A Look Forward

January is a good time to look forward to the year ahead. From this vantage point, it if filled with a bundle of possibilities and opportunities. Here at Tuscarora WoodWorks, we are forging ahead with plans that were put on hold last year. This coming year will be a busy time for us as we continue to grow our little business.
Here are some of the things we have planned for this year:

1. The Big Move

We've been planning a move to a new location for some time. Our plan is to have space for a workshop, offices, storage, production, and retail operations. This will be done in phases, as we can afford it and as we have time to complete the projects.

Fortunately, this month, we've been able to accomplish Phase 1 of our plan! We moved our shop to a new location located directly in front of our house. It's been a dream of ours for a long time to be able to work and live in the same space. While there are pros and cons to this, we felt the pros outweighed the cons and went for it.

The new shop is currently housing all of our operations. To help expedite things, we decided to buy an Amish-made 14' X 40' shed and convert it to a retail and office space. We built out the inside, including building a wall, running electric, insulating, installing drywall and a floor, adding windows, and painting. We still have some work to do, but the majority of the work is done and we are warm, dry, and comfortable in our new space.

In addition to housing our retail space, we will also use this space for art and craft classes, presentations, and lectures. We'll be able to accommodate up to about 20 people.

NOTE: While we remain closed to the general public, we still offer curbside pickup for all online orders.

Phase II will be the addition of another building to house the workshop and production areas. The back of the current building will become storage and office space. We are hoping to get this done before this summer but it all depends on sales and how things do this year.

Once Phase II is implemented, we will build out an outdoor space for our community and customers to enjoy while they visit. The space will encourage people to hang out and be with one another. We'll be selling coffee, teas, and slushees in the summer and are considering offering snacks, pies, and baked goods. A fire pit will be available along with comfortable chairs, benches, and tables. (Of course, like all of you, we are waiting for this pandemic to end so it is safe for us to be together).

Phase III will be the implementation of a greenhouse. We are excited at the opportunity to grow food year round! While we currently have a bunch of Square Foot Gardens, we hope to expand that and add year-round growing. More to come on this later.

2. An Even Stronger Focus on Community

We are doubling down on our focus on Community. As citizens of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the Tuscarora Nation, we believe we have a responsibility to each other. We do our best to use a Good Mind to help out whenever possible. And we encourage others to do the same.

To better reflect this, we made some changes to our logo:
[INSERT NEW LOGO HERE]

The new logo symbolizes not only the Tree of Peace, but also takes a clue from the Ever Growing Tree Wampum belt design. These two concepts are important to us and we wanted them to be a core component of our identity. The longevity of peace is important.

We also have a new tagline that reads: Art. Craft. Community. Our tagline is meant to reinforce our focus on these aspects of our business. We express ourselves as artists through our artwork. It defines us and underlies most of what we do. An equally important component is Craft. We view Art and Craft as equals in terms of skill and expressive endeavors. We strive to be excellent at both. Many of our people are master crafters and we are often in awe of the work they produce. So craft is just as important as art is to us.

The ties that bind us together often run along the lines of art and crafts. Community is what brings this all together. For us, along with family, community is most important. From Tuscarora Beadwork, to jewelry makers, woodworkers, fine artists, multimedia artists, singers, and dancers, and beyond, it is the Community that underlies what we do. In an effort to emphasize this, we have included the word Community in our tagline.

We are super excited to provide a space where the Tuscarora WoodWorks Community can gather, get to know each other, and visit. We are looking forward to the time when it is once again safe to do so.

We hope you find these things as inpiring as we do! Stay tuned for updates on our progress as well as our Grand Re-Opening plans. We are hopeful that with everyone working together, we can beat the COVID-19 Pandemic and get back to being together again. We'd love to hear your thoughts on these plans! We miss all of you and look forward to seeing you again.

In the mean time, our website remains open 24/7. Please let us know if you need anything!

- Robert and Ris