Spring Grove

“Pretty. Neat. Small Town.” nicely sums up our adopted home of Spring Grove, Minnesota, a booming micropolis of 1330 people.

In the fall of 2020, amidst a global pandemic, we optimistically moved our global headquarters (such as they are!) from Minneapolis to a sprawling farm in the far southeastern corner of Minnesota — almost as far southeast as you can live and still be in the state — down where Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin meet. We named our new place Big Raven Farm (naturally), installed our printing equipment down in the workshop below the barn, and turned the barn above into a yoga studio, with the aim of hosting weekend yoga retreats that showcase our world-class yoga mats. We’re within easy reach of Minneapolis/St. Paul, Rochester, Eau Claire, La Crosse, Decorah, Dubuque, Madison, Moline, and many other Midwestern cities in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois.

Spring Grove itself is nestled in the heart of the rugged Driftless Region, equidistant to Lanesboro, Minnesota and Decorah, Iowa. It’s a small town with deep Norwegian roots (its big annual celebration is Syttende Mai!), and this yoga mat is based on the banners that line our town’s main street. The banners in turn are abstracts based on Norwegian rosemåling, a decorative folk art in which flowers are painted on wood — a style you’ve almost certainly seen before even if you didn’t know what it was called!