Black Walnut - Jugulans nigraI was in the wood shop today…..holding a Black Walnut board, preparing to turn it into the base for weaving a 14” New Tray Basket, when my mind began to wander…..and muse….looking out of our shop window, I could see a similar tree, a Shagbark Hickory, changing colors and dropping its leaves and nuts.  This Black Walnut board in my hands had taken a similar journey through nature and time to reach this moment……With a little help from my own memory and a LOT of help from internet based history, science and news sites, we can put together a picture of the life and times of our tree leading to this board and the history and happenings that surrounded its development….an anthology of sorts…….”The Life and Times of an Old Board”……. 1942:  On a sunny but brisk day in October, a Grey Squirrel uses its strong front teeth to chew through the hard husk-covering of a black walnut seed.  Its chin is stained black this fall from eating mature nuts.  Something startled it at this moment and the nut is dropped to the ground.  Over subsequent days, rain and winds covered the Black Walnut seed in leaves.  Over the winter, leaves and soil built over the nut. Outside the forest, a battle rages to defeat fascist suppressors. Radio waves ...

WOW!  What an amazing 10 1/2 months this has been, filled with joy and tears.  Most of you know that David ripped the quad tendon completely away from his patella on both legs. When the doctor told us it would be 12 months for full recovery, it was hard to imagine taking that long.  So….here we are at 10 1/2 months into the recovery period and David is working hard towards full recovery.  I have watched him fight hard to get our life back and we are almost there. David’s time in the shop is still limited and he is working hard to increase his stamina.  We have designed several new baskets that will be coming out in 2019. We have re-organized our business and reflected on the direction we plan to move over the next several years. Hopefully we have created a schedule where we can take care of everything our friends & student’s need in a shorter amount of time while pursuing our dreams too. We have laughed until we cried and cried until we had to laugh.   We will be forever grateful to Craig and Meredith and Lindsey and Aaron for always being there to do whatever we needed.  Kamaya Dee, Kingston and Aariona, your OGO worked hard so he could hike and play with you…..and he adored the 10,000 times you called and came by to ask about all the equipment, if he was ok, and to say I love you. ...

First or all, please let me thank everyone who has been kind enough to send well wishes, prayers, cookies, books, candy, balloons, cards, pound cakes, soup, home-made pot pies, Home Chef meal boxes, T-shirts, Books-on-Tape, etc.  Everything is very much appreciated, believe me.  It is very humbling to know that there are so many people our there rooting for you.  The recuperation is coming along pretty well.  They are increasing my physical therapy to twice a week, and are beginning the major push to get my knees bending as far as 90 degrees.  After that, the priorities are: Full mobility past 150-160 degrees! (ouch!), Strength, Stamina and Stability. We are walking outdoors every day when it is clear and dry, so I am beginning to throw off the cabin fever and claustrophobia that comes from being cooped up and not being able to move around normally.  Like I said before, I am amazed that someone sneaked into our neighborhood and increased the grade of our streets while I have been stuck in the house.  I am still in an elevated chair, I'm stuck on the first floor of the house, still using a cane, etc. but our spirits are good and we are very much looking forward to getting fully back to a normal life, doing normal stuff, going to wherever we want and doing whatever we want.  We still have a long row to hoe, but we are ...

Hi everybody. Happy New Year! We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and/or other Happy Holiday and that you all have a prosperous, safe and wonderful 2018.  We at HNCB are certainly happy that everyone in our family is doing well and enters the new year in good health, spirits and attitude.  2018 is certainly starting out COLD.  I know, I know...I mean COLD for NC! - Please don't send "you-don't-know-what-cold-is" emails.  My parents are from Detroit.  We lived in Delaware.  We have a pretty good idea of what COLD is.  Why do you think we live in NC? 2017 ended with a Whomp! here at Handmade NC Baskets, but I'm not going to yammer on about that.  Read the last blog if you would like to catch up.  I will just say that my physical therapy is progressing well, I can hobble around with a cane most of the time and the pain is pretty much gone.  We are still being given an up-to-6 month timeline to keep the braces on, and an up-to-12 month timeline before we can go hiking or biking vigorously like we used to do. Thank you to all my well-wishers and providers-of-snacks.  The snacks in particular were very much appreciated! Joni has pulled together most of our outstanding orders (and should have the rest done this week), so we should be up to date pretty soon.  We are not, of ...