Fiber fleet is for lovers of agriculture, education, + related art genres, and people who generally love animals. By purchasing Fiber Fleet yarn, you help the herds at Acre Knot Farm & Fluffybutt Homestead to pay their bills, while casting your supportive vote for wool thats been raised sustainably in Michigan.
Johanna (Acre Knot Farm)
Johanna Bystrom is the founder of Fiber Fleet, a Master Naturalist, homesteader & mom in Rockford, MI.
Since 2015, she is more sheep than woman.
Rachel (Fluffybutt Homestead)
Rachel Meyers Hefferan is an artist who primarily weaves as a form of making. Rachel is a hopeful environmentalist, interested in small scale agriculture and wool production. Processing and hand spinning wool to use in weavings is part of her artistic practice - though most of the materials used are second-hand cottons, wools, etc., that Rachel has accumulated from other artists over time. Rachel received her Masters in Fine Arts from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago from the Fibers and Materials Studies department, and has made and shown work internationally.
We hope that you love this wool as much as we love getting it to you.
A (short-ish) History of Fiber Fleet
Johanna started Fiber Fleet back in 2015 with the purchase of her first 4 Icelandic sheep. Uma, Tanta, Freida & Mike - were on a dry lot, 2-3 years old each and had never been shorn when Johanna met them, even though her goal was to buy land prior to owning sheep, she knew they needed to come with her. With a big leap and a lot of phone calls, Johanna had four sheep loaded, scheduled for shearing and grazing on new land within 24 hours.
For Johanna her commitment to the animals came first, once she got their nutrition in order, she started looking for opportunities to graze the sheep in more locations. In true nomadic form, the sheep grazed, improving soil health in Zeeland, Grand Rapids and then finally landed a big long term residency at Virtue Cider Farm. Johanna and sheep took residence here for about 6 years, during this time Avril Wiers invested in cost and labor, helping Johanna process the first Fiber Fleet branded yarn line. In February of 2020, Johanna purchased land and a house, this is known as Acre Knot (her homestead of experiences in Rockford, MI), sheep came to live there with her in September 2020. Rachel and Johanna met during this time at Virtue Cider and became power friends who bonded over nerdy fiber facts and environmental acts. Johanna might have drooled a little bit when Rachel brought her loom to Virtue for an art market. This is how friendship is.
2020 was a rough transition for Fiber Fleet - cost & lead times of processing were at an all time high - pandemic was picking away at our hearts and we lost our original ram Mike. We were thankful Johanna got to bring him to Acre Knot for his peaceful last moments. It was always something she had promised him, that they’d have land together someday. After this, because we were sad, Fiber Fleet took a lil nap.
During this time Johanna got certified as a Master Naturalist to help identify native and non-native plants/species and started developing plans on how to use the sheep to plant more native grassland pastures. In 2022 Johanna & Rachel started talking about combining their resources to blend Fluffybutt fleeces with Acre Knot fleeces. Together we have already processed 350 lbs of wool and are excited to share it with you in our official debut at the Michigan Fiber Fest in August. You may even start seeing Johanna’s flock on the move again come 2024! The purpose of moving sheep is to build soil health and natural habitat; land management.
Rachel has been busy hand spinning yarn, weaving commissioned work, planting an indigo garden, starting a living indigo vat, advising on Fiber Fleet wool blends with her beautiful Jacob & Angora fleeces. With her knowledge we have also branched out into buying and blending other locally sourced fibers like Alpaca, Shetland and Finn in with our predominantly Icelandic fleeces.
We both like to dabble in a bit of it all - but the reality is Rachel is the Processing & Operations Artist, and Johanna makes sure the sheep are where they need to be, eating what they need to, and get haircuts at the right time. Rachel shears the Pygora goats at Fluffy Butt by hand, because she’s capable like that.
Know that we care deeply about the animals producing the products you see from us, and know that we are working hard and down to the smallest details to produce some lovely local yarn and roving. Not only are you supporting this moppy crew when you buy from us, but you’re supporting local habitat for our communities as well.
We can’t wait to meet you, and you can bet that we’ll be late and smell like sheep.