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Nick Bowman Features Editor | 770-718-3426 | life@gainesvilletimes.com
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gainesvilletimes.com
Friday, December 21,2018
‘Art always comes first’
Photos by AUSTIN STEELE I The Times
Left: Jordan Kilburn, a local wood worker and musician,
works on a piece of wood in his shop at home on Thursday,
Dec.20. Above: Kilburn’s work can be seen in Avacados
and Downtown Drafts. “I love doing things with my hands,”
he said. “It’s therapeutic, really. It makes you feel good.”
Lula local Jordan Kilburn finds music within woodwork
BY KELSEY RICHARDSON
krichardson@gainesvilletimes.com
If people haven’t listened to Jordan
Kilburn play music around the Gaines
ville Square, they’ve most likely seen his
woodworking.
Woodworker by day, musician by night,
29-year-old Kilburn of Lula has intertwined
his passions in Hall County.
Some of his work can be seen in Avaca
dos, including most of its tables and wine
holders. Anyone who has entered Down
town Drafts and grabbed a beer has viewed
the wooden wall menu, or taken a glance
at the bar—all of which are Kilburn’s
creations.
Like most artists, Kilburn started young.
Before discovering his artisan skills, he
embraced a love for music.
He first began playing the guitar in ele
mentary school.
At 16, Kilburn said he walked into a local
music shop after school and spent hours
playing the guitar. Around a year later, the
owner of the business asked him if he would
be interested in teaching guitar lessons.
Only 17 years old, Kilburn started provid
ing classes to children and his own school
mates. It turned into a brisk side business;
he received $60 an hour per person.
During this time he started playing in a
band and would take gigs on weekends.
After realizing he was making almost
as much as his teachers, Kilburn quit high
school, earned his GED and became a full
time musician.
Taking the plunge into a music career
at 18, Kilburn said he soon realized that
the real world was more difficult than he
anticipated.
“When you’re young you think you’ve got
it all figured out and then life just beats you
down, and it teaches you,” he said. “You
can’t have that attitude when you go out
into the world.”
During his early 20s, Kilburn performed
around Atlanta, Buford, Dunwoody and
Gainesville.
Needing more income to sustain himself,
he took on a variety of jobs. Some of these
included welding for a sign shop, cooking
and serving for restaurants, working as a
handyman and making tables for a furni
ture shop.
Kilburn said each job led him, bit by bit,
to woodworking, which quickly developed
into a passion.
“I love doing things with my hands,” he
said. “It’s therapeutic, really.”
It wasn’t until he started working for
Avocados that he was able to develop a
woodworking style of his own.
Albert Lunalover, co-owner of Avoca
dos, gave Kilburn the opportunity to make
new tables for the restaurant in 2016. Kil
burn jumped on the offer and since then
has been working on projects for local
businesses.
He said his goal is to make the wood
working business a full-time job, while still
being able to play music at night.
Through Kilburn’s new business Kilburn
Crafted, he fulfills custom orders of tables,
food trays, birdfeeders, cutting boards,
wine holders and other items.
Most of the wooden material he uses for
his pieces are upcycled from discarded
pallets. Kilburn said before he chooses the
scraps of wood, he starts by envisioning a
finished product.
“I always ask myself, ‘If this is your song,
what would you write it about?”’ he said.
“The finish on the table is the lyrics of the
song.”
When making music and woodwork,
Kilburn said he comes across many simi
larities. He describes his style of music and
woodworking as “heavy handed.”
He finds that his raw Southern rock
music parallels with the harsh ripping and
sawing of wood.
On multiple occasions he has received
negative feedback from people who claim
that real woodworking doesn’t reveal signs
of nails and screws. While Kilburn said he
understands their reasoning, he doesn’t feel
the need to change his style.
“Making money is great, but I can do that
anywhere, ” he said. “Art always comes first.
Don’t let people take that away from you.”
People can contact Kilburn through
his Facebook page or email him at
kilburncrafted@gmail.com.
Most of the wooden material Kilburn uses for his pieces are upcycled from discarded pallets. Before he chooses the scraps of wood, Kilburn starts by envisioning a finished product.
A how-to guide to care for your holiday cactus
Photo courtesy PEXELS
Christmas cacti bloom for the Chrismas season and can be distinguished
from Thanksgiving cacti by their stem segment shape and anthers.
Some plants have so much
meaning. Sometimes it is the white
oak my family called “Big Oak”
that was the marker for how far I
could ride my bike to at the lake
cabin’s dirt road. Other times it is
the smell of tea olive in the fall that
reminds me of my walk from my
dorm to English 101 class in the
mornings of my freshman year in
Athens.
This time of year, I get a beauti
ful reminder of what season it is
with the buds about to explode on
a Christmas cactus. Since I was a
child, my mother had a cutting of
my great grandmother’s Christmas
cactus that had been passed down
for many years and was gigantic.
Right about Dec. 24, it would
explode with blooms every year.
Lucky for plant lovers, there
are actually two similar plants we
know as holiday cacti that bloom in
the fall and early winter. They are
in the genus Schlumbergera and
originate from Brazil. These plants
are epiphytes, meaning they live in
the branches of trees or on rocks.
Other plants that do this are Span
ish moss and orchids.
The two different varieties of
cactus that begin to bloom this time
of year are the Thanksgiving cac
tus (Schumbergera truncata) and
Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera
bridgesii). Supposedly, they bloom
CAMPBELL VAUGHN
ecvaughn@uga.edu
for their respective holidays, but
growers can manipulate them to
bloom earlier or later, so beware.
To distinguish between the two
varieties, look at the shape of the
flattened stem segments. The
Thanksgiving cactus have pointed
tooth-like notches and the Christ
mas cactus have more rounded
notches. Another way of telling
them apart is that the Thanksgiv
ing cactus has yellow anthers (the
male part of the flower that carries
the pollen) and the Christmas cac
tus has purplish-brown anthers.
How do the plants know when to
bloom? It goes back to photoperiod,
the amount of daylight compared
to darkness. Thanksgiving cacti are
short-day plants. To set their flower
buds, they need fourteen or more
continuous hours of darkness. It
can’t be interrupted with any kind
of light. They also need cool night
temperatures, between 60 degrees
and 68 degrees. Keeping them out
side on a porch is ideal for flower
blooms to form in our area.
Once the cactus blooms, keep
the plant above 50 degrees and
below 90 degrees or they will
drop the buds. Other reasons
for bud drop are too much light,
cold drafts, over watering, under
watering, or a sudden change in
temperature.
After your holiday cactus
blooms, cut back on the watering
for a few weeks to let it rest. Then,
water when the soil becomes dry
to the touch. Fertilize the plant
monthly with an all-purpose house-
plant food. A soluble fertilizer like
Peters or Miracle Grow works
best. Cacti have a high magnesium
requirement, so once a month in
the summer, water with 1 teaspoon
Epsom salt per gallon of water.
You’ll actually have more flowers
if you stop fertilizing the plant once
the summer ends.
There are a few other things you
can do to keep your holiday cactus
happy. Make sure your pot has
good drainage holes, and keep your
cactus somewhat potbound. Repot
ting is necessary only about once
every three years. Additionally, for
bushier plants and more flowers,
pinch back three of four segments
of each stem in June. You can also
use these primings to propagate a
new plant. Just place the cuttings
about an inch deep in potting mix
(you want one of the joints between
the segments to be underground)
and water the soil well. You can
also cover the container with a
clear plastic bag secured with a
rubber band around the container
to create a mini-greenhouse for
about 5 weeks, until you have roots.
The only disease these cacti have
is root rot, which can be prevented
by avoiding excessive watering.
My final advice is to put keep
your cactus outside on a porch for
most of the year from after the
danger of frost in the spring until
November. If you don’t have a
porch, put the plant under a tree
where it can get filtered sunlight.
The holiday cacti will reward you
with blooms galore for your holi
day festivities.
Campbell Vaughn is UGA Extension-
Agriculture and Natural Resource
Agent in Richmond County. He can be
reached at ecvaughn@uga.edu.
