Hello friends, Heidi here from Rain Country. God is good all the time. In this video I’m answering the questions I keep getting about how I care for my big hand-crafted wood kitchen board—the one that basically lives on my counter and gets used for all my bread making, tortillas, cinnamon rolls, ravioli, pie crust… you name it. Part of why I wanted this board in the first place is because my old mica countertops (they’re almost 18 years old) started wearing down and getting light spots, and that really bothered me—both for looks and because I don’t like the thought of that material getting into our food over time. I walk you through exactly how I treat wood the frugal, practical way. For a brand-new board, I don’t bother with pricey “food grade mineral oil”—I start with refined coconut oil because it’s less likely to go rancid and I believe it sinks deeper into the pores. I rub it in on all sides, edges included, and I keep repeating until the wood stops soaking it up. After that, for regular upkeep, I switch to palm shortening (these days I buy organic through Azure Standard) and I treat the board after every use. I also show how I scrape with the grain using a bench scraper, wipe with warm water only (no detergents), dry it well, and even flip it periodically so it lasts for years without cracking.