Stewardship
Earning this living, we are responsible for the health
- of what comes and leaves here,
- of those who work and support,
- and of this bit of earth we stand on.
To wit, we
- conserve resources.
- recycle, filter, and reduce waste.
- are nice to people.
- build durable goods that will outlive many cycles of inferior furniture.
Wood and Forestry
When I worked in the woods and sawmill as a young man, the old men lamented, “Good timber is dwindling away.” I have seen the quality of timber and lumber decline in my lifetime—not all that long in forest-time.
It is possible to manage forestland so that a perpetual harvest of improving quality can be sustained—the opposite of dwindling away. This is the goal of the Forest Stewardship Council. Almost all of the cherry, maple, sapele, and mahogany we buy comes from forests that are FSC certified to be well managed. See Forest Stewardship
Waste and Recycling
We recycle cardboard, paper, metal, glass, and plastic. We cut and organize wood scrap for fuel. We compost shavings and dust in the chicken house or in piles on the ground. Our neighbors haul wood scrap, shavings, and dust for projects, fuel, or mulch. But some materials go to the dumpster…not much, but some.
dust to compost
compost to vegetables
Wiley and Ivey loading kindling
Asa, Bela, and Wiley stacking stove wood
The Atmosphere
Our finishes release Volatile Organic Compounds, VOC's — a category of air pollutants. To reduce our exposure to VOC's and the emission of them to the atmosphere, we have built a scrubber; in it, we circulate the air of the finishing area through a bed of activated carbon.
Enclosing and air conditioning the finishing area and filtering the air through the scrubber have transformed the work of finishing: we maintain constant temperature and humidity; the finishes are better; we work in filtered air; there is no discharge to the atmosphere.
We collect dust and filter return filtered air to the shop.
Land Use
On this hill, prone to drought and to downpour, we
limit impervious cover to the least that will keep the trucks and our feet out of the mud,
encourage native grass and trees,
collect rainwater to irrigate a few hardy, drought tolerant plants,
build stone cheque dams on the outcroppings and contours to keep water and soil from leaving the place.