Shear success: Long Way Homestead celebrates 10 years

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This article was published 27/06/2025 (191 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Anna Hunter is marking 10 years as a farmer, which is not bad for someone who didn’t intend to make her living working the land.

Hunter and husband Luke Palka operate Long Way Homestead, a fibre farm and wool processing mill in Ste. Genevieve.

The couple was living in Vancouver a decade ago, when they purchased the 140-acre plot of land, some 40 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg. In a world of fast food and fast fashion, they moved to Manitoba with a desire for a deeper connection to their food and textiles.

“I don’t think we necessarily planned to turn our homestead into a business,” Hunter said by phone Friday morning after feeding the farm’s 35 sheep. “But it became quite clear right from the beginning that there was a huge opportunity and a huge need and we felt up to the challenge of fulfilling that need.”

Hunter, Palka and their two children are inviting the public to celebrate 10 years of Long Way Homestead today from noon to 5 p.m.

People will be able to tour the farm and mill, see the animals — including two lambs born earlier this week — and visit the farm store. They can also purchase lamb burgers and drinks.

The farm is located at 51077 Municipal Rd. 41 E. Admission is free.

Long Way Homestead’s regular offerings include a “field school” program that provides learning and mentorship in the field of regenerative fibre farming, sustainable textile production, natural dye systems and hands-on textile education.

The majority of their time and energy, however, is spent raising animals and processing wool. After discovering there were no wool mills in Manitoba, the family decided to start its own.

Long Way Homestead processes more than 1,800 kilograms of wool annually, Hunter said. The majority of the wool is sourced from Manitoba farmers, with a small portion coming from Saskatchewan.

Hunter and her family also use excess fibre to produce wool pellets, a natural fertilizer.

“When we started out there was very little support or infrastructure for farmers that want to focus on wool or textile production,” she said. “Everything we’ve done we kind of had to start from scratch.”

The farm’s field school program has trained operators of four wool mills in Canada and Hunter and Palka have helped more than a dozen pellet mills open across the country, Hunter said.

Bryan Driedger says Long Way Homestead inspired him and his wife Lynda to start a wool mill.

The Driedgers operate Austin Woollen Mill, which is named for the community 130 km west of Winnipeg where it’s located.

They were exposed to fibre processing during a trip to Prince Edward Island in 2010. After visiting Long Way Homestead, they realized it could be done in Manitoba.

They trained at the farm and then opened Austin Woollen Mill in late 2023.

“We wouldn’t be doing this if we hadn’t seen how they were doing it,” Driedger said. “In Manitoba’s fibre community, we feel like collaborators rather than competitors. That’s definitely the tone that Anna and Luke set. (They have been) very welcoming and supportive.”

Hunter’s contributions to the fibre industry include two books. Her first, 2023’s Sheep, Shepherd & Land, tells the story of 12 small-scale Canadian sheep farmers. The True Cost of Wool, which hit bookstores earlier this month, investigates the environmental, social and economic impacts of the Canadian wool industry.

Nine Ten Publications, a small press based in Vancouver, published both books.

“Because of the success of her first book, I knew we could reach an audience for her second book,” said Kim Werker, co-founder and publisher. “There’s been demand from bookstores across the country, which is very exciting for us.”

Hunter is looking forward to welcoming people to Long Way Homestead on Saturday afternoon.

“We are so grateful to our community and our customers who have been alongside us in this 10-year journey and we really wanted to take the time to celebrate that,” she said.

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca