We started thinking about Village as soon as Distance Learning was mandated by the governor. At first, there were so many new things to figure out that Village seemed like an impossibility. But, as we got our feet under us, we started to think, "Maybe, just maybe."
One of the greatest challenges seemed to be making a house. At school, the workshop is always crowded and the work is hard - too hard to ask kids to do independently and certainly not a fair ask of parents. Then there were the tools...and the potential of kids drilling holes in their dining room tables. A cardboard box could work - but it wasn't nearly as exciting or, well, real. And being real is a crucial part of Village.
I woke up early one morning with a thought - maybe, just maybe, there would be a way to make a wooden house that didn't need tools. I put out a call to some friends at Cannon Valley Makers (full disclosure, I'm on the board) and several stepped up right away, excited to help out. Two of them were Prairie Creek parents - Tom Powers and Tad Swedin - and they took the lead on design.
Both Tad and Tom wrote back within hours of my original e-mail. Tad had sketched out a plan that would be less labor intensive than cutting slots on the table saw and jigsawing windows (although everyone was willing to do that if necessary.
Tad's plan was to have side posts that wood would slot in to. It was pretty cool. Tom's e-mail arrived at almost the same moment. Through his work at Eastvold furniture, he had access to a computer controlled saw that could cut everything from a program...which he had written!
After a few minor re-designs we were good to go! Eastvold Furniture donated the time on the machines. Tom donated even more time setting everything up and cutting and cutting and cutting (parts of the house needed to be cut apart from the large board.) Tom delivered all of the parts to me last Wednesday - counted, stacked and ready to go. Here's a video of him working:
Tad took the remaining wood and cut 60 doors, 180 table parts and 360 chairs plus a lot of other tiny wood pieces for the peeps to build furniture. As a result, our kids are going to have amazing houses to build and create with. I can't wait to see how they'll customize their spaces and how they'll situate their houses on the land. I almost cried when I saw what Tom and Tad had made for our kids - it is truly an amazing gift of time and talent.
If you get a chance, please thank Tom Powers and Tad Swedin, Eastvold Furniture and Cannon Valley Makers. They've made a tremendous contribution to Village 2020.
WOW!!! Just WOW!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!
Posted by: Lisa Percy | May 11, 2020 at 07:56 PM