In Newfoundland, fifteen-to-twenty-thousand pounds of wool a year goes to waste while local fibre users import, mostly synthetic, materials from out-of-province. In collaboration with Heritage NL, our project draws upon local fibre community interviews and materials from MUNL’s folklore archive to understand these processes of abandonment and explore reclamation efforts around restoring a historic carding mill in the Codroy Valley. Weaving threads from both artistic and agricultural perspectives, we argue that in-province wool processing benefits everyone with its capacity to create intergenerational, educational, and safe community spaces, promoting a culture of sustainability and subsistence through the island’s traditional craft history.

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This research was presented at the 136th annual American Folklore Society meeting in November 2024, in Albuquerque, NM, USA.