Vermont Woods Studios - Eco Furniture Blog

Memorial Day: Honoring Our Military Heroes

 

Thank you to all USA veterans and their families for their generous service to our country.  We are grateful for your sacrifice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Memorial Day weekend we pause to honor our nation's military heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice in their service to our country.  For those of us lucky enough to be removed from the pain and suffering of our country's wars-- I think it's hard to understand the hardships that others take on our behalf.  So on Memorial Day we set aside special time to do that.  Here are some ideas for honoring our military heroes, as offered by Lisa Dietlin of the Huffington Post:

• Participate in the National Moment of Remembrance: one minute of silence that occurs at 3:00 p.m. local time on Memorial Day
• Visit a cemetery and read the headstones of those who have died for our freedom
• Attend the Memorial Day parade in your community
• Fly the American flag in front of your home
• Make a charitable donation to a nonprofit doing work with veterans, such as the Wounded Warrior Project or the Gary Sinise Foundation

 Fellow Vermonters, you can find the schedule of Vermont Memorial Day parades here.  

Vermont Woods Studios Fine Furniture 

Living Planet Report 2012

 

World Wildlife Fund's landmark Living Planet Report underscores our mission of Forest Conservation at Vermont Woods Studios

 

Our friends at the World Wildlife Fund have just published their bi-annual Living Planet Report.  It's a landmark study of our planet in terms of the health of our forests, rivers and oceans.

 

The results aren't pretty.  Here are some of the facts they highlighted about our environment:

 

• We’ve lost 30 to 70 percent of our wildlife since 1970. That's an average.  The tropics have lost 50 percent of their animals over the last 40 years, and tropical freshwater ecosystems have lost about 70 percent. The wild tiger population has suffered a 70 per cent decline in populations

 

• We are living as if we have the resources of an extra planet at our disposal. We’re using 50 percent more resources than the Earth can provide sustainably

 

• The U.S. has the fifth largest ecological footprint in terms of the amount of resources each person annually consumes. We rank only behind Qatar, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, and Denmark in the global rankings of the Ecological Footprint

 

These are just a few of the statistics noted in the 80 page report.  But the good news is that it's not too late to save wildlife species and reverse unsustainable trends. 

 

Green commerce plays a fundamental role in this as do you and I.  The choices we make about our purchases will determine our planet's future. 

 

Excerpts from World Wildlife Fund's landmark Living Planet Report

 

 

 

Learn more about what Vermont Woods Studios is doing to promote forest conservation and preservation of endangered species like the Sumatran tiger. Join us in our green mission!

 

Copeland's New Catalina Walnut Dining Furniture: Coming Soon!

Walnut lovers: this one is for you! The Copeland Catalina Collection: solid walnut wood furniture for your Mid-century Modern Dining Room.

Copeland Furniture, just down the road from us in Bradford, Vermont is famous for it's modern, contemporary solid wood bedroom furniture.  A couple years ago, Copeland introduced the new Frank Lloyd Wright® Collection of authentic reproduction prairie-style furniture designed by America's foremost architect.

 

Well, now Copeland is introducing another new series of high end furniture, The Catalina Walnut Dining Room Collection. 

If you're already a fan of Catalina's mid-century modern bedroom furniture, home office furniture, and TV-media furniture, I think you're going to love the dining furniture collection.

The tables, chairs and buffets are all in sync with Catalina's retro-modern shapes and sensibilities, relying on  simple, elegant lines that have just enough curve-- but not too much.  Walnut is the only wood used for the Catalina collection and it is available in both natural wood (as shown) or in a darker slate-on-walnut stain.  Dennis and Manjula are working feverishly to get all of the Catalina dining collection pieces up on our website and ready for purchase by week's end.  In the meantime, if you have any questions, give us a call.

All Copeland's furniture is 100% American made, right here in Vermont.

 

A New Filly on Malhana Farm

Copper's new filly is less than a day old in this picture

Our good friend Annette owns Malhana Farm on Pond Road, just down the street from Vermont Woods Studios Fine Furniture in Vernon, Vermont. 

When we first started out in business, Annette let us use part of her farmhouse as a showroom and office.  In return we did occasional chores like feeding the chickens or bringing in firewood.  One March morning our salesperson Susan Holmquist got to work around 8am and was pressed into service helping to pull a new colt out of his mother's womb!  I was so jealous that day.

Anyway, March is baby horse month and Annette's (actually Jeff and Andrea's) newest baby just arrived 3 days ago.  Isn't she beautiful?  She's really tall.  It's amazing Copper carried her around so long-- a month past her due date.

Everyone in Vernon stops in the middle of the road as they're going by Malhana Farm now.  The whole town ached for Copper as she stood out there in the pasture so stoically, getting bigger and bigger every day.  We're all excited to see her with her beautiful new baby and know they are both doing well.  Horse lovers can find additional photos on Pinterest.

 

Looking For A Few Good People

Sales are going up and we're hiring again at our Vernon, VT office of Vermont Woods Studios Furniture.

Our office isn't as crazy as The Office at Dunder Mifflin, but it's not your average workplace either. 

We're constantly challenging ourselves and each other to do things better, faster and smarter and we keep up a pretty fast pace. At the same time, we try to have fun and celebrate our successes as we pursue our company's green mission.

We have 2 job positions we're looking to fill.  One is for a Sales and Customer Service Associate.  This person will start out working in Sales and Shipping with Douglas and Shannon, helping customers online, over the phone and in the showroom. 

The second position is for a Marketing Associate.  This person will start out working with Manjula and Dennis adding new products to our website and editing existing products.

Both positions are entry level and require a fair amount of data entry in the beginning.  As our company grows, we try to shape the job around the person's strengths, interests and plans for future professional development so there is room to grow and pursue your passion with us.

Anyone interested in joining us should get to know our company through our website (also our blog, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest) review the job postings and respond per the posted instructions.  We plan to review resumes and references over the next month or so and will be selecting candidates in April or May.

Earth Day 2012 "Green-Up Your Workplace Challenge"

 

If you had to give your workplace a grade for "greenliness" what would it be?  Most people I've talked to say they at least have recycling containers at work.  For paper that is.  Not many have recycling for cans or plastic though.  Not many have consistently emphasized programs for energy efficiency either (with a focus on turning computers and equipment off at night, turning lights out when not in use, replacing old incandescent bulbs with high-efficiency ones, etc.) 

Come on now.  It's 2012.  We've had 42 Earth Days come and go since the first one in 1970.  What seems to be the problem?  Don't settle for a "D" on your report card.

At Vermont Woods Studios we're trying to help make this year's Earth Day (April 22, 2012) a little more successful in the workplace.  Manjula and Dennis cooked up a "Green Up Your Workplace Challenge".  It's a virtual Facebook event and we're asking you to attend.  You can do so by liking us on our Facebook and then attending the "Green Up Your Workplace" event (a Facebook page where we'll post photos, links, stories, tips and advice for how to get an A in 'greenliness" for your workplace). 

Give it a try!  Our goal is to get 400 people to attend the "Green Up Your Workplace Challenge" between now and Earth Day and we're going to plant a tree for each person who attends.  How about giving us a hand?

 

Green-up Tip # 1, Re-use whatever you can instead of buying disposable things. This is Manjula using her terry towel instead of paper towels. Each of us has our own color.

 

 

 

 

Vermont Woodworking Design Competition - Open For Entries

 

This mahogany bench crafted by Doug Jones was awarded First Prize in an earlier Vermont Woodworking Design Competition

VWMA the Vermont Wood Manufacturing Association recently announced details of this year's 2012 Vermont Woodworking Design Competion.  As part of the annual Vermont Fine Furniture Festival, this competion showcases the very best of fine woodworking expertise Vermont has too offer.  All Vermont woodworkers are encouraged to enter the competition and/or exhibit their furniture and handmade wooden accessories at the festival.

So for woodworkers, now is the time to get involved.  And for people who love wood and enjoy traveling through Vermont -- be sure to mark your calendar for September 29 & Sunday, September 30, 2012.  The festival and competition will be held at the Union Arena, Route 4-Woodstock, VT. It's worth the trip.  Don't miss it!

 

What Kind of Loser Rips Off a Vermont Farmer's Entire Season's Harvest of Maple Syrup?

 

What do you think the thief's punishment should be? Death or life in prison?

I'm sorry but I just had to drop everything and go on a rant after I saw this video clip about some loser who stole a Vermont farmer's entire harvest of maple syrup yesterday. What kind of pond scum does this? 

Please help police find the perpetrator by sharing the story on Facebook, Twitter, blogs and bulletin boards.  The robbery took place in Enosburgh Vermont, very close to the Canadian border so presumably the thieves are heading into Quebec to make their sale.  Let's see if we can get this story into the hands of police in Quebec towns like Granby, Brom Lake, Saint Cesaire and Cowansville.

This farmer and his family have been working around the clock for the last couple months, installing some 13,000 taps, collecting over 6000 gallons of sap and boiling it down into maple syrup.  Sugaring is hard work.  In Vermont, we don't take this sort of thing lightly.  What do you think should be the guys punishment if and when he's found?  Death or life in prison?

Peggy at

Vermont Woods Studios Fine Furniture

Reclaimed Barnwood Bench Featured in Yankee Magazine

 

Our Reclaimed Barnwood Bench is featured in the March/April 2012 issue of Yankee Magazine<br>

 

Thanks to Photo Editor Heather Marcus, Vermont Woods Studios is featured in the March/April issue of of Yankee Magazine.

We're included in an article by Christie Matheson titled, Home Decor From Reclaimed Items.  Please check it out!  Christie showcased a number of beautiful and creative recycled, re-purposed crafts from around New England including one-of-a-kind birdhouses by Scott Bradford and cozy quilts handcrafted from vintage wool sweaters by Snug As A Bug.

We are honored to be alongside these talented craftspeople in one of New England's oldest and most respected publications.

Vermont Made Walnut Furniture Featured In Woodworking Network Magazine

 

Walnut is a chocolate brown wood

We extend our thanks to journalist and woodworker, Jo-Ann Kaiser who featured Vermont Woods Studios Walnut Furniture in Woodworking Network magazine, a respected source of "information and inspiration for professional woodworkers".  Jo-Ann's article titled, "American Black Walnut: A Bold & Beautiful Furniture Species" talked not only about the beauty of walnut wood and it's growing popularity but also discussed the danger that walnut trees have been facing over the last 10 years. 

 

It's called "1000 Canker's disease" and it typically kills walnut trees within three years of infection.  Similar to other tree-attacking diseases that wiped out the American Chestnut and Elm trees, the spread of this one is fueled by people moving logs, walnuts and any part of the tree from infested areas into disease-free areas.  It's spreading from the West to East and has already been found in Pennsylvania. 

The situation is alarming and I mention it here in hopes that you will pass this on to anyone who may have walnut trees on their property or who uses walnut for firewood, nuts or lumber.  People should contact their state department of agriculture for more information.

It would be a shame to see another beautiful (and valuable) tree species slip into extinction.  Perhaps there is something we can do to avoid that.

Vermont Furniture Featured in The Burlington Free Press Today

Check out Stephen Mills' article about Vermont furniture in the Burlington Free Press today.  It's really encouraging to get this kind of exposure from Vermont's largest newspaper. 

 

Stephen focused on a lot of the concepts we've been developing and promoting right here at Vermont Woods Studios Fine Furniture, including the fact that Vermont truly is the Fine Furniture Capital of America and that Vermont furniture makers are the go to guys for authentically green, sustainable wood furniture.

Good job, Stephen!  Thanks for spreading the good word.

 

Download Burlington Free-press-article.

 

 

 

 

 

Burlington Free Press To Feature Vermont Wood Furniture

Stephen Mills, a freelance journalist phoned us at Vermont Woods Studios yesterday to talk about a piece he's writing for this Thursday's edition of the Burlington Free Press.  He'll be shining a spotlight on Vermont's fine furniture industry and wanted to include Vermont Woods Studios in his story.

I hope you'll check it out on the front page of the Living section on January 26, 2012.  Our friend, reclaimed barnwood furniture expert and fellow woodworker, Raphael Groten will be featured as well.

I know a lot of people like to keep Vermont made fine furniture the best kept secret in the world, but we've been getting a lot of press lately.  I think people are starting to see that Vermont truly is the Fine Furniture Capital of America with some 2000+ small furniture makers located throughout the state.  We send our thanks to Stephen Mills for helping to spread the word.

 

 

 

Vermont Reclaimed Barnwood Table To Be Featured in Yankee Magazine

 

Keep an eye out for the March/April issue of Yankee Magazine.  One of our reclaimed barnwood benches will be featured as part of an editorial on rustic barnwood furniture.

We extend our thanks to Heather Marcus, Photo Editor of Yankee Magazine for including us in this article and will look forward to reading it. 

Check back in March and we'll post a link to it here.

Happy New Year! It's 2012 Already?

Check out Jacquie Lawson Greeting Cards… the best I've seen on the web.

Hard to believe we're turning over another year already, isn't it?  2011 was a year of huge challenges at Vermont Woods Studios Fine Furniture Store.  Let's see, there was:

• Moving out of the spare bedroom in my house (all 5 of us) and into our first official office space in the "heart of downtown Vernon"
• Making our sales goal of doubling last years sales
• Welcoming our newest staff member, Shannon
• Adding Polywood, recycled outdoor furniture to our store
• Adding sustainable, Vermont made Copeland Furniture to our store
• Sponsoring a number of charitable events, including fundraising for Hurricane Irene victims

Oh, and I finally got an iphone for Christmas this year.  That was big too.  Plus many other milestones I can't believe we actually achieved-- thanks to our hot-shot staff, our visionary customers, all the talented Vermont craftspeople who build our fine furniture and the many vendors and supporters who help us out every single day.  To all of you, we are immensely grateful.

2012 is going to be even bigger, better and more challenging as we look to again double our sales and become smarter, faster, and more efficient at sending Vermont's fine furniture out to the rest of the country and the world.

To me the most exciting project next year will be transforming the American icon that was Skyline Restaurant  on Hogback Mountain into an environmental learning center-- that showcases Vermont made furniture and tells the story of how it makes it's way from the trees in our Green Mountain Forest to the dining table in your kitchen. 

I hope you'll continue to join us as our unlikely, but unstoppable journey moves into 2012.  We wish you and your family a very Happy New Year!

Thanks to Jacquie Lawson Greeting Cards for our New Years Card

Animals Are People Too

Here's a great story and just in time for Christmas.  Resarchers at The University of Chicago did a series of experiments to demonstrate that other animals (besides humans) can be kind, compassionate and unselfish.

They used pairs of rats.  One rat was locked in a tube and the other was free outside the tube.  Free rats were able to figure out how to liberate their imprisoned pals.

So they did.  Pretty cool, right?

But the amazing thing is that even when a favorite treat (chocolate chips!) was placed on the scene, the free rats unlocked their friends FIRST even though they subsequently had to share!   “Basically they told us (freeing another rat) is as important as eating chocolate,” said study author Peggy Mason of the University of Chicago. “That’s a very striking thing.  In some cases, the rats first took the chocolate chips out of a container, but didn’t eat them, then freed the other rat and shared “almost as if they were serving them chocolate.”

So Ken says the lesson is to eat chocolate chips with your friends this Chirstmas, but there might just be something more that we could learn from rats.

Oh, I wasn't going to mention this but it IS a critical part of the study.  Female rats freed their pals every time.  17 of the 24 males did and... sadly... there were days when the male rats took the day off from helping their trapped partner althogether.  But the females never did.

Enough said ;)

Watch Us on ABC World News with Diane Sawyer TONIGHT

UPDATE as of 7PM, Nov 30

I am really sorry if, like us, you were watching for a segment on our Made in America Christmas Challenge tonight.  We weren't there :(    I just asked the producer what happened and she explained that time constraints prevented our segment from being aired on schedule.  I guess this is not unusual as the news is never predictable.  Anyway, Christine assured me that our segment is still in the works and will be aired in the near future.  She will let me know when that is and I'll post it here and on our facebook.

Don't forget to tune in (or set your DVR) to ABC World News with Diane Sawyer at 6:30pm EST TONIGHT to see our crazy Christmas Shopping Challenge in patriotic Vernon, Vermont.   All your favorite American-made shopping stalwarts will be featured from the Town Hall, the Firestation, the Vernon elementary school, the Portside Tavern, Malhana Farm and Vermont Woods Studios Furniture (home of 100% American made, wood furniture).

Check out what the Brattleboro Reformer had to say about us and watch the previews on ABC.  

Here's the premsie:  Americans will spend, on average $700 per person on Christmas and holiday gifts this year.  If we allocated just $64 of that to American made gifts, we would generate 200,000 jobs, nation-wide.  So the question is:  Are you IN?

If you're IN, then get counted by joining us at our Made in America Holiday Shopping virtual Facebook event (it's just a mouse click-- you don't have to actually show up anywhere).  Thanks for joining us and be sure to share (on our Facebook) any cool things you find in your shopping adventures!

Sustainable Furniture Sale Results: Nature.Org "Plant A Billion Trees" Fundraiser

Douglas just delivered the numbers for our Sustainable Furniture Sale last Saturday, November 12.  We sponsored a fundraiser for The Nature Conservancy's Plant A Billion Trees Initiative.

I can report that your furniture purchases generated a $418 donation to The Nature Conservancy.  Half of that will be donated to the local Vermont Chapter of The Nature Conservancy and half will to the national/international TNC campaign.

We wish to thank all of our customers and readers who bought furniture or promoted our event.  We look forward to working with Jennifer Kramer, our local TNC representative to further strengthen our partnership with Nature.org.

Vermont Made Furniture To Be On ABC World News

Dear Readers,

Thank you so much for attending our Made in America Holiday Shopping Challenge!  Today (I think it's because of your support) we got a phone call from ABC World News telling us they are sending a camera crew up to Vernon, Vermont on Tuesday to film some footage for their November 30 nightly news show.

They want to learn more about our pledge to buy American made holiday gifts at Vermont Woods Studios Fine Furniture and also tour around the town of Vernon.  They'll visit all the BIG attractions in town:  the elementary school, the town hall, the general store, the fire station, a farm or two and Chad Woodruff's custom furniture workshop.  What could be more cool for the evening news than that?  They'll be interviewing people along the way and asking them about any plans they might have to "buy American" this holiday season.

So we're pretty excited about this and we're grateful to you for all your support, as always.  By the way, what are you buying for Christmas this year?  If you haven't taken the challenge yet, it's not too late.  We figured that if everybody in the country bought everything "American made" over the holidays, it could generate almost 5 million jobs! Who needs politicians, right?

 

For local Vernon and Brattleboro area residents-- if you'd like to be on TV or just see the camera crew in action, you can keep up with their schedule as it evolves by joining this Facebook group or checking our website.  Here's a clip of a similar segment in the ABC series.  People in the crowd scene at the Vernon Town Hall will all have a chance to be interviewed and present visuals to feature on the national show.

Copeland Fine Furniture: Coming To Vermont Woods Studios Soon!

UPDATE:

Copeland Furniture is now available at Vermont Woods Studios.  Browse through our collection of:

Copeland Bedroom Furniture
Copeland Home Office Furniture
Copeland TV-Media Furniture and
Copeland Dining Furniture

Customize Copeland Furniture online or give us a call with your questions. 

Customers have been asking us for a wider selection of sustainable Vermont made furniture so we've been travelling all around our state in search of the next furniture company to feature on our website.  Last week Dennis and Douglas made a trip up to Bradford, VT to meet with Joann Phelps and the Copeland Furniture crew.  We've been admiring the work of this family-owned company for many years and are proud to announce we will soon be carrying their full line of Vermont made furniture including the Frank Lloyd Wright® collection. 

We're working on getting their fine furniture up on our website now and plan to have everything ready by the end of this year.  In the meantime, we are already taking orders so feel free to call us and discuss your (100% American Made) Copeland Furniture needs.  We thank Tim and Ben Copeland for including Vermont Woods Studios in the Copeland Furniture retailer family.

American Veterans: Thank You For Your Service and Sacrifice

To all of America's veterans, the staff at Vermont Woods Studios Furniture extends our sincere thanks to you and your families for your courage, integrity and sacrifice. 

On Veteran's Day I thought readers might be interested in some of the many interesting volunteer opportunities listed on the Veteran's Administration website.  You can honor veterans by attending Welcome Home events, helping homeless Vets, donating to Wounded Warriors or contributing to any number of activities listed on the VA website. 

Manjula has also created a special 20% Off coupon code for vets to use in our American Made furniture store today, tomorrow and Sunday (November 11, 12 and 13).  Active military, Vets and their families can enter this coupon code (THANKSVET20) into the shopping cart and it will apply the 20% discount, subject to verification of status immediately prior to shipping.

Once again, thanks for your service!