The other day, we had a young birch that we had to take out because it was too close to our septic field. Birches are lovely, and we are lucky to have them scattered throughout our property.
The bark, for which they are so well-known, catches the light so beautifully, and the leaves rustle peacefully in the summer breezes.
Still, as with all trees, even the lovely birches are sometimes in the wrong place at the wrong time, or sometimes become unhealthy, or sometimes need trimming, or at some point, become ready to harvest…And then, they make the transition from beautiful forest tree to useful harvested wood!
A sapling like this doesn’t yield much in terms of woodworking. It’s only a few inches thick to begin with, and once you remove the pith from the center, you don’t have enough room to get very much out of what’s left. I suppose it could have just been firewood.
Buuuut, Joe finds inspiration in even the little things. And so it turns out that there are a lot of small, creative options for using this beautiful wood.
We could have had a stack of firewood. Instead, we have a variety of useful home goods, all showcasing that beautiful birch bark.
Hand-crafted, from the homestead!
by Sydney Michalski