Support Doug's Recovery and Family Businesses

My name is Trisa. My husband, Doug, had a stroke three weeks ago. We are self-employed with a craft woodworking business, a print business with our teenaged sons, and a baking business. We also homeschool our boys and have a small backyard farm where we raise our own vegetables along with chickens, ducks, rabbits, and quail. Our businesses take a lot of physical labor, the past few years have been a struggle, and the stroke has just made things harder.

Before 2020, we traveled doing craft shows around the Northeast and selling wholesale to small artisan shops around the country. In 2019, we started our sons' print business and we were ready to start doing craft shows for their company also in 2020... but both businesses were halted when COVID hit. We had to stop traveling and decided to start a backyard farm to become more self-sufficient and to continue hands-on homeschooling. When the economy started back up, we were able to resume wholesale sales for our woodworking business. The boy's print business did not really get going as we had hoped.

In 2022, we started doing some local commission work, selling our eggs, and began working on making gluten-free and dairy-free breads and foods hoping to start a café focused on providing food for people with diet restrictions. However, in 2024, we had to stop working on the café because my father who was working with us in the wood shop had become unable to work because of his own health challenges. We were forced to downsize our shop and production and make room for the shop in our garage. I had to switch from planning for the café to becoming the sole woodworker along with managing the animals, woodworking sales, and homeschooling. Doug continued to make gluten-free bread, pizza, and other food for people from our kitchen while also managing our gardens, doing the maintenance on the house, helping me with the homeschooling, and cooking most of the meals for the family.

The week before the stroke. Doug had finally started making paintings again, something he had been working himself up to for a long time. We were considering starting to do more local craft shows to produce more income.

On May 5th Doug had his stroke....He was in the hospital for 4 days and in rehab for 8 days. He is now undergoing home therapy and will hopefully be discharged to outpatient therapy soon. His right side was affected by the stroke. He lost strength and dexterity in his right (dominant) hand, arm, and leg. He is able to walk now short distances with a cane and is regaining strength in his arm and some dexterity in his hand. He can focus on tasks for a short time but overall, what was easy to do before takes quite a bit of effort right now. Thankfully, we do expect that he will make a full recovery in time.

Since we did so many things ourselves and our finances were limited prior to the stroke, it has been a great strain on the boys and me trying to help him with basic tasks as well as take over the baking, gardening, and maintenance repairs. Since it is spring, there is a lot that needs to get planted and projects that were started that need to be finished. I have had to learn how to make the bread and pizza dough to continue to provide for our orders as well as manage the garden and home repairs for Doug. This has left me no time to work in the wood shop as of yet. It has been challenging, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Thankfully, we do have health insurance, but I am unsure what our medical costs will be when it's all said and done. Our well bladder also decided to start malfunctioning during this time. It needs to be replaced so that we do not damage our well or lose running water...another unexpected expense.

We are asking for help covering our immediate expenses as we help Doug recover and transition with our new workload during this time. He is able to supervise some tasks, but his focus has to be on regaining strength, relearning to write and draw again with his right hand, and giving his body time to rest and recover. Any donation you can give at this time is greatly appreciated and would help alleviate the financial strain and the stress of our current situation. We are used to being able to do most everything on our own and it is quite humbling to have to ask for help. Thank you in advance for supporting us during this time and for helping us to get back to doing what we love to do and helping others.

Our business websites are www.naturalrenaissance.com and www.littletinyspark.com if you would like to check our work or make a purchase.