March 24, 2019

It's been a very busy year for us and I see it's been almost a year since we last posted anything here on our blog. There's a lot to catch up on so let's get started. Last year, Marleywood had a pretty good start for it's inaugural year, making custom raised garden bed kits that were as small as 3' diameter hexagons to large beds that were 4' x 24'x 16".  Beautiful huge, deep raised beds that provide plenty of depth for root vegetables and other deep rooted plants.

Two 4' x 24' x 16" Marleywood Raised Garden Bed Kits on the front right side in front of two 4' x 20' x 16" Marleywood Raised Garden Bed Kits

This winter has been a particularly brutal one for us up here on the mountain.  So far, we have received 130 inches of snow since October 18th, 2018. Yes, that is not a typo - one hundred-thirty inches! And counting, apparently since my post from last April reminds me how much snow and ice we can still get that late in the season.
Luckily for us, we are set up in a way in which the snow doesn't hurt our productivity and we can still work in the wood shop despite the mounds of snow that accumulate outside.  I love working in the shop while the snow is falling outside; it makes me feel productive. Certainly not trapped, like some may feel.
In spite of all the snow, I managed to ice skate on our pond more days this season than any previous winter. I know it's only been three winters but you have to start counting somewhere.  We snowmobiled on beautiful trails that we wide and groomed, Mark learning more and more ways around on the snowmobile and probably put on over a thousand miles on his sled, whereas I drove only about 80 all season, if that. But we had a blast! Snowshoeing was another big activity this winter at Marleywood. We hiked around our property, training the doodles off leash with Marley's assistance and swapped out batteries and memory cards in our trail cameras.

Camera-shy bobcat

Gardening is our other passion and it was that passion which lead us to building the Marleywood Cedar Garden kits. We wanted to be able to build beautiful raised garden beds but not have to deal with all the hassle of dealing with screws and nails that would show.  We noticed many other kits are also made from 1" nominal cedar. Cedar is strong and durable however, soil can be very heavy and create a lot of stress on the wall of a raised bed. We use 2" nominal cedar boards which is much more durable and will not bow. None of our boards are longer than 4" so there is limited stress on the walls as well. The thicker wood is far stronger and lasts longer than the thinner 1" boards other companies use.

The photos show a client's garden who has purchased these large raised beds a few at a time over the course of many years demonstrating the pretty weathered grey the cedar eventually takes on over time.  

We've been working in the wood shop, preparing for the upcoming gardening season and have plenty of our raised garden bed kits ready to ship out as soon as they are ordered. Mud season has already started  - it will be a long one since there is still so much snow to melt. We are excited for the 2019 season - particularly to be able to get into our own garden and get playing in the soil.