Tricia Ostby, Jill of all Trades

If Jon is our Jack of all Trades, Tricia Ostby is our Jill! Tricia has lived in Argyle since high school and she currently lives close enough to walk to work. She is a lifelong learner who is always digging into one subject or another. That thirst for knowledge has made her an amazing tanner.

Tricia joined our team in February of 2024. She jumped in with both feet and quickly picked up the tanning skills. Her involvement in our process has allowed Danielle and Bethany to step away from the day to day tanning work so they can focus on the business side of things. Tricia is a very patient teacher and is now handling a large part of the training and managing of staff. She often has one or more different side projects or experiments going on at the tannery. She has harvested and processed many different local tannins to run trials on for both tanning and dying of leather.

Tricia always makes time to read books and is very involved in the local library. At home her family is always rescuing and raising kittens. She is extremely crafty and especially loves old world crafts and herbalism. She can be found foraging for food and medicine in the local natural areas with her seven home schooled children. Tricia’s oldest son, Clark, started working with us as a tannery assistant last fall. Though she lives in the village, she spends a lot of time at the farms in her family especially at her mother’s farm just outside of Argyle where Tricia’s horses, Starburst and Sundance, live along with her goats.

A true multi-tasker, Tricia always has something going on and seems to juggle everything with curiosity and grace. We are so grateful to have Tricia on our team. Her involvement has helped to shape who we are today and what direction we will be going in the future.

If you are lucky, you can meet Tricia at our booth (#707) at the Midwest Horse Fair April 17-19th at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin.

Thanks for reading and, as always, for your interest in finding out who we are and why we do what we do.

-Team Driftless