A surprisingly sturdy little stool with a question posed on top: “Have the seeds of eternity been planted in your soul?”
 
This piece is made of native jack pine grown by our home.  We try to use these pines only when they have reached their end of life, at that point, they (usually) will still make wonderfully strong lumber.  This stool was made from slabs that come off the side of the dimension lumber, enhanced by a little wood burning.  Jack Pines are currently globally imperiled.  They usually exist in fire-prone, sandy areas called pine barrens and often coexist with blueberries and other fruiting species.  In a repeat of history, many pine barrens have been removed again to make way for a second wave of agriculture.  The first time many of these areas of pines were farmed was during the first part of the 1900s when it was discovered to be a quite poor farm ground, as the resultant abandonment and regrowth of pines testify.  The advent of irrigation and chemical agriculture has temporarily made farming the sands possible but has created big water quality and quantity issues in the land-o-lakes.  The pine cones that are depicted on the stool represent the native seed bank that is under the surface of many fields - seeds lying in wait for the chance to sprout.  
Finished with wood gum spirits and boiled linseed oil.