Peaches, Palm Sanders, and New Neighbors
What we talk about during lunch break
I had the pleasure of participating in the Carpentry for Newbies workshop this past weekend, and besides the absolute JOYS of crafting and bringing home my very own sawhorse and bookshelf (more on those later, I promise), I also had the luck of meeting a wonderful group of people, which is what I want to focus on in this post.
During lunch break, I was leafing through some of the books that Harvey had laid out for us to peruse. There was one called Projects for Self-Sufficiency that caught my eye, and Nicole, Novie and Tara all jumped in on my enthusiasm about some of the ideas in the book. Clothesline-Trellis? Brilliant! Let’s do it. Tara brought and passed around a furniture design book that we all drooled over. Nicole, Novie and I got into a helpful and supportive conversation about healthcare providers and wellness topics specific to women.
Paige shared about products she has discovered in her journey to build a non-toxic house and to mitigate mold. She even brought show-and-tell of one of her favorite products. As someone who has been wholly focused on mold mitigation in my own home, I was thrilled to hear about this non-toxic, mold remediation product that I hadn’t heard of yet. I’m adding a photo of it here with the caveat that I have not done my own research on it, so I’m just sharing what was shared with me.
Erik introduced himself and mentioned that he does graphic design for art organizations. I’m eager to touch base with him and see if we can craft some icons ahead of the Folk School’s 2027 programming announcements, which are in the works!
Susan shared freshly sliced peaches with the group and talked about her experience sanding her deck by hand before discovering palm sanders and belt sanders during the workshop. Her confession sparked a story from Harvey about the home that he and Nancy shared in Africa, and about sanding the wooden floors by hand, since there was no electricity. The stories! I come for the skills and stay for the stories.
Brett, who generously volunteered his time to co-teach with Harvey, brought a wealth of tools for us to ogle and try. From him, I discovered that there are cat’s paws with dimpler cylinders. That may sound like Greek to some, but to me it means that the nails that are buried in my joists are about to get what’s coming for them.
And last-but-not-least, Robyn. Turns out she’s pretty much a neighbor of mine. And that we have a ton of shared interests. And now we’ve already got a date set for this week to work on a carpentry project together. I’ve got need of a second set of hands, and she’s interested in continuing to practice and learn, so… win-win!
And that’s pretty much how it goes at the workshops here. You learn something. You make something. You leave with stories, friends, ideas, teammates.
