Samples of the breed wool - Sheep & Wool Camp 2024

I can't list them all here but from Romney to Clun Forest, from Shetland to Polypay, they are each unique in terms of wool – fine and long wools, down wool, dual coated wool. And each wool lends itself to a specific use – some better for felting, or for next to skin garments. There is colour variation in the wool from breed to breed.

Some breeds are better meat breeds. Some are rare breeds. Some are good for pasturing while others prefer to range. And, this I so love, the ewes of some breeds are really good mamas!

5. "What's with the llamas?"

When we "went out on the land" to walk among the sheep on day one of camp, there were a couple of llamas in both Anna and Christel's flocks. I finally asked the question. And was surprised by the answer. The llamas protect the flock. They are big and tall. And scare off predators like foxes. The llamas graze on the same land so you're not having to accommodate a special diet. 

6. The bugs ARE big in Manitoba!

We arrived at camp after two weeks of non-stop, and heavy rain. Lots of swamp and puddles for mosquitoes to lay eggs, hatch and thrive. The bugs were awful. But no fear, Anna and Christel introduced us to wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) . This grass is a natural insect repellent that conveniently grows in the fields in Manitoba. Just pick a sprig or two and tuck it in your pocket and you're, more or less, bug free for a few hours.

7. Indigo go go!

I knew nothing about natural dying. Plants in various stages of growth and decay will result in pink, marigold, orange, fushcia, red. Indigo dye is the coolest. Anna grows indigo at Long Way Homestead. She made a vat of dye – a beautiful green colour. We chose our skeins of yarn (I chose three: a white, a light and a dark grey), put them carefully in the vat – you don't want to let oxygen into the dye. You wait. And then – you just as carefully pull out the skein. As it is exposed to oxygen …. it magically turns blue!  

8. Fibreshed

Our shepherdesses, and a local alpaca farmer, kept talking about the Pembina Fibreshed. I finally asked what that was all about. They told me that a woman named Rebecca Burgess (American from California) was looking to understand how clothing can be locally grown, produced, designed and made. Kind of like the "100-mile diet", but for fibre. She came up with the term "fibreshed". After camp I did a bit more research and there are fibresheds everywhere! If you live in Canada, check out the Canadian Fibreshed Network to learn of your fibreshed, the members and their activities and advocacy work.

9. Belfast Mini Mills

We campers toured the mill at Long Way Homestead – it was more like pivoting on the spot – to see raw fleece cleaned, dried, picked, carded, drawn, spun, plied, steamed and wound onto cones. And who knew, this mini mill was manufactured right here in Canada, in PEI! Belfast Mini Mills is recognized around the world for its small mills that can fit inside a standard garage.

10. It's tough for Canadian wool growers – but it's getting better!

The shepherdesses shared some sobering numbers about sheep farmers and how little money they make for their fleeces. Most raise sheep for meat. But they do need to shear their animals every year. And that's means there is a lot of wool produced. For these sheep farmers, it is not worth it for them to sell the fleeces, and they often end up throwing out their annual "clip" – wool that is perfect for clothing, bedding or insulation.

And if you're a farmer who is raising sheep for wool? Where can you go to get a decent price for your fleece? How can you make a living?

Well, the good news is, things are changing. Thanks to people like Anna and Christel, and things like Sheep and Wool Camp, folk are becoming more aware of how important it is to buy local and are searching out their local fibre producers. And now there is this: Canadian Wool Certification – a logo wool producers can put on their products so we know the wool was grown and manufactured in Canada.

I hope my ramblings have made you curious, inspired you or at least amused you.

Do you want to go to Sheep and Wool Camp next year? I sure want to go back! Hope to see you there!

Jane

Why Natural Dye

While I was at Knit City a customer asked if I only had ‘natural dyed’ yarn and when I said yes, they asked why. I was kind of stumped - I hadn’t been asked that question before - and to be honest, I’ve never considered the alternative. I fumbled through an answer that at the core it’s part of my values for our business , but then I realized that perhaps I’ve never shared the ‘why’ of our choice to only use plants/bugs/minerals to dye our fibre and yarn. I wanted to share a bit of that here - so if you want the updates of what is new - then skip the next few paragraphs.

A bit of history around the dyeing of our clothes. Until the mid 1800’s all textiles were dyed using plants, bugs and minerals (and it was super expensive and in many cases something only the wealthy could afford). In 1856 William Henry Perkin, an 18 year old chemist, was experimenting with coal tar as a treatment for malaria. The experiment failed to treat malaria - but the oily residue left behind stained his silk a brilliant purple - which he called Mauveine. This forever changed the way our textiles would be dyed. There are more than 8000 synthetic dyes extracted from fossil carbon that are used in textile dyeing today. Here are some of the things that make me a little worried about synthetic dye use in our clothing (most of this list is from the Fibershed book by Rebecca Burgess):

  • Globally we have 200,000 tons of dye that are not bound to textiles and are lost to effluent (think rivers, lakes, sewage etc)

  • This dye causes oxygen deficiencies and impacts drinking water and irrigation - because dyes do not break down very easily.

  • Studies on Aniline Dyes have been linked to the disruption of our endocrine systems.

There are many other reasons why synthetic dyes are harmful for our bodies and environment (I’ll put a few more resources at the bottom).

Ok - confession time - I don’t really like dyeing yarn - it is probably my least favourite part of the yarn biz. What I do REALLY love is integrating natural dyes into our farming and regenerative ag goals.

Since moving to the farm I have been obsessed with growing natural dyes (especially japanese indigo or persicaria tinctoria). Even in these +30 degree days I love filling up my wheelbarrow with sheep manure and composted bedding from the past year and dumping it on my garden - planting my starts and seeds - and then watching them grow into flowers that I can use to DYE MY YARN. And then when they are done I dump the leaves/flowers/stems on my compost pile where the leftover nutrients return to the soil to cycle through to the soil that in turn grows forages to feed my sheep. Those sheep grow the wool that I process into yarn and their manure goes to feed my dye gardens of the future. A soil-to-soil yarn and dye model.

That is why I use natural dyes on my yarn!

More Resources:

The Secret Lives of Colour by Kassia St. Clair

Fibershed by Rebecca Burgess

To Dye For by Alden Wicker

Gathering Colour by Caitlin ffrench

The Art & Science of Natural Dyes

Interesting facts on synthetic dyes and bodies of water.

Wool Bedding and Sleep Science

Many of you have been using our wool pillows for years, we have heard such fantastic feedback.

“Your wool pillows changed the way I sleep, I will never go back to anything else.”

“My spouse slept on my wool pillow one night and then took it forever, I need to buy more pillows for everyone in my family now.”

“The wool pillow made my menopausal sleep a lot less ‘hot and sweaty’”

We are launching a new wool baby blanket product, and thought it was time to share some of the reasons why wool is so incredible for our sleep. And you don’t have to believe me, check out all the research that’s been done in the resources at the bottom of this page.

Wool can give you a better nights sleep. There is significant research that point out the many ways that wool will contribute to a more restful sleep. Here are the reasons why we love wool for all our bedding needs:

Wool is Hypoallergenic

Wool has a high internal moisture content which makes it resistant to dust mites, mold growth and mildew. Wool bedding is a great choice for those who suffer from allergies.


Wool is Temperature Regulating

Wool is hygroscopic – meaning it absorbs and releases moisture and regulates your body temperature and promotes airflow. It will keep you warm in the winter and cool in the summer. A more regulated body temperature will give you a better sleep.


Wool is Comfortable

Wool bedding can provide relief from pressure points while you sleep. People with chronic pain like arthritis often find more comfort with wool bedding. Wool is naturally fire resistant so no chemicals are added.


Wool is a Natural, Renewable and Regenerative Fibre

Wool is grown and sheared annually from healthy sheep making it a renewable fibre. Wool can be returned to the soil to decompose and return nutrients back to the soil. The wool is then minimally processed on our mill in Eastern Manitoba with minimal inputs and a low carbon footprint.

If you are making your own wool duvet, here is our handy information about how much wool to use

Resources and Further Reading

https://www.woolmark.com/globalassets/_06-new-woolmark/_industry/research/factsheets/wool-is-natural-renewable-131217.pdf

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6716586/

Dickson PR. Effect of a fleecy woollen underlay on sleep. Med J Aust. 1984 Jan 21;140(2):87-9. doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1984.tb103902.x. PMID: 6546408.

https://www.wool.com/news-events/news/merino-wool-officially-recognised-as-asthma-and-allergy-friendly/

Zallmann M, Smith PK, Tang MLK, Spelman LJ, Cahill JL, Wortmann G, Katelaris CH, Allen KJ, Su JC. Debunking the Myth of Wool Allergy: Reviewing the Evidence for Immune and Non-immune Cutaneous Reactions. Acta Derm Venereol. 2017 Aug 31;97(8):906-915. doi: 10.2340/00015555-2655. PMID: 28350041.

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Lectures and Presentation on Canadian Sheep and Wool

In 2023 I spoke at over 35 events across N. America (guilds, knitting groups, wool shows, Local Yarn Stores and knitting retreats.) I absolutely love presenting and sharing what I have experienced and learned about sheep and wool. This year I want to do even more.


You can check out my lectures and presentations on the website here.

And if you have a guild, knitting group, library, retreat, LYS and you think they could benefit or learn from my presentations please pass along my name and this link!

New Sheep - Welcome to our Registered Flock

New Sheep

We had some exciting and last minute changes to our flock right before the holidays and I’m feeling pretty excited about where this is going to take us, in terms of our farm goals.

When we started the farm I wanted purebred shetland sheep, I wanted those genetics in my flock and I was thankful that Margaret Brook (friend and sheep mentor) was willing to sell me some and she encouraged me to keep them registered. At the time I didn’t understand why (and didn’t bother researching further) and so I purchased an un-registered ram and within two years none of my pure-bred shetlands were even able to be registered.

Fast forward a couple of years and I started doing more research and teaching on Breed Specific Wool and interviews for my book Sheep, Shepherd & Land. This is when I became aware of the role that ‘registering’ sheep can play in protecting and conserving those genetics.

Why Register?
The Heritage Livestock Conservancy says it best “Registration ensures the lineage of purebred livestock into the future”. So by keeping a flock of registered shetlands I am ensuring that their unique genetic diversity is being protected and preserved and that there is official record that can trace back to the great-great-great (etc) grandparents of my flock!

Why is genetic diversity important?
Well, the first answer to that is because who wants to work with the same type of wool everyday? Once I started playing around with different breeds I realized how boring merino was (no offence to those in a love affair with merino!). Beyond the fun of playing with different types of wool - we don’t want to risk losing the genetic diversity of different breeds and ultimately the health of the entire species.

So as my understanding grew, I decided that we needed to have a registered flock. I’m so thankful that Margaret hadn’t given up on me and she was actually working on a project to bring more registered shetland genetics into the region and grow a new flock of registered shetlands. I attended the artificial insemination of some shetlands last December and it was super cool!

The hope was that in 2 years time there would be a new flock for me to purchase and I could start my registered flock. Well things changed and lucky for me, we welcomed 4 registered ewes and 2 registered ram lambs in mid December to our farm!

Artificial Insemination of some Shetland Ewes (December 2022)

They are currently in the breeding pen or ‘love shack’ as I call it (just to make my pre-teens cringe). And by the spring we will perhaps have doubled our number of registered shetlands. I know that perhaps it doesn’t seem like a big thing - from the outside it looks like we just added 6 more sheep that look similar to our existing flock - but in the broader conversation around breed conservation, preserving genetic diversity and contributions to the wool industry it feels like a big deal.

Merry Maker Market

Check us out at this market this coming December.

December 9,2023
10am-4pm
Purl & Hank (2063 Portage Ave)

'Tis the season to celebrate the art of handcrafting and the joy of giving. We're excited to invite you to our Merry Makers' Market at Purl & Hank with Friends—a heartwarming gathering where handmade goods, cozy vibes, and holiday cheer take centre stage.

Vendors include

Masagana Flower Farm

Long Way Homestead

Ferme Fiola Farm

Studio Octav

Bear and Bunny Yarn

Sunflower Knit

Fibre & Farm Holiday Market

Christel (Ferme Fiola Farm) and I are so happy to once again host our Fibre & Farm Holiday Market.

Join us in the cozy Long Way Homestead studio for a day of craft and community.

November 25th
10am - 4pm
Long Way Homestead (Ste. Genevieve, MB)

A cozy little market to celebrate rural entrepreneurs - and to get your holiday shopping done with incredible items from local makers in Southeast Manitoba.

Featuring fellow entrepreneurs:
Apothecandy
Masagana Flower Farm
Wild Woods Pottery
The Boreal Maker
Ferme Fiola Farm

Holiday Gift Guide 2023

Our annual Holiday Gift Guide - our top items for your wool loving friends and family (or just for yourself)!

Our top bigger-ticket items that feature traceable wool that was 100% grown and manufactured in Canada.

And for the smaller items we have these great stocking stuffers or teacher gifts or fun little things for the wool lovers in your life:

Pasture Raised Lamb for Sale

We focus predominantly on raising good quality wool on our farm, however we do enjoy eating lamb. We raise shetlands and they are naturally a smaller breed - so meat production and meat sales is not a big focus for us. We do think that their meat is delicious and tender and we encourage you to try it out.

We only have limited cuts available at this time, loin chops, leg steaks, shoulder roasts and ground lamb. Please let us know if you are interested in a full or half lamb order (depending on the season we can accommodate this).

Our lamb is raised on pasture and live outside all year round, we feed them a local hay mix of alfalfa and clover in the winter. We implement regenerative agriculture and holistic management principles in our farming - and prioritize the health of land and animal in all our management decisions.

The lambs are cut and wrapped at all-natural meats (an inspected facility in Carman, MB).

Packages of lamb are as follows:

Ground lamb - 2lb packages ($10/lb)
Leg steaks - approx 2lbs packages ($12/lb)
Loin Chops - approx 1lb packages ($15/lb)
Shoulder Roasts - approx 2 - 4lbs each ($12/lb)
Lamb Soup Bones - $2.50/lb (bags are approx $5)

We deliver to Winnipeg 2 times a month on Thursday evenings at Wolseley Wool.

At this point lamb orders is based on availability, please fill out the form below with your order and we will email you with availability, invoice and delivery details.

Grassland Yarn

Grassland is the newest yarn in our traceable Canadian Yarn line up. this robust 2-ply sport weight yarn is a blend of fine wool range sheep from the grasslands of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Released in October 2023 for our Mill Anniversary party!

Range sheep adapt well to many types of forage and can survive on sparse native grasslands. They spread out across the vast range of the prairies to graze during the day, and then come together during the evening for protection. They thrive in arid conditions and generally produce fine wool.

We carefully curate our range wool from farms that are working to regenerate grasslands and preserve fine wool breeds.

We purchase range wool from farmers and minimally process it here at our mill as a semi-worsted 2-ply yarn. This yarn is perfect for your outerwear projects like sweaters, mittens, hats or shawls and many will find it fine enough to wear next to skin.

We have dyed 4 unique colourways for our 5-year Mill Anniversary, but will continue to produce new colours in this yarn base during the coming year.

We believe that traceability and transparency are crucial for our yarn and wool products. We visit the sheep farms that we purchase wool from and work with the farmers to understand how they manage both animal and land. We value the work that sheep producers do and work to pay them above market rates for their wool.

We want you, the consumer, to have a closer connection to the farm and sheep that your yarn is coming from and to have a greater understanding of the process involved in getting from sheep to your hands.

Wool Mill Celebration & Reflections

We invite you to a day of celebration:

Saturday, October 14
2pm - 7pm
Long Way Homestead Farm (Directions here)

Enjoy a FREE day on the farm with sheep tours, mill tours, cozy campfire, browse our farm store and see our NEW yarn line.

Purchase a hot drink and go for a stroll through our pasture or forest and enjoy a fall day at the farm - celebrating local wool & fibre production.

Tickets are available for the Field to Fork Dinner Fundraiser from 5pm - 7pm that evening.

I wanted to share a bit more about the last five years and the evolution of our mill. But I also wanted to share some reflections on how our mill has impacted the broader farming/fibre community and why I think mills are so important (and why we need more of them).

We realized that in order to be able to open up our mill with the smallest financial investment we needed to put it in our existing 2-car garage. Luke renovated the garage to fit the mill and it was an ‘all-hands-on-deck’ situation with the kids taking turns sweeping and helping out. It took us 2 months to prepare the space for the mill.

On July 18, 2018 our full mill arrived from Belfast Mini Mills in PEI. Under the excellent tutelage of Jeff we were making yarn by the end of our second day. We were elated - and no idea the uphill battle in front of us to actually making yarn!

Then on a beautiful fall day, October 20, 2018 we were supported and surrounded by our community who showed up to launch our new mill - it was an amazing day and we were so grateful for all of you!

We started experimenting with new lines of yarn and new naturally dyed colours. We have also had so many folks work with us at the farm (pictured is Nicola Hodges, my amazing mom - Gail Hunter, and Alexa Ludeman of Tin Can Knits. And many others who have worked in the mill or helped with workshops and putting on events. This has truly been a group effort - and we are so grateful for those that have contributed!

It hasn’t all been easy. The learning curve for starting a wool mill is steep - and there aren’t any easy answers. There are no mill training classes, and often the challenges of working with a dynamic fibre and machinery is slow and isolating.

Between 2018 - 2020 we worked non-stop to try and figure out how to produce a quality and consistent product - while having to maintain business loan pressure and the day-to-day demands of the farm and the mill. It definitely felt at times like we had taken on something larger than we could handle and there was no one to turn to for answers.

Thankfully things started to shift in 2020. As many of our festivals and events were cancelled (due to the global pandemic) we were set up to shift to online sales and teaching. Our Breed of the Month subscription that we had started a year earlier kicked into high gear and we were able to expand the program exponentially. This program might be one of the things I’m most proud of, here is how it’s impacted our fibre arts and farming community:

  • Introduced 12 unique breeds to knitters/crocheters/handspinners who previously did not have access to these breeds. Over 1000 folks from N. America have joined our Breed Specific Subscription since it started in 2019.

  • Supported 12-15 different farmers with yearly purchases of over 200lbs of wool from each farm for the past 5 years.

  • Sparked a broader interest in Breed Specific yarn and fibre among artists, crafters and knitting groups

  • I have taught the in-depth Breed Specific Knitting class to 238 people in the last 4 years - and have launched the online Breed Study in 2023.

The last two years we have been able to find our groove in the mill. During covid Luke shut down his own business and started running the mill - wow - he brought the efficiency in processing we needed and it freed me up to do what I’m best at - marketing the wool, working with other farmers and doing more of the education and advocacy work around Canadian wool!

This growth in our business allowed us to actually start looking towards the future and to ways in which we can help grow the industry in Manitoba and Western Canada to be even more impactful. We have talked about expanding our existing mill operation, opening up a scouring mill that will service all the mills, adding a knitting or weaving mill to our operation, expanding our physical location so we can do more training for those wanting to open up their own mills and work more as an incubator for future mills.

All of these ideas (and more) we are considering - but we cannot expand until we have paid off the initial loan for this mill. Our mill celebration is also a way to push us over the finish line of that loan - so we can begin to grow and expand.

Field to Fork

Our 5-year mill-aversary party will be free for anyone that wants to come enjoy an afternoon at the farm, tour the mill, hang with the sheep and check out our new yarn.

The Field to Fork dinner will be a paid event to help us reach our goals to expand LWH and to feature some incredible local food from other local farmers.

You can buy a ticket for the Field to Fork meal here. And if you cannot attend but would like to contribute you can always make a donation. (All proceeds from the weekend will go directly to mill expansion plans)!

Donate

One of the biggest things I’ve learned in the last 5 years is the many ways in which access to fibre processing can be beneficial to community (fibre arts, farming, textile, fashion communities). The goal when we opened the mill was to ‘meet a need’ among other sheep and wool producers - I had no idea how important this need was and how having access to a fibre processor can ignite a small-scale textile economy in a region.

This isn’t to promote our mill specifically - but to highlight the importance and need for mills in ALL communities. It creates an opportunity for farmers to get their product to market and the ripples within a community are far-reaching. Here is a brief look at the impact the mill has had in our community in the last 5 years:

  • Processed 2954.29lbs of wool and other fibres for 68 farmers or sheep producers

  • Processed 274.26lbs of wool and other fibres for 26 fibre artists in our Province.

  • Provided 5 indy dyers with 270.69lbs of yarn for test batches and future supply.

  • Worked with 6 small-scale wool brokers producing 213.55lbs of wool

  • Spun 186.64lbs of wool for in-house yarn for 3 community based yarn stores.

In total that is 3890.43 lbs of wool that we have transformed into marketable products for 108 individual farmers/businesses. When farmers, wool brokers, indy-dyers, yarn stores and fibre artists have access to local processing we see an increase in local fibres, yarn and other products in our fibre/textile industry.

In addition to our custom processing we have purchased more than 8000lbs of raw wool from local Canadian farmers for our own line of yarn. This supported local farmers and put locally grown yarn in your hands!

Now, if I add it all up it’s a fairly small amount (nearly 12,000lbs) of wool - it’s a drop in the bucket when we think of the nearly 3 million pounds of wool grown in Canada every year.

But without local mills then that wool/fibre isn’t processed at all - or its shipped far and wide for processing. Our small drop in the bucket can lead to an even bigger ripple.

That’s why we hope you will continue to support our mill and our plans for growth and support other mills in your community. We took a risk in 2018 that a mill would be supported and needed in our region - and we were right - now we look towards the future and how we can grow our mill, and the Canadian Wool industry as a whole.

5-Year Mill-aversary - come celebrate with us

5 years ago our mill equipment arrived.

Luke unloading the spinner on July 18, 2018

We were all starry-eyed and perhaps a bit naive on how this would all work out. But we dove headfirst into manufacturing yarn. I think I had this vision that it would immediately alter the landscape of wool processing in Manitoba - I had no idea how HARD it would be.

I spent considerable time in the past few months reflecting on the last 5 years. Where we started and what I thought was possible and where we are now and the reality.  Mostly I've been reflecting on this to inform future decisions - but also to share a realistic picture of all that this business/choice has required. (You all are getting the unfiltered or uncensored version of this - I might make it a bit more palatable when I post in my newsletter)

We have decided to throw a big 5-year anniversary party for the mill - or as I like to call it the Mill-aversary! And there are a couple of reasons I want to do this:

- Owning any sort of small business for 5 years is an accomplishment worthy of celebrating (never mind that we made it through a pandemic with the business!)

- We want an opportunity to THANK everyone who has supported us, purchased wool from us, and encouraged us over the past 5 years.

- We want to catapult ourselves over the finish line of our mill loan payments through some special custom yarn and merch sales.

We will be sharing more details over the coming months about our big celebration, but here is an idea of what you can expect:

CELEBRATE

Join us for a day on the farm to celebrate the last 5 years of wool and fibre processing in Manitoba. Hang out with the sheep, tour the mill, enjoy a cozy campfire.

There will be a delicious lunch/dinner available for purchase - and of course cake to celebrate!

Custom Yarn and Merch

We are working on some super exciting stuff to commemorate this anniversary. The first is a 5-colour yarn palette signifying the last 5 years of our mill (read the description below), and we have some exciting new custom merch we will also be offering.

We have been putting extra time in the mill to produce this yarn on top of our regular orders because we have a GOAL to finish paying off our mill loan a year earlier than expected. We took a risk and borrowed the initial investment for the mill - we have not been able to expand or grow the business more because of this loan, and we are ready to move forward. Watch for more details about the merch and the yarn in the coming weeks.

Year 1 Colour: Wide-Eyed Ambition: Manitoba needs a wool mill and we think we can do it! With no experience and no teachers we will just jump in and do it.

Year 2 Colour: Dismay and Determination: What have we gotten ourselves into! This is really hard and we struggled with every aspect of the process.

Year 3 Colour: Unexpected Outcomes: When our world shut down on March 12, 2020, wool shows - a major source of our income - were cancelled. We didn’t know what the outcome would be, but the community came through and things started to change.

Year 4 Colour: Refining the Craft: We hit our stride in our year 4 - we finally had the processing figured out and we hustled to increase productivity and decrease waste.

Year 5 Colour: Look Ahead: We are clear headed and understand both the reality and challenges of wool/textile production and we can see a path for growth and the future of domestic wool production.

 

For sure the last 5 years have been defined more by struggle than success -  but this time of contemplation has also revealed the ways in which our (perhaps foolhardy) risk has also impacted the broader community - the ripple effects it has had in the larger world of wool in Canada. And in that way it feels totally worth it.

So in the coming month I will be sharing more about our plans for the mill-aversary. I hope those of you who are close by can come - so we can express our gratitude and celebrate with you! For those that aren't close by there will be lots of online stuff to celebrate alongside us!  

Thanks again for your ongoing support - some of you have been cheering us on since day 1 - we are so excited to get across this finish line and start looking ahead to the next thing! Here is a little photo reflection of the beginning of our mill.

Fibre & Farm - Sunday, July 16 2023

Fibre & Farm Market

Sunday July 16
10am - 5pm
Long Way Homestead & Ferme Fiola Farm (1/2 mile from each other in Ste. Geneveive, outside of Winnipeg)

**The event is free, but we will have a donation box - all the funds will go to support

Come for a day of farm and fibre mill tours, hay rides, sheep snuggles and some excellent products from local farms and fibre artists. There will be light snacks to purchase, bathrooms on site, and the event runs rain or shine. Check out our awesome list of vendors:

Hundredfold Farm
Manjusha Fibre Arts
Bear & Bunny Yarn
The Last Dance Ranch
Apothecandy
Smash Knits
Purl & Hank
Dragon Fibre Bags
Masagana Flower Farm
Enchanted Grove Alpacas
Fireweed Fibre Co
White Spruce Creative
Swallowtail Farmstead

Accessibility: We are constantly working to make our facilities accessible. The driveway, walkways, dye studio and outdoor workshops spaces are grass and gravel and accessible by wheelchair. The outhouse, indoor studio space and wool mill all have one step access. We are working hard to improve accessibility on the farm, thank you for your patience.