We need help to ensure that our boards are made from sustainable wood and, to the extent possible, made in the USA.  Both of these goals require us to spend more money up front.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/719826049/milkshake-balance-boards-made-in-the-usa

We hope that by launching the right way we'll have a company on the right track from the beginning.  Our goal was a modest one; we are asking for just the amount we need to get started with production here in San Diego.

Why "Made in the USA" ?

.... well, it's a longer story than a simple blog post.  Here's the short version.... We live in San Diego and our family has been in California since the late 1800s.  Both our great-grandfathers, and their parents (our grandparents), were small business owners who grew their businesses here in California from scratch.  We want to do the same thing.

It's easy to go to China or other parts of Asia for cheaper materials.  But, then we lose contact with our product and we give jobs to China when there's little reason not to keep it here. 

Are we bashing China?  No way.  We've been there many times.  In fact, our bamboo boards are still made there because we found a factory that harvested in a sustainable manner. 

Why sustainable, and what does this have to do with Kickstarter?

Cheap wood is plentiful.

Kickstarter will help us make up the difference between being starting out with a US manufacturer or not.  In other words, it is costing us more money to use sustainable wood and also to make at least 50% of our product in the USA.  We need a little help our first year to buy sustainable wood and make our product in the USA.

Harvest a tree, plant a tree.  Our boards are made of both hardwood ad softwood, which are layered in order to provide durability without cutting down too many trees.  Each is expertly crafted and compliments any room, both indoors and outdoors.  The boards have a smooth surface, have a high fire resistance, and are aesthetically pleasing.  Besides being fun to use, they will last a lifetime.  Canadian Maple is strong, durable, and local. It reseeds very easily, and when harvested correctly, it is a sustainable resource.  Unlike other woods which can break easily, Canadian Maple will last longer than our grandchildren's grandchildren.  Quality is better than quantity, and we wanted to make a board which you could pass down to your children, nieces, nephews, or neighbors.  That's why we chose Canadian Maple.

The ecological benefits of using bamboo wood

We buy our bamboo from the Moso Bamboo Forrest in China.  Around a third of the Moso bamboo forest can be harvested every year without any negative effects on the forest.

Compared with other wood species, bamboo wood has a shorter growth cycle and stronger reproduction abilities despite the fact that bamboo grows without the help of fertilisers. Generally, the bamboo tree is mature enough to be cut after three years, whereas other fast growing species, such as eucalyptus and acacia, need 6-10 years to mature and the red pine and larch 10 years. Cutting the trees at a sustainable rate also does not create any soil degradation.

The mature Moso bamboo tree has the following favourable characteristics, low shrinkage, easy splitting, high elasticity and extreme toughness. The tensile and compression strength of mature Moso bamboo trees are 1,948kg/square centimetres and 640kg/square centimetres, respectively, which is 2.5 times and 1.5 times higher than the equivalent numbers for fir.

In addition, bamboo wood possesses several times more biomass than traditional hard or soft woods. Furthermore, bamboo requires only 0.02% of the energy resources (in mega-joules/m3) used by steel, 12% used by concrete and 40% used by lumber to obtain one unit of building material with an identical load capacity. It is the most ecological choice when it comes to building materials and it is gaining in popularity as a result of the sustainability trend in modern architecture.