There are many things we love about our friends at Grain Surfboards. Not only do they build beautiful, natural wood surfboards akin to a work of art, they do it sustainably.  Rooted in traditional boat-building, Grain uses locally harvested cedar to carve out stunning modern boards built to last. And, as we learned, they’re not afraid to share their secrets.

This week, in the Thought Kitchen, our friends at Grain give us a little insight behind the business of building surfboards, how they came to be here, and why you should come to Portland (or their hometown in Maine) to build one of these handcrafted wonders yourself.

Grain Surfboards is a small hive of activity located on the coast of Maine. With our small, tight crew of eight, we handcraft, classic surfboards, out-of-the-ordinary wood belly-boards, hand-planes, and skate boards out of local timber. And in the process of creating beautiful, custom boards, we end up building an off-kilter community of independent thinkers around us.

To find yourself in the business of making stuff for people feels a bit odd, especially to those of us disinclined to accumulate things. But as Brando once said, “one must do something” and at Grain Surfboards, we’ve found that there are deep rewards and contributions to be made even in the world of making what – on the surface – appears to be mere consumer goods.

That may be because of the way we originally came to build surfboards; out of a desire to make our boards in a way that felt more real, more lasting, and of better quality than what we felt was being offered by the so-called “surf industry.” Those origins, combined with our experiences with traditional wood boats, brought us together some years ago. We all had the same idea: to craft surfboards in the same way that boats are built – as a hull around a frame, an essentially hollow vessel, built to last.

Along the way, we discovered that we could adhere to a pretty strict ethos of sustainability, even as we taught others that there were options to the short-lived, industrial surf-craft that has become the norm.  Our teaching roles expanded as we realized the many rewards inherent in “rolling our own” surfboards. We figured out how to assemble wood parts, hardware, and knowledge into the most complete surfboard kit available and began to share the experience of building your own board with people from all over the world. Eventually, we invited people to build boards in our shop. And now thanks to the help of some like-minded companies like Nau, we are able take our classes on the road in cities like Portland, Oregon.

In the process of helping people build their own surfboards or custom build their dream board, we collected a community of people around us. This is one of the great rewards of doing what we do. People often find that what starts as a simple customer-vendor relationship ends in friendship and community. We believe this happens simply because, for us, the emphasis is on the experience and the inherent meaning of what we do rather than on the thing itself.

Ultimately, we found that we can be more than a mere purveyor of stuff. By offering products built with passion that will never see a landfill, we help give surfers a chance to join the collective voice of our customers and friends—a voice that celebrates great experiences, good friends, sustainability, quality and longevity.

In addition to building surfcraft and surfboard kits in Maine, Grain Surfboards holds classes in surfboard building all year long.  A traveling class will be held in Portland, Oregon in an old shipwright’s shop in March.  See details here.

Oh Dee, how we love thee, with your tool belt and your two-ton jack. You have always inspired us. And we’re honored that you would wear our shirt long enough to have it shred under the weight of your coveralls. You bring a whole new meaning to our motto: “wear it out, pass it on.” Keep up the good work.

For those who might not remember Dee Williams: she traded in her three bedroom bungalow for an 84-square foot house, a toothbrush and a pickup (biodiesel, that is). And for the past six years, she and her business partner have been helping other people do the same. In their business, Portland Alternative Dwellings, they design and build eco-friendly houses small enough to fit on a trailer. We were so inspired by Dee when we first met that we made a short film about her work. In fact, you can still find it on the Collective.

Innovation is born from pushing expectations and refining design – two things that, I believe, NAU does while the rest of us sleep. In an attempt to match their constant innovation, I took it upon myself to do a little field testing of the Succinct Trench while on a recent rainy trip to San Francisco.

Here are a few images and my impressions of what turned out to be a superior garment:

Stevil Kinevil of AllHailTheBlackMarket.com. Thanks Jenni Oh for mugshot.

I was in town with my crew for the Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships and to fly the flag for our Gates Carbon Drive/ River City Bicycles Team. After a few nights of heavy shenanigans that turned out to be less than performance enhancing, I was ready to go. An hour before the start I realized that I wasn’t exactly on the start list for this event, so I stole this guy’s number at registration and smeared my face with fake blood so nobody would ask any questions. The trench concealed my stolen number (666 – not kidding) long enough for me to negotiate a semi-sanctioned 667 (under the stage name Chet Texas).

It was finally time to start. The promoters had decided to do a “Le Mans” style start in which the bikes get left on the start grid and the riders march 1/4 mile away for a running start. While the other riders were forced to parade around in their lycra and look like racers, I was able to cloak myself in the woods and gain the holeshot:

In 1st Place at the World Championships!

Now, cyclocross is a brutal sport – aerobic, anaerobic, skills, variables, booze, all of it. After demonstrating dominance in both tactical and race situations, I chose to spectate for awhile :

The Succinct tails were a perfect barrier between me and that clearly muddy log - who knew it had a built in seat?

Luckily for us, an astute spectator observed this and was able to collect some footage.

This photo (Thanks Scottypaz) showcases the knee length of a traditional businessman’s trench coat while also giving a nod to the impervious fabric that kept me warm and dry in a muddy Golden Gate Park.

Overall, the NAU Succinct Trench Coat performed extremely well. Its split tail allowed me to run, jump, pedal, drink, and commentate all without a hitch. Believe it or not, it escaped the weekend without a single blemish (unlike me). I cannot say enough about how well it worked for concealing my identity when needed, acting as a dry seat, keeping the elements out, and adding that bit of stylistic flair that more traditional cycling clothing just can’t offer. Well done, Nau. Well done.

Let’s face it: sometimes a love of the outdoors can force an environmentalist into uncomfortable positions. Road trips to the desert require gas, your kayak is made out of petro-chemicals, and that long dreamed of trip to Patagonia is going to require one CO2-heavy flight. Then winter rolls around, and if you love to ski (as I do), you might start to wonder if all those lifts, groomers and lodges we use are contributing to a global warming trend that means less pow, and more slush.

So what’s a responsible skier to do? Yes, everything we do to enjoy the outdoors has an impact—even ski-touring has a carbon footprint—but that’s not a reason to throw up our hands. Making an educated decision about where you ski, just like what you drive, can have a powerful influence over the impact of your actions.

That’s because there are important choices to be made when it comes down to how to run a ski resort. Resorts are large, meaning the choices they make—good and bad—have a bigger environmental impact than those we each make individually. How they make snow, how they deal with waste, whether they serve on disposable dishware: when you serve thousands of people a day, these choices add up.

That’s why we’ve been so glad to see the steps that some of our favorite ski areas have begun to take to address their energy efficiency, water usage and carbon footprint. As part of our Winter Stoke giveaway (sign up here to win one of two full-value prize packages, including lift tickets, Nau gear and more) we checked in with Mt. Hood Meadows and Stratton Mountain Resort to see what they’re doing to make their operations more sustainable.

Just up the road on Mt. Hood, our friends at Meadows are taking advantage of the abundant wind in Oregon and powering 100% of their operations with Wind Energy Credits. They’re also saving over a quarter million gallons of water each year with newly installed water-efficient appliances. And, true to Oregon’s strong locavore spirit, they’re sourcing local produce and serving it on china, not paper you throw away.

Across the country in Vermont, the folks at Stratton Mountain are also showing how investing in efficient infrastructure can save money and help the environment. They’ve installed 300 new high-efficiency snow guns, which—given how much snow they make each year—could save almost two million kilowatt-hours of electricity. Stratton was also the recipient of the Clif Bar/NSAA Sustainable Slopes Grant this spring, which they’re using to install four Big Belly Solar trash compactors, greatly reducing the the number of waste disposal trips required. They’ve also eliminated disposable dishware, a change they estimate will save roughly 75,000 soda cups, 61,000 spoons, 30,000 forks, 28,000 paper plates, 23,000 knives and 17,750 soup containers.

Of course, the ski areas have as much invested in a healthy planet as skiers do: saving energy is just good business. As skiers, we can help make it make even better business sense by choosing to enjoy those resorts who take seriously their responsibility to be good environmental stewards.

So educate yourself on the efforts your local hill is taking; it’s a step toward positive change, and toward ensuring that there will be snow for future generations.

Like what you’ve heard? Sign up here for our Winter Stoke Giveaway to win lodging for three nights, one dinner, rentals and lift tickets for two at Stratton Mountain Resort in Vermont or two 10-time passes at Mt. Hood Meadows in Oregon. Each winner will also get a Nau winter jacket, pants, down top and insulation layer.

Here at Nau, all this early season excitement is just adding fuel to the fire of our winter stoke. So to give it a positive outlet, we’re giving away everything you need to take advantage of what’s sure to be an epic winter.

For our first-ever Winter Stoke giveaway, we’ve got two great prize packages: East Coasters can win a weekend for two at Stratton Mountain Resort, complete with lodging, lift tickets and rentals; West Coasters can pick up one of two 10-passes to Mt. Hood Meadows. Best of all? We’ll outfit all the winners in complete mountain kit—including jacket, down, pants and insulation—from Nau.

To win, submit your entry at nau.com/ski and stay tuned to our Off The Grid newsletter—we’ll announce the winner November 16th.

Benj and I are making steady progress on our new series for Facing Climate Change.  I’m logging audio for the salmon story, we just completed another round of fieldwork for our heath story and we recently presented at the North Cascades Youth Leadership conference. We’re also working to line up funding to complete the series. One of the ways that we do that is by helping other people tell important stories. . . and we just finished a new one!

Hozomeen is about a locally abundant and distinctive tool stone found exclusively in the northern Cascade range of Washington and British Columbia. Over the last two decades, archeologist Bob Mierendorf has studied quarries near today’s Ross Lake reservoir that reveal a 10,000 year long record of indigenous involvement with this rugged, high-mountain landscape.

The word Hozomeen means “sharp, like a sharp knife.” Its story cuts across time and place, cultures and borders, archeology and oral histories, connecting us all as human beings. As Bob says, we’re all descended from people who used stone to make their tools. “It’s what put food on the table for thousands of years.”

Watch Hozomeen or visit our blog for more of the back story.

Today at Nau we’re launching a new series of profiles that are part of the on-going project we call Portraits of our Friends.

These latest works are the result of an ongoing collaboration with the bold and beautiful photographer Eden Batki, the never-sleep filmmakers Thomas Oliver and Jordan Strong of Into the Woods fame, the composer Rocky Tilden of the band Wampire, and our principal stylist, the lovely Sarah Van Raden.

Last season’s theme was design; now we have the provocateurs.

I’ll be the first to admit that the theme can get a little heavy if taken too seriously (especially when it’s French, and in italics), but the sentiment’s real. We’ve selected 12 people, in 10 portraits, who are doing important work, and who are going about their work in a provocative, inspiring, and insightful way. They want to move, move others, and be moved. For Nau, these are the people who keep us in line.

The first four profiles are up on the site today. Here’s a bit more about who they are:

Jeremy Pelley is one of the three brains behind the Official Manufacturing Co. (OMFGCO). He and his friends Mathew and Fritz call themselves “thing-makers” for their work in branding and otherwise familiar agency-type stuff. But they’re making much more than just cool logos and clever type (although there’s a lot of that too, and it’s really good).

They’re being selective about the jobs they take. They’re getting up from their computers and making real things, like signs, leather-bound menus, and the bar, tables, chairs, and everything else for the only sports bar I’ve ever willingly set foot in (called the Spirit of ’77). They left secure jobs at larger companies to work on things they’re passionate about, things they can infuse with a human touch, and they’ve built a company on their own terms (that’s the crux). It’s starting to pay off. The quality of their work is as good, and as smart, as it gets, they’re getting noticed, and they’re having fun.

The team behind Truck Farm, our second profile, is equally smart about going its own way (a theme we clearly like), but towards a different end. Curt Ellis and Ian Cheney are documentary filmmakers and food advocates (and the recipients of our 2010 Grant for Change), and their Brooklyn-based production company, Wicked Delicate, is their platform for telling the stories of food and farming’s highs and lows.

Their work is funny but not without a proper punch. Through films like the Peabody Award-winning King Corn or Truck Farm, they show us industrial agriculture and the decline in small-scale farming, but they don’t leave us lost. Not afraid to be the first to dig their hands in the dirt, they offer tools for getting involved. Start a farm in your truck. Plant a garden on the roof. It’s really not that hard to grow your own food, they tell us, and you can even laugh while you do it.

We’ve also turned the lens on Camas Davis, writer and founder of the Portland Meat Collective, a traveling butchery school. We like Camas because we think she’s brave. After losing full-time work as a writer and editor, she spent the last few pennies she had to fly to France on her own, apprentice with a family of pig farmers and butchers, and return home to slowly carve a space for herself in Portland’s butchery scene (yes, Portland has a thriving butchery scene). Her initial motivation was simple: She wanted to eat well, to get smart about meat, and to help others do the same. She was also eager to source her own meat from local, family-run farms, and to share those contacts with friends.

Somewhere along the way, Camas’ passion for good food turned her into an activist, too. With butchery comes controversy – about where meat comes from, how it’s handled, and even whether we should be eating it at all. I think we know Camas’ stance on the latter, but the issues of responsible meat sourcing and processing are at the heart of modern agricultural policies on a local and national level. Through education and local-food advocacy, Camas is working to tackle these issues head on.

And finally, we highlight two of the women of PDX Contemporary Art, the acclaimed gallery for modern art that’s based in Northwest Portland but whose reach is nationwide. As the director of the gallery, Jane Beebe has been deep in the region’s art scene for over 20 years. She’s behind the careers of such phenomenal artists as Storm Tharp and James Lavadour, and her eye for new talent never falters. If the regional art scene were to declare its matriarch, Jane would be it.

As one of the youngest artists on the gallery’s roster, Nell Warren could be an example of where the visual arts should go – if only we all had her depth of commitment. She salvages the paint chips she scrapes from her palettes, and incorporates them into new works. She and her husband are also starting an art and ecology center in the Columbia River Gorge, called Kahnaway, where artists will attend residencies, and young students will learn how to create fine art with a smaller footprint. Jane describes Nell’s work as “distinctly Pacific Northwest”, which seems to be the case in more ways than one. She’s got her eye on the landscape as a thing to paint, and a thing to protect.

In many ways, we believe, these are some of the most important people around. They’re not inciting riots with the things that they do, their impact is quiet, but it’s lasting, and real.

You can see the first four today on nau.com, complete with photo and video, and check back next week, when we’ll post two more.

Quick: What are your five favorite pieces of Nau? Uncrate asked Nau’s lead designer Peter Kallen to answer that question, and are giving away the garb to one lucky reader:

• Men’s Shroud of Purrin Jacket in Caviar
• Men’s Regular Straight Denim in Dark Indigo
• Men’s Free Range Plaid Shirt in Wave Plaid
• Nau Billfold
• Nau Flip Scarf in Fossil

Like Peter’s choices? Enter for your chance to win at uncrate.com. Got a different top 5? Hit us up in the comments…

This year, you’ll find us at 25 Howard St in Soho, sharing space with our friends at Dunderdon. Based in Gothenburg, Sweden—and with an an office in hometown of Portland, Oregon—Dunderdon shares with Nau a focus on understated design, performance outerwear and modern fashion. We’re look forward to being in New York with them.

In the meantime, we’re planning a full calendar of events, parties and performances, so if you’ll be in New York this holiday season be sure to stop in—for the latest developments, check back here in the coming weeks for event listings. In the meantime, we hope to see you at 25 Howard Street—at the intersection of Howard and Crosby, between Broadway and Lafayette—starting this Friday.

Jeremy Barnicle, the VP of Marketing and Communications at Mercy Corps, one of Nau’s Partners For Change, sent us a dispatch from Nairobi with highlights from his trip to Zimbabwe. Here’s what he has to say:

“In the first photo, I am at a water treatment plant that serves the city of Mutare, which happens to be a sister city of Portland. Portland, the EU, and Mercy Corps came together to get the water treatment plant back online after years of disrepair. The guy in the blue is the plant superintendent and the other guy is the MC staffer who oversees it. The roughly 200K people of Mutare used to get untreated water and only three days a week. We worked with them to fix it and now they have clean water pretty much all the time. Interesting thing is that it’s the one place I’ve ever been in Africa that FELT like Portland: rain, mountains, fog, and evergreens. It was awesome.

The second photo shows what I do when I’m in the field: talk to people, get their stories, capture images. In this case, I’m visiting a beauty salon where some vulnerable women (the woman in the white is deaf) are getting vocational training so they can be self-sufficient. The woman, named Vimbai, will earn almost 10 times as much a month doing hair as she was as a seamstress, which was about all anyone would hire her to do before.”

Similar to this dispatch, the Mercy Corps blog has contributors from field staff all over the world.

Thank you Jeremy- and safe travels.