Farmer Veterans Gain Fiber Skills
Veteran-specific events foster community, skills, and farm business growth for farmer veterans considering regenerative fiber production solutions.
New York State is home to an array of specialized animal breeds that grow amazing natural fibers, and there is growing interest from new and beginning farmers in producing farmer. Notably, the Cornell Small Farms Program’s project for veterans in agriculture, Farm Ops, met this demand from farmer veterans to learn more about fiber farming.
Farm Ops held several in-person and virtual fiber events last year and supported veteran attendance at the annual New York State Fiber Conference. These initiatives aimed to help veteran farmers develop new skills, explore value-added products for their farm businesses, and network with other farmer veterans.
David and Mary DeLaMaters practice the weaving techniques taught by Sarah Sarah Gotowka
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As part of this educational initiative, Farm Ops coordinated a virtual “Building a Loom with Upcycled Materials” session and an in-person “Weaving on a Tapestry Loom” workshop, both led by local fiber artist Sarah Gotowka. During the virtual event, veterans constructed simple looms from materials like cardboard and T-shirts to create basic weaving projects.
Veteran Emily Franco shared how the workshop ignited her passion for loom weaving after years of only making narrow bands on a child’s loom.
“The workshop addressed the history of weaving, which demystified some of the weaving processes. Once I realized women have been weaving with something as simple as a few pieces of stick for centuries, it became much more approachable,” Franco said. “I was honored and amazed to see the variety of products shared at the end, all produced in a few short hours. The workshop springboarded me into a whole new passion.”
Coaster made by veteran, Emily Franco, at the first virtual session.
She has since advanced to weaving beautiful scarves, shawls, hand towels, and other household items while learning techniques for warping the loom, reading drafts, mixing colors, understanding thread weights and characteristics, and discovering different weaving structures.
Veterans received looms and instruction books to learn tapestry weaving during the in-person weaving event and spent the day with Gotowka practicing techniques that showcased detailed images and geometric designs.
In less than a year, Emily was weaving much more complex designs and objects.
“In each Farm Ops program I have attended, my classmates are generous with their contributions, sharing their expertise, trials, and knowledge,” Franco explained. “The classes encourage this exchange, creating meaningful interactions. It is a rare safe space to explore without judgment or expectation.”
Farm Ops also offered scholarships to the annual New York State Fiber Conference, allowing veteran Walt Silva to deepen his knowledge and support his farm business decisions. Fiber producers meet each year to gain valuable hands-on skills and knowledge about fiber types and qualities, marketing channels, fleece qualities, and the fiber supply chain.
“The conference introduced me to local processing and selling of fiber products and was a great introduction for a beginner to the fiber industry,” Silva said.
For veteran farmers David and Mary DeLaMater of Dough Haven Farm, the fiber events have been invaluable for developing their cashmere goat operation.
“If it weren’t for these low-cost programs, we would not have been able to come up with many of the solutions for processing and marketing our goats’ fiber,” they said.
Initially intending to spin and weave the cashmere themselves, they realized the time investment was too great. The events connected them with others in the fiber world, leading them to instead sell their raw fleeces to a cashmere company while practicing felting with scrap fiber.
Veteran Matejka Baumgardner drew upon her cultural heritage to create a beautiful completed piece during the workshop.
“By supporting skilled instructors, providing materials, and facilitating spaces for learning and connectivity, Farm Ops empowers veterans to explore new creative outlets, develop ideas to further expand farm businesses, and build a strong community of veteran farmers,” they explained.
The DeLaMaters look forward to future weaving projects with their farm’s alpaca fiber.
Looking ahead, Franco is collaborating with local veteran farmers to incorporate her weaving products and skills into their farm business strategies.
“When I think of farming, I think of livestock and crops, so I am delighted that there are opportunities to explore a variety of other by-products of farming, like using wool to create yarn for weaving or knitting and using natural ingredients to dye the wool,” Franco said. “Every class I have taken inspires creativity but can also be brought back to a functional, useful purpose.”
Farm Ops continues to empower veterans by supporting skilled instructors, providing materials, and creating spaces for learning and connectivity, helping them explore new creative outlets, develop farms into fiber businesses, and build a strong community of farmer-artists.
To learn more about Farm Ops and opportunities for veterans interested in agriculture, visit the project page at https://smallfarms.cornell.edu/projects/farm-ops/.
