I started Black's Farmwood in the late 1990s. Due to my concerns regarding global deforestation and climate change, I left a Ph.D. program in clinical psychology in San Francisco. I headed east to help deconstruct my family's barn in Ohio. The 150-year-old oak barn had recently fallen in a storm, and I asked my grandmother what she planned to do with the wood. Her response was to burn the wood and clean up the area (a common practice just 20 years ago). I knew I wanted to create a green company that was an alternative to clear-cutting forests, so I borrowed a pickup truck and chainsaw and tore apart the antique oak barn with the help of my two grandfathers. During the process, I became enamored with the beauty of the weathered oak barn siding and the history of the hand-hewn beams. I had found my life's work.