A Life Based on Wood

Jan Burda loves wood. Whether it's a towering beech tree in his old growth forest, the wood he burns to heat his long cabin and will soon burn in the energy-efficient house he's building, or a downed cherry tree that he uses to make his guitars. In fact, Burda loves wood - and his woods in Southwest Michigan - so much that he’s decided to protect it from development forever.

Producers Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister of Long Haul Productions have this profile of Jan Burda – guitar maker, performer, teacher and woodsman. Click here to listen. To learn more about protecting Southwest Michigan's forest, visit the Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy website.

(Jan Burda plays one of the guitars he made. Photo courtesy of Long Haul Productions)