Hi! I'm Jenn.
Owner of Acorns & Twigs
My four kiddos were all born, within four years of each other, while I was living in Germany with Gerhard, my husband. I was in my busiest, yet happiest Mama era!
We were nestled north of the Alps and spending most of our time in the lush pine forest with other nature loving families. We were part of a local Waldorf school community were a holistic parenting approach of "Head, Hands, Heart" is cultivated.
I was the barefooted pregnant lady with one kid on each hand, a toddler on my back, walking to the local bakery store.
I quickly took over our weekly parent's craft night. We were making all sorts of hand made toys and treasures for our kiddos. Anything that brought nature and beauty to our youngsters. Once a year, we would host a very large bazar/festival in the fall.
Whittled toys out of wood, hand sewn dolls and puppets. Transparent paper stars on the windows. Knitted farm animals. Over sized pine cones to serve as a building block accessory, large and small squares of natural fabrics to be laid out for the perfect back drop of a tiny world, or wrapped around the waist for dress up.
When my oldest child was turning school aged, we made a VERY big decision to pack all of our belongings, sell our house and move back to Iowa, Jenn's home, in order to extend the freedom of childhood even longer by homeschooling our kids, which isn't allowed in Germany.
As we started planning our future in the states, we came to realize that Waldorf homeschool supplies were hard to come by in Iowa, or anywhere on the internet at that time. So we decided to combine Jenn's passion for wool and fiber arts with our homeschool journey and Acorns & Twigs was born.
It hasn't been easy. We were homeschooling 4 kids. Renovating a gutted 150 year old house. Building a business. Acclimating to a new country, some of us had to learn a new language. We had several set backs including the whirlwind of COVID.
But we did it. We went from food stamps to a 12 person staff within a few years.
We are now in a building on the Centerville, IA square with lots more space to grow!
Today we are on a mission to keep fiber arts alive and to be #EmpoweredByFiber.
You'll find all things natural and beautiful on our website:
- Art Supplies,
- Toys,
- Musical Instruments,
- Dress up silks,
- Wool and other natural fibers,
- Craft Tools,
- Kits,
- Subscription boxes and
- classes.
I'm so happy to have you here!
