Sponsor: Brooklyn General Store was created in 2002 and is owned and operated by Catherine Clark. Tucked away on a sweet block West of the Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill neighborhoods, Brooklyn General Store is the enchanting fiber and textile emporium we all dream of. Dreams full of wooly goodness, yards and yards of fabric, felt, dyes, patterns, tools, and handmade gifts. A little old and a little new…a classic general store for the maker who loves to make their own everything. With a charming studio, the shop hosts a variety of wonderful classes taught by special folks including Cal Patch, Nguyen Le, Heather Love and many more. With it’s floor to ceiling shelves, old rolling ladders, and old wood floors, it feels as though you’ve stepped into a wooly wonderland…I so wish I lived closer and could adopt this shop as my own lys, but thankfully they have an online shop filled to the brim with all of their fiber and sewing goods and gifts. So if you’re in the Brooklyn area or just passing through, visit Brooklyn General Store in person and find them online at brooklyngeneral.com
Fiber folk: We’re all very familiar with the wool in the fiber arts, but something that’s far less known is it’s use in building materials, including insulation. What’s extra neat about wool insulation is that it often times uses wool that would be of little or no value in the yarn world and therefore making the best use out of this fiber we love so much. Thayne Mackey and his family are doing something pretty wonderful at Montana Green Insulation and I’m excited for you to hear more. You can find Thayne at montanagreeninsulation.com and on Facebook as Brookside Woolen Mill.
Sponsor: Montana Green Insulation is located in Malta, Montana and is a family run operation, by today’s guest Thayne Mackey, his wife and two children. In 2009 Thayne and his family downsized their farm and started Brookside Woolen Mill where they create their wool insulation product. They run an organic wool processing operation, with high efficiency heating systems, solar water heaters, recycling and settling ponds for waste water, bio-degradable soaps and eco-friendly disposal systems for the vegetable wastes produced by sheep. Their woolen products include Montana Green Sheep Wool Insulation, Reclamation and Revegetation Mats, and Bio-wix wattles and booms for petroleum spills on land and in water. We’re using the wool insulation for our yurt platform and decided to do so because of the incredible properties of wool insulation and it’s R-value. I hope you’ll consider learning more about wool insulation and using it for your next building project. Find Montana Green Insulation at montanagreeninsulation.com.
Update: As many of you know, we recently moved from San Francisco to our ranch in North Idaho where we’re in the final stages of building our yurt home. Over the past couple of years we’ve been doing a lot of research on what materials we wanted to use for various parts of the process, specifically insulation. Because of our northern climate, extra insulation is a must. There are lots of insulation options, but of course our heart was set on using wool insulation after learning more about it’s obvious benefits and R-Value. After reaching out and learning about Thayne Mackey’s operation at Montana Green Insulation we decided on 500lbs of loose fill insulation which we’ll be using in our platform flooring. The delivery is set to arrive early next week and we’ll be posting lots of photos and info on this process as it’s new to us and there really isn’t a whole lot of information out there on on installation. So stay tuned, we’re super excited to get our floor insulated and move in!
Giveaway: The winner of last week’s giveaways are, appaloosa13 you’ve won the Dottie Angel frock pattern, Claire you’ve won 2 skeins of the Moeke Merino, and Analiese, you’ve won a Woolful Sheep Breed Calendar. Congratulations!
This week’s giveaway is sponsored by Taproot Magazine and Boho Chic Fiber Co and they’re giving away the most recent issue of Taproot, Shelter and two gorgeous skeins of handspun Polwarth and Mohair and Silk fingering yarn along with Annie Lupton’s Groh Shawl pattern. To enter this giveaway, leave a comment on today’s episode’s blog post.
Music by Jónsi.
105 Comments
Thank you so much for making my life better!
So, so interesting. Every time. Thank you so much for doing this podcast.
I’m so glad to see that Brookkyn general store is one of your sponsors. It’s one of my favorite yarn stores.
What a fascinating episode! Thanks, as always, for sharing.
The Wool Campaign has been doing a great job on promoting non-traditional uses of wool.
How interesting! I’m always amazed by the creative skills that folks employ.
Can’t wait to hear the episode–sounds fascinating. Wool insulation: who knew? Love it!
Wow, sheep are the best. And your yurt looks wonderful.
you find the most amazing people to share with us. Thank you so very much for such a thoughtful and thought provoking podcast.
What an interesting podcast! I learned so much, stops bullets, doesn’t burn toxically, and used for insulation!!! Who knew, oh wool I love you!
I think we must be on the same page. Just last week I found wool insulation rolls from Black Mountain USA, which would take the place of mineral wool insulation (vs. blown cellulose, which is what loose wool replaces). I’ve sent off for quotes for our tiny house build because I would love to have a house full of wool — and not just my yarn stash. Anyway, so glad to hear about another wool insulation company and I’m looking forward to reading about your flooring process!
Just found you guys- cool blog!
I’m new to your podcast and I really enjoyed this week’s episode. I had no idea that people were using wool as insulation and it really makes a lot of sense. Thanks so much! Can’t wait for the next episode
LOVE Boho Chic Fibers beautiful and imaginative creations
Another amazing episode!!
This was such an interesting episode, thanks for sharing!
Also, I’m really looking forward to seeing your finished yurt!
Lovely episode! Interested to hear more about wool insulation 😀
Another awesome episode! Loved the way values came through in the interviews.
Lovely episode! I had no idea that wool could be used as insulation, I am looking forward to watching your progress on the yurt floor! Thanks for the chance to win.
I’m a fairly new listener and have so been enjoying it! This episode was particularly interesting…I had aspirations of building at one point and never even considered wool as insulation. Incredible! (And I second the other comments…looking forward to yurt updates!)
Enjoyed the podcast! Love the photos of your yurt!!
I do really love your podcast every time, and like giving it a try here.
Awesome podcast, as always! 🙂
Looking forward to this podcast episode!
Very interesting! If I ever need insulation I will definitely buy wool (or at least try very hard to convince my husband that is what we need)
great episode xx
I am wrapping gifts with hot cocoa while listening to this podcast. A little blissful hour for me, thank you!
You made my day Thank you.
Thanks for another great episode! Really cool to hear about other uses for wool, I hope you’ll do more episodes like this one!
What a wonderful and informative episode! And your yurt is looking gorgeous!
Another great episode, thank you!
I loved this story! Is amazing that the wife (she must really be a wonderful woman) started knitting and then they started the whole thing with sheep, mill and the insulating process machinery. Very inspiring. Please let us know about your experience with the insulated floor!
I loved hearing about Thayne Mackey and his quest reinvigorate the American wool industry.
This is fascinating! I never knew wool could be used as insulation for housing. We have a dream of building our own modest home one day and I’ll keep this in my mind as an option.
I honestly hope that wool insulation starts to become more widespread. Hopefully one day when we get the opportunity to build our “dream home” I have the ability to put wool to use.
Oh my goodness. My husband loves this so much. He’s been talking to me about wool insulation for MONTHS.
What an interesting episode! Thanks, as always, for sharing.
Can’t wait to see the photos from your yurt and considering wool as an insulation material makes total sense.
Really interesting episode! I enjoyed it as always 🙂
Great episode! My daughter has a project in Business Studies in High School and we listened to the podcast together and discussed the topic. Very interesting! Thank you as always for the nice giveaway.
asteride on Ravelry
Thanks for another great episode. I had not heard about wool insulation before, but it sounds like a good thing.
So fortunate to spend this summer/fall processing fleece from a friends farm in Montana! Tunis. LOVE it. Coming up on the 2nd anniversary of buying a Schacht Ladybug sight unseen and teaching myself to spin. I never knew I wanted to be a spinner. Now I can’t imagine not. (It was lovely to knit with as well!)
Would love to win the yarn and pattern!
What an interesting episode, never knew about wool as insulation. But have often referred to my stash that way. Would love to win this weeks giveaway.
Good morning Ashley,
I found your podcast a few weeks ago based on a recommendation from Kate of A Playful Day. I listened to this week’s episode this morning on my commute, and am so happy I did! My husband and I are starting a renovation project that involves replacing the insulation in the attic of our Connecticut home, and are completely intrigued by the idea of using wool insulation. We’ve asked our contractor to review Thayne’s product to see if it can work for our space. I never would have dreamed that this was “a thing” without the in-depth interview on Woolful.
Thanks for sharing such delightful insight from a new-to-me aspect of the fiber industry.
Warmly,
Lissa
That was so interesting! A big part of my family are farmers and that fellow sure reminded me of them.
Thank you for examining another amazing use for wool!
I am still geeking out about wool having the ability to stop a bullet! Incredible!
I know right?!
Love this episode – we’re trying to set up something similar in Scotland. Thanks for gifting us this wonderful episode in time for the holidays, when I’ll have time to research more.
That’s very cool! Especially since most of it would have otherwise not been used for yarn! I learned something new today!
I loved this episode and am so encouraged by the discussion of the redevelopment of the wool industry in the U.S. We don’t need insulation at present, but I am in the market for a new mattress and was reminded of your earlier posts on shopping for a wool one. Will have to revisit those! Thanks!
my local postmaster and I were discussing the wool insulation industry – he sells from his meat flocks to a local contractor for insulation, another very local mill also acts as a warehouse for the wool-insulation industry. I can sell my flocks’ fiber, reduced price obviously, to her and she sells it to the contractors. It’s great to think of the many uses for the many things we raise, especially fiber. So excited for your insulation! Can’t wait to hear how it all goes. Thanks for the every-informative and well-prepared podcasts. You’re doing an amazing job!
I think I might have to listen to this episode a few times, wool as insulation was not a foreign concept but I had never really thought more about the how and why of it. Also wool stopping bullets, never would have ever imagined that!
Fabulous wool stories. Great for insulation for house or body. Would love to visit the Brooklyn store and will follow the yurt insulation with great interest.
Fascinating. Looking forward to hear how you get on insulating the yurt – good luck with it.
Brand new to your podcast and heading back into the archive! Thank you for all your hard work. Many hours of listening pleasure ahead!
Learned a few new things about wool from this podcast. Always fascinating to hear of the myriad ways in which wool can be used in our day to day lives.
Just trying to imagine a home stuffed with wool. Makes me smile.
This was a fascinating episode. I learned a lot. Hopefully one day I’ll be able to take advantage of wool insulation in my home!
Wool as insulation is a brilliant idea. Thank you for another great episode.
Bulletproof wool! Amazing!
Your podcast has made me such a more knowledgable consumer. Thank you for the work you do
I live in Switzerland now and I know they do nothing with the fleece here, sad. We also rent an apt that has a bit of a mold issue and wish that we could insulate with wool, perhaps whenever we have our own house. Thank you
Interesting to learn that wool can be used to insulate houses!
Great episode!
I loved this episode – I knew wool was awesome but the health benefits of using it for insulation were eye-opening. Every week I appreciate you more & more : )
Looks like a lovely store!
Ended up stopping in at Brooklyn general during a weekend visit to ny after hearing about them on your podcast during the drive. Very serendipitous!
Listened to my first podcast and loved it! Great information on the Montana Green Insulation! My husband is self-employed in construction and this will give be shared information. Learned so much on this podcast. Oh, and FYI, my son just activated in the military and is in Idaho as well now. We are in the Northeast so your world is so new to us. We plan to visit!
Interesting journey, beautiful store.
Looks and sounds like a great place to visit!
Your podcasts are great!! Love that giant Yurt.
I love that they’re using wool to be more “green”.
I would also love to visit the store in Brooklyn…looks fun!
Thanks!
Great episode and what an awesome way to keep wool domestic!
This podcast has really grown on me. I try not to miss an episode. We just insulated with blown in material made from old textiles. Excited to hear there are more options out there.
Thank you so much!!! You have inspired and taught me so much! Your podcast is amazing and I’m inspired so much by your yurt journey!!!!
Bullet-proof wool?! Who knew! Great podcast!
Wow!! Taproot, handspun and a gorgeous cozy shawl pattern. Does it get any better than that? Thank you for your wonderful podcast. I am intrigued by the wool insulation and will be looking into in when we reinsulate our basement, which had suffered a major flood just before I bought the house.
What a great use of wool.
Loving this podcast!
I love your podcast! They are so informative and I have learned so much about wool. Thank you,
Great episode! I love the info… Thank you…
I really enjoyed learning more about wool and it’s R value and other uses. Love how none has to go to waste! I am a big fan of the Tiny House movement, so it was neat to hear that touched upon and how the mill was adjusting their products to fit these new needs!
I was totally expecting to not really enjoy this week’s podcast – didn’t think the topic would be too interesting. But, I loved it! Thanks!
I love this episode! I learned so much about the many uses of wool. Thanks
Thanks for bringing the work of Thayne and his family to our attention! wool is such a miracle, hey?
Thanks so much Ashley– I love the podcast and look forward to listening each week! Take care, Erin
I’ve just started listening to your lovely podcast, and I’m working my way through in order (cos that’s how I roll!), found out about it from knit fm. It’s cool to just finish listening to the episode about moeke yarn where Ioana talked about wanting to make Romanian merino yarn, and Lo and Behold, you have some in your shop and last weeks give away! Awesome! I also love the look of her other yarns, and her naturally dyed colours.
Brilliant! My husband and I have going through the process of designing & (hopefully this spring!) building our first home. It’s a passive heating design and we wanted wool insulation (of course!) but there didn’t seem to be somewhere we could get it from. Glad to see this couple is moving forward on that; hopefully it will start to catch on in Canada too! Goodluck to the Mackey’s – this is just brilliant!
Thanks so much for the podcast – i love Boho Chic Fibres too!
Fantastic podcast! I always learn something new.
Another inspiring episode, thank you!
I love taproot. Thanks for the opportunity.
What a fascinating podcast!
Inge
Boy that was an interesting topic and a nice change from knitting. I had no idea there was such a thing as wool insulation. If I ever build a house I will def use wool!
hmm, now you’ve got me thinking about whether we can use wool insulation in our place . . .
Just came across you podcast and can’t stop listening! Great great show! Thanks!
I would love to use wool insulation for my own wooden house- someday!
I’m so excited t know about wool insulation!!!
This is fascinating stuff. We have a small (couple dozen) sheep here in NoFla. Always looking out for innovations using wool. My husband is a wood guy, too…involved in an insulation project right now, as a matter of fact. Too bad, dang, just too bad I’m listening to this today and not 6 weeks ago!!!! HA! Great blog. As usual. This time, I was compelled to say, “Hey!”
[…] it also used as an alternative insulation in houses (Woolful has a good podcast about that making a comeback in the US). Note: Just click on an image to make […]
[…] Sponsor: Montana Green Insulation is located in Malta, Montana and is a family run operation, by Thayne Mackey, his wife and two children. In 2009 Thayne and his family downsized their farm and started Brookside Woolen Mill where they create their wool insulation product. They run an organic wool processing operation, with high efficiency heating systems, solar water heaters, recycling and settling ponds for waste water, bio-degradable soaps and eco-friendly disposal systems for the vegetable wastes produced by sheep. Their woolen products include Montana Green Sheep Wool Insulation, Reclamation and Revegetation Mats, and Bio-wix wattles and booms for petroleum spills on land and in water. We used the wool insulation for our yurt platform and decided to do so because of the incredible properties of wool insulation and it’s R-value. I hope you’ll consider learning more about wool insulation and using it for your next building project. Find Montana Green Insulation at montanagreeninsulation.com and listen to Thayne’s fiber journey in episode 43. […]
Hiya,
Wondering how the wool insulation in the floor of the yurt went? I just ordered a 30′ yurt, and am considering doing the same. Any info you could offer on your system and how you like it would be great!
Thanks,
Scott
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