Hand Made and Local

Hand Made – No Robots were used in the production of this product

Everyone is talking about the shortage of good jobs.  Buy American and Buy Local are a good start, but to really support good jobs, look closer.

Even in our factories here, robots and huge machines have replaced hundreds of thousands of workers.  One big corporation now shows a TV advertisement featuring a line of robots working to make a car that can even fix itself when one robot breaks – no people are seen or needed anymore.  The company slogan in the ad is “for the human network”.    How Stupid Can We Get?? 

We all buy stuff now built primarily by robots and huge machines that have put masses of people out of work.  Then we complain about jobs and the economy.

We need to Choose to;

Buy as Local as Possible

Buy from As Small A Business as Possible

Buy as Hand Made as Possible

Buy the Best Value for the Future of the Planet

We control the economy and jobs by what we buy everyday.   We are all responsible for our current situation and only we can change our future.

Buying Smart in the new Global Economy should be our top priority.  We need to do just the opposite of what got us into this mess.

Anyone who buys imported stuff in the big corporation’s store is actively exporting your money and our jobs.  You are building businesses and countries and jobs on the other side of the world.  Workers there are buying cars, and their growing factories using more fossil fuels – all driving up the cost of our fuel at our local gas stations.

Dead Trees can make New Jobs in the Local Community

A forest should support the local community with building materials, many other products, a regular income, and good jobs.  This is kind of an old fashioned idea that has been lost the past 200 years due to global industrialization.   The industrial timber market with low commodity log prices continues to consume the remaining good timber on the planet, with few benefits to the local community, despite all the talk about sustainability and certification.

But every person who cares about the planet would agree that the forest should support the local community. 

Spring Green Timber Growers has built a new high value market for the wood we harvest each year from our small family farm, creating new jobs from dead trees.  We control the whole process from growing, harvesting, sawmilling, solar kiln drying, manufacturing, and direct marketing to customers.  By eliminating all the middlemen, using the smallest amount of energy, and minimizing shipping, we earn retail prices for our timber – about 100 times the income earned by other landowners.

Wood is easy to grow and harvest and manufacture on a small scale.  Wood products have a high value in the retail market.  Wood is the perfect fuel for small business in the local community.  Everyone uses wood everywhere – everyday – so these ideas are universal.

SGTG is developing a global wood marketing system to connect local wood growers direct with customers.  First priority is to use what people have to meet the local needs of the community, then export their extra wood to population centers that need wood products. 

Local Needs – Training and coaching can quickly get a small woodshop in operation. 

Global Marketing – a new website will link the grower with customers anywhere in the world.  Simple shipping of small packages to container loads is ongoing every day now.  Credit card payments online make payments easily.  Instant communication and global travel now connect people everywhere. 

The “American Dream” has gone global.  Anyone, Anywhere can run a small business to sell something that they make.  The only limitation is the imagination.

Create New Jobs with Local Wood

Buying Local In the Global Economy

We have all chosen to buy lots of ‘cheap’ and ‘convenient’ stuff as we have lived the good lifestyle on plentiful natural resources while accumulating thoughtless and irresponsible debt.  Cheap stuff comes at a very high price. 

We are all responsible for our current economic crisis and the shortage of jobs.  Take a close look at what you have bought the last few years….   We can also change things – starting right now – to develop the best economic position possible for our future.

Many people apparently think ‘buy local’ means shopping for imported stuff on sale at the neighborhood big box store.  Lusting over imported manufactured stuff has exported our money and our jobs.   American industry and jobs have crumbled away.   We export our natural resources, ship materials half way around the world, minimize labor and production costs, ship the products back half way around the world – then complain we have recession and unemployment!!

Every purchase you make is a real vote that immediately counts to affect the future of our planet.  Every purchase you make builds up the company and country where the thing is from.   Every purchase you make has a political effect too, as the big companies exert real and immediate influence on our politicians.

We have created this monster we face today with our selfish and short-sighted purchases.  We can choose to change this now – just stop feeding the monster and it will go away.

How to “Create Jobs”

Today, most of the stuff we buy is made in a big factory with big machines and robots and likely in another country.  Government Regulations and Legal Lawsuits make labor very expensive in America.  Americans everyday are more lazy and fat - and in love with welfare, and the lottery.   Then we say, “we must create more jobs….”

All the politicians talk about creating jobs, yet fail to address the real problems.  Government does a thousand times more to discourage American jobs than the feeble efforts of talk and “stimulus”. 

As a business owner – one thing would get me to hire more employees – SALES!!  Government on the State and Federal Level has been a huge hindrance to my business for decades.  They should just get out of the way – today more than ever!

Globalization has CHANGED the planet

The internet – instant global communications – is the most amazing creation ever.  The airplane is second.  Earth – our economics – has truly changed and there is no going back.

Everyone needs to travel and watch the rest of the world to have a realistic picture of where you fit into the big picture and your effect on others.  Most people choose to be ignorant and don’t want to believe their lifestyle is very wasteful and damaging to the planet.

Homo Sapiens are being Homogenized.  Worker wages are being pressured to a more common-ground level.  High paid American workers will get less in the future and workers in the Far East will demand more.  There is no stopping this trend – a wise person will work within it to arrive at the best position possible for themselves.

We are mixing it up today around the world – nothing is hidden and there is no excuse for ignorance.  Seeing how much we are all about the same is our best hope for survival now.  We are all in this together and better learn to get along.

The Most Powerful Force On Earth

The best chance we have is to rebuild our local economies and communities that have been destroyed by the big corporations.  We created them ourselves with our lusts for cheap and convenience, and we can change the world by making smarter spending decisions - from now on.  The American Woman – the Shopper – is the most powerful force on earth today.  The Shopper has the free choice to support whatever company and country with the power of their purchase.  The Shopper is the one who can create jobs with their votes.  Every single vote counts.

Simple Steps to Change the Economy:

1. Buy As Local As Possible
2. Buy from a company As Small As Possible
3. Drive as little as Possible
4. Do the Opposite (of what got us here)

Big is Bad – most of the time….

Generalizations are not all true, but the long term trends now show the route we are going - being dominated by bigger and bigger corporations that dominate the Government also – are not good or sustainable for most humans. 

Do the opposite of what the big corporations and their puppet politicians want you to do.

Be discerning when listening to their talk. 

If you feed the monster – don’t complain when you get bitten!

People all over are very angry, fearful, and without much hope. 

There is HOPE

The American Dream of one person making a difference is now a Global Possibility for any human being.   The information and tools are becoming more freely available everywhere today.   Grab Globalization and take advantage of the good alternatives.

Most people may not care, but for those who choose – great opportunities are present today. 

http://www.aslocalaspossible.org/  has detailed articles

Everyone is Going Crazy in Madison

None of this will fix the problem.  Everyone is angry and hurting and hopeless.  It is all just emotion. Venting.

What we need is a solution, some hope for all of our future.

To get there we need to understand how we got here.

In Wisconsin and the U.S. we have been blessed with abundant resources.  We have been spoiled.

   Travel the world and see how most people live.

We have chosen to buy cheap imported stuff at the big box store for our convenience and instant gratification.

We have chosen to export our jobs and our money, and now face the results.  We are responsible for all this.

Government and schools must provide excellent services so taxpayers choose to pay – whatever the fair cost might be.

   People have lost faith in public employees due to the lack of professional supervision and proper training.

   Unions have not adapted to be relevant in the new global marketplace – they are a dinosaur bellowing its’ last gasp.

Crying and fighting like spoiled brats will not get us anywhere.

We need to rebuild our local economy with smarter buying choices.  We need to keep our $$ and jobs in the local economy.

    We can do this immediately and every purchase is a vote for our future that truly makes a difference – immediately.

We need to use what we have and fill the needs of our communities.   Choose as local as possible.

We must be willing to work a real job, be willing to sweat again – focus our energy – be smart about our future.

Every Tree You See

Don’t miss the forest for the trees

Every tree that you see could employ a local worker for a week.

But we instead typically throw it in the landfill

The biggest opportunity for jobs and economic growth is our local wood.

Or we can just keep exporting our $$ to China for our convenience.

When we choose convenience = we choose death to our local economy

On the Job Training Gives Confidence

Darmon Thurman of Milwaukee worked with Spring Green Timber Growers today installing a new wood floor in a kitchen makeover just S of Madison.   An experienced construction worker specializing in ceramic tile, he just needed a little confidence that wood flooring was pretty simple too.

He was a good and cheerful worker - a great addition to our crew today.  

This floor was Red Elm, Grey Elm, Maple, Birch and Cherry. 

click here for a photo gallery of our flooring

The timber industry in Wisconsin 2011

There are two major sectors of the timber industry – sawing and veneering large high quality logs, and using wood fiber for paper or fuel in small and low value logs.

The sawmill/veneer mills mine the good timber in old growth forests.  When the good trees are gone, they move on to other regions.  Trees grow too slowly to sustain a huge mill.

The timber industry peaked in Wisconsin in the late 1980s.  Over the past 30 years, a half million jobs have been lost to mechanization, corporate downsizing, and globalization.  Timber prices and demand for trees & logs are now half of their level a few years ago.  Very little is know about the current timber industry and wood values.

Today, our best walnut, cherry, white oak, and sugar maple logs are being high graded from our degraded forests and being exported to China.  Most of the wood products we buy in the big stores was illegally logged in the Rainforest or Siberia and then manufactured in China. 

There is nearly a complete disconnect between our local forests and the local economy.  This is a result of big industry totally dominating the University and government forestry programs.  Now that industry has largely fallen apart and moved on, new opportunities exist to revitalize forest management by promoting the use of locally grown and manufactured forest products.

A family farm near Spring Green Wisconsin is leading a global movement encouraging  the timber grower to again harvest, process, and sell forest products direct to customers.  They make and install hardwood flooring and furniture from just the annual growth of their forest.  By eliminating all the middlemen, brokers, and shippers, they can sell hand made solid wood products at competitive prices to the imports.