Saturday, June 21, 2025 | Country Acres • Page 1
Country Acres Saturday, June 21, 2025
Volume 13, Edition 09
PRSRT STD ECR U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT #861 Sauk Rapids, MN 2 Second Ave S Suite 135 Sauk Rapids MN 56379
Focusing on Today’s Rural Environment
PHOTOS BY RAE LANZRATH
Kathy and Terry Sletto smile May 29 at Shepherd’s Bay Farm near Alexandria. The farm is home to sheep, rabbits, llamas and cats.
On th e WHEEL a special Sletto makes homemade yarn serve purpose. BY RAE LANZRATH STAFF WRITER
GARFIELD — The fiber-bearing animals at Shepherds Bay Farm have helped Terry and Kathy Sletto fulfill their dreams of spinning yarn. Using a wheel from the 1800s, the Slettos spin wool from their animals. The farm is home to
sheep, llamas, rabbits and a few friendly barn cats that all
The sheep herd is made up of 40 Shetland sheep who produce high-quality wool, Kathy said. The farm is home to 30 Angora rabbits, which grow hair long enough to be spun into yarn. Kathy waits until the hair is around 8 inches in length before she trims it off the animals. “Once it reaches a certain length, it begins to fall out on its own,” Kathy said. “But then, you have to come out here every day to pick just a few pieces off each animal.” Kathy uses a wheel to spin the wool from her rabbits to make yarn. She said the sheep produce way too much wool for her to spin it all herself, so she
sends it off to a mill to get spun. Kathy has two wheels to make yarn. One of them was made by her great-great-grandfather when he arrived in America from Norway. The other is a newer version that she purchased to reduce wear and tear on her original. “It was made in the 1800s, so there are no screws or anything in it,” Kathy said. “The glue that holds it together is from (an) ox, and that’s about it, so obviously it falls apart after a while.” Kathy keeps the wheel safely at home when she is travelling or teaching classes, but it is still fully func-
tioning. The newer wheel has the same design as the other. Kathy said they make wheels that are different designs, but she wanted one that looked like her original. The wheel works by snagging wool and twisting, or spinning, it into tightly-wound yarn. The operator pushes a foot pedal on the bottom of the wheel, making it turn.
Sletto page 2
A llama stands May 29 at Shepherd’s Bay Farm near Alexandria. Llamas protect sheep by running directly at predators, instead of away from them.
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Publications The newspaper of today is the history of tomorrow.
This month in the
COUNTRY: Watch for the next edition of Country Acres on July 19, 2025
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Something old, something new Alexandria Backyard baseball Tiffany Klaphake column
11 Princess Kay finalists 15 Ease of planting Staples 19 Passing on the art of making sourdough Little Falls
21 Country cooking Little Falls 22 Across the Acres Q&A 25 Taking flight Osakis