I need to cut and chop at least two cords of firewood a year for our primary heat. As part of my commitment to A Year in Surf, I’ve been doing something everyday to prepare myself mentally and physically. Last night after a day driving to and from a marathon of faculty meetings at CCA‘s […]
Category Archives: maintenance
The Legend of Lumberjack Surfing
The following text accompanies an installation I made as part of the NOMO Exhibition we’ve designed and curated as the culmination of our residency at Kohler Arts. Over the past few weeks I’ve made fictional, yet plausible sculptural elements that support the idea that surfing has origins on the Great Lakes. I will provide more […]
Postcard from Sayulita
Sayulita, Nayarit, Mexico Spending time in Sayulita always restores my faith in humanity. For whatever combination of reasons- its remoteness through jungle along the Pacific Coast, cut-off from major roads until relatively recently; its consistently overhead, left/right break; its laid back balance of bohemian surf culture and traditional fishing village- everyone is unabashedly happy in […]
Balancing the Brain
At a certain scale, production woodwork requires a lot of time spent physically sorting and grading material, then processing it through a sequence of noisy machinery. It can be dull, monotonous work, but I still get a thrill watching grain patterns emerge and generally enjoy the physical labor as a kind of meditation. I find […]
Touching the Wood
My projects always begin with sorting the pile, touching the wood Like cooking, working with wood engages all of the senses in symphony. Touch plays a major role in the early stages of a project, especially at the scale of fitting out the interior of a new building, like the Guest House that now requires […]
Hoshigaki
nearly ripe Hachiya Persimmon, ready to be peeled and hung to dry Looking up at the persimmon tree’s wild constellation of fruit still languidly dangling, you’d hardly know we already picked over two bushels for drying. Ene recently discovered the Japanese art of Hoshigaki, a technique of drying fruit by a combination of open-air hanging […]
Uses of Wood Ash
This time of year we produce a steady supply of ash from our wood-burning stoves, our primary source of heat. I get an odd thrill from collecting the ash and putting it to use. ????? ??????? ivermectin pour on cattle Ash from hardwood is very fine, with an almost soapy consistency. It’s loose but sort […]