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.
