I love Oregon… 3 out of the 4 seasons a year.  I grew up in Texas where Spring brought warm days, wild thunderstorms, and seas of Bluebonnets.  I loved Spring in Texas.  It was warm, sunny, and full of color.  Here in Oregon, it is the bane of my existence.  I remember that old rhyme – “April showers bring May flowers.”  Oregon took that a step further and said “Hold my beer!”  Its mighty hard to partake in Dirt Therapy when the dirt is 2 inches under water.  So, our answer to our inability or want to venture out into the wet dreariness is to bring nature in to us.  That’s right, y’all!  It’s Arts & Crafts in the household; though my husband would tell you that woodworking is NOT arts & crafts.  It is a craft.  Blah, blah…

Currently, Jake is working on a charcuterie board and doing some experimenting with resin.  For those who don’t know what a charcuterie board is, the word ‘charcuterie’ is French and literally translates to ‘pork-butcher shop’.  We rednecks refer to it is a fancy meat and cheese platter on a cutting board – but waaaay better.  Anyway, we made a trip to a local wood store and bought a small slab of black walnut with a favorable crack in the middle of it.  I say ‘favorable’ because it was the perfect gap to pour colored resin into it to and create a lightning bolt look to it.  My job is to sit back, give my opinion, and smell the wood (call me weird, whatever).  Currently, Jake is in the process of arguing with it’s shape as he hasn’t quite found the perfect cut that he’s looking for.  I’ll post more later, but this is where he is in the process, as of now:

As for me, I just finished a birdhouse to add to the walnut trees out in the orchard.  And when I say that I just finished a birdhouse, I mean that I painted a pre-made wooden birdhouse because I’m not nearly as confident with power tools as I used to be.  It counts though, because it’s wood.  Besides, the birds aren’t going to care that I didn’t make it myself!  They would probably thank me!

Moving on (because we still have the rest of the weekend ahead of us) I think we are going to work on some outlet/switch covers for my in-laws, who are turning their upstairs loft into, what I think of as, an adorable little treehouse bedroom.  They are shooting for a log cabin feel but the stairs are so narrow and windy getting up to the top, and the ceiling is pitched, it just feels like a kid’s treehouse sanctuary!  I digress.  Anyway, we are thinking of using the router to create a tree design and campfire design and pouring a tiny amount of resin in to create the colors.  Then, on to a bigger project, Jake will be creating a river table to put in our office out of Blue Spruce.  I cannot wait for this one, but it will take quite a bit of time because it will require so much more resin than we can shell out the money for at the moment!  If any of you woodworkers out there who read this and have advice, we’re all ears!

So yeah, I may not love Oregon at the moment, or want to get out in the great outdoors in order to get my dose of Dirt Therapy, but I’m okay with this version of it.  There is something to be said about working with natural materials and seeing it turn into something… useful!  Until we can get outside without me cussing Mother Nature, we’ll be here under 2 inches of sawdust – which beats 2 inches of rain any day!

Peace, Love & Dirt!

~Misty