I love the forest and old pieces of wood. So I took a rustic-furniture-making workshop, and then another, and then another. Now I'm hooked. In the back of my truck, there are always a bow saw and a set of pruning shears. As a singer in the musical group called the Boston Minstrel Company, I try justify my scavenging by donating all of the proceeds from Rustica to the Minstrels.

We are a not-for-profit singing group that visits homeless shelters in the Boston area, as well as the Massachusetts Correctional Institute in Framingham. We perform and get people singing who don't often have a lot to sing about. Please visit the Minstrels website, at www.bostonminstrel.com.