"Farm to fleece to market; Fibersheds are the latest entry in the grow local movement"

by Sara Gabler Isthmus Cover Stories February 5, 2026

https://isthmus.com/news/cover-story/fibersheds-farm-to-fleece-to-market-grow-local-movement/

"Restoring the Midwest's Fibershed, Q&A With Flax Advocate Leslie Schroeder" by Jennifer New 

This was a fun conversation with Tay Fatke of Marbleseed. I'm also looking forward to presenting a workshop at the upcoming Marbleseed Organic Farming Conference Feb 26-28 2026

https://issuu.com/marbleseed/docs/organic_broadcaster_winter_2026_volume_34_iss/17?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=79125b76-b17c-4dc6-afb8-638852cbdd17

The UW- Madison Division of Extension recognizes Wisconsin's agricultural economy is strengthened by diversity and bringing new crops to farmers is an exciting and long adventure often facing a variety of challenges.

This podcast episode is a conversation around the state of fiber flax in Wisconsin and the U.S. between The Cutting Edge podcast hosts Ann Kowenstrot and Steffen Mirsky with Leslie from Midwest Linen Revival and Shannon of North American Linen Association. 

https://cropsandsoils.extension.wisc.edu/articles/the-cutting-edge-podcast-episode-54-fiber-flax-building-the-us-linen-industry-from-the-ground-up/

MADISON—Seven projects across Wisconsin have been selected for funding under the Wisconsin Forward Agriculture (Forward Ag) Use-Inspired Research & Development (UIR) grant. Awardees of the grant will receive a total of $510,000 to advance their initiatives.

Forward Ag aims to create a circular agricultural bioeconomy in Wisconsin. It focuses on leveraging cross-sector partnerships and novel technologies/practices to convert ag waste and by-products into value-added products/practices that create new revenue streams for farmers and food processors.

....

The project leads and collaborators for the seven awards are the following:

•Lead: John Hendrickson, UW-Madison in Dane County
Project: “Feasibility Study and Business Planning for a Wisconsin Flax Fiber Supply Chain”
Collaborators: Midwest Linen Revival, Ewetopia, UW Small Business Development Center, Biolin Research Inc., and UW-Extension

https://www.wisys.org/news-media/forward-ag-uir-grant

"Building a Flax-Fiber Movement"

WORT news team and Sara Gabler came out to the handprocessing field day at Troy Gardens during the inaugural Field to Frock festival

https://www.wortfm.org/building-a-flax-fiber-movement/

"Growing flax and weaving linen in Wisconsin"

https://www.wpr.org/shows/larry-meiller-show/book-club-bridgeton-flax-and-linen-in-wisconsin

"Can Madison Ditch Fast Fashion"

Leslie was jazzed to sit down and have a conversation with City Cast host Bianca Martin and get into some details on problems and solutions with our current textile industry. 

https://madison.citycast.fm/podcasts/can-madison-ditch-fast-fashion

"Made in Wisconsin: Our clothes could be grown here"

by Emma Waldinger

https://www.channel3000.com/madison-magazine/made-in-wisconsin-our-clothes-could-be-grown-here/article_32b27d93-3954-4c71-b42f-e743e4b023e7.html

"Leslie Schroeder’s flax-to-linen dream weaves its way into Wisconsin"

https://wisconsinlife.org/story/the-flax-to-linen-dream-weaves-its-way-into-wisconsin/

"Midwest Linen Revival Presents Field to Frock Fest"

https://www.wortfm.org/midwest-linen-revival-presents-farm-to-frock-fest/

That title is the truth! 

A really well written and thorough essay, check it out!

https://www.wisconsinacademy.org/magazine/winter-spring-2025/essay/smitten-linen  

Volume: 71

Issue Number: 1&2

We now have a link to share accompanying the news that flax is the most recent crop to be added to the UW-Extension Emerging Crop Accelerator program. 

Flax is now in league with eleven other really exciting and promising crops in Wisconsin. Check them all out! 

https://cropsandsoils.extension.wisc.edu/emergingcrops/

Many thanks to Steffen Mirsky, Emerging Crops Outreach Specialist at UW-Extension for his support and help making this happen. I've already enjoyed connecting further with others working on our shared agenda of diversifying our state's agricultural offerings, and I'm looking forward to learning more about the connections being fostered by these projects all around the state. 

Wisconsin Linen Revival coordinated five growers across the state with informal test plots raising the seed varities: Ariane, Avian, Cascade, Linore, and Nathalie.