What’s So Unique About Our Aspen Craft?
We are privileged to live in Florissant, Colorado…deep in the mountains; and from here there are summery green, autumn golden, and winter bare white barks of aspen groves uncountable! How we love to just be in them and take in their wonder.
But when it is work time, we are doing more than delighting in them. We are tromping through the mountains looking for “standing dead aspen” to use for our Rocky Mountain Glow hiking sticks, candles, and lamps. My brother-in-law asked “how do you tell if the aspen are dead in the winter?” Good question. The aspen trunks are a gorgeous white when they are alive, and more black when they are dead. The wood is also “heavy” with life-giving nutrients when alive, and lighter weight and brittle when dead. We look for standing aspen because once it lies on the ground for a while, all sorts of unwanted creatures take home to it, and it also loses some of its charm.
What else is unique about our aspen craft? The thing that has surprised me the most is the joy it brings to people. We didn’t expect that.
Customers sometimes send us pictures of the people who received walking sticks. The recipients are happy, the givers of the gifts are happy, and we are exceedingly happy for having had a part in it.