RECLAIMED WOOD SALT POT & SPOON

We love these olive wood bowls that are carved from very old tree stumps on the Kahero Farm in Kenya’s Rift Valley. The shape of each bowl is unique. Every bowl is made according to the grain in the wood. Some are shallow with thick bases, some oblong with divets on the edges. All have the rich grain for which olive is known, and none of them are round. The only power tool is a chain saw used to cut the stumps into workable pieces. After that, the carvers use machetes, chisels, and other homemade tools, some made from old harrow disks. The small wood spoon is included. The bowls are finished with broken glass bottles and sand paper and are then dipped in liquid paraffin, which protects the beauty of the wood.

The new owners of the farm saved the brown olive (olea africana) stumps of trees that were cut down decades earlier and taught the local herdsmen to carve bowls and spoons from the aged wood. There is no carving workshop on Kahero Farms. The workshop is where the herdsman sits chipping away while watching the sheep and cattle in the field. The herdsmen are paid a fair price for the pieces they create.

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