Well, the arrival of March brings the imminent departure of Rob on the journey of a lifetime, his long planned hike of the Appalachian trail. When he started planning for this I had some questions. One of them being, How will you eat?? Well, that’s where I come in – I will be mailing resupply boxes to destinations along the trail. There are several little outposts such as general stores, hotels, post offices and hiker hostiles that very willingly assist the hikers in various ways including being the recipient and storage place for resupply boxes. He has researched the resupply points as well as laundry facilities along the route. I must admit, the laundry question was next on my list……
The "Resupply Closet" (Second shelf is vacuum sealed meals)
The blue bag contains the hike pack all set to go on the plane to Georgia!
The shop will be quiet for a few months, Porter will enjoy an extended vacation and likely lots of extra walks and car rides.
Happy Porter riding in the pickup!
I will keep you all updated on the Hiker’s progress and any interesting stories that are bound to come about during his travels in next month’s blog.
Making a Shaker Box
In addition to the boxes, Rob makes beautiful carriers with “bonnet handles”. This name references the shape of the Shaker lady’s bonnet. The handles are bent on shapers and then sanded to attain the bonnet shape. Rob uses ash for the handles as this is what was traditionally used by the Shakers. The finishing process for the handles takes all the same steps and care as the boxes themselves.
#5 carrier with bonnet handle, Shaker bonnet
Shaker Fun Facts
The Shakers, established in the United States in the 1780’s were ahead of their time in many ways. One of which was gender equality. Women had leadership roles alongside men, in fact, 3 of the founding leaders were women: Jane Wardley, Mother Ann Lee, and Mother Lucy Wright. The Shakers firmly believed that men and women were equal in the eyes of God and therefore should be treated equally on earth!
Source of information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakers#Gender_roles
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Lisa Buick
July 18, 2021
Oh my, those bonnet handle baskets are gorgeous.