Time changes everything

“There is nothing permanent except change” – Heraclitus

I don’t think I need to reflect on how things change. I can’t imagine one person who’s lived through a year of the Covid-19 pandemic who doesn’t understand change. What I can reflect on is the changes that Rustic Pines has undergone, and a little on where we think it’s going.

Our last blog post was in 2019, and at that time, we were fully enjoying our land and life seemed to be going great, but then, just like that, things changed. There are a multitude of reasons we stopped writing, but mostly changes had occurred that would threaten not only the way we could enjoy Rustic Pines, but the very project itself. Without going into too many details, I’ll just say that a missed real estate opportunity not only halted our progress, but set it in full reverse.

Like any creature that experiences an unexpected loud noise, we froze. We sat sort of dazed, wondering what to do next. As soon as the initial shock wore off, the fight of flight mechanism kicked in and we had decisions to make. In our particular situation, fighting would most likely come at a heavy financial cost, and there were no certainties of a victory. So we decided to try and wait things out, hoping the situation may resolve itself. In the mean time, life’s changes took over and time passed.

There were so many wonderful dreams we had dreamed about what Rustic Pines would become. Katie and I had the most wonderful time coming up with fantastic ideas. Dreams that wouldn’t just be fun for you to watch and read about as they developed, but real dreams that you could experience for yourselves. From the very start of Rustic Pines, our goal was to create a space where our friends and family could congregate and enjoy what we were making for ourselves. It was a place of rest, relaxation, learning, and most importantly… fun. We had dreams of a respite where kids could run, explore, and play. A place where adults could relax, away from the hustle and bustle of life, and reconnect with loved ones. A place where you could expand your knowledge, or sharpen your skills. We had dreams of reconnecting people with their history, and with each other.

Most people have heard the saying “When the good lord closes a door, he opens a window”. I’ve always thought that saying was a little off. First of all, doors are meant for walking through, and windows are meant for looking out of… Was someone trying to tell me that God was saying “you can’t leave, but I’ll let you view the things you can’t have?” That’s no fun at all, and seems a bit closer to torture than it does enlightenment. Most people in practice when they want to leave a room, don’t head for the window, they walk up and try the door. If the door is locked, they look for another door. And in a way, another door is what we found. That door lead to a rain storm, which lead to an electrical short, which lead to prospects of a new garage, which lead to non-existent contractors, which lead to buying a new home in a different part of the state. I know I left a lot of that story out, but trust me, the part that comes after that is better.

Katie and I settled in the sleepy little town of Sunrise Minnesota, at the junction of the Sunrise & St. Croix rivers. This move was neither planned, nor slow, but yet, not fast. From the time we started looking for another place to live, it was less than a month and a half before we closed and started to move. We retained ownership of our Elk River home and slowly moved our things over the next ten months before it sold. In the meantime, Covid had hit and we were both working from home, so settling in was a bit less stressful than a normal move.

Our new place is really a joining of our old home and Rustic Pines in a way. In Elk River, we had three acres covered in old growth oak savanna. Rustic Pines is forty acres of a wide variety of pine. In Sunrise, we sit on ten acres of old growth oak and towering white pine. The previous owner who built our Sunrise home was a professional carpenter, so the home itself is filled with wood finishes… Floors, ceilings, and even some walls are adorned with a mix of oak, maple, and knotty pine, giving us a very cozy, warm, rustic feeling. When we viewed the property, I don’t think Katie made it past the top of the stairs before shouting out “BUY IT NOW!”

What sold me on the property was the outbuildings. Not only did it have a great home, but it had a nice heated garage, a round screen porch and deck built for a hot tub, a three season gazebo that can be used as a spare bedroom in the summer, a massive chicken coop, but best of all, it had a fully finished, heated and electrified pole barn!!!! I finally had my dream shop! One of the largest contributors to a lack of writing is probably been that we have spent the last year and a half just enjoying our new surroundings.

So what’s to become of Rustic Pines? If you read back far enough into the archives of rusticpinesmn.com, you’ll find that the very concept of Rustic Pines started with a few chickens. We still have the chickens by the way; they’ve been joined by a half dozen ducks, another dog, and in the coming weeks, four of the cutest little goats you’ve ever seen. In those chickens we saw an escape from the life the world (and the media) tells us to live. We saw that we had a love for the activities that connect us to the land and to each other. We saw opportunity to share what we have and what we know, with those around us. The roosters in the coop remind us every day that our dreams are waiting to be fulfilled.

Not long after Katie and I moved in, we sat in the shop one Saturday morning, with our ritual cup of coffee, browsing social media. As I scrolled along, I ran across an article by The Onion, a fantastic satire site that often makes me laugh. The article titled “New Sip-And-Weld Studio Provides Opportunity To Drink Wine, Create Own Masterpiece With Blowtorch”. As I showed it to Katie laughing, it was if a bomb went off in my head. My eyes snapped up and took in the full view of the shop, and as I turned to Katie, before I could speak a word, she starts to repeat “Don’t say it… just don’t even say it.” At that moment, the breeze blew through God’s open window and breathed new life into what was to become Rustic Pines.

We’ve already been working for a year to get our place ready for what may come. We’ve expanded our coop, built a proper garden, purchased equipment, tools, and learned new skills to pass on. Our goal? It’s almost exactly the same as it was before – “From the very start of Rustic Pines, our goal was to create a space where our friends and family could congregate and enjoy what we were making for ourselves. It was a place of rest, relaxation, learning, and most importantly… fun.”

As our dreams takes shape, our hope is that you come along for the ride. We hope that you follow our progress. And, if the opportunity arises, pitch in and give us a hand, there is much work to be done. We have already begun to hold crafting classes for friends and family to help us refine our skills and gain feedback about how it improve the venue. Next weekend, we will host a class on hand made windchimes. There will be more classes to follow.

We are so excited to moving forward, with what we hope, will be many years of hand crafted memories.

Oh, and that whole sip and weld studio thing? Why not? In May, we will be holding our first “Wine and Weld” weekend… A professional welder will join us to show a few ladies how with a minimal amount of equipment and cost, they can up their crafting game using metal and an inexpensive wire feed welder. In the evening, after the tools are put away, there will be a wine tasting, featuring wines from a local family owned winery.

Stay tuned! Good things are coming. Until then, remember to check all the doors, listen to your chickens, and dare to dream.

-J&K