As a young married couple, starting out in the mid 80’s, we set our sights on living and raising our family on a small family farm. We wanted a place where we could have a garden, raise animals and let our three boys free range. In 1989 we bought 25 acres in southwest Michigan and settled in.
Amy was a long time, avid knitter and hand spinner. A few years after buying the farm she received 3 bred ewes for Christmas. A few years later the flock had grown to 10 and we were facing a dilemma—finding a mill to process our fleece. There were only a handful of mills anywhere within a 500 mile radius of us and all of them had waiting lists of six months or longer. It was very frustrating, a frustration shared by many of our friends in the fiber community.
By 1998 we decided that if we couldn’t get anyone to process our fleece in a timely manner, well then we’d just do it ourselves. We started looking around for some equipment that we could set up in a spare corner of the barn. We traveled to Prince Edward Island where we purchased our first suite of machinery. Back in Michigan we set up our mill and went to work. It didn’t take us long to go through our own inventory of raw fleece and just as soon friends and acquaintances began asking us to process for them. And hence, a business was born.
Within a year we realized we’d make a serious mistake. The equipment from Prince Edward Island was simply not up to the job. It was slow, it was poorly designed and it was prone to frequent break-downs. Discouraged, but not ready to give up, we began looking for new equipment. It didn’t take us long to connect with Chuck McDermott in East Jordan, MI. He was another customer who had purchased equipment from the PEI company and came away less than satisfied. As a result, Chuck had decided to build his own machine. Working with an industry professional, Chuck who himself was a retired design engineer for a major automobile manufacturer, designed and built his own carding machine. We were so impressed when we first saw it in their mill that we asked Chuck to build one for us, too. And hence another business was launched, The McDermott Textile Machinery Company. The original McDermott M26 carder is in the McDermott’s mill, Stonehedge, and we have serial number #0002.
With new equipment we began to grow our business. For the first few years it was a part-time venture. We were both teachers so we were able to run the mill around our school schedules. It was a great side venture. We never lacked for customers and were able to sell pretty much everything we could produce. In the mid-2000’s Michigan, like most of the rest of the country, fell into recession. School funding was deeply impacted and first Greg, then Amy saw their positions eliminated. Fortunately we had the mill to fall back on and it was relatively easy to transition to full time.
Our sales are split fairly evenly between on-line and in-person wool and artisan sales. On-line sales are through the website, a monthly Facebook Live event and various market platforms like e-Bay, Etsy and Instagram. We participate in two local Farmer’s and Artisan’s Markets on weekends as well vending at a half dozen or so major Wool and Sheep events, traveling as far as North Carolina and Wisconsin. For the past 10 years we have also been making an annual buying trip to South America, importing things like blankets, yarn, cotton garments and tagua or vegetable ivory. It’s been a very rewarding business, both emotionally and financially.
We’ve never gotten rich off the mill but it has provided us a steady income and a lot of enjoyment. We work well as a team and there is a real joy out of making something beautiful with your own hands. We can realistically put out 20 lbs of finished roving or 15 felts per day. Occasionally we’ve pushed through as much as 50 lbs or 25 felts in one day but that’s not typical.
When we opened our mill we applied for a business loan. As part of the application process the bank in turn asked for a proper business plan. Our mission statement was thus: 1) produce a quality product at a fair price, 2) have fun, 3) make money. We’re still doing both 1 & 3 but 2 is starting to slip. And that’s why we’ve decided to sell. It’s still very enjoyable working in the mill, and we will miss it a lot, but the physical demands are starting to outweigh the fun. Amy will be 70 in January. Lifting heavy, sodden batches of wool and moving them from washing machine to dye pot to drying table is becoming too much. And as much as we enjoy the multi-day road trips to various festivals, that too has become grueling. Long drives in the truck, setting up and tearing down, longer days of standing on our feet, it’s just becoming too much.
This is an excellent opportunity in the new post-pandemic economy. Here is a chance to acquire a proven, profitable enterprise that can be operated from home. And we’ll be be happy to mentor you as you go about setting up your own business. We’ll look forward to hearing from you.
Greg & Amy