Just what IS a garden trug?

A Sussex trug is a wooden basket, made from a handle and rim of coppiced sweet chestnut wood which is hand-cleft then shaved using a drawknife. Its body is made of five or seven thin boards of white willow, also hand-shaved with a drawknife. They may have originated in Sussex because of the abundance of  chestnut coppice and willows found on the marshes. Eventually, shapes and sizes became standardized, the most well-known shape being the "common or garden" trug ranging in volume from one pint to a bushel.  

The Fernwood Cottage Trug, like the Sussex trug, is crafted using Maine-native hardwood.  Hardwood rims & handles are steam-bent & strakes are shaped with skilled artisan handwork.  Warm bath soaking of the "strakes" allows the shaping of the basket.  The formed strakes are then trimmed & secured to the rim. Feet are attached to the bottom to lift the basket out of the soil to help prevent damage.

Trugs are working baskets.  Lightweight, yet durable, & if cared for properly, your trug can give you years of beautiful work.