Stacy Dresow Bio:
Stacy & Kevin Dresow searched 12 years to find a farm place to raise their family. Finally, in the spring of 2009 they found a farm with a long driveway, a straight-ish barn, some fencing and a shop. They bought the property without even touring the house. “We can update it”, they said. Almost 10 years later, they are still working on the house and have been “livin’ the dream” with their children ever since.
Dennis Engebretson:
Dennis Engebretson lives on a diverse Century farm homesteaded in 1903. He has farmed all his life on this farm, has done carpentry full and part time in the 90’s and early 2000s and he has served on elevator and church boards and involved in 4H when younger, acting as 4H embassator. He is now on Clearwater-Polk Electric Cooperative advocacy board, which acts as a go-between between Clearwater-Polk customers and board members, providing information about the Cooperative to members.
He has raised a variety of livestock and a small amount of cash crop, livestock has been the mainstay with beef, sheep, poultry, elk and feeder pigs. He has raised certified registered and breeder seed trefoil since the 1960s, which is one of the cash crops he still raises. His father before him, and now Dennis have been raising trefoil for close to 50 years. There is a gravel pit pound where trout are raised as hobby.
His son Philip is the 5th generation to reside and farm here. The farm has seen many different types of livestock, including poultry and sheep for over 100 years, beef and dairy cattle and feeder pig. Horses were an integral part of the farm in the earlier years and now are kept more for pets. His grandfather and his grandfather’s mother homesteaded the present site.
Carrie Jessen Bio:
Carrie began weaving about 24 years ago and has been weaving wool blankets much of that time. Most of her weaving is with wool and recently with linen, also. She became interested in weaving blankets through historical reenacting of the 1700 – 1800s Fur Trade with her husband. She realized that blankets woven similarly to our early colonial period are just as useful and beautiful today as they were centuries ago. She started her small hand weaving business called Bear Den Handwovens in her Solway, MN home in 2014.
Most of her weaving instruction has been informal and “trial and error” although she has had several wonderful mentors through the years that have been teachers and coaches. She looks forward to learning and experimenting with wool and linen in patterns and color combinations she has not yet discovered. “My weaving intention is to create unique hand woven items using materials, colors, and patterns familiar to the 1700-1800s, resulting in timeless beauty as well as function.”
Her home has “morphed” into a sort of live-in weaving studio, with looms, yarn, and weaving paraphernalia scattered throughout! When she is not weaving or planning a new weaving project, she enjoys perennial gardening, knitting, and dreaming of DIY home projects.
More examples of her hand woven wool blankets and linen towels can be found on her Face Book page, Bear Den Handwovens. She also participates in the Pine to Prairie Midwest Fiber Art Trail. She welcomes questions and inquiries by FB messenger or e-mail [email protected].
Teresa Kukowski bio:
Teresa and her husband brought their first alpacas home in 2002 - 2 pregnant females. Since then they have had many babies (called crias) born on their little farm. They owned un-related males, but all the other alpacas are the offspring of those first 2 females.
In 2006, Teresa left the corporate world to work full time in the alpaca business. Besides breeding and raising the animals, she works with their wonderful fiber. She and her husband sheared the alpacas every spring - even in Minnesota they would be way too hot in the summer if they were not shorn annually.
In 2015, their business changed again. With a geographical move off the farm, they decided to expand the creative side of the business. With the addition of a needle felting machine, they are adding needle felted products to their line of hand-made items. At the same time, they have decided to purchase fiber rather than raise their own, giving them more time to concentrate on the creative aspects of fiber production. Her husband is retired and helps with the business by making triangle looms, peg looms and other projects Teresa has in mind!
Teresa has dyed and un-dyed alpaca roving for spinners. She purchases raw fiber from other alpaca farms. Some of this fiber she has spun at a local mini-mill and she dyes the yarn for sale. She started dyeing with Kool-Aid, progressed to natural dyes and now use mostly commercial dyes. The art and science of dyeing is very fascinating and satisfying to her. She uses this yarn for knitting hats, mittens, scarves and more. She has 5% nylon added to some of the alpaca fiber to make sock yarn. She also has baby, super soft fingering weight yarn and lace weight yarn which are 100% alpaca that she dyes herself.
For the felters, she has dyed fiber, felting needles, foam blocks, and pre-felts in various sizes and shapes. Needle felters can use the pre-felts as the 'canvas for painting' with fiber. There are also dryer balls, felted soap, felted insoles, and felted scarves to purchase. She also has a full line of USA-made alpaca socks.
During the winter and spring, she teaches a few classes. She has a series of Needle Felted flowers that she has taught a couple times. She also teaches weaving on the triangle loom and the peg loom and has been a vendor since the beginning of the Fosston Fiber Festival, where she also teaches workshops on fiber art.
Rebecca Thingvold Bio:
An art enthusiast since childhood, Rebecca was inspired to pursue weaving upon moving to Minnesota after serving in the U.S. Navy. After studying in the Arts at St. Cloud State University, she delved more into weaving but then re-enlisted into the Army National Guard and also worked full time at Camp Ripley, MN. Alas, the military all but took over her life as she made it her career with two deployments and over 37 years of service. However, she did not give up her enthusiasm and continued to weave and take classes when she could at the Weavers Guild of Minnesota, Paramount Studio in St. Cloud, and other conferences and workshops around the state.
Adding hand spinning about 20 years ago really opened her eyes to the world of wool and understanding wool. Even though she does not raise sheep, she researches and explores the characteristics of wool both in spinning and weaving. She tries different wool, some with disappointment in her expectations and some with great surprise. Once she started teaching and sharing experiences, it reinforced her need to research, explore and practice techniques and fiber.
Currently, as the manager and spinning operator at the Old Creamery Woolen Mill in Randall, MN, her knowledge and love of wool has increased. Every fleece is unique both in the breed and in its own characteristics bringing challenges and successes every day. Understanding and purposing types of wool to its best use is a goal of hers to study and share.
Nicolette Slagle Bio:
Nicolette Slagle is the Research and Techincal Assistant for Winona's Hemp Farm and Anishinaabe Agriculture Institute. In her role, she provides research and technical assistance on the farm's development plan, hemp marketing plan, and community outreach.
Karen Stormo Bio:
Stacy & Kevin Dresow searched 12 years to find a farm place to raise their family. Finally, in the spring of 2009 they found a farm with a long driveway, a straight-ish barn, some fencing and a shop. They bought the property without even touring the house. “We can update it”, they said. Almost 10 years later, they are still working on the house and have been “livin’ the dream” with their children ever since.
Dennis Engebretson:
Dennis Engebretson lives on a diverse Century farm homesteaded in 1903. He has farmed all his life on this farm, has done carpentry full and part time in the 90’s and early 2000s and he has served on elevator and church boards and involved in 4H when younger, acting as 4H embassator. He is now on Clearwater-Polk Electric Cooperative advocacy board, which acts as a go-between between Clearwater-Polk customers and board members, providing information about the Cooperative to members.
He has raised a variety of livestock and a small amount of cash crop, livestock has been the mainstay with beef, sheep, poultry, elk and feeder pigs. He has raised certified registered and breeder seed trefoil since the 1960s, which is one of the cash crops he still raises. His father before him, and now Dennis have been raising trefoil for close to 50 years. There is a gravel pit pound where trout are raised as hobby.
His son Philip is the 5th generation to reside and farm here. The farm has seen many different types of livestock, including poultry and sheep for over 100 years, beef and dairy cattle and feeder pig. Horses were an integral part of the farm in the earlier years and now are kept more for pets. His grandfather and his grandfather’s mother homesteaded the present site.
Carrie Jessen Bio:
Carrie began weaving about 24 years ago and has been weaving wool blankets much of that time. Most of her weaving is with wool and recently with linen, also. She became interested in weaving blankets through historical reenacting of the 1700 – 1800s Fur Trade with her husband. She realized that blankets woven similarly to our early colonial period are just as useful and beautiful today as they were centuries ago. She started her small hand weaving business called Bear Den Handwovens in her Solway, MN home in 2014.
Most of her weaving instruction has been informal and “trial and error” although she has had several wonderful mentors through the years that have been teachers and coaches. She looks forward to learning and experimenting with wool and linen in patterns and color combinations she has not yet discovered. “My weaving intention is to create unique hand woven items using materials, colors, and patterns familiar to the 1700-1800s, resulting in timeless beauty as well as function.”
Her home has “morphed” into a sort of live-in weaving studio, with looms, yarn, and weaving paraphernalia scattered throughout! When she is not weaving or planning a new weaving project, she enjoys perennial gardening, knitting, and dreaming of DIY home projects.
More examples of her hand woven wool blankets and linen towels can be found on her Face Book page, Bear Den Handwovens. She also participates in the Pine to Prairie Midwest Fiber Art Trail. She welcomes questions and inquiries by FB messenger or e-mail [email protected].
Teresa Kukowski bio:
Teresa and her husband brought their first alpacas home in 2002 - 2 pregnant females. Since then they have had many babies (called crias) born on their little farm. They owned un-related males, but all the other alpacas are the offspring of those first 2 females.
In 2006, Teresa left the corporate world to work full time in the alpaca business. Besides breeding and raising the animals, she works with their wonderful fiber. She and her husband sheared the alpacas every spring - even in Minnesota they would be way too hot in the summer if they were not shorn annually.
In 2015, their business changed again. With a geographical move off the farm, they decided to expand the creative side of the business. With the addition of a needle felting machine, they are adding needle felted products to their line of hand-made items. At the same time, they have decided to purchase fiber rather than raise their own, giving them more time to concentrate on the creative aspects of fiber production. Her husband is retired and helps with the business by making triangle looms, peg looms and other projects Teresa has in mind!
Teresa has dyed and un-dyed alpaca roving for spinners. She purchases raw fiber from other alpaca farms. Some of this fiber she has spun at a local mini-mill and she dyes the yarn for sale. She started dyeing with Kool-Aid, progressed to natural dyes and now use mostly commercial dyes. The art and science of dyeing is very fascinating and satisfying to her. She uses this yarn for knitting hats, mittens, scarves and more. She has 5% nylon added to some of the alpaca fiber to make sock yarn. She also has baby, super soft fingering weight yarn and lace weight yarn which are 100% alpaca that she dyes herself.
For the felters, she has dyed fiber, felting needles, foam blocks, and pre-felts in various sizes and shapes. Needle felters can use the pre-felts as the 'canvas for painting' with fiber. There are also dryer balls, felted soap, felted insoles, and felted scarves to purchase. She also has a full line of USA-made alpaca socks.
During the winter and spring, she teaches a few classes. She has a series of Needle Felted flowers that she has taught a couple times. She also teaches weaving on the triangle loom and the peg loom and has been a vendor since the beginning of the Fosston Fiber Festival, where she also teaches workshops on fiber art.
Rebecca Thingvold Bio:
An art enthusiast since childhood, Rebecca was inspired to pursue weaving upon moving to Minnesota after serving in the U.S. Navy. After studying in the Arts at St. Cloud State University, she delved more into weaving but then re-enlisted into the Army National Guard and also worked full time at Camp Ripley, MN. Alas, the military all but took over her life as she made it her career with two deployments and over 37 years of service. However, she did not give up her enthusiasm and continued to weave and take classes when she could at the Weavers Guild of Minnesota, Paramount Studio in St. Cloud, and other conferences and workshops around the state.
Adding hand spinning about 20 years ago really opened her eyes to the world of wool and understanding wool. Even though she does not raise sheep, she researches and explores the characteristics of wool both in spinning and weaving. She tries different wool, some with disappointment in her expectations and some with great surprise. Once she started teaching and sharing experiences, it reinforced her need to research, explore and practice techniques and fiber.
Currently, as the manager and spinning operator at the Old Creamery Woolen Mill in Randall, MN, her knowledge and love of wool has increased. Every fleece is unique both in the breed and in its own characteristics bringing challenges and successes every day. Understanding and purposing types of wool to its best use is a goal of hers to study and share.
Nicolette Slagle Bio:
Nicolette Slagle is the Research and Techincal Assistant for Winona's Hemp Farm and Anishinaabe Agriculture Institute. In her role, she provides research and technical assistance on the farm's development plan, hemp marketing plan, and community outreach.
Karen Stormo Bio: