Dear Guest,

Welcome to Wool Haven.

We are the Steven Schmiedeknecht Family and we shepherd a flock of Merino sheep.

The name, Wool Haven, was born from a longing to create a safe place (“haven”) for all things wool related. Here, you will find some of the items I love to create and create with.

A little of our story…

In 2014, I married the love of my life, Steven. The Lord has blessed us with five beautiful children so far, Elsie (8 years), Sydney (6 years), Walter (5 years), Naomi (2 years) and Genevieve (Genny) (born October 2024).

In 2017, Steven, and I, became first-generation farmers here in West Michigan by purchasing a couple of older purebred Merino sheep (Molly and Maggie) to see if shepherding was for us. It was love at first sight and now we can’t imagine ever not having sheep.

In 2019, we introduced three purebred Merino ewes (moorits and a white) to our farm from Mendenhall Wool Ranch (California).

In 2021, we introduced a heritage breed, Tunis wether from Leatherwood Creek Farm (Tennessee), to our flock, which we are very thrilled about.

And, in 2022, we introduced a very regal looking horned purebred Merino ram (black) from Black Sheep Farm (Virginia) who was named Champion Natural Colored Ram at the 2022 Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival.

In the spring of 2024, we moved the family and farm to the countryside and also introduced more purebred Merino ewes (moorit, dark brown, black and silver) and another purebred Merino ram (moorit). We now live on 60 acres, where we hope to continue growing and raising our family, flock and farm.

We began lambing in 2024. In addition, we have been establishing pasture for our flock.

Here at Wool Haven, our desire is to raise beautiful and thriving purebred Merino sheep with superior genetics, giving exquisitely dense and uniform fine wool fleeces with lovely, soft handle (low micron count and high comfort factor), impressive crimp, staple length and lock structure, from sheep with proper and sound body conformations that display the Merino breed standard honorably. Holly has a particular interest in the recessive color genetics of Merinos and hopes to focus on a breeding program that will allow for the expression of the gorgeous range of beautiful fleece colors (moorit, dark browns, silvers and variegated fleeces) in future lambs.

We are members of the Natural Colored Wool Growers Association (NCWGA) and the American & Delaine Merino Record Association. All of our Merinos are registered with either the NCWGA or the American & Delaine Merino Record Association according to their fleece color.

Wool Haven is in Oceana County, Michigan, near the Lake Michigan lakeshore, between Muskegon and Ludington.

Currently, our offerings include a limited supply of Merino wool roving and yarn made from the fleeces of our sheep. Most of our heirloom Merino wool handwovens are sold out, however if this is something of interest to you, please contact Holly (please click here). We show our fleeces in the Michigan Fiber Festival’s Fleece Competition. Any of our well-skirted fleeces that go unsold at the festival will be made available here on our website. Please check back in later August or contact Holly by email, phone call, or text message for inquiries and/or questions (please see our contact information on our Contact page or simply click here).

We showed our sheep for the very first time at Michigan Fiber Festival 2025 in Allegan, Michigan.

We give you our best from our growing farm.

Warmly,

~Holly

Wool Haven ~ The Steven Schmiedeknecht Family

P.S. To learn more about the many wonderful benefits of Merino wool, click here.