When Max and Jordan Hoener first bought their Millbrook farm in 2018, which dates back to the 1700s, they had no idea about the adventure they were about to embark upon.
"It was really overgrown when we moved in, and there was a lot of dead trees, beautiful old trees," said Max Hoener.
That’s when they got the idea to harvest all the old trees and turn them into furniture made from wood from their farm and the surrounding area.
What You Need To Know
- Max and Jordan Hoener hand-make furniture using rescued wood from their farm or from the surrounding area
- The Hoeners built their own sawmill and solar powered kiln on their farm
- The Hoeners allow customers to use decaying trees from their own yards to craft one-of-a-kind pieces of furniture
"So normally, a lot of these logs here would either be chipped or burned or go to the landfill," said Max Hoener.
They call it “full circle furniture” at Hoener Farms. It's an eco-friendly method of furniture making that takes rescued wood out of the waste cycle and into homes. Every part of the process happens on the farm.
Furniture making is in Max’s blood, as his grandfather and father were sculptors and woodworkers. Max actually built the sawmill himself.
Once he splits the logs, he checks the grain of the wood inside.
"That’s sort of the exciting part; when you put a log on the sawmill, you never know what you're going to get inside. It’s like opening a present every time," said Max Hoener.
After air drying for about a year, the wood goes into a kiln where it's dried using hot air, powered by the sun. Then in the shop, the wood is transformed into chairs, tables, or anything customers can think of.
"We encourage them to come [in], and they can actually pick out the wood that they want to use," said Max Hoener.
"Instead of just using lumber, we really try to listen to the wood and see what it wants to be for its next adventure," said Jordan Hoener.
Max and Jordan haven’t been selling their furniture for long. They only started selling pieces this year when the COVID-19 pandemic slowed down other business.
"It's really satisfying to see it as a log and then kind of go through the whole process and seeing it the whole way through from that first point," said Jordan Hoener. "It's really, really satisfying; it’s a lot of fun, and we get to do it all together the whole way through."