What motivated you to start your business and what is your vision for the future of the company?

In earlier years we enjoyed the work we had using our horses and mules to help ranchers with cattle, fence lines, and other related chores. We invested most of our earnings buying tack, tools, and young horses, and mules to continue to improve our skills as ranch hands. With the decline of ranching; work became scarce. Faced with the prospect that our horses, and mules would no longer generate an income, and subsequently would not be able to support the older horses through their retirement, we had to become innovative With the tools we already had to do ranch work we started to selectively log, standing dead, and fallen trees along fence lines. Milling the wood into boards, and using mules to pack them out of the woods. With the milled boards we made barn doors, axe handles, cutting boards, and other items. To further the salability we refurbished a grain storage shed into an ironwork shop. Using the skills we learned from our father (who was a farrier, and tool maker) we built rustic hardware for the doors, axe heads for the handles, and herb choppers, and kitchen knives to go with the cutting boards With enormous help from a close friend Hardeman Tool's Facebook page was set up, and business started to grow, with people making special orders through our page We then started selling these items at craft fares, our local farmers market.and businesses We hope to continue to grow Hardeman Tool as a provider of tools, and ornamental ironwork, while keeping the same great personal relationships that we have with our patrons. We hope to set an example of how an all Prince George business can provide a quality product using only local resources, and maintaining diligence with regards to environmental sustainability with regards to forestry practices

Why do you deserve to win the Best Youth Entrepreneur Award?

We feel deserving of recognition for the Best Youth Entrepreneur award following reasons. The products Hardeman Tool provides are all Canadian made.. Everything handcrafted is from wood sustainability harvested by us, right here in BC. Ironwork is made with locally sourced, recycled metal. Everything we use is sourced from within 50KM of where it is crafted. Parts of harvested trees that do not get turned into saleable items, such as limbs, are turned into charcoal that is used to heat the metal to forge into items. A great deal of diligence is executed to ensure that a 100% Canadian product is produced, while keeping sustainability in mind. Hardeman Tool embraces the Canadian principles of a mosaic society: Extensive research has gone into building traditional tools for First Nation's cultural and ceremonial use. For instance Inuit ulus, scrapers, and other hide treating tools (just to name a few) to maintain, and enhance what is an important part of our heritage as a nation. Our clientele is of a vast array of ethnicities. We have been tasked to build, otherwise unavailable, or hard to source, religious items for various beliefs, and religions that make up Canadian culture, and feel honoured to be entrusted with these tasks! We maintain a steady flow of requests to make tools used by various cultures. From agricultural tools used in the Middle East, and Africa, to kitchen utensils from Asian, and Eastern cultures. Much research goes into perfecting these items, and honouring their traditions. We feel that if every business in Canada held to our principles of environmental responsibility, and cultural respect. While ensuring that the product produced is 100% Canadian, built from harvested resource to completed product, Canada would maintain an everlasting strong foothold in a fluctuating world economy