Welcome to the Barn on White Run!

Welcome to the blog for donsbarn.com, the website for the Barn on White Run. While I have contributed to other blogs, most notably over at Lost Art Press recounting progress of the books I am writing for them, or other sites unrelated to the activities of the Barn on White Run (social, political, and economic commentary, etc.), this one is pretty much all about the activities at the Barn.

The nature of these posts will be, shall we say, eclectic, ranging from working on the barn itself, its hybrid “off grid” power system and the related homesteading lifestyle (and yes, it is a political statement as well as a practical exercise), teaching and lecturing, furniture making and conserving, updates on my multitude of writing efforts, expansions to the line of products I will be selling through the website, and sometimes just some neat things I am tinkering with in the studio or have experienced – such as visits to fellow artisans, museum exhibits, etc. There will even be reports on updates and expansions of the website itself.

The vision for what this site will become is still fluctuating and evolving, but that is the glory of electronic publishing. Certainly the archive of literature will be augmented as I add new texts and rediscover things I wrote in the past. One exciting utility for blogs is the inclusion of demonstration or commentary videos, and I will work diligently to expand that. Last summer while sitting with my pal Mike at Martin Donnelly’s tool junkie gathering, we sketched out a menu of almost a thousand possible five-to-ten minute demonstration videos. In short, there is no shortage of stuff for me to create and upload.

My goal at the beginning is to upload at least one blog post per week, easing my way up to thrice weekly. Some weeks will be easy, such as this upcoming week of research and photography related to the Henry O. Studley tool chest and bench, when I could probably post three blogs a day. Others days and weeks will be slower as you can imagine, as I might be up to my elbows in hot hide glue while building something or spattered with wax blends while formulating new polishes.

Finally, I am led to offer very enthusiastic and public thanks to Jason Weaver of OGREcreative for working with me closely and with great passion for this enterprise. It is a true labor of love for Jason, and the creative energy he has brought to the project is heartfelt and heartening.