From a fence to a play fort to crates and crochet

Fort Garry

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/09/2023 (1070 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I met Marc Chartier through an ad I had posted on Kijiji. Spoiler alert. The ad was for a pile of wood we had accumulated from disassembling our now-grown children’s play fort, which had fallen into disrepair. We had built it out of wood scraps from a fence someone was taking down in our neighborhood many years ago. Disassembling the play fort was nostalgic but I fully understood that what was meaningful to me is not necessarily meaningful to anyone else, especially wood from a play fort where our children and their friends and cousins had spent many hours playing. No one would really care about the old wood that had sentimental value to me. So, instead of paying a junk collector to pick up the wood for a fee, I posted it as a free item on Kijiji. The free pile of wood got many views and Marc arranged to pick it up from our back lane. He came with a trailer attached and when I looked into the back seat of his car, I knew immediately the wood had found a fitting new home. In his car were many items he’d made of wood — miniature picnic tables, shelves, and picture frames. Marc collects wood scraps other people throw away and fashions beautiful things out of them. I asked him if I could write about his woodworking here, to which he agreed.

If you travel 31 kilometres south of Winnipeg on St. Mary’s Road, you will reach the hamlet of Aubigny, population 55 persons or so. Nicole and Marc Chartier have lived there for the past 35 years. In fact, Marc has lived in Aubigny his whole life. His great-grandfather was one of the founding members of the town. Marc loves the peace and quiet of the countryside, and the familiar smell of harvest in the fall. He grew up on a farm and he has no intention of ever moving.

Their Crates and Crochet business didn’t exactly start with woodworking. It started with the crocheting. Nicole crochets colourful toys and stuffies and, when she decided to sell the crocheted toys at craft shows and farmers’ markets this summer, they needed a display method. “So, I thought I could make some small wooden crates to display the products,” Marc said. “We did our first show and I decided to venture into other woodworking. I like to work with wood. I always had an inkling to start woodworking but never really had the time with a family and working long hours. I never really got into it. And now I make all kinds of things. I have quite a few tools.”

At the beginning of July, Marc and Nicole took their crocheted and wood products to the farmers market in St. Malo and since then have been going every Saturday.

“At farmers’ markets you expect mostly food but the one in St. Malo has many tables of crafts and other kind of vendors, “Nicole says.

Nicole enjoys meeting all the people that frequent the farmers market like the locals, campers, and cabin people from the area. “It’s fun greeting everybody,” she said, with a laugh. “I am originally from St. Malo so it’s nice to see people I used to know.”

They usually set up two tables, one for wood crafts and one for colourful crocheted crafts. All the colours attract people to the tables.

“I started off with candle holders, lanterns like you would see as centre pieces at weddings, noodle boards to cover stoves or sinks to expand counter space for parties,” Marc said.

Now he also makes picnic tables for toddlers, shelving of all kinds, cat stairs, plant holders, and baskets. The wood from our play fort turned into hexagonal shelving units. The staircase and trap door from the fort turned into a plant stand in his living room.

“Everything I make is from wood I have scrounged up or people have given to me,” Marc said. “Just today I picked up a whole bunch of wood a guy was giving away. If it fits in the car, I bring it home. I use recycled wood if I can.”

Marc and Nicole have plans to expand and do other craft sales and farmers markets in the area including in Niverville, Morris, and St Adolphe in the fall. Marc recycles everything. If anyone has wood, they do not need and want to part with, Marc can collect it and make something beautiful out of it. His contact info is: cratesandcrochet@gmail.com