jeff joseph -- woodworker
handcrafted furniture from sustainably managed woodlands
Tag: Forestry
Pearl the lumberjill
Last weekend, we bicycled a mile up the road to visit with our neighbor Pearl Bush, to help celebrate her 88th birthday. Pearl (along with her now deceased husband, Howard) moved to our narrow valley in 1946, bought 160 forested acres, built a small… Continue Reading “Pearl the lumberjill”
New York Forest Owners Association
A brief profile of me, my wife Suzanne, and the ongoing work of managing our woodlot was published in the latest edition of The New York Forest Owner, the bi-monthly magazine of the New York Forest Owners Association. NYFOA is now in its 50th… Continue Reading “New York Forest Owners Association”
bats
Ten years ago, I started planting and tending a backyard orchard of about 50 fruit trees. From the outset I have been attempting to manage it organically, which in the northeastern U.S. is no small challenge, as there are a great many other life… Continue Reading “bats”
tree medicine
Just ran across this article, which describes a statistically significant correlation between the presence (or absence) of trees and human health. In urban areas of the upper midwest most heavily affected by the Emerald Ash Borer—which has in the past 10 years killed over… Continue Reading “tree medicine”
tree to tabletop
For a woodworker, one of the great advantages of milling your own lumber is that it allows for the design and construction of pieces of furniture with boards all sawn from the same log (or at least same tree), ensuring matching colors, grain patterns,… Continue Reading “tree to tabletop”
‘vernal’ pools
In 2011, I applied for and received grant funding to implement a number of conservation and habitat improvement measures on my land. The funding came from the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), which is administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, a branch of the… Continue Reading “‘vernal’ pools”
Tsuga canadensis part 1: the wood
Hemlock isn’t a glamorous wood. It is coarse, brittle, and full of splinters. It has no value as a furniture wood, it checks and warps significantly as it dries, often randomly splits apart where its growth rings meet, and its rock hard knots can… Continue Reading “Tsuga canadensis part 1: the wood”
arbor day
Here in New York, today is Arbor Day. Founded in 1872 by J. Sterling Morton, after he had moved from the heavily forested state of Michigan to the treeless plains of Nebraska, Arbor Day encourages each of us to plant trees, to care for… Continue Reading “arbor day”
tree surgery
Tough thing when starting an orchard is deciding what varieties to choose from among the literally thousands available. If you’re lucky, there is a grower near you selling lots of different types that you can sample, or maybe at least a grocery that stocks… Continue Reading “tree surgery”
shinrin-yoku
“Go sit in the woods.” My friend Bobbie and I used to joke that if anyone ever complained to either of us about any type of malady or imbalance—physical, emotional, spiritual, whatever—that this would thereafter be our universal refrain and prescription, as we each… Continue Reading “shinrin-yoku”
jeff joseph -- woodworker 