Wasilla man turns a hobby into a small business

It started out as something for Nate Hollen to do in his free time. Now it’s a business.

Nate Hollen is the Nate in Nate’s Woodshed, and his woodshed is the garage of his Wasilla home.

And it’s there he builds items such as cedar planter boxes and raised garden beds.

“I started this as a hobby back in 2020 because covid hit and everything, and my medical conditions got worse,” Hollen said. “I had my equipment and my dad’s equipment stored in here. I thought, instead of collecting dust, let’s make some dust. I can work in here, sit down when need be or go in and take a break,”

Hollen said he started by making wooden strawberry beds and flower beds for his wife.

“She said why don’t we put that on (Facebook) Marketplace,” Hollen said. “There it went. It took off.”

Now Hollen builds three-tier horizontal and three-tier vertical planter beds, as well as longer raised flower and garden beds. He has a long list of orders he has been busy working on.

“Basically everything is pretty popular,” he said. “I don’t have one specific hot item. They all seem to be going. Common item is raised beds because people are getting back into gardening.”

Hollen said his season usually starts off in February and runs through mid-summer. Last year he said he started on Feb 5 and was busy until the end of July.

“I was working many, many hours a day,” Hollen said. “It’s just me out here. I’m a one-man show.”

Hollen also builds wishing wells. The first he built was for his wife. It sits in the center of his circle driveway. It has a hexagon roof. Hollen said that will be the only one he builds with a hexagon roof.

Hollen does have five different versions of his wishing wells. Hollen said he occasionally builds wooden benches, but they are expensive and time consuming. He did recently finish an 8-foot by 5-foot cedar picnic table. But that was a special project he said.

Hollen does do custom work, and his customers often bring ideas to him. He’s made widow boxes with more expensive wood, and even built a stand for a customer to use for her record collection.

Hollen said this is in his blood, and it’s something that he enjoys.

“I’ve been a carpenter, in construction basically all my life,” he said. “I like working with my hands. I like many things.”

Hollen is also a disabled combat veteran. He was in the Army for more than 17 years. He served in the original war in the gulf. He was injured while serving in Bosnia.

Since his days in the military, Hollen has been a jack of all trades, he said.

Now, for at least seven months out of the year, Hollen spends his extra time building in his garage, and making regular trips to the hardware store.

“I build a little, go buy a little,” he said.

In addition to his customers in the Valley, he said people from across the state have purchased his work. He has customers in Homer, Kenai, Soldotna and Fairbanks. He said he even made custom candlestick holders for a person from the Lower 48.

“I get a kick out of seeing how pleased they are,” Hollen said of his customers. “I’m not here to get rich. I’m just here to supplement my income and buy my groceries.”

Hollen can be contacted at 907-775-8249 or through his Nate’s Woodshed Facebook page.