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After gaining confidence with the tools at CERES Fair Wood warehouse, Samira is now set to start her apprenticeship at a major engineering organisation in Melbourne. Forced to give up her place on Afghanistan’s women’s soccer team after a ban on women’s participation in sports, Samira found a new passion after arriving in Australia on a humanitarian visa in 2023. Enrolling in a hands-on carpentry program felt like a natural next step, having grown up watching her father doing steelwork. Samira spent 12 weeks learning from our experienced carpenters and shortly after enrolled in a Certificate II Building and Construction Pre-apprenticeship in Carpentry.  Samira’s story is just one of many successes coming out of our carpentry program. With connections to a wide network of Melbourne-based organisations, Fair Wood supports program graduates in finding employment or enrolling in TAFE courses if they choose to pursue a career in trade. In 2024, Fair Wood raised their total enrolments into the EPRI program to 18. Two graduates of the program have since progressed into permanent carpentry positions, with others working at Fair Wood. The program is part of the nationwide initiative Economic Pathways to Refugee Integration (EPRI) funded by the Federal Department of Home Affairs, assisting refugees in securing stable and fulfilling careers.

Timber grains come in a range of patterns. This depends on the way that the log is cut into boards. There are numerous ways to saw logs, with common low-waste techniques being: backsawn quartersawn radial sawn Each offers distinctive appearances, either embracing unique features of a tree that share its story of life in the soil or offering neat, uniform lines. Figuring out functional requirements and aesthetic vision of your design will help you to make the right choice in selecting timber. Backsawn: This type of sawing minimises waste of the log and allows for wider boards to be cut. You'll have seen backsawn wood before in furniture surfaces that display an attractive grain pattern of arching lines. Each pattern is unique and brings visual interest to a design, with a warm, rustic feel. Backsawn timber is less prone to splitting when nailing. Quarter sawn: Quarter sawn timber is the smart, formal office attire type - not as laid back as backsawn. It's characterised by a straight even grain, in Oak species displaying ray flecks. This process of sawing takes longer, where the log is initially divided in quarters before boards are cut. Compared to backsawn, quartersawn has lower shrinkage and is less likely to cup or warp. Radial sawn: Logs are first divided into wedges, following the way logs naturally split when drying. This type of sawing ensures high yield and low waste, particularly for smaller logs. Though less common due to its longer sawing process, people choose this type due to its high stability and attractive grain detail. It's popular for fencing, cladding, decking and skirting. The diagram on the right (sourced from Wood Solutions) shows how the log is cut for each saw type.   Ultimately, the grain pattern is a stylistic choice, with some considerations to be made about how the saw type will perform for the specific application. Fair Wood largely supply backsawn, with quartersawn joinery also available, like the Manna Gum pictured. Chat to our team the next time you visit our Preston warehouse to make sure you choose boards that work perfectly for your design.

In 1836 looking out from Pyramid Hill in Barapa Barapa country, Scottish surveyor Major Thomas Mitchell recorded this passage in his diary,  "As I stood, the first European intruder on the sublime solitude of these verdant plains, as yet untouched by flocks or herds; I felt conscious of being the harbinger of mighty changes; and that our steps would soon be followed by the men and the animal for which it seemed to be prepared."  A harbinger indeed he was, the squatters who followed “Major’s Line” - the wheel ruts from Mitchell’s wagons visible in the fertile soils even decades later - would destroy these verdant plains in a little more than two generations. Mitchell was right the land had been “prepared”.  Barapa Barapa, Djab Wurrung,Dja Dja Wurrung, Eastern Maar, Gunditjmara, Jardwadjali, Jupagalk, Taugurung, Wadawurrung, Wergaia and Wotjobaluk peoples had been managing their country with fire and controlled grazing for millennia. After the squatters cleared away the traditional owners, they cleared away most of the indigenous vegetation.  They ploughed up to a dozen times a year, they over-stocked their pastures with sheep, what little was left was stripped to the roots by plagues of rabbits.   We don’t hear much about it but this was the start of Victoria’s own dustbowl; it would last 50 years and be remembered as the time our skies turned an apocalyptic red. These were the dust storms. Massive red clouds carrying millions of tons of soil sweeping across Victoria and New South Wales sometimes reaching as far as New Zealand’s Southern Alps  Behind the dust storms topsoil would pile up in drifts burying fences, destroying machinery and seeping into houses. In once productive paddocks wheat crops were overwhelmed by drifting sand, whole flocks of sheep were lost, cattle choked. With no soil to till, no animals left farmers walked off their properties.  In rural towns schools and businesses closed, people gasped for air and were blinded as their land simply blew away. The wind needed to be slowed - which meant trees needed to be put back.  Nurseries were established and farmers given trees to plant shelterbelts that would slow the wind and stop the moving soil​.One species, a fast growing, drought-tolerant native from South Australian Eucalyptus cladocalyx also known as the sugar gum for the sweet, sticky sap it exudes from damaged bark, became the windbreak tree of choice.  Right across Western Victoria on once cleared farms tall sugar gums grew along fencelines - the “green walls” slowed the wind, caught the dust and protected the pastures. By the 1950s the shelterbelts had matured and the dust storms had eased.  By now farmers were using the dense heavy wood from their sugar gums as fence posts and firewood and sometimes for timber. Sugar gums coppice easily handily regrowing another tree from the stump. Not having to replant their shelterbelts meant many of the original stands have been cut for timber or firewood two, three or four times and are still growing. Sugar gum’s versatility and sustainability has not gone unnoticed.   As native forestry around Australia closes or slows down and large quantities of illegally harvested timber is being imported from overseas, sugar gum is increasingly being sourced as one of the few trusted hardwoods for building and in particular decking. George De Silva, Fair Wood Carpentry manager, explains that most decks these days are made from Merbau, which has been completely logged out of South-East Asia and the Pacific except for a few last stands in Papua New Guinea which foreign timber companies are now racing to cut down. George builds a lot of decks and relies on sugar gum’s natural durability and local provenance to make something that will last and that people will feel good about living with. He points out there's a satisfying symmetry using timber from a tree that helped fix a deforestation event here a century ago that’s also helping fix another deforestation event in our neighbour’s rainforests today.   Words by Chris Ennis.

Returning to pre-covid momentum has been a challenge for West Brunswick Community Garden, but now and again new faces appear at weekend working bees, eager to connect with nature and community. Last Sunday, volunteers convened beside Dunstan Reserve to improve the 30 individual garden plots utilised by the local community. Old Red Gum sleepers have experienced the winds and rain of Merribek weather and were well due for a replacement. CERES Fair Wood provided garden veggie bed kits, consisting of Cypress Macrocarpa sleepers, to help the team carry out the task. “It’s great that this timber is very durable; we're hoping it will last another ten years,” says Richard, member of the garden’s committee. “Around 2012, the then Brunswick City Council put [the land] out for expressions of interest and a local organisation who had been looking for an opportunity to develop a community garden came along.” Since transforming what was an empty space to a flourishing suburban haven for plant life, including a ‘food forest’ that gives the public access to herbs and fruits, the garden has greater outcomes than horticultural produce. “Obviously the garden’s principal activity is around producing food, but also we see ourselves as an educational resource.  We have a strong commitment to sustainability and organic gardening practices that we try to emphasise as much as possible in our workshops. “We also have a role in creating community. As much as possible, we try to bring people together, some volunteers live by themselves and are looking for social contact. “We try to cater for all interests and I guess it reflects the community here. We have a very diverse group of people both in terms of their background, people from all over the world who have settled locally.”

“When you plant a tree and grow it, and you gift that property to new generations or next owners, you are gifting time trapped in those trees.” - Rowan Reid, founder of Bambra Agroforestry Farm in the Otway Ranges. Agroforestry is a social plan as much as it is a farming practice. Educating younger generations about the philosophy and practice of agroforestry is an investment in the future of Australia's environment. The impact of agroforestry spans across both geographical scales and generations, offering lasting benefits for people, farm productivity and native ecosystems.For farmers beginning to reforest their agricultural land, the rewards are multifaceted: 🌿Improved soil stability and fertility🌿Habitat creation for wildlife🌿Better stream quality🌿Livestock shade and shelterEucalyptus timber, renowned for its beauty and durability, is consistently in demand among carpenters, architects, and property developers. Agroforestry creates a stable income stream for farmers, bolstering resilience in a changing climate—especially in horticulture, where extreme weather events can impact crop yields.As forests mature, future generations inherit this stream of income and the knowledge of how to responsibly select logs for harvest to maintain the health of farm forests.This engaging podcast episode featuring Rowan Reid and Andrew Stewart, fellow agroforesters from the Otways, explores what the future holds for agroforestry in Victoria. What is agroforestry?Agroforestry is an ancient practice, rooted in the traditions of Indigenous communities worldwide. By growing trees and shrubs alongside crops or livestock, agroforestry mimics natural forests, enhancing ecological health and improving agricultural productivity.We live in an interesting period of human history: Local environments respond to modern exploitative practices in ways that threaten future livelihoods, and colonisation has disrupted sharing of traditional land management knowledge.A study by the World Agroforestry Centre estimates that agroforestry could sequester up to 4.2 billion tonnes of CO2 annually worldwide—a powerful tool in the fight against climate change.In Australia, agroforestry offers an opportunity to reverse environmental degradation. It helps sink carbon dioxide, mitigating the greenhouse effect and its impact on global temperatures. Farmers, in particular, are uniquely positioned to be agents of positive change, using agroforestry to restore landscapes and foster resilience in their communities.  Fair Wood strive to source timber that we can certify meets high standards of environmental sustainability. Read more about our timber selection criteria here.  

On Thursday, 14 November, we attended an event hosted by Ecologi inviting professionals in the construction and infrastructure industries to learn about Keon Park Station's eco-design implementations. In collaboration with Level Crossings Removal Program, we repurposed an end-of-life Manna Gum as seating in the public leisure space below the elevated train station.  Our Marketing Coordinator spoke to attendees about the short supply chain, as the logs travelled from our urban sawmill near Tullamarine airport, to our profiler in the Dandenong, and back to the area it grew as rich-brown, stylish batten seating. Manna Gum timber remaining from the eight trees salvaged in this collaboration were integrated into Fair Wood's retail supply.  

CERES Environment Park recently opened their magnificent and light-filled Community Hall. The hall, consisting of two spaces that can be divided with a sliding wall, is now open for event bookings. Gorgeous views over the environment park, situated on the corner of Roberts Street and Stewart Street, Brunswick East, can be observed as the building sits nestled atop the park's hillside border. Salvaged Manna Gum was used to construct the kitchen server counter. When a storm in 2021 passed over the Yarra Ranges, toppling over numerous trees in its path, our supplier saw an opportunity to save these trees from going to mulch.  For one Manna Gum, it's story continues here at CERES.    

Three days at Melbourne Home Show were a fun and busy blur for the Fair Wood team on the 23rd to 25th of August, 2024. The event saw crowds of Victoria state locals fill the expo hall at Exhibition Centre in Southbank. Amongst the exciting buzz of chatter and demonstrations of some interesting home products, the Melbourne Home Show was a great opportunity for us to converse with people in our community; some about to embark on house renovations, others working in architecture or construction industries, and a few simply curious to find out what we mean when say 'fair' and 'sustainable'.  A giveaway planter box was on display - our carpentry timber whipped this up, repurposing timber once used as fencing. Events seem to be becoming our thing; Be sure to follow us on social media for news and updates about any future events we'll be attending.

It’s just after sunrise and I’m driving the CERES Fair Wood truck at a crawl up a gravel road North of Heathcote in Central Victoria. The lightly treed paddocks to my left are literally moving and over the next five kilometres I stop half a dozen times to let hundreds of kangaroos stream across the road and disappear into the forest. Down a bush track I come to a small clearing where I meet wood4good co-founder Ben Boxshall and his offsider Matt waiting beside eighteen cages of firewood. Around 15% of Melbournians still rely on a woodfire as their main source of heat.  With Australians collectively burning around seven million tons of firewood (the equivalent of filling the MCG ten times) it's important that we source it as thoughtfully as possible.  wood4good has been managing this regenerative forestry project that began twenty five years ago when 300 hectares of exhausted grazing land was replanted with sugar gum and red ironbark. Over the past five years the smaller sugar gums and iron barks have been selectively thinned to give the larger trees room to mature. The thinned trees, thick as fence posts, are traditionally treated pushed into piles and burned. wood4good imported a Hakkipilke Easy38 firewood cutter from Finland to turn this "waste product" into sustainable firewood that also pays for the forest's regenerative management. Today’s load of firewood is the last to come out of this block for a while. I look through the high pruned stands and see the first step of Ben's plan for the tree plantation to become a perennial forest completed. In a few years Ben hopes to be selecting the first few timber trees in a cycle that will go on long after he has gone. Organisations like wood4good are using regenerative forestry practices to protect and restore ecosystems that can also provide timber, firewood, honey and flowers. Since Victoria ended native clearfell forestry in January we have replaced our timber shortfall by importing other people’s native forests - from Tasmania, NSW, South East Asia and South America. Like ours, these forests will eventually be closed up or be logged out. A new conversation is tentatively beginning around how we manage our native forests and how we will source the timber we love to use in our houses and our furniture into the future. If we're to do this regeneratively then it'll be organisations like wood4good who lead the way. For now, if you want to keep warm in the best way possible you can order it online at with us here.  

CERES Fair Wood is featured in City of Darebin Social Enterprises video.

Reimagining urban forestry and placing value in waste wood Logging and clearing of native forests contribute significantly to climate change, driven by the escalating demand for timber. Paradoxically, even with billions spent on importing timber products, thousands of large urban trees across Australia end up in landfills. In Greater Melbourne alone, around 500,000 trees are discarded, releasing CO2 into the atmosphere. CERES Fair Wood saw an opportunity to reimagine urban trees not as waste but as a valuable timber resource, tackling climate change and fostering a circular economy. CERES Fair Wood introduced the Urban Forestry Service, challenging traditional forestry practices by bringing the sawmill into the city. Applying Highest and Best Use (HABU) principles, they divert "waste" urban trees from landfills and transform them into ethical timber products. By viewing urban trees as a resource, they aim to reduce carbon emissions from green waste, provide alternatives to timber from native forests, create circular economy jobs, and foster community connection to the urban forest. Collaborating with research partners, they're defining the city's timber resource scope and exploring a canopy-positive circular economy approach. The project has secured joint ventures, funding from WWF and Sustainable Table, a permanent mill site lease, and infrastructure funding. Their efforts have already diverted substantial carbon emissions and added economic value to finished timber products. The organisation is committed to changing how society interacts with its timber supply utilising ongoing research, infrastructure development, and strategic partnerships. By challenging the status quo, they're not just building markets for sustainable timber but reshaping the narrative around urban trees, creating a model for other communities to replicate. Read More about the TMRRW Awards