MINNEAPOLIS — A Minneapolis company is giving discarded wood a new life.
Rick and Cindy Siewert founded Wood From the Hood in 2008 after reclaiming wood from an old ash tree that needed to be removed from their yard.
“I have wood in my veins. My father started the furniture business in 1965, so I have been working with wood my whole life,” said Rick Siewert.
Not only do they collect trees damaged by storms, but they also use trees that have been cut down due to disease, construction, and other reasons.
“If the tree blows over and the root ball and everything comes up with it, we can still use it,” says Rick Siewert.
Much of the wood they receive comes from the city of Minneapolis and tree care services, and Design Director Kelley Hermes then gets to work on custom projects.
“These came from trees that had to be cut down to make room for the new southwest light rail line. We then thermally modified it, making it suitable for outdoor use, and we are turning it into benches that will be located at each of the light rail stops,” Hermes said.
They work with schools, businesses and homeowners, a current project is for siblings who lost their father in a house fire.
“We also had to cut down a couple of trees because of the fire. We’re turning them into desks for them. They’ll have them forever and they’ll be something special to remember their dad by. And we want to use those trees,” she said.
Wood From the Hood also offers boards and household items in their wood shop including cribbage boards, cutting boards, cocktail smokers and more. On the bottom of each piece is a sticker that shows the origin of the wood.
Anything they can’t reuse is turned into firewood, wood chips, mulch, or taken to District Energy to be burned for energy. They are hosting a Holiday Makers Market on December 14th and 15th and are currently accepting applications from vendors.
Kirsten Mitchell
