Ian's Practical Workshops: TREE-CONOMY

Imagine living in an area where you could get most of what you need directly from your locality. Not just your food but also fuel, building materials, medicinal plants, fibres for clothing etc etc. The basic idea of "Tree-conomy" is that a lot of those needs could be met from woodland, albeit with some clearings for annual crops and pathways, and you build up resources and businesses from a sound, regenerating base of Natural Wealth. Around Perth, the natural state of a lot of our land would be woodland, so it would take much less energy to manage compared with industrial farming.
WILD AREA AT PERTH COMMUNITY FARM
We've let part of the land at Perth Community Farm go wild just so we can watch the succession of regeneration happening, there's already oak trees appearing, and as time goes by we're planning to pop in some fruit and nut trees and other useful plants. In time we build up a diverse, layered, wildlife and nature friendly polyculture - quite different to the acres and acres of just one crop you see around Perth.
FURNITURE IN THE TREE-CONOMY
Ruth and I explored all these ideas during our six years' stay on a plot of land by the orchard at Treflach Farm, living in the LogCabavan. While we were there, I thought it would be interesting to see if I could make some furniture from the greenwood poles and bits and pieces of reclaimed wood we had about us, for our own use, but also with the idea of producing higher-value things to trade with one day, as part of a kind of natural-added-value Tree-conomy. I think the best two ideas I came up with then were the first tripod plant stand and the little "origami" coffee table.

Loads of things you can make with a tripod base... the greenwood rods were from willow trees I'd planted just a few years earlier.

I had a plywood off-cut from another job in the workshop and thought that it was actually quite a cool shape just the way it was, so went for an off-square look

Now we're back living in Perth, Scotland, I've at last been able to carry on with these ideas at the brilliant Zero Waste Workshop Space at the Bike Station. I've also been teaching basic woodwork there and so I've been working on simple fun designs that people can use for practice. Another origami table and plant stand - these can be made just using very simple hand tools, saws, drills and a few odds and ends, marking gauge etc. I've got a chair in progress too.