A knotted fence lines the road winding to Bill and Barbara Olendorf's place in Putnam County. An arrangement of twisted, woody debris reads "TWIGS" on the sign posted adjacent to the driveway welcoming visitors. When asked if the Olendorf's had cobbled in the "Z" as a way to complement their unorthodox style of rustic furniture the response is humorous. "Actually," says Barbara, "we tried to get a personalized license plate from the DMV and were surprised to find that "TWIGS" was already being used by a landscaping company in our neighborhood." At that point, the father and daughter team adapted their 25-year old hobby into a full-time operation known as TWIGZ Natural Furniture.

Having spent much of the last decade traveling the country as a consultant to prospective restaurateurs, Barbara Olendorf learned the pangs of starting a business from scratch and the satisfaction of watching it become successful. Tired of the long hours and shrewd competition of the restaurant industry, she found herself drawn back to her "roots" - building rustic furniture with her dad, Bill. Throughout much of her life, Barbara has watched and learned her father's techniques. He's a trained engineer with a background in finance and a penchant for fine woods craftsmanship. "Once friends and family saw what we were able to create", Bill says, "we started experimenting with different designs during our spare time and giving them away as gifts."

Early in 2004, the Olendorfs thought about making rustic furniture a full-time venture. Marketing through furniture outlets like Kingston's Noble Tree Gallery, entering juried shows in the Northeast, and consulting with other well-known rustic furniture designers has helped the business grow. "I wanted to see if my experience with the entrepreneurial process could work for us too...," explains Barbara. "Plus, I always loved building things with wood."

Recently, TWIGZ collaborated with rustic craftsman, Daniel Mack on a commission for an Aspen, Colorado home owner. Mack, author of four books and a rustic furniture and design teacher, encouraged Bill and Barbara, helping them to establish connections with other rustic workers such as Judd Weisberg of Lexington, NY. After viewing their work, Mack invited them to help form a Rustic Cooperative in the Webatuck Craft Village in Wingdale, NY. Bill hopes the cooperative will develop into a school for fellow rustic artists and an outlet for wood materials and supplies.

TWIGZ uses various species to bring out the character in design, function and form of their furniture. Recognizing the tremendous waste of wood that can occur when land is converted from forest to development in suburban areas, the Olendorf's began acquiring skinny twigs and saplings that would otherwise be chipped up and discarded after a lot clearing. The team went further in their search for material by developing relationships with many forest landowners in the New York City Watershed region east and west of the Hudson River interested in promoting forest health through timber stand improvement (TSI). TSI is used by professional foresters to improve forest health and control species composition by light thinning. TWIGZ also works with "the grandfather of the rustic movement" Jerry Farrell - proprietor of Once Upon A Forest. Farrell has helped the Olendorfs locate Robert Hoyt, a woodsman and supplier of some of the best hand-peeled, rustic components like Canadian yew, striped maple, aspen, and yellow birch.

This past fall TWIGZ received a grant from the Watershed Agricultural Council's Forestry Grants Initiative to expand a cramped workshop, upgrade tooling and equipment, and hire a marketing consultant to launch a website and develop brochures. With funding from the USDA Forest Service, the grants assist forest products businesses in the New York City Watershed region and strengthen the regional forest-based economy. The forests and farms of upstate New York filter the drinking water for 9 million metropolitan New Yorkers. The Olendorfs' use of small-diameter stems from local sources and alliance with past grant recipients continues to have a positive impact on forestry in the region.

"The grant has been instrumental in our ability to grow the business," states Barbara Olendorf. In the coming months, TWIGZ will work with forestry consultants throughout the Watershed region to acquire more small-diameter hardwoods, cedar logs, and other forest materials. Their catalog of rustic designs include bedroom and dining sets, rockers and other chairs, lamps and children's furniture. All hand-made from locally harvested hardwoods peeled with as little machining as possible. To minimize waste, TWIGZ developed a line of home accessories such as picture frames, mirrors, and candle sticks made with pieces of wood leftover from furniture-making. The Olendorfs welcome contacts from any landowners wishing to conduct TSI on their property as they are always looking for new materials. Anyone that would like more information about TWIGZ is also encouraged to contact them. Bill or Barbara Olendorf can be reached by calling (845) 878-6770 or e-mail at twigz.ny@earthlink.net.

For more information on economic assistance for the forest products businesses of the region or to request a copy of the Catskill Mountain Region's Wood Products Manufacturers Directory please call Collin Miller, Forestry Program Specialist at the Watershed Agricultural Council at (607) 865-7790.

Shaker Furniture Business Blossoms in Walton

"A particular chair, a table we like to sit at, a cabinet whose proportions have always pleased us - certain pieces of furniture, congenial to our eye or our touch, have a way of becoming part of us." To the casual observer, furniture may not appear as romantic as John Verdon - owner and master woodworker at Mountain Cherry LLC in Walton, NY - poetically describes on his web site www.mountaincherry.com. However, one will certainly appreciate the passion for creating fine cherry furniture and the attention to detail displayed in Verdon's craftsmanship.

Ten years ago, Verdon left a career in advertising and subsequently moved from his northern New Jersey residence to western Delaware County where he developed into a skilled Shaker furniture builder. His commitment to good design, quality construction, and customer satisfaction is evident in the pieces he creates. In fact, every piece of furniture he builds and sells was originally designed with his own home in mind. "If we don't love it ourselves," Verdon adds, "we don't offer it to anyone else."

Establishing a woodworking studio in the Catskills was a dream realized for Verdon with support from the Watershed Agricultural Council (WAC) and USDA Forest Service's Forestry Grants Initiative. Prior to his award, Verdon relied on word-of-mouth referrals and the occasional local advertisement to attract business. With WAC's support, Mountain Cherry LLC developed more than a dozen new furniture prototypes, photographed them and launched a new online showcase. Furthermore, Verdon consulted renowned Catskill woodworker Paul LaPierre of Mountain Sun Workshop in Hunter - a fellow WAC grant recipient - to learn about upgrading his shop's tools and marketing to a wider audience. He says, "The connections I make with other woodworkers in the Catskills through WAC have really helped me in choosing the right tools for my shop."

Verdon sees beauty in the natural character that a tree develops throughout its life in the Catskill forest and selects strongly grained hardwood because it produces a more desirable finished product. Using a simple, hand-applied finish of tung-oil and beeswax, he is able to emphasize the eye-catching grain patterns inherent in the boards he chooses. For that, Mountain Cherry fills a niche within the furniture market that relies on sustainably harvested and locally milled wood abundant in the Catskill Region. Verdon hand selects his cherry boards from area lumber outlets like Quality Hardwoods in Sidney, NY and Wightman Specialty Woods in Portlandville, NY. He also has built several pieces from the black cherry and maple selectively harvested (and air-dried) from his own property, a Certified Tree Farm with the American Forest Foundation. Through his participation in the American Tree Farm System, Verdon's woodlands will continue to produce healthy, high quality trees for timber, while protecting water quality, creating wildlife habitat, and providing a peaceful mountain refuge for his family for years to come.

To view the company's online catalog, place an order, or receive more information about Mountain Cherry Furniture LLC, please visit www.mountaincherry.com. Directories of local sawmills, lumber outlets, and woodworkers in the Catskill Region are available by contacting Collin Miller, Forestry Program Specialist at the Watershed Agricultural Council at (607) 865-7790 or collinmiller@nycwatershed.org.

As summer comes to the Catskills, makeshift signs advertising yard sales, farm stands, and art galleries lure in visitors traveling along Route 28 - the region's main artery from Kingston to Oneonta. In preparation for a grand-reopening on June 19th, local artist Jonah Meyer remodeled a 1950's service station on Route 28 in Glenford into a showroom for his creations and those of other artists. The gallery is only a fifteen-minute drive from his studio in Kingston where he conveniently neighbors a large artistic paint supply company. Meyer says his goals for the showroom are to "raise awareness of the burgeoning art scene in the Catskills and foster a place to display our works."

Meyer and fellow artist Tara Delisio opened the "Glenford Service Station" - as it reads above the doorway - in June 2003 and have held poetry readings, live music, and a night of comedic short films to compliment the art openings. A native of Williamsport, PA, Meyer came to the area for its rural character, proximity to urban markets and the legion of renowned artists and craftspeople already inhabiting the region. Meyer intends to use the space to maintain a continued interest in cultivating a local environment for area artists. "The density of galleries on (Route)28", referring to neighbors like Steve Heller of Fabulous Furniture in Boiceville and the recent opening of Noble Tree Gallery in West Hurley, Meyer says, "really helps attract attention to the area." His pieces are featured in publications such as American Style, Furniture Style, and the Catskill Region Guide Artist Feature Section on Woodworkers. In addition, the renowned sculptor Martin Puryear selected several of Meyer's paintings and sculptures for an exhibit titled, Out of the Studio: Hudson Valley Artists 2003 held at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art in New Paltz, NY. A visual catalog of Meyer's creations and other information are on display at his new web site, www.jonahmeyer.com.

Through Meyer's versatility and flair for working in different mediums, he is able to carve a larger niche for himself in the world of art and design. After returning from India, he began to create furniture and designs reminiscent of monumental ritual sculptures found throughout the Hindu temples. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, Meyer also creates contemporary, eclectic furniture and large, hand-hewn sculptures out of locally-harvested wood. Meyer enjoys working with twisted and burled logs often too defective or too large for conventional uses. His mammoth woodcarvings are often installed on private residences throughout the region, evoking awe and amazement in a sort of Catskill version of Stonehenge.

For his sculptures, Meyer acquires low-grade oak, maple, and cherry almost exclusively from the Catskills. He networks with area loggers and tree service companies - like The Arbor Barber in Woodstock - to make sure that he is given an opportunity to inspect and find a use for an "unmerchantable" tree before it is cut for firewood. His ability to use locally grown and harvested timber that may otherwise be wasted enabled him to receive a federal Economic Action Program grant from the Watershed Agricultural Council's (WAC) Forestry Program and the USDA Forest Service.

The grant program assists eligible secondary, value-added forest products businesses in the New York City Watershed regions East and West of the Hudson River with the goal of promoting healthy forests to protect the drinking water supply for 9 million metropolitan New Yorkers. By using low-grade wood for his projects, Meyer indirectly assists overall forest health by encouraging removal of defective or inferior stems. A portion of Meyer's grant award is being used to improve the facilities at the Service Station with the installation of a new heating system. The remainder of the awarded funds will allow him to upgrade some of the old machinery in his studio. With this grant, Meyer joins a group of Catskill woodworkers such as Steve Heller (mentioned above), rustic designer Judd Weisberg, and the late Oscar Newman of Bounding Warrior that have benefited from WAC Forestry grants.

If you attend the Grand Re-opening of the Service Station- expect find one-of-a-kind, handmade objects and gifts like hand-blown glass, soaps, elegant leather bags and steel candelabras in a variety of styles ranging from rustic-folk to modern/minimal. The Service Station hours are Thursdays, Noon-5, Fridays and Saturdays, Noon-6 and Sundays 11- 4. For more information or to make an appointment with Jonah Meyer, call (845) 657-9788.

For more information on economic assistance available to the wood-based economy of the region, please call Collin Miller, Forestry Program Specialist at the Watershed Agricultural Council, (607) 865-7790, x 112.

"This is a good business for the disenfranchised...," Jerry Farrell says as he repeatedly sprays and wipes the glass on the clockface he's about to install on the seven-foot-tall grandfather clock he built. It's a magnificent clock adorned with a kiln-dried striped maple and yellow birch mosaic, ".because you can just go into the woods and make something out of nothing." And the things that come out of Farrell's trips to the forest are literally the stuff of legends.

Farrell's creations look like Tolkien himself whispered the blueprints for benches and tables and clocks found in Middle Earth to him. In his studio and throughout his family's restored Victorian home, there are giant chairs made of tortured looking roots fused together and baked to a deep brown. There are clocks and cabinets covered in intricate and seamless mosaics of fired birch and maple saplings harvested from the Catskill forests. Shapes from The Lord of the Rings mix with images from Washington Irving's haunted writings and the resulting work is a collection of pieces original to Farrell. "It's sort of like the furniture from 'The Three Bears' come to life," he says while spraying the glass once again.

The grandfather clocks have established Farrell's reputation as the "grandfather of the new rustic furniture movement" - a revival with roots in the early 1970s when he started making furniture. It's fitting - in name and style - that the beautiful clocks are the cornerstones of Farrell's company, Once Upon a Forest.

Jessica Farrell, Jerry's wife and an accomplished artist in her own right, paints water-based acrylic portraits of wildlife scenes for placement within the panels and faces of the rustic clocks. "Jerry and I decided to add the option of paintings to his rustic pieces to enliven the furniture with color, enhancing and complementing the varied hues of the twigs," Jessica says of their collaborations. Theirs is a unique combination of rustic and folk art furniture and decorative accent pieces that has caught the attention of editors from Architectural Digest, Town & Country, and House Beautiful. The Farrell's work has been featured in many rustic furniture books and purchased by several celebrities in love with his unique style.

Jessica's work also complements many of the intricate root- and twig-adorned picture frames, cabinets, dressers, and mantle clocks that round out the collection offered by Once Upon a Forest. Each piece is unique and consists of a variety of treasures procured from the forest. Some pieces are finished with a clean birch bark appliqué - like their mantle and wall clocks - while others bear the knotty roughness of dried twigs. "I have to follow certain standards," Jerry says of the materials he chooses. "Self-imposed standards, really. I collect all my own component parts, so there's continuity and sameness in quality." That sharp attention to detail is an earmark of the Farrell's work - perfect corners, polished roots, and rich, engaging paintings.

These days, the number of rustic furniture makers is larger than ever. For the fledgling artist who doesn't know the secrets of peeling birch bark without damaging the tree or kiln drying striped maple saplings, Farrell sells rustic materials through Once Upon a Forest. At company headquarters in Sidney Center, N.Y. on the western cusp of Delaware County, the Farrell's work out of their home and a newly renovated studio on the property. Farrell started work on the studio as soon as he received a grant from the Watershed Forestry Program. The work has kept him and his employees busy ever since.

The Program - a USDA Forest Service funded economic development initiative - works with companies using wood harvested from the New York City Watershed. Because a well-managed forest is a preferred land use for protecting water quality, the Forestry Program tries to help companies who use local wood. As a regular collector of watershed-based materials, Farrell was perfectly suited for a grant from the Program. The award not only helped him double the company's studio space, it enabled him to install a new kiln to increase his wood drying capacity. To order pieces from Jerry and Jessica Farrell and Once Upon a Forest, call them directly at (607) 369-4916.

Click below to view some of our earlier profiles.

October 2005: Mountain Sun Workshop
August 2005: Cannonsville Lumber
August 2005: Agroforestry Resource
February 2004: Absolute Construction
January 2003: Catskill Craftsmen
October 2002: Judd Weisberg
October 2002: Green Tree
November 2001: Fruitful Furnishings