Nestled in the Matanuska Valley just north of Palmer, Alaska, you’ll find a sprawling, 75-acre Musk Ox Farm – a project steeped in uniqueness and intrigue. A nonprofit organization, it was founded in the 1950s by John Teal Jr., an anthropologist and arctic explorer. Teal’s vision to domesticate musk oxen within the regions they were indigenous was not only an attempt to demonstrate that farming a geographically appropriate animal was a more sustainable agricultural practice, but could also boost local economies by providing Alaskan artisans the materials necessary to make knitted goods through harvesting the animals’ [qiviut] underwool.
The qiviut we offer here is handknitted into scarves and caps by the Eskimo women of the Oomingmak Musk Ox Producers’ Co-operative in Alaska.
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