Becker Woman's Incredible Journey from 'Junk To Joy' in Pictures

CREATING SOMETHING FROM NOTHING

You may take a look at the bits and pieces of metal, wood, and odds and ends lying around your house and your garage as just things to throw away, but the woman you are about to meet can take those things and create beauty. She can take important possessions of loved ones that have passed on, and create ever-lasting art that you can cherish for the rest of your life. Those talents are an amazing gift, that came from an unexpected place, and you can find amazing treasures at The Tattered Farm Company, located in Becker.

You can see a bunch of the amazing items Michelle has created at the bottom of this story, so don't leave until you scroll through the amazing photos.

This is an incredible story of a woman who has been thrown some devastating curveballs, and instead of letting the tragedy define her life, she went on a journey to heal herself and created an amazing business we all can learn from.

Meet Michelle Agnew. Michelle is the Owner of The Tattered Farm Company. You could describe Michelle as a leader, a coach, a public speaker, someone that loved to help people and get involved...and then an unexpected event changed the life she knew in an instant.

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TRAGEDY STRIKES AND CHANGES HER LIFE FOREVER

Michelle had a very successful career in the event planning and hospitality industry until a serious freeway car accident on I-35 in the summer of 2019 resulted in Michelle suffering from a traumatic brain injury and spinal (neck) prosthetic after hitting her head 6 to 7 times, as 7 windows of the Suburban were crushed and broken.

Michelle was not medically cleared to return to her high-paced career even after a year, nor could she return to help her husband with the business they owned together.

Michelle could no longer teach "off the cuff" as she did previously. She couldn't strategically plan as she did in the past, parent like she did in the past, do the public speaking that she loved, or even drive a car.

REDEFINING HER PURPOSE

So as she was redefining herself, she realized that even though there were things that she couldn't do the way she used to; there WAS something she could do. She realized that as she was/is pursuing retraining her brain and eyes to work together, and pursuing muscle memory, art therapy was her answer. "As the early months crept by, my coaching heart realized I needed to love on the unwanted tangibles around me, so I could heal the intangible inside me," Michelle said. Michelle could create and see things and possible outcomes that others could not, and so she started doing just that.

Michelle grew up in an active welding and tool shop and used to create many things with wood, sewing, and painting, so she went back to creating with her hands. She scoured and salvaged things others didn't want so she could practice those skills and get them back to where they used to be. It was a long and bumpy road to recovery. A road she is still on.

Michelle has now created a simple business out of beautiful salvaged wood, metal, textiles, glass, and garden bounties.

Her miss is simple: Michelle says, "I want to be an 'Encourager of Dreams' with my skills, and make the world a better place...one project at a time."