Asheville Treecyclers

Asheville Treecyclers is an environmentally responsible cooperative of wood processors, woodworkers and artists giving new life to downed urban trees which would otherwise become a wasted natural resource. Many of these are beautiful large, old growth and highly figured urban trees which are doomed to be ground into mulch. As members we work together to salvage these special downed trees, which have graced our yards and parks, cut them into quality lumber and Treecycle them into a wide variety of meaningful furniture, art and products with a very unique story to tell. Imagine an heirloom chair or table handcrafted out of a beautiful old maple that lived out its natural life in your (or your client’s) own backyard.

 As Coop members, we plan to have the option to market our “100% Treecyclers certified” finished work and high quality materials directly to buyers through our planned Treecyclers Coop Green Gallery in downtown Asheville, putting the profits directly back into the pockets of our coop members. Our organization is comprised of both professional and hobby level woodworkers working together without middlemen or “upper management”, so we can more fully enjoy the fruits of our own labor. We are supported by conscientious clients and buyers seeking more sustainable, responsible and meaningful furniture, art and other fine wood products.

 

          -Cooperative Wood shop and Downtown Coop Green Gallery

 Western North Carolina has a rich cultural heritage of fine woodworking. Following this tradition, Asheville Treecyclers is happy to announce the planning and development of our Cooperative Wood shop. Think of it as a YMCA or health & fitness club except with top of the line shop equipment instead of exercise machines. As a group of local woodworkers and artists, we have decided to create our own large wood shop facility that will satisfy the needs of both the hobby “weekend” woodworker as well as the professional level woodworker making a living with wood.

 Our unique design features the combination of a large, central shared wood shop surrounded by smaller personal studio-shops with a locking garage type door opening into the main shop facility. Shop management will be carried out by a shop manager voted in by coop members. And by choosing one of several levels of membership we can offer a few different options for local woodworkers. Initial site investigation will be focusing upon the River Arts District in Asheville for the shop with a separate Downtown Asheville location for the Treecyclers Green Gallery.

 

          -Why A Cooperative structure?

 Some of us feel dissatisfied with current work choices, simply wanting more freedoms and options. Some feel less than self-empowered about the continuation of working for a “boss” for a “wage” at the seemingly ever increasing expense of family and personal time. We believe there is a way to, in the words of E.F. Schumacher in Good Work, “enable workers to produce necessary and socially useful goods and services; enable each of us to use and perfect our skills; and to do so in service and in cooperation with others.” We choose to try and work together to create a more profitable option, one based upon our commonly held  principles and personal convictions of old-fashioned community inter-dependence, self-empowerment through cooperation, sustainability and mutual aid.

 Our research shows that as a woodworker coop, we can obtain lower-cost, high-quality materials, have all the access to industrial shop equipment, facilities and marketing outlets that we need to create and market our unique “100% Treecyclers Certified” finished work and products directly to buyers; all of which translates to higher profits directly into the pockets of our coop members working together, without middlemen, to more fully enjoy the fruits of our own labor.

 

          -Some excerpts from our 5-year projections document:

      “Asheville Treecyclers begins cooperatively processing urban trees and produces high quality lumber, slabs, mantles flooring, trim/molding, fire wood/kindling, mulch/sawdust for sale to public and available to coop members for further processing into finished ‘100% Treecyclers Certified’ goods.”

 

       “Asheville Treecyclers introduces new urban tree planting program, partnering with local schools and local community groups (such as Quality Forward).”

 

      “Asheville Treecyclers introduces partnership program with local university to design sustainable energy system utilizing Treecyclers wood waste for biogas gasification as 100 % green fuel source which runs Asheville Treecyclers Coop Wood shop facility and downtown green Gallery.”

 

       “Asheville Treecyclers uses a portion of it’s proceeds to expand educational programs to bring school and community groups in to the Asheville Treecyclers wood shop to participate in hands on learning about urban trees, woodworking and the cooperative business model as a  self empowering tool of the people in our local community.”

 

       “Asheville Treecyclers begins to branch out to other cities across the nation, using Asheville Treecyclers cooperative system as a model. Representatives from Asheville Treecyclers travel to new locations, advising and helping new branches replicate the Asheville Treecyclers system.”

 

 

Contributions to Asheville Treecyclers are tax deductible. We can accept charge card donations. Please call for details-828-450-1375