The Wood Tabletop

The Wood Tabletop

For those of us working in plant-related fields, winter can be slower paced with ample time for reflection. Yes, that does mean getting inside your own head and having the courage to be present with that. I do woodworking during the winter to keep me occupied, and, for me, sanding and building with wood facilitates my thoughts and helps me organize my ideas. Having just come back from a conference on environmental stewardship, I had a few thoughts to distill, and, yes, I am going to try to use this table as an allegory for ecology and even redemption. There will be no pretty flowers, buzzing pollinators nor beautiful landscapes in this essay.

It started as a metal frame covered in plastic wicker. It was something meant to maybe last 2-3 years and then be thrown away and the next disposal item ordered. I removed the plastic wicker, and I threw that away; there is no other alternative for this material. That is pretty much the story of modern capitalism: manufacture something with a limited use-life that is difficult as hell to reuse or recycle but sits around polluting the world around us for a very long time. I saved the metal frame which will be the structure for the new tabletop and the lower storage space. I had pallet wood waiting to become something in the workshop. Consisting mostly of White Pine and a small amount of Poplar, these planks were from trees once growing in a forest somewhere in Canada or the United States. These were throwaway trees (marginal resources) whose economic value was in their limited use for the shipping and distribution of products bought and sold. There was no thought past that. There was no value placed on the history of these trees, of the forest from where they were harvested- even less to the fauna around them. They were disposable, a label liberally applied to so much of our world that is organized around commodities, resources and profit margins.  There is so much beauty in the world, but it lives side by side with violence and ugliness.

I did not want the story of these trees to end in a landfill or a burn pit. Woodworking to me is a way to honor the trees, especially the ones considered inferior or castaway. Ecology tells us that you support the whole; you do not pick favorites. Who are we to pick? An ecological system only works because of all its elements. The Poplar planks have a noticeable green tint to the wood which is very different from the very light color of the pine. It sticks out, but, at the same time it is essential to the tabletop. Uniformity or continuity may appeal to a certain sense of design, but what was I going to do with the one plank of poplar? Do I sacrifice it on the altar of aesthetics, or do I add disruption and diversity to the ecology of the tabletop? The pine appreciates butting snuggly against the green-tinted poplar.

At this recent conference, we discussed ecological stewardship. We celebrated dam removal, scowled at the absence of political will for the challenges ahead, and lamented the lack of future stewards in our classrooms.  We marveled at the beauty all around us, became angry at the forces advocating a disconnected and dystopian future, but we held firm to even that small glimmer of hope that still exists. We are pushing against the commodification of life, and the almighty dollar is pushing right back. It is so hard to persevere, but it is our connection that keeps us going.

These are just some of the things I thought about while making this table. Over the years, discussions will be had around this table. It will hold our plates of food, our wine, our water, and our seeds. It will be out in the world, under the sky. It will be a testament to the unknown trees taken by humanity and then saved, if that is the right word, by humanity. It will give me a place to rest my feet, as I watch the beauty of the land unfold. Over time, like its maker, the table will degrade, go into disrepair. The boards will weaken and rot, and the elemental bonds that hold it together will come apart. Placed out in the garden, its various constituent parts will cycle back into the system. There will be no marker to denote its existence nor its importance. It will reintegrate into the greater whole, its essence used in the creation of something new and old. It will not be forgotten, because nature does not forget. You can never be forgotten when you exist as part of the whole in which everything matters.