Timber Green Woods in Spring Green, Wisconsin started their little wood-working shop three years ago. With just a laser cutter, they began cutting and engraving wooden snowflake ornaments out of wood scraps left over from their sustainable wood flooring business. Eventually, Matt Van Susteren and his wife Amie ventured into the online world of Etsy (a marketplace for hand-crafters), and found a great home there for themselves and their unique wooden products. Click to enlarge the image above to see this amazing tree on their farm.
All of the wood they use is sustainably harvested from their family forest using what they call “Full Vigor Forestry”. They remove the dead and dying trees from the forest to help enhance the natural growth and productivity of the forest. All of the wood they harvest is then milled right at their farm on a small scale sawmill, and dried in their unique solar-cycle kilns by harnessing the power of the sun. Their forest is carefully managed in a totally sustainable fashion, and every year it becomes healthier, more productive, and more beautiful than the last.
This tight knit business also involves their three kids, Emily (13), Kaye (11), and Elijah (9), who help out a great deal with sorting snowflakes, sanding, shipping and more. Their “boss man” Jim calls them “his kids”. They all look after one another just like a big family.
In addition to ornaments, Timber Green Woods manufactures and sells natural and live edge serving and cutting boards, wooden puzzles, wood votive candle holders, and a wide variety of other wood gift items all available on their Etsy site.
Their mini wood snowflake ornament gift box is by far their most popular gift item. Another best seller, during the Christmas holiday season, is their custom engraved snowflake ornaments which come in a personalized monogram gift box using Nashville Wraps’ chocolate kraft boxes.
They use Nashville Wraps products almost exclusively for all of their gift packaging and shipping supply needs. The chocolate embossed 100% post consumer paper boxes from Nashville Wraps is a core element in their entire ornament product line. Matt commented, “These boxes are perfect to transform our wooden snowflakes and other designs into a totally unique ready-to-give gift product. We laser engrave each box lid with our original designs to match the product inside. Nashville Wraps has helped us with our unique set of needs, and we love working with their helpful and friendly staff.”
At Timber Green Woods they feel a unique bond with Nashville Wraps in that we are both selling eco-friendly, USA made goods. Their business depends heavily on the success of the other businesses in both our country, and the surrounding community.
By purchasing and supporting USA made goods, they are able to strengthen the local, regional, and national economies. They understand that by spending more money close to home, more money stays in our local community and helps keep and create jobs.
Buying USA made also means the products they buy are not being shipped around the world using fossil fuels, and thereby helping to decrease the size of their own carbon footprint.
In addition to Timber Woods promoting itself heavily online through their own websites and on Etsy.com, they attend trade shows and gift shows to introduce their products to new customers. They even recently published and distributed their first paper catalog because some customers still prefer it over shopping online.
Matt’s advice to other entrepreneurs is to set unobtainable goals, and do your best to reach them. He added, “If you do reach your goals, you’ve accomplished the impossible, and now you know you can set your goals even higher! If you don’t meet your goal, you know that you will need to try even harder. Push, push, push and don’t let anything get in your way.”
We are honored to have customers like Timber Green Woods who share our vision for sustainable products, made in the USA by people who care about the environment and our country.
Buffie Baril
Internet Advertising Manager
Nashville Wraps
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