🍂 SEPTEMBER — THE NORTH POLE IS WAKING UP

I didn’t always live at the North Pole.

I grew up around trees, rivers and plenty of perfectly good wood just waiting to become something.

I started small.

A branch here.
A log there.
Then a dam.
Then a bigger dam.
Then a dam that, according to several other beavers, was “probably unnecessarily complicated.”

It was magnificent.

Eventually word reached the North Pole that there was a beaver who could build just about anything out of wood.

So I got invited north.

I came for a visit.
I saw the workshop.
I saw the Christmas trees.
I saw how much building happens around here.
And I saw the lumber pile.

I stayed.

Officially?
I help build things.

Workbenches. Signs. Shelves. Decorations. Christmas projects. Anything that needs a good piece of wood and somebody who knows what to do with it.

Unofficially?
I inspect the lumber.
Very closely.
Sometimes with my teeth.

Ginger and I work together on projects because she likes to build things too.

She usually brings the plans.
I usually look at the plans.
Then I look at the wood.
Then I say:

“What’s chuckin’?”

And we get to work.

🪵 Wood — Pine. Maple. Birch. Cedar. I’m not picky.

🌲 Trees — I always volunteer at the North Pole Tree Lot. If you need a real Christmas tree, I’m your man to cut it down.

I mean...

I’m your beaver to chew it down.

Why use an axe when you brought your own teeth?

🔨 Building things — Especially things people actually use.

🌊 A good dam — Functional. Beautiful. Underappreciated.

🍪 Ginger’s baking — Wood isn’t the only thing worth biting.

🦫 Being called a woodchuck.

🪵 Splinters.

📐 Someone changing the measurements halfway through a project.

❓ And that question.
You know the one.

“How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?”

I DON’T KNOW.

Ask a woodchuck.

Building isn’t really about wood.

It’s about making something that wasn’t there before.

A pile of lumber can become a table.
A branch can become a decoration.
A few scraps can become something somebody keeps for years.

You don’t need the best materials.
You don’t need the fanciest tools.
And you definitely don’t need beaver teeth.

Although they help.

You just need an idea and the willingness to start.

Since everybody keeps asking questions about beavers and wood, I have officially corrected the question.

Please update your records.

“How many beaver bites could a beaver bite if a beaver could bite wood?”

My answer?

All of them.

I’m Justin.
I build.
I bite.
And around here, there’s always something else that needs making.

Chuck off for now!

That means goodbye.
Or The End.
Except this story will never really end.

There’s always more wood to chew. 🦫🪵