Welcome And Meet The Makers

Brian 0:20

But welcome back to the Bureau Beach Podcast. I'm Brian.

Shawna 0:23

And I'm Shauna.

Brian 0:23

And today we are sitting with two incredible people. Their names cover the alphabet from A to Z. That's what they explained to me. Because I'm, as you guys all know, I'm not great with names, but we're here with Zach and Abby. We're so excited you guys both are joining us.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

Yeah.

Brian 0:39

From the Ashes to Beauty Wood. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Correct.

Brian 0:43

Awesome. Okay, now I'm gonna go ahead and say I put down your last name on here, but there's no way. Like it has every letter of the alphabet in it from A to Z.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

So tell us your last name. Uh yeah, well, it's nothing like what it looks like. Really? Uh easiest way is uh Lesnevich. So Lesnevitch. Lesnich. Wow. Yeah.

Shawna 1:04

Lesnevitch.

Brian 1:05

It's been butchered a good amount over the years. So I'm sure, I'm sure. Well, I'm not even gonna attempt it because I will definitely butcher it. I know. All right. So before we start talking about your business, I would love to get to know a little bit about both of you. So let's start with. I don't know. I let you guys decide. I'm not gonna be that person. Who wants to go first? Zach does. A is before Z, but unless Z is born first, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

So uh my name's Zach. Originally born and raised here in Vero Beach, Florida. Yeah, grew up skating, surfing around the town here. Uh graduated from Vero Beach High School in 2004. Yeah, we went, um, we've traveled a lot, you know, after high school, went to Bible college in California, then Hawaii, came back here. Uh, and then I actually jumped on board uh on staff at a church, uh, running youth ministry. And within that time, learned graphic designing, uh, stepped down from youth ministry in 2011, uh, and then went full-time freelance graphic designing uh and music. Um, and then yeah, we did that for a good handful of years. 2014, we moved to uh Washington State uh for 10 years, still doing graphic designing. Uh, I was freelancing for a company in Nashville. Um, and so anywhere we had internet, you know, it didn't matter where we were uh in the world, basically. And so we uh moved out there. We had a buddy involved at a church out there, uh, and so moved out there doing graphic design work and and drumming uh at the church. Uh and I did a little stint with touring um as well. Uh and then we were out there, yeah, for 10 years. And then eventually, somehow that transferred into doing woodworking full time. Lots of details in between, but yeah, well, I'm sure. And that's what we're doing now.

Brian 2:54

You said you're a youth pastor, so yeah, there's like some connections to a carpenter story. So that I guess maybe maybe that's where it is, but no, I I love that. That's cool. So, okay, so so from what I picked up, you played drums. Is that the only instrument you play?

SPEAKER_00 3:07

No, so my first one uh instrument was piano. Okay. Uh I did that for uh seven years. Uh did lessons, um, started uh at a another local church in town, kind of playing in the children's ministry and stuff. Um, and then that gravitated towards uh drumming. Um and drums have been my my main instrument for probably since like ninth grade, 14, 15 years old.

Brian 3:32

So that's awesome. Yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

It's been a while.

Brian 3:34

I'm a musician, so I love okay. I I love especially drummers because I'm a bass player. So we gotta catch it. Yeah, I gotta connect. Yeah, J M Al sometime. There you go. Uh no, uh we well, I was gonna say we could call ourselves the Wood Brothers, but there's already a group of both Radio Wood Brothers, yeah. Uh exactly. But yeah, no, well that's awesome. Yeah, I would hate for people to think that we were the Wood Brothers like that. I don't know, you might be better. Maybe we are, yeah, maybe. Uh Zach, let's please over. Even though you're doing wood and I'm doing marketing stuff, so I don't know. Maybe we're

Abby’s Story Family And Risk Taking

Brian 4:05

not that good. But uh, so Abby, tell us a little bit about yourself.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

I uh was born and raised in a little town in New Hampshire. Um, and then I moved to Florida when I was 18, and then I met Zach shortly after that, and we kind of just hit it off, and we've been together ever since. We got married in 2005.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

We're coming up on 21 years. Yeah. June 11th.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

Yeah, we have three kids. Um, and we yeah, we like you said, we moved to Washington. Um, I've kind of done the odds and end jobs to fill in. I've cleaned houses, I've I work currently at a cafe. Um, I homeschool our kids. So it's it's quite an adventure. But our love to bring something to the community that they can enjoy is kind of just where our heartbeat is. And so we kind of just stumbled upon woodworking while we were out in Washington. Um, it's a perfect place to fall in love with all the wood out there. Yeah, no kidding. So we experimented a lot and um it kind of took off. We kind of just were like, okay, well, we're gonna do this one thing, and if it works, we're gonna do it again, you know. And it just kind of built from that. My my brain, you know, when you look in Pinterest, you're like, ooh, you can do that, you can do that. Yes, exactly. Kind of the the to-do list, right? So that's kind of where it kind of birthed, and just our name for the business had always been something that was on my heart and and deep in in my soul, it was just kind of the way that we kind of are. Sometimes we're in these situations and we I don't know how to explain it. Like we become as like ashes to beauty, like we're just in these situations, and then the Lord kind of makes us beautiful as we grow and as we like move forward in our lives. And so yeah, I mean, that's kind of the short. There's a lot of in-betweens, yeah. But I think, yeah, that's kind of the short story. We're kind of just jumpers. Like, if we feel like our life is moving in a certain direction, we just we go for it with everything.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

Wow, yeah. And we're risk takers.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

We are, we are definitely like, oh, that sounds crazy. Let's do it. Yeah, that's kind of how we we're so much alike, yeah.

Brian 6:33

Yes, there's there's a lot of uh uh parallels, yeah. Parallels here, yeah, for sure. And if it scares the heck out of you, then let's do it.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

We need to do it, obviously. Yeah, why not?

Brian 6:42

So, okay, so tell me about how what was the moment like

The First Flip That Sold

Brian 6:45

when you guys decided like woodworking? Like, how did that come about?

SPEAKER_00 6:49

Uh it was 2016 because I just worked from home doing graphic design work. Uh, you know, so she like she had mentioned, she had kind of been pruse and Pinterest, and she already always had a thing at that time. It was like doing a lot of stuff with like reclaimed palettes. Uh it was a bad thing. That was the thing, yeah. It was a big fad at that point.

Shawna 7:10

I was like, how hard can it be?

SPEAKER_00 7:12

It's not that hard.

Shawna 7:13

Let's try it. Then you're trying to pry the things apart. Oh my gosh. Yeah, that's the worst part of that.

SPEAKER_00 7:19

Uh so eventually, like, so uh the the point where we jumped in, uh, you know, our daughter was six months old at that point. Okay. And I'm just like, we're never gonna have time. You know, at that point, you know, now she's our third. Uh, and so it's like extra time's never just gonna show up. And so we just need to jump in and do it. Um, and it made it easier being at home already. And so I could just bounce back and forth between the computer uh and the garage. Um, and so we just started collecting palettes. Um, and then the first kind of way that I started dabbling in it is I would peruse uh Facebook Marketplace, yeah, uh find people getting rid of old furniture. If it had like a good metal frame to it or some base or whatever to it, uh I would just I would snag it, get rid of the wood top, and then just replace it. And so the first project we did with that, that's what she was talking about before, is that we kind of made that pact that, all right, I'm gonna do this project. If I put it up for sale after and it sells, then we'll you know consider, you know, uh, you know, seeing what we could do with this uh for the future or whatever. And so I did it, you know, made a new top for it, posted up for sale, uh, and then it sold in uh uh under 24 hours. Um, and so we're like, well, shoot, I guess we're gonna try to do something with this. Uh and then at that point, you know, my the way I work is that as soon as I'm dedicated to learning and diving into something, like I'm all in. And so I just started, you know, just I jumped headfirst uh into it and uh we just started collecting palettes. And at that point, you know, uh, so for the next kind of year and a half, uh, you know, while I was still graphic designing, graphic design work kind of started to fade out. And I I started do the to do that on purpose because I was just getting burnt out, yeah, sitting behind the computer for hours.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

And he would do it after we would go to bed. He would have the baby in the swing. Yeah, yeah. So I could sleep and then I'd be up till like 2 a.m. And then he would sleep in a little bit and then go straight to work on wood wood stuff.

SPEAKER_00 9:23

And it was just and be up early, yeah, getting helping to get the kids ready. And it was it was a wild time.

Brian 9:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

Yeah. Um, and so uh yeah, I just jumped in. And so when when graphic design

Learning And Going Full Time

SPEAKER_00 9:35

work started to fade out, I actually jumped on board with companies. First was a flooring company, um, just so I could learn. Yeah, learn the tools uh in a proper way, learn the industry in a proper way. Um, not just uh obviously, like you can teach yourself a lot just being at home from watching videos and stuff, but I wanted to learn from other people that have been in it uh for many years. Um I did woodworking uh with doing hardwood floors uh for a year and then jumped into a company doing uh high-end uh home remodels uh for almost two years after that. And then by that point, you know, you know, while still building up my stuff on the side, by that point our stuff just kept getting busier. Um, and it was right in the middle of COVID, uh 2021. Yeah. And oh, I'm sure. Well, yeah, I mean, people are at home, yeah, they're looking around, they're like, what can I do? And they're getting, you know, these uh, you know, special stimulus. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:31

And in Washington, everything was shut down pretty much. Yeah, yeah. So it was very crazy. So we we got busy.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

It got real busy and we just had to make the decision. You know, the company I was working for was great. Like it was two brothers that owned it. Work never stopped, you know, through COVID. Um, super awesome people, but we just had to do what we knew we were supposed to do. Yeah. Um it was scary.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

That was a scary one because we I mean, we didn't know everything was crazy. Like we just didn't know what was gonna happen, so we just jumped.

SPEAKER_00 11:03

Yeah, and like we said before, we're we're risk takers. So it's like, well, we've been in the self-employment industry before, uh, so it's it's a wild roller coaster. So we know we're getting into to a certain extent. Uh, so let's just do it. And yeah, 2021, yeah, left home remodels and then yeah, went full-time my own woodworking and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 11:26

Moved out of our tiny little one-car garage into like an a bigger shop shop where he had space and people could come and pay whatever.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

But yeah, it's yeah, and then we ended up doing that, yeah, for the last two years that we're in Washington before moving back here.

Brian 11:43

So that's amazing. I love the I love bringing this part of the story out because there's there's gonna be some people that's listening that are thinking, like, I've always wanted to start my own business, I always have wanted to, you know, start my own wood business. And especially, I think younger, like we we're teaching our son, like, you know, get the experiences and connect with others. Like, I mean, like you said, you can learn on YouTube, but there's something different about being in a group of people that have been doing it for years, especially if they have a love for it. They teach you some of the the tricks and the tricks of the trade, and you become really like start becoming like a master of it. You're building that experience with people that have been doing it for years. Yeah. Okay, so let's

Spalted Elm And A Handmade Gift

Brian 12:20

go back to like the impossible here for a second because let Sana talk about the gift that they gave us here so we can learn a little bit more about this and maybe the process as well.

Shawna 12:29

I will have to ask for confirmation on the type of wood because I forgot already.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

Uh elmwood.

Shawna 12:35

Elmwood. Oh, okay, cool. I thought you said something else, some other weird word I never heard of.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

Uh spalted elm. Spalted, yes.

Shawna 12:41

I've never heard that word before.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

So spalting is just the process of when a tree starts to rot. Oh and it gets uh all those cool like uh black character lines in it and different coloring marks and and all that stuff.

Shawna 12:54

So I'm so happy to learn a new word and I'm gonna figure out a way to use it.

unknown 12:59

Yeah.

Shawna 13:00

It's beautiful. So this it's a um it's a little bowl, it's beautifully smooth. And what do you call like these like that's a part of like the the spalting itself?

SPEAKER_00 13:11

Oh, that is okay. Yeah, that's cool.

Shawna 13:12

The spalting is gorgeous on this bowl. Like I came up with that word on my um and then on the bottom there's an inset darker wood circle with your logo, and it's just so beautiful. And it's just you know how like you feel a piece, and it's just like solid and perfectly smooth, so high quality. I love it. Thank you so much.

Brian 13:35

Yeah, it's beautiful. And and you said now you got that wood from where did you get this wood from again? Uh from Spencer at Day Garden. Okay. And it was like some old pallets. Is that is that correct? What you're saying? No, no, slabs. Slabs, okay. Live edge slabs. That is that's amazing. I love like you guys again, like it took us back to some days. Shauna used to do a lot of stuff with pallets. Okay. We homeschooled, and you know, it was, you know, we were doing the business. Yeah, and she would like bring stuff in, like we would look for old like dressers and stuff like that, and we'd bring them in. She'd we'd redo the top and then put it our garage was just full of stuff. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh man, so full. So full. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, it's uh it's a lot of work, it's a lot of work, but there's a lot of stuff that you can really salvage and and bring back. So yeah, the bowl was really cool. I absolutely love those.

SPEAKER_00 14:21

Well, and even just with the salvaging part, that is a big part of our name as well. That ties into that. Yes, especially more so in the Northwest. Uh, we worked with a lot of reclaimed wood. And so out there, um because we were right across the river uh from Portland. Okay. And so uh I would get a lot of my reclaimed wood from uh Portland uh because Oregon has a law that if your house was built before a certain time period, they had to be dismantled by hand. Oh, you couldn't just bulldoze it and trash all the wood. Um there's yeah, a wood shop that that was their business model. Um, they would go dismantle these houses, you know, denail and reclaim the wood, and I would go down there. You could buy everything, um, all different sizes, big beams, uh, and uh a lot of just reclaimed uh fur, essentially, what it is what it was. Um, and so that that ties into our name, you know, Ash is the beauty, because essentially you're taking pieces that people would essentially, if there wasn't that lot, you're just bulldozing it down and you know you trash it or whatever. Uh, we get to go in there, take it,

Why Reclaimed Wood Feels Personal

SPEAKER_00 15:30

and then make beautiful, you know, furniture uh pieces with it and stuff.

Brian 15:34

So I love that. So do you see the elements of what you've done in the past and how it's worked together to get you to do what you're doing today?

SPEAKER_00 15:42

Uh I would say like the biggest thing is, you know, with with that's been carried over is just connecting with people. I mean, because you're doing that in ministry and then you're doing that with graphic designing, uh, and then with woodworking, you're always connecting with people, um, you know, on so many different levels. Uh, you know, ministry, it's like there's spiritual needs, graphic design, there's, you know, like, hey, we need this design need. And then with woodworking, um, you've got a whatever project need and stuff. And so I've you know, I've really learned uh to when connecting with people is just like to stop and listen, you know, to kind of what what's going on in their life and what's this project, what is it gonna mean to you, why do you want it? And and those sort of things. Um, and a lot of people, uh, you know, you know, especially with woodworking, like they they want um, you know, a story, you know, from the from the wood, or they want a story uh like when people come over and be like, hey, this is you know, uh this piece, it was and here's the back story to it. Um we actually had a lady um on uh I think it was in Viral Lago uh neighborhood, um, wanted, you know, a specific piece for a front entry. And I was able to find a slab um that had actually you know come from a tree that had come down in the tornadoes uh from Melton. Wow. Um and uh and so it just blew her away. Like they're they are originally from uh Tennessee, I believe. Yeah. And so um they were down uh, you know, at their Vero house. Um, and it just when I told her the backstory to it, um, it just blew her away because you know, it just it makes it more so much more meaningful. Um, and so she actually did like a little print up write out, you know, about where the tree came from and the story behind it and like kind of taped it to the bottom of it. I love that. But yeah, I think that's the biggest thing is that that's cool, you know, over the years, I mean, you just meet so many different people and you get to connect with them in in different ways that other people don't. Um, and even with our markets that we do, uh the people that stop at our tent and they just want to talk. And then you know, it's so much for us, like we don't even care if they buy anything. We just we've met so many uh uh interesting people.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

And and then we also end up finding out all the uh small world connections uh with people and you get to hear their story and and so more so much uh you know behind that and stuff. But um, yeah, that's uh one of the biggest things. Yeah, it's just the people we get get to connect with. Wow.

Shawna 18:31

Have you ever been able to do a piece with someone who had the tree already, like their own tree or whatever?

SPEAKER_00 18:38

I've done like not too big a piece, but yeah, I've done some pieces where um people have wood from like a tree that was like on their grandpa's land or something. Yeah. Something like that. Um, it hasn't happened a lot, but there has been a couple projects uh like that. Um, yeah, that it was just they had the wood that was just sentimental and they wanted to do something with it and stuff. So that's cool.

Shawna 19:02

That's what I'm thinking specifically of is so I lost my dad in 21 and um he loved, and this might not be a good kind of wood to make projects out of, I don't know, but I'm gonna try to figure out something. He um loved the catalpa tree across the street from our house. And so he got a seed pod and he started growing it and now it's gigantic. And they have to like take off so many branches every year because it's right by the house. Like it's and it's this huge tree now. And so I was just thinking, like, because I noticed your earrings. Oh, yeah. So I thought, like, I don't know, maybe I can give you some pieces and figure out something from that.

SPEAKER_00 19:38

Oh, for sure. Yeah, yeah.

Shawna 19:39

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

And that's the beauty of what we do. It's like we do everything from from small stuff to big projects. So there's so much variation that can happen um with wood from

Marketing Woes, Pricing, And Not Underselling Yourself

SPEAKER_00 19:50

wherever and stuff.

Brian 19:51

So what would you say out of your 10 years has been your biggest challenge? Talking about the work that I do.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

Yeah, I am uh like I I love doing the woodworking, working in the shop, but I love being in the shadows. Self-marketing is my biggest downfall.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

It's brutal.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

It's both of us, we're both kind of like like even coming on this podcast, I'm like, oh because in it's something, I mean, you've got to do it, obviously. Yeah, you know, when when you're the face of what's going on, it's like you have to be the face of what's going on. Uh so yeah, I mean, you know, and that was even with you know, all the graphic design work that I did, everything. Like, I will produce products that can sell, but for me to be the one to go out there and sell it is yeah, my biggest downplay.

Shawna 20:45

And the same way, it's hard the same way.

Brian 20:48

Like I know one of the things I if I look back, I would tell I told Sean, I was like, if I look back from when I started and launched full time, one of the things I would change is one of the first people I would hire is a salesperson. Yeah. Because it is, and and the other thing I gotta get rid of is accounting. I hate accounting, I don't have time for it, yeah, but I have to do it, right? So it's like you like when you're like you said, you're the face and you're there's you're the owner until you get to certain places, you're like, I've got to do it. Yeah, and like delegation has been still something I'm still learning and getting more into, but yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

And that was one thing, um, because we got real good friends. Uh he's a leather maker. Okay. Um, so when we're living in the Northwest, um, he would always tell me, don't undersell yourself. Uh and in I even just along the years, um, I've seen, I forget where I'd seen it, but um in a nutshell is basically you know, set your price where you want it. And if someone says you're too expensive, they're not right, they're just not your customer. Yeah. Um, and so it then that's one thing I've had to learn majorly over the years is setting my price to where you know it's fair for me and it's you know, you know, fair for for what I'm selling and stuff. Um, and if someone doesn't buy, it doesn't mean it's a you know a negative check mark against you. Yeah. They're just not your customer. No. Um, and then you who knows, the next person that walks up, it's like, oh, you're too inexpensive. And I'm like, where

Brian 22:20

We've been there, like someone will come to well. I I was just at a a music store in Orlando, and one of the kids working there. He's like, He's like, Yeah, I had to work all weekend. I was like, Oh, at the store. He's like, Oh no, we were closed, but um, he's like, Someone reached out to me and they need help setting up all this audio equipment. And it was a holiday weekend. And uh he's like, So I told him, Well, he's like, I really didn't want to do it, but it was a holiday, and I'm like, Well, I'll do it for this much. He's like, I just threw out a price, like more. So he's like instantly like done. Yeah. I'm like, well, then what does that tell you? Yeah. I was like, tells you you need to up your price, first off. Oh, I ran into those prices. I was like, don't be afraid to do that.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

Yeah, I get a yes too fast. I'm like, Don't I know?

Brian 22:58

So, okay, so you guys have been

Vero Beach Favorites And Local Shoutouts

Brian 23:00

here for or you've been here for a long time now. So tell me, like, what are some of the things that you guys love about Vero, the treasure coast area, uh, and any places that you want to give shout-outs to as well, because we're always checking out new places. And so there's people like this is cool. We've had people actually flying in to the Vero Beach Airport Airport now that have contacted us and said, Hey, I've been listening to your podcast on the way there. Can you tell us a place to go to eat, a place that's adventurous and you know, stuff like that? Yeah. So we get to share that with them. So but we learn more from all from everybody that comes on. So we would love to hear from you guys. What do you love about the community and what are some of your favorite places to go?

SPEAKER_00 23:37

I mean, one thing about Vero, like, even though it's grown in population quite a bit, um, I mean, you still get that small town vibe. Um, like we still drive around town and see people we know uh sometimes. And so with me just being like a big goof, you know, uh a lot of the times like I'll just stick my head out the window, just like scream while driving by at them or something.

Brian 24:00

You should do that when you're marketing your wood.

Shawna 24:02

Just stick your head out the window. Throw some cards out and just drive out.

SPEAKER_00 24:09

Um, so like you still uh you don't run into as many people as you used to, uh, just because the population, but yeah, we still get to run into you know people uh here and there while just being out and about in it's always fun. Yeah, so it still has that that small town vibe aspect to it.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

It does. Um we love going to the beach.

SPEAKER_00 24:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:31

We have become really good friends with some really cool people in our community that will do they do flowers. I don't know if you've heard of like Pure Vita or Painted Skies Farm. Yes. So we it's just really cool because Viro didn't have that kind of stuff when we like before we had moved and come back. Yeah, right. So it's really cool to get into the community and just kind of meet these these amazing people and like Diggarden, like all of these people that are just about the community, yeah, and about bringing people out of this fast-paced, busy life to slow down and just just enjoy what they have to offer. Um I think that that's been really cool coming being gone for a little bit and coming back and just realizing like Bureau is much more than just the beach town. Like there's like the farms and the I mean, just it's beautiful out there. What yeah. So we've it's been really cool to get to to know we we got to know them through markets and just you know, church or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 25:37

But yeah, it's and honestly, yeah, for me it it it took being away 10 years to come back and truly appreciate VR.

SPEAKER_01 25:45

Yeah, it did.

SPEAKER_00 25:46

Uh because being born and raised here, um, you know, I grew up skateboarding and I mean we fought forever to get a skate park in the town. You've got all these, you know, uh teenagers who at the time were just skateboarding. It's like we have nowhere to go. Yeah. And so we would just be, you know, finding you know uh uh loading docks behind businesses or other places that we're just getting kicked out of and causing problems. And then you just you I don't know if you guys have ever uh heard the term zero beach. Yeah, so it was kind of that yeah, uh that time period was like you're you're in a small town and there's literally nothing to do for like smaller uh kids or teenagers or uh and so a lot of you just get into trouble because you know why not have an outlet, uh pre-social media, you know, all that stuff. Uh and so you just you you I grew up with not so much an angst, but like like oh this this town, uh it's just lame. There's nothing for us to do here. Um, and so it was nice that we you know took a 10-year hiatus and then come back, and you're like, We so appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 26:57

We love it uh being back. It really is essentially the bones of it. There's a lot more people, but the bones are still there. You got your football games, you got yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:05

We started getting back into like going to the high school football game. Yeah, it's just fun.

SPEAKER_01 27:09

It is fun.

Brian 27:10

Yeah, it's like Friday Night Lights at the football game.

SPEAKER_00 27:12

It's like no joke. It is. Yeah, well, especially, especially this past uh season, too. It was it was great.

SPEAKER_01 27:17

It was really cool just to have our kids kind of because Vancouver, Portland, like very busy, very fast paced, very like it's so big and spread out and just for our kids to kind of come back and unwind and just do those like simpler things, like going to pick flowers with my daughter at the farm or doing mom camp where I we get to ride horses, like that kind of stuff was just amazing in the beach. We that's kind of like our stress relief. Oh yeah, and I mean basically we definitely could use a few more restaurants, but like we love tacos, so we go to Taco Dive.

Brian 27:54

Oh, yeah, Taco Dive's got really good tacos, yeah. My favorite place in El Cid. L Cid, that's right.

Shawna 27:59

Taco Dive and L Cid. That's yeah, yeah. So um so good. We recently went to Chilling Grill right up there across from Dig. Oh, yeah, and they have Brian said the best taco he'd ever had. Yeah, really? I think it's like taco of the week or something like that, right? Yeah, so it's like changing all the time. Yeah, it was really good. It was a great, yeah, it's a great restaurant, completely from scratch, like all their sauces, all of their everything from scratch.

Brian 28:22

That's great of taco dive too. Yeah. Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:25

Yeah, they have, I mean, there's some little hidden gems all around, and I think it's cool that you gotta kind of work to find them. Yeah, you know what I mean? It's not just this big their mom and pop places. Um, I think that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 28:37

And you find out more, yeah. Find out more about those places by connecting with people. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Brian 28:41

And you find out things that are their specials that aren't even on their menu. Yeah, you have to you have to have the inside to ask for it, right? It's like, what? What is this? Yeah, yeah. So that's that's very cool. All right. So it's you know, we've really enjoyed having you guys on the podcast. This has been great. Uh definitely thank you again for the gift as well. Oh, for sure. I know we're definitely probably gonna have some plans for the future or some things. So so as we get ready to wrap

How To Connect And Future Goals

Brian 29:05

up, Shauna's got one more question she's gonna ask you. Uh, but first, I would love to know like what are some of the ways that people can get a hold of you? Like, what's your website address, your social media handles? I know you're you got hilarious videos coming out soon. So I would always stay tuned. But yeah, let us know like how how can people connect with you guys and see what you're doing?

SPEAKER_00 29:24

Uh so socials are pretty easy. Uh, every platform is just Ashes to Beauty Wood. Um, so for Instagram, Facebook, and those are just the two main ones that we're on. Um, and then our website is uh ashes to beautywood.com. Okay, cool. So those are the easiest ways uh to connect with us.

Shawna 29:42

Perfect.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

Awesome.

Shawna 29:43

Well, okay, so one with this question. So, what do you hope for the future of Ashes to Beauty?

SPEAKER_00 29:49

Uh eventually, so we've actually had recent conversations. Uh, so long-term goal would be to you know have our own standalone shop and then at the front of it have like a little storefront. Because, you know, we love uh the community that we've been able to connect with with markets and stuff, we want to have a place where we could obviously sell our woods also to bring other people in, you know, into the storefront. Yeah, local uh, you know, people, um, sort of similar to what you know Dig Gardens uh is doing. Yeah. Um, you know, Summer's done an awesome job, you know, with her the setup up there and stuff. But but yeah, to to bring other people in that we always see doing the market routes and you know and everything. And but to give them somewhere where they can have more of like a brick and mortar to that they can even produce more income for themselves, for their business, uh, and so forth. But you know, it's all in the Lord Siming. Uh, you know, it's like that's our big dream, scares the heck out of us, and we'll just see what happens. Yeah. For now, it's like we just take it one day at a time, you know, uh continuing to just you know bust out the projects that come in and uh, you know, and and make sure that we're we're being accountable to what's in front of us right now.

Brian 31:00

So well, we've really enjoyed having you both on the podcast. Thank you guys so much for joining us. This has been a lot of fun. So thank you guys. Yeah, we appreciate it. No problem. Well,

Local Pieces You Can See Now

Brian 31:10

with that, if you guys have enjoyed this episode, make sure you click that subscribe and send this to your friends, especially locally here. Uh, actually, I was gonna ask you guys one question. I I have so many questions.

Shawna 31:22

This happens a lot.

unknown 31:23

Yeah.

Brian 31:23

Do you guys have any local pieces around N Bureau that people can go see? Like at places?

SPEAKER_01 31:29

Dig.

Brian 31:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:30

Gardens, their um countertop when you go to check out. Um, Zach has done that. Um I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 31:37

We're we're in you uh a lot of resume. Okay.

Shawna 31:41

Yeah, but I know Dig for sure.

SPEAKER_00 31:43

All right, so yeah.

Shawna 31:44

Businesses, get in here on the ground floor. You can be like the show piece.

Brian 31:47

Yeah, go check out. I mean, I mean, how many businesses have waiting lobbies and everything here? Like, there's a lot of opportunity there. So well, that's cool. Yeah, so if you guys are wanting to see a piece, go stop by Dig Diggs and go check out their piece there. Uh, but definitely you go to their website, check, you can find some beautiful examples on there. So, with that, you guys, thank you for tuning in.

Shawna 32:06

Catch you next time, neighbor.