From Pasture to Product: What Is a Vertically Integrated Wool Operation?

Have you ever heard the term vertically integrated wool operation?

It may sound a little technical, but the idea behind it is actually one of my favorite things about Bear Creek Felting.

It means that instead of purchasing finished wool from an outside supplier and starting there, we are involved in the process from the very beginning.

We raise the sheep. We grow the wool. We prepare and process the fiber. We turn it into the wool and kits you use for needle felting.

Around here, we simply call that From Pasture to Product.

It Starts With the Sheep

Our wool begins with our flock here in North Dakota.

The sheep aren't separate from Bear Creek Felting—they are an important part of it. The breeding decisions we make today influence the wool we will be felting with in the years ahead.

I look at fleece quality and quantity right along with the sheep itself. Because I raise the sheep, process their wool, and then actually needle felt with that wool, I get to see the results of those decisions all the way through.

That gives me a perspective that would be difficult to have if I were simply purchasing wool from a supplier.

From Fleece to Felting Wool

After shearing, the fleeces are skirted and evaluated before moving through the next stages of processing.

Today, that happens in our own Bear Creek Felting Fiber Mill in Fort Ransom, North Dakota.

The wool is carefully prepared, washed, dried, opened, picked, and carded into the soft sliver we use for needle felting.

Having our own mill gives us much more control over the fiber from beginning to end. I can see how wool from our flock behaves during processing and, just as importantly, how it behaves when I actually felt with it.

For someone who is continually trying to improve wool specifically for needle felting, that is incredibly valuable.

Then It Becomes a Bear Creek Felting Product

The process doesn't stop when the wool comes off the carder.

That same wool goes into our needle felting kits, wool selections, classes, Academy projects, retreats, and the sculptures I create myself.

Our kits are assembled here in North Dakota and shipped directly to our customers and retail partners.

So when you open a Bear Creek Felting kit and pull out that wool, you aren't holding fiber that passed anonymously through a long chain of suppliers.

You're holding wool that began with sheep we know.

Why Does That Matter?

For me, one of the biggest advantages is control over quality.

I don't have to simply accept whatever wool happens to be available from a supplier. I can follow the fiber through every stage and continually make adjustments—from the genetics in the flock to the way the wool is prepared in the mill.

It also keeps much of the value of that wool right here in our small farm-based business.

And there is something pretty wonderful about knowing the whole story behind the material you are creating with.

When I teach someone to needle felt using Bear Creek Felting wool, I know where that wool came from. I know the flock that grew it. I know how it was prepared. And I've used it myself.

From Pasture to Product

When Bear Creek Felting began, I certainly didn't have a fiber mill.

I started by washing wool in my sink and carding it with dog combs. Later came a drum carder. As the business grew, we gradually invested in more equipment until we were able to bring wool processing into our own mill.

That journey has given From Pasture to Product a much deeper meaning for me.

It isn't simply a slogan.

It's the story of our sheep, our wool, our farm, our mill, and the projects that eventually find their way onto felting mats all over the country.

And I think that's pretty special.