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How'd We Get Our Name

As we wrap up our 10th year in business today and head into our 11th year, I wanted to share how we came up with our name. We’ve had quite a few people ask about it over the last couple of years.

Our company began as DSM Woodwork & Art in 2015 as a side business with the goal of building small furniture and handcrafted goods to supplement our family income. In the summer of 2018 I resigned from my career in secondary public education and launched DSM Woodwork as a full-time venture. I initially focused on trim/finish carpentry and small furniture projects for clients in Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, and metro Detroit. 

It wasn’t an easy transition; I was actually applying and interviewing for Learning & Development jobs in industry hoping to utilize my educational and technical background in chemistry. I wanted to go full-time woodworking but it didn’t “make sense” yet and God told me in prayer “not yet.” I was still taking on client projects while job searching to provide for my young family. We ended up selling our first home in Portage and moved in with my in-laws in Vicksburg as I was jobless and my wife had become a stay-at-home mom the year before when our 2nd daughter was born.

After selling our home, I moved my shop into the back third of an uninsulated horse barn in Vicksburg, MI. This move was temporary but necessary and presented many challenges that led to lessons learned and opportunities for creative problem solving. In the spring of 2019, I secured a larger, heated space near downtown Kalamazoo and was able to move in, purchase necessary equipment upgrades, and begin taking on larger projects. My landlord sold that property a few months later and moved us with him a few blocks down the street.

I began to develop the concept of Harvest + Co in Spring 2019 during a church service when the Lord was speaking to me about the word  “harvest”. We were in a season of planting seeds and working the ground in terms of our trade and business relationships but not yet harvesting. As DSM Woodwork grew, I included Harvest + Co as part of our brand with an understanding that we would eventually transition to that name but it was still unclear what exactly it would represent.

Galatians 6:7-10 says “Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith”.

In 2023 I made the decision to pursue a new shop location in Portage that was cleaner, safer, larger, closer to home, and came with greater visibility and a front space suitable for a showroom and design studio. It’s been 2 years in that location and when we moved, I decided it was time to fully rebrand to Harvest + Co. You see, for so long DSM Woodwork was about me and Harvest + Co is so much more. It’s less of me and more of God and how he works through us to further His kingdom.

I believe He has put me in a position to influence the community, contribute to the local workforce, support my family, and make beautiful things out of wood. We know from Matthew 9:37 that the harvest is ready, but the workers are few. It is my hope and prayer as we head into our 11th year of business that more people throughout our region know who we are because of the work we do and the God we serve. Once in a while I lose sight of that or get tired when there are obstacles in the way for a long season. But God. 

So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up (Gal 6:9).

 

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