If you’ve ever worked with high-quality, small-batch roving and found a tiny bit of hay or straw, you’ve encountered VM in felting wool—short for vegetable matter. It’s a completely natural part of working with wool that comes straight from the source: real sheep raised with care.
At Bear Creek Felting, I raise my own sheep and process their wool myself in my fiber mill here in Fort Ransom, North Dakota. Every bit of roving I produce is prepared with needle felting in mind, so I focus on maintaining the integrity, bounce, and sculpting potential of the fiber. That means I keep things as natural as possible—and that’s where the story of VM comes in.
Why Is There VM in My Wool?
My sheep aren’t on pristine display all year long—they’re real animals living real lives. Here in North Dakota, we have long, cold winters. During those months, our flock is brought in off pasture and fed grass hay and alfalfa. This is when most of the VM ends up in their wool. Dried, brittle plant material breaks easily, and sheep—being sheep—like to shove their heads, and sometimes their whole bodies, right into their feed.
On top of that, we bed their barns with straw, which adds another layer of cozy comfort—and more chances for bits of plant matter to find their way into the fleece.
Even with careful skirting, washing, and carding, some VM is going to stay with the wool. But I choose not to use the commercial method of carbonizing to remove it.
