May 30, 2025 | Issue-26

A "Working" Vacation

I know, a "Working Vacation" sounds like a horrible thing! After all, the reason for taking a vacation is to step-away from the normal working routine of daily life. However a "working vacation" does not need to include packing your work cell phone or computer and answering messages and emails each and every day! Rather a working vacation can be all about relaxing with the family or friends, but always observing and learning new things wherever your travels may take you.

Vacation can provide a time when you can observe and learn new things that might benefit you personally or your business. This can be accomplished by merely going about your day, in vacation-mode, and merely observing the world around you. You might see a new way of doing something related to your work, a new product that might make your workday easier, or a very unique, creative product made from local wood resources. It seems as if wherever I travel for vacation, I will always have a few takeaways stored in my brain or written in the notes of my cell phone that I will want to pursue once I get back into work mode. It goes without saying, take pics of what you are seeing! After all, a picture is worth a thousand words and it will help you better visualize something you observed that you may wish to incorporate into your business.

Happy summer all and welcome to the twenty-sixth edition of the Virginia Urban Wood Group's newsletter.



Joe Lehnen

VA Dept of Forestry

Urban Wood Program Coordinator

joe.lehnen@dof.virginia.gov

Outside Wood!

It is almost summer and a time for all of us to get outside and be in nature! Outside wood as a component in the landscape only helps to enhance the quality and richness of the natural experience. Adding to the richness of the experience is knowing that the wood used in these outdoor applications came from the property on which they now rest!

Following are two great examples of using wood to enhance the outdoor experience. The first is from the great folks at the Southern Virginia Botanical Gardens (SVBG) in Halifax County who have created an amazing nature trail featuring local wood. Next up is a semester project from the UVA School of Architecture's ARCH-4020 class which created this artistic but also fully functional seating area.

Southern Va Botanical Gardens Nature Trail

The Southern Virginia Botanical Gardens (SVBG) in Halifax County is home to a wonderful woodland nature trail that has great examples of local wood use. Launched a few years ago by two members of the Southern Virginia Master Gardeners group, the trail has been a continuous work in progress which was recently bolstered by a grant from Dominion Energy that solved some of the recurring erosion issues. Volunteers from the Halifax High School Landscape Class and Southern Va Master Gardeners volunteered to rebuild the trail, while Lowes of South Boston volunteers replaced several unsafe bridges.

The cedar sign lumber was provided by Jason Fisher, Va Tech Forestry Extension Agent, while other volunteers built and engraved the signs. The wildlife carvings and benches were created by Dan Shaw, an SVBG Board Member. All the wood for the project was harvested on the property by Jason Fisher and members of the Halifax HS Landscaping Class which is a wonderful example utilizing local wood resources resulting in a minimal transportation carbon footprint.

Earlier this year the Va Dept of Forestry partnered with the Master Gardeners and Halifax HS agricultural classes for a tree planting project at the botanical gardens. The tree planting day which was coordinated by Dorothy Day (Master Gardeners President) and Delaney Long (VDOF U&CF Project Coord), added 28 native trees and shrubs to the landscape.

Additional information about the botanical gardens and the woodland nature trail can be found here:

SVBG Webpage

SVBG Facebook

Jason Fisher

Dan Shaw

Morven Farm Bench

Spring semester 2025 saw the University of Virginia School of Architecture's ARCH-4020 class design and build a creative but also also fully functional seating structure for an outdoor area at the Morven Farm. Utilizing their CAD (computer-aided design) sawmill, the class was able to create a flowing seat that resembled a river in motion. They also were able to create an intricate lattice system that offers filtered shade and privacy to the users of the bench. This project highlighted the process of transforming a log from a tree that was located on the UVA Grounds into a finished product with student involvement throughout the entire process.

More information about UVA Sawmilling can be found here:

UVA Sawmilling

UVA's Morven Farm Bench

Thanks!

Many thanks to Trees Virginia (Virginia's Urban Forest Council) for hosting this newsletter and allowing access to their Constant Contact platform!

Check out their website >>>

TreesVirginia



The Virginia Urban Wood Program is supported by the Virginia Department of Forestry with grants from the U.S. Forest Service, Southern Region.



The Marketing Corner

Still Checked-out....

 About three years ago a story appeared in this corner of the newsletter entitled "Checking-in or Checked-out" which reflected how responsive businesses were to emails, voice mails and inquiry for services. Based upon a couple recent experiences with a local wood business it is worthwhile to revisit this topic.

As you might be able to tell from the title for this column the interaction with the business proved challenging. There were no responses to emails to either the business or personal accounts. Beyond that, it took multiple calls before finally getting a response. Let's be honest, it shouldn't take three different avenues of communication before the customer has a chance to communicate with a representative.

So the question is once again - when was the last time you checked your business email, be it through the website or a business email account? If it has been longer than 48 hours you have probably lost several of the potential customers who have tried to contact you. Thus we are revisiting the topic of are you checking those incoming emails and voice messages, or are you just checked-out?

Let's deal with the last issue first. We all know that business and life in general can become overwhelming at times. After a long day in the shop you may be at wits-end and the last thing you need is yet another order for a service or product. All of this is totally understandable, but we encourage you not to just think of the present, rather look around the corner towards the day that you will once again welcome with open arms any and all the customers that might come your way. One way to deal with this situation is to set-up an automatic email reply message like "Sorry, we are not taking orders at this time, but we have your email address and will contact you when we can chat about your inquiry."

Maybe you are not totally checked-out, but you are also not as diligent with checking for voice mail, email, Facebook or Instagram messages as you know you should be. Again, this is like using a fishing net that has elephant-size holes in it! You have the customer "in your net" but by not checking for their messages you are losing them through these imaginary holes. Remember.....they contacted you, they came to you, you must be offering a service or making a product that they are interested in - don't let these income opportunities escape you!