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Sounds Of Summer: A Celebration Of All That Is Addison County Field Days

photo provided Hal running mill, sawing log

Tuesday August 17, 2010

By Cookie Steponaitis

     The scene is set and transcends time and place. It is a summer night at Addison County Field Days and the sounds are those of life in Addison County, Vermont. Even blindfolded the fairgoers can capture the essence of the fair and celebration of life in Vermont. The unmistakable jingle of a harness and the yells of the supporters herald the draft horse competitions as the giant equines match their brawn against ever growing amounts of weight.  The roar of engines and the bone jarring crunch of metal ripping and bending can also be heard in the annual crowd pleaser Demolition Derby. Coming from the midway are the music, smells and sounds of rides and children, taking their twelfth turn on the Zipper and the Gravitron late into the night. Just off the main track are the sounds of baby animals and the tents where life on the farm comes alive to be touched, held and admired. Coupled with all of this is the clanging of iron being molded and the whirring of the saw, as the artisans of the fair demonstrate age old traditions of wood working to amateurs and veterans alike.

          Like many of the artisans present at the Addison County Field Days, Hal Jenkins learned his craft from his father. Working with wood and sawmills all his life, it wasn’t until 1995 that this American veteran bought his first Woodmizer portable sawmill, which hitches onto trucks and can be pulled to almost any place and set up to saw logs. Since then a second mill was necessary to replace the first in 2007 as Hal just plain wore the equipment out. “I love to cut all kinds of wood,” Hal remarked. “Anything and everything can be cut down and sawed. In Vermont that can include maple, ash, pines, hickory, butternut, cherry, cedar, hemlock and oak. Over the years some of my own personal favorite projects have included new altars for local churches, furniture making, post and beams for traditional houses and barns, siding for museums, ash wood for basket makers, shingles for a century plus aged house and wood trusses for bridges in Manchester.”

       Fairgoers were treated to not only watching Hal at work but seeing the process from start to finish. Using his saw mill and his experiences from farm, forest, and agriculture, Hal Jenkins demonstrated for people watching the uniquely social aspects of the craft of working with wood and at the same time the completely individualistic movement of each kind of wood being sawed. “It is called reaction wood,” Hal shared, “and each log has to be read and managed so to get the most useable product. The logs are “green” or not dried and so most lumber has to age some for months in order to dry out and be used later. Wet lumber shrinks a little and as it dries.”

      At his display locals and visitors alike heard words of the trade like “reading the log”, “squaring up” and “tailing the mill” which all correspond to the process of turning logs into stacked lumber for drying and later use. While Hal and his friends were kept quite busy each night displaying the working mill, he also got a chance to make his rounds to other craftsmen and even spent time watching the next generation show off the skills that have kept the agricultural community of Vermont alive and vibrant for over two hundred years. “Demonstrating at Addison County Field Days shows many people that there are options for managing their farms and forests,” reflected Hal. “It is interesting to watch and people see and understand how these skills can be harnessed to manage the natural resources we have. Most Vermonters are interested in getting the most out of the land and also see themselves as stewards for the next generation. The diversity of the types of logs/trees and the portability of these sawmills makes them a very versatile tool. It is a small enough industry to be interesting and entertaining, but large enough to provide competition, value, business opportunity and profitability.” Sitting next to his daughter Terri Jenkins and local friends, Hal pauses to share some personal favorite projects of sawing unique lumbers such as Birdseye or Curly Maples or even Quartersawn Oaks, Wood Burls, (yep, knots in the trunk), Fiddleback Maple and even Curly Oak. With each new project he speaks of there is a twinkle and a gleam in his eye that shows his love of his art and his respect for the environment in which he lives. While Hal at 73 years young is one of the older artisans present, he can match skills with the best, share advice with the novice and patiently answer questions from the just plain curious.

    Around Hall and his Woodmizer swirl the sounds and events of life in Vermont past and present. Farm animals amaze, tents are filled with prize winning crafts and wares, farmers swap stories and tips, and friends and visitors alike pass hour after hour in the pleasure of each others’ company and the crafts, traditions and ties that link generation after generation to Addison County soil, forests, waters and a way of life. It is once again summer in Vermont and Addison County reaffirms its commitment to a way of life that is time tested and again being preserved, as it passes from the hands of one generation to the next through gatherings big and small, but none quite like the days of summer at Addison County Field Days.

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