Labour of love

Times Reporter 

 

Finding a hobby that you love is always a great thing. Being able to make a buck or two back from it makes it even better. Dennis Groenhof has always had an interest in woodworking, stemming from his father who taught him the golden rule of measure twice, cut once. 

It wasn’t until some time after Groenhof retired from the RCMP, and at the request of his sister, that he really began to explore his passion by making birdhouses. 

“I started maybe about two years ago and I built some for family members and friends and I would give them away. Finally one of my friends says ‘well why don’t you try and sell a couple at the local markets?’” said Groenhof.

“It’s a labour of love I guess, I enjoy doing it. I try and accommodate the places I go, or I try and build one or two for that area.”

He began with making old-fashioned Saloons, adding a special little touch to each with either a horse hitch, a spittoon or even little signs hanging out front. He said not everyone wants a Saloon so he began building houses with firewood shacks and original names.  

“When I first started building these I didn’t really know much about birdhouses at all and I built them all, nailed them and glued them together. We had one on the fence and we watched the bird take the old nest out, throw it on the ground and then rebuild a new one, I’m thinking ‘oh maybe we should make them so we can clean them out for the birds,’” said Groenhof. 

“They are all very practical, I have done research and all these are an inch-and-an-eighth hole and they’re for your chickadees and house wrens. There are specific sizes for various birds.”

Every house he builds now has part of the roof that comes off so that people can clean it out for the birds. None of his birdhouses have a perch. While researching he found that they are actually not recommended because a predator bird can sit there and wait for the baby to stick its head out and grab them. Groenhof even took it another step further; when he realized the houses could get quite hot he added vent holes and drainage holes to each home. He has been asked about painting the houses but said what you see is what you will get, otherwise it will quickly become a big business and he would like to maintain building the birdhouses as a hobby. 

“I enjoy woodworking and now you can’t do much outside so I come out here, the shop is heated so I can come out here at night time putt around and build a house or two. I usually throw on a CD and listen to some music and away I go,” said Groenhof.

“I have done everything out of cedar…it weathers really well and you can leave it hanging outside for years and it will turn kind of grayish.”

Each home is made out of cedar fence board. He precuts many of the pieces and works on the houses in stages. He stamps his name and keeps track of each house he has made; to date there have been over 140 made. 

Bird lovers looking for that perfect birdhouse are welcome to call Dennis Groenhof at 403-934-9407.