Projects

The Christmas Tree Project 2015

Well, I haven't posted here in a while.  2014 was busy with leather work and The Banana Bike.  I worked every day from May until September selling homemade organic frozen chocolate bananas and sweetener free all fruit pops from a human powered tricycle.  I logged over 3,000 miles riding around my neighborhood.  I am very proud of that and know that it would have been much easier and profitable selling the junky ice cream sandwiches and high fructose corn syrup food coloring filled pops I used to sell.  As I am about to turn 40 I have come to realize there are choices to be made which are much more important than money and profit.

There are choices we are all faced with everyday.  Walk or drive, organic vs conventional, consume or produce we can let the talking heads debate global warming all they want or we can ACT.  Whether or not global warming is real is completely irrelevant.  The highest point in Ohio which was once a community park is now a landfill full of disposable goods.

Off to "Mount Rumpke".  What is the real cost of "cheap" goods.  What is the value to natural resources and to society?

A couple of years ago I took an interest in green woodworking but was busy with other projects and learning leather craft.  Recently I have been acquiring antique woodworking tools and getting the wheels in motion to start learning.  At first I thought I would use some of the walnut from a tree that was destroyed by the derecho in 2012 to learn on.  But the other day I had an inspiration:

How can we hope to heal the Earth when we have become so wreck-less with it's resources?

As I walked my dog everyday throughout a recent snowstorm and record low temperatures I started noticing more and more trees everywhere.  On the sidewalk, in the alley one tree even blew into the road.

If this is an "investment" it is little wonder we are in trouble.  Wouldn't a live tree have been money better spent?

One of the driving forces of our economy is the "Holiday" season.  People max out their credit cards to show their "love" toward one another.  For the last three years I have handmade all of my holiday gifts.  I don't get the idea of electronic gadgets that break in a year or two or other such poorly made goods.  Much like the tree above or the television cabinet why would I want to own something designed to be tossed out.  How much longer can we afford to keep throwing things away?  Do we need to wait until landfills start infringing on agricultural land? 

So, I thought what can I do.  For one, this post alone just to raise awareness.  Secondly I can make an investment in the one renewable resource that doesn't take natural resources, doesn't pollute and is as Earth friendly as possible.  My favorite energy source that I named my LLC after; the one that has been faultlessly serving mankind since our dawn:  Human Power!

A Two for One Sale!

I passed a guy in a mini van that gave me the most unusual look!

It didn't take long to get 10 trees together!

Hopefully I can share my learning experiences with you in the future.  The point beyond sharing and raising awareness is to hopefully inspire people.  Think about your choices, how are you spending your time, your resources?  What can you do differently?  All the time I hear people tell me I have always wanted to learn that.  Turn off the TV or the internet and do it.  Invest in yourself!

This draw blade was $5 at the antique store, it still needs a great deal of work to be cleaned up and new handles made.  The lady at the antique store was hoping someone would buy it as a "decoration"!

Learning leather work has been a wonderful experience.  So many skills can be used for learning other skills.  In learning to shave with a straight razor I learned how to make, hone and polish an edge.  That has helped in leatherwork it is a skill that allowed me to turn a rusty old tool into a serviceable tool in a matter of minutes using a simple sharpening stone and knowledge!  I can't explain the feeling of accomplishment as the draw blade smoothly took strip after strip of bark off of the tree.

With a hatchet and the draw blade this tree was striped down fairly quickly.  It won't take much to turn it into chair legs or table legs or even just a board or two.  The branches can be mulched or possibly even woven into a basket.  We'll see :)

Well enough computer time.  I need to go cut some wood, finish up a purse and clean all the needles off the pedicab to work the OSU Men's Basketball game tonight.  I hope everyone has a Happy New Year!