Wool Hat

Judie and Greg Sage own Hickory Hills Farm in Wisconsin. "We landed in a really pretty valley in the 1980s," they say. "We've worked really hard on water and land conservation, and started breeding sheep for both the wool and the high quality protein meat. These Ramboulet and Isle de France sheep are very good mothers and have very good wool. It's so soft you can wear it directly on your skin. We always encourage people to buy American. Everybody wins when you buy close to the farmer."

Theresa Bentz. Get Bentz Mill is a solar-powered, regenerative, cottage-sized wool mill that is situated on the farm. Theresa Bentz is the sole operator of the mill and touches the fiber at each step of the process. The wool and fibers used in the mill are all produced locally, and the shepherd is paid appropriately for their fibers. Theresa uses a wastewater recycling system and all-natural scouring soap during the washing of the fiber, and uses no harsh milling chemicals during the carding and spinning.  This allows the fiber to be as natural as possible. Taking fiber from raw wool and turning it into yarn takes many steps, from washing to picking, carding to drafting, spinning to plying, and finally placing the finished yarn on cones for the knitting machines. Each skein of yarn and finished product is as unique as the animals who grew the fiber, and as natural as the day it was shorn off. Read more about Get Bentz Farm

Amanda Remarke-Worden from Broken Unicorn Crafts knit the Farm Aid hats on her knitting machine. A disabled veteran based in St Cloud, MN, she is a self-taught knitter, crocheter, spinner, and weaver. "I appreciate the fiber community so much," she says. "They have been so welcoming and so kind. I have all these hobbies and have always been mechanically inclined. There's something about knitting machines that keeps me engaged. It's fun to see what all I can do with these machines, they help me express my creative side."