If You Go Down To The Woods Today……
Earlier in October Sue & I travelled to Zeballos on the Far West Coast of Vancouver Island to spend a few days fishing for Coho & Chum Salmon on the Zeballos and Kaouk Rivers.
Zeballos is situated, just north of the small town of Woss off Highway 19. The hour ‘off highway’ journey to Zeballos is on a well maintained logging road but you do need to watch out for & give way to logging trucks. Headlights on at all times.
We stayed with Steve Shelley of Nature’s Edge Wood Design. Steve has been a fishing guide and fishing lodge owner for over 28 years, guiding fishermen on rivers, lakes and on the waters of the Pacific Ocean from the Queen Charlotte Islands to southern Vancouver Island.
Steve’s lodge in Zeballos is called Island Tides and from here he guides guests on both off shore marine fishing trips for salmon, halibut and red snapper, and freshwater fishing trips for Coho & Chum salmon, cutthroat trout and steel head.
For the non fisherman there are wildlife viewing tours for bears, eagles, sea otters (who abound in the Esperanza Inlet) and Humpback & Orca whales. Steve runs these tours from June to October each year.
The trip was magnificent not only for the huge number of salmon (and the occasional cutthroat trout) that we caught but also for the huge variety of wildlife around at this time of year. More black bears than we have ever seen before and at very close range. The bears were enjoying the abundance of salmon in preparation for winter.
From November onwards, Steve spends his time carving platters, bowls & trays from salvaged woods for his Natures Edge business.
When it comes to Nature’s Edge Wood Design Steve’s Philosophy is simple. “With strong ties to the outdoors and nature I have always had a keen interest in working with reclaimed and salvaged wood. Taking a piece of wood that someone else has discarded, or that will lay on the beach and rot or be burned, and turning it into something useful is very rewarding for me.”
Steve gets a lot of inspiration for his work, as well as the majority of his material, while walking his dog on the beaches of Discovery Passage near his home in Campbell River and from remote beaches on the inlets of the coast around Zeballos. Finding and working with the wood he salvages from the beaches is his favorite pass time. Each piece has completed a journey from its origins, which can be from far up a mainland river or a South or Central American jungle, to its time spent drifting around in the saltwater of the Pacific Ocean, to its final destination here on the shores of Discovery Passage.
Harvesting and processing wood is one of the major industries here on Vancouver Island. At Nature’s Edge Steve also salvage’s wood from logging site burn piles; smaller pieces, burls or unique shapes that are not usable in the traditional forest industry. But Steve sees the potential and the inherent beauty of this wood and creates wooden bowls, wood serving trays and wooden platters from what would otherwise be left unused.
The wood bowls, wood platters and wood serving trays are usually made from Maple and Alder but Steve also uses Poplar, Arbutus and several species of hard wood that have not yet been identified. Each one is unique in grain and details but the overall design is very versatile and they can be used for serving platters, table centerpieces or Medieval style trenchers or bowls.
Bowls and serving trays have been treated with Claphams salad bowl finish, a food safe mixture of bee’s wax and mineral oil, and are fully functional in the kitchen and dining room.
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