Back To Cali - ISSUE 4 FEB 2020
New #CaliLove ❤ #February / #March @backtocalistore magazine featuring @nickcannon + @unionkitchentap + Top 10 #SanDiego hangouts + #DJ #interviews, and more out now in stands and Online today!! Or come in and say hi and pick one up at any of our 3 locations in the #Village of #Carlsbad, #ShoppesAtCarlsbad, and #Encinitas at (#MoonlightBeach)!! New #CaliLove ❤ #February / #March @backtocalistore magazine featuring @nickcannon + @unionkitchentap + Top 10 #SanDiego hangouts + #DJ #interviews, and more out now in stands and Online today!! Or come in and say hi and pick one up at any of our 3 locations in the #Village of #Carlsbad, #ShoppesAtCarlsbad, and #Encinitas at (#MoonlightBeach)!!
MERDOACRESWOOD DESIGN STUDIOMerdo Acres Wood Design Studio is making waves as a newfunctional art wood store in the quaint little mountain townof Julian, California. Brian and Molly Hodo (Owners of MerdoAcres), opened their first retail store of their handmadewood products in the once operated fruit processing plant,Julian Station, which is located in Wynola, CA, in August of2019. (Wynola is on the outskirts of Julian on Hwy 78).What were you both interested in growing up?Molly grew up in Northwest Iowa, graduated with a BS inthe art field in college, and specialized in different mediumsthroughout her career which included jewelry making,painting, drawing, wood working, sculpture, photography andgraphic design. She started her art career as a graphic designerat an Advertising Agency in Sioux City, IA. Brian grewup in Southern California surfing, skiing and snowboardingand has always had a passion for being creative and makingart out of wood or other materials. He has been a musician12(percussionist) most of his life and has even made percussioninstruments out of exotic woods and metals.How did the story of Merdo Acres begin?It started as a simple plan with two last names coming togetherto form a business name for their acreage in theCuyamaca Woods of Julian in 2015. The couple wanted tolive more simply and be creative in what they love – functionalart handmade by both of them. Molly is a graphicdesigner, artist and marketing professional who recentlyworked at a commercial aerospace manufacturing businessas a sales and marketing professional, but wanted to step outof the big corporate world and enjoy being an artist again.Brian spent a lot of his years wood working just for a hobbyand enjoying hours in the wood shop making gifts for familymembers and friends. He worked for over 14 years in the fireservice profession and retired from CalFire as a Fire Captainin San Diego County, a few years ago.Merdo Acres designs and creates a variety of wood productsfrom area native woods and also exotic hardwoodspurchased from a select few vendors in the San Diego area(Made Lumber, TH&H and Tropical Exotic Hardwoods). “Welove creating special pieces that people can enjoy in theirhome, office or as gifts for those special occasions. We specializein one of a kind cutting boards, charcuterie boards,grazing boards, serving platters, rustic live edge furniture,custom signs, fireplace mantels and much more.” StatesMolly Hodo. “There are many places you can buy these typesof items, but shopping local and supporting small businessis what we encourage and what we like to do also when wepurchase items. Why buy from the big box stores when youcan get locally handmade, original pieces no one else has,
and also get them personalized why you wait?”Woodworking is a craft that is slowly losing its following becauseof large manufacturers and machines that are doingall of the work, and not actual people. The Hodo’s want tomake sure that everything they do is handcrafted and madeby the two of them, not an actual machine or large businessthat imports from overseas. They also do custom orders forcaterers, restaurants, tasting rooms, wineries and individualrequests such as tables, coffee tables, bars and mantels, andall of these can be personalized with laser engraving.The Hodo’s wanted to make sure they could do all of this outof their wood shop on their property in the Cleveland NationalForest, all while living completely off the grid poweredby solar panels, batteries, a generator and propane. “Beingon the grid is not an option in our area so we had a lot oflearning to do when we bought our property. One concernwas being able to use all of our power tools and machinerywhen the sun wasn’t out, so we did a lot of upgrades to oursystem in order to support the wood shop area.” ExplainsBrian Hodo. “One of the good things about California is thesun is usually out and shining bright, which benefits the solarenergy production greatly. We’ve only run into a few weeksout of the year that it’s cloudy or we have precipitation, andour generator handles those days.” As they grow, they wantto be able to build other structures on their property that willalso be strictly solar, and running off of the sun and generators.Those buildings will be used for a top of the line cleanroom (to do epoxy/ finishing), a sanding room and storagefor supplies.What sets the Hodo’s apart is their undying work ethic totheir craft, and hand making those special pieces for peopleto treasure for years to come. They also love educatingtheir customers on the process, the varieties of woodsused, the ways to take care of their handmade creations,once they leave their shop. They are happy to be just atwo person team, and want to keep it small and simple,while creating pieces for others to enjoy - functional artis their passion!They sell their one of kind pieces at Julian Station (4470Julian Road, Julian, CA) in their retail store, Merdo AcresWood Design Studio, which is open on the weekends(Friday, Saturday and Sunday). Most of their items can bepurchased on their website www.merdoacres.com, 24hours a day, or if there’s special requests, email them atmerdoacres@yahoo.com.13
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MERDO
ACRES
WOOD DESIGN STUDIO
Merdo Acres Wood Design Studio is making waves as a new
functional art wood store in the quaint little mountain town
of Julian, California. Brian and Molly Hodo (Owners of Merdo
Acres), opened their first retail store of their handmade
wood products in the once operated fruit processing plant,
Julian Station, which is located in Wynola, CA, in August of
2019. (Wynola is on the outskirts of Julian on Hwy 78).
What were you both interested in growing up?
Molly grew up in Northwest Iowa, graduated with a BS in
the art field in college, and specialized in different mediums
throughout her career which included jewelry making,
painting, drawing, wood working, sculpture, photography and
graphic design. She started her art career as a graphic designer
at an Advertising Agency in Sioux City, IA. Brian grew
up in Southern California surfing, skiing and snowboarding
and has always had a passion for being creative and making
art out of wood or other materials. He has been a musician
12
(percussionist) most of his life and has even made percussion
instruments out of exotic woods and metals.
How did the story of Merdo Acres begin?
It started as a simple plan with two last names coming together
to form a business name for their acreage in the
Cuyamaca Woods of Julian in 2015. The couple wanted to
live more simply and be creative in what they love – functional
art handmade by both of them. Molly is a graphic
designer, artist and marketing professional who recently
worked at a commercial aerospace manufacturing business
as a sales and marketing professional, but wanted to step out
of the big corporate world and enjoy being an artist again.
Brian spent a lot of his years wood working just for a hobby
and enjoying hours in the wood shop making gifts for family
members and friends. He worked for over 14 years in the fire
service profession and retired from CalFire as a Fire Captain
in San Diego County, a few years ago.
Merdo Acres designs and creates a variety of wood products
from area native woods and also exotic hardwoods
purchased from a select few vendors in the San Diego area
(Made Lumber, TH&H and Tropical Exotic Hardwoods). “We
love creating special pieces that people can enjoy in their
home, office or as gifts for those special occasions. We specialize
in one of a kind cutting boards, charcuterie boards,
grazing boards, serving platters, rustic live edge furniture,
custom signs, fireplace mantels and much more.” States
Molly Hodo. “There are many places you can buy these types
of items, but shopping local and supporting small business
is what we encourage and what we like to do also when we
purchase items. Why buy from the big box stores when you
can get locally handmade, original pieces no one else has,
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