Bigfork duo's new business features traditional crafts

Kyle Dean Cumming and Kassie Dawn were born and raised in Bigfork on their respective families’ homesteads. When the high school sweethearts graduated, they started looking at conventional paths to success, like college or an industry job.

But they soon realized their gifts and passion lay elsewhere, so they started Bees, Knees ‘n’ Knits, making their own herbal remedies and crafts based on knowledge passed down from the homesteaders before them.

Dawn was raised learning about some of these crafts from her mother, who owned sheep and created her own herbal remedies. She said she stepped away from those things after her mother’s death.

“I lost myself and I didn’t really know what to do. So years later, I went back to it. My sister Emily owns sheep, so she always poked and prodded me to get back into fiber arts and herbal remedies, like homestead crafts. When I met Kyle, he was kind of an old fashioned kind of person— into writing, into preserving this Montana way of life, and about a year later we started the business,” Dawn said.

The two 21-year-olds said they work together as a team, with both sourcing materials and making the crafts. They sell salves, balms, soaps, wool dryer balls and sheets, candles, knitwear and more. Cumming said he takes on creating the soaps and salves, as well as looming and some felting. Dawn said she forages for herbal ingredients which can be found on their property in Ferndale, like Yarrow, St. John’s Wort and Sagebrush. She knits their vibrant beanies and scarves, and uses felting to create designs of fruit on their wool dryer balls. They get wool from local shepherds and have it spun at The Wool Mill in Belgrade, Montana. Cumming said it’s important for them to source these things on their own.

“Our whole goal is to support Montana farmers and ranchers. We keep our economy local, we only buy from local businesses, we buy our yarn from local spinners for our knitwear. It’s just about not sending our money out of state anymore, you could buy this stuff online, but where does it go? It doesn’t go to your neighbors, you know,” Cumming said.

Bees, Knees ‘n’ Knits also works to spread the word about using local materials online. Dawn said she tries to educate people about where they can find local products— giving a boost to other businesses working to keep their footprint small. She said sustainability is one of the most important aspects of their business.

“With the Montana lifestyle, it’s about using your ingredients until the very last drop, using your resources until the very end…my family used to own cows and pigs, so they would go to the butcher to feed our family and that was our way of survival. We used the tallow, the fur, the hides. When we forage for plants for our dyes and salves, we use that plant in its entirety,” Dawn said.

Cumming said this low waste approach is also taken into consideration for where and when they harvest their materials.

“It’s one thing to harvest, but it’s another thing to harvest before the bees have a chance to get to it and before the bugs get to it. So when a plant comes up, we like to wait until everybody’s had a chance to use it, so that doesn’t disrupt the ecosystem. Even though we’re a small operation, we do everything in small batches, it’s important to think about what you’re harvesting and how you’re harvesting it,” Cumming said.

Dawn and Cumming said their sustainability is connected with their drive to preserve these traditional crafts. Traditional Montana crafts can be anything early settlers utilized to what was passed down by the native people who lived here before them.

“They used traditional tallow salves, like the fat of animals, and they taught that stuff to some of the early homesteaders that moved here, the Scottish, the Irish, the French fur traders. People were led by Native Americans to survive these winters and also brought what they had in Europe over here— like their textile crafts, shepherding and stuff like that. So, we’re trying to bring people to realize we have a very rich history here and it’s getting lost,” Cumming said.

They’ve learned a lot through friendships they’ve made with other homesteaders— older people who have been doing these crafts their entire lives. Cumming said forming relationships with these people is always rewarding but sometimes takes some convincing on their part.

“Sometimes they’re a little bit skeptical, because we’re young. That’s what a lot of people think, ‘oh you can’t do all of this stuff, you’re only 21,’...So, you try to build a friendship instead of a business talking it out, and that’s what it is, what I like to say is a true Montanan always has an open mind, you just have to get to that point with people,” Cumming said.

Dawn and Cumming said anyone interested in learning more about Montana crafts can reach out to them for resources.

“We put in the work, but it’s the farmers that we thank and the homesteaders that were way before us, the lessons we have taken from them and credited them, it’s just important to give back,” Dawn said.

Bees Knees ‘n’ Knits can be found in a few local shops, including Mama Bee’s Jubilee, Curative Yoga and the Bigfork Art and Cultural Center in Bigfork. They are also expecting to be at many local markets across the Flathead Valley this year, including the Bigfork Festival of the Arts. Dawn runs their online store which can be found at www.beeskneesnknits.com. Their website includes a full list of stores where their products are available.