Heartfelt designs from Bear Creek Ranch

by Jo Ann Winistorfer

Capering calves. Gamboling goats. Cheeping chicks. Waddling ducks. Take a quick trip around Jeff and Teresa Perlebergs’ Bear Creek Ranch west of Fort Rans om and you’ll find all these animals. But wait, there’s more! A fenced area near the big red barn contains a multicolored flock of Romney sheep, a breed noted for its heavy, lustrous fleece and long fibers.

Inside the Perlebergs’ attractive A-frame home, you’ll glimpse even more animals – miniature critters perched on tables and shelves throughout the house. Some of them echo their real-life counterparts outside; others are replicas of creatures that exist in the wild.

They all have something in common: They were needle-felted by fiber artist Teresa Perleberg, using wool from the family’s registered Romney herd.

It all started in 2005, when the family purchased four sheep. “This project led to spinning, knitting and eventually needle-felting,” says Teresa, an animal-lover who was raised on a farm near Wyndmere.

Since then, the Perlebergs’ Romney herd has increased to around two dozen, and Teresa has turned her hobby into a business. She has made hundreds of wool sculptures, some of which have been purchased by collectors. “It gives me great pleasure to know my pieces are now part of several private collections in places around the world,” she says.

Teresa uses a spinning wheel set up in a sunny corner of her south-facing living room to turn wool into yarn. Some of that yarn embellishes her tiny creations. For example, her snowmen sport knit caps and scarves; her bunny angels boast corded belts. And her Christmas ornaments are encircled with yarn.

As part of her selling strategy, Teresa has become “Internet savvy.” She uses her Web site –www.bearcreekfelting.com– and online store to market her menagerie of homemade, heartfelt creatures. Her Internet provider is Dickey Rural Networks of Ellendale.

Jo Ann Winistorfer, former associate editor of North Dakota LIVING, does freelance writing from her rural Pick City home. She is a member of Roughrider Electric Cooperative, Hazen.

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