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  • Of Trees and Roots and Names of Things

    When my grandpa Averill bought property on Wolf Lake in the Irish Hills of Michigan in the early 40s, he picked the choice lot for himself, and then parceled out smaller lots along the lake edge in a little barony he named “Averill’s Basswood Terrace”. (My grandpa liked to see…

● Latest Articles

  • Make 21: the third steamer trunk drawer.

    This is an odd shaped one that will lean outward from a hinge at the bottom.

  • Make 20: steampunk drawer pull

    I made a drawer pull for the second steamer trunk drawer. The top pull I ordered in the mail from an artisan — bluebayer.com —…

  • Make 19: Playing with paper

    My cousin Pamela brought a toy called a “cricut” to the superbowl gathering at my mom’s.  Molly was making cards and I took the leftover punchout bits…

  • Make 18: fruit leather

    Last summer I canned applesauce, and peaches in apple juice, and made cases of juice sweetened jam. In winter, I blender up fruit leather. It needs…