Dockbuilder Erika Miner knows what she wants. If she wants to raise chickens, she's going to raise some chickens.
In New Jersey, there’s a road straight off the highway that’s easy to fly by, if you’re driving faster than fifteen miles an hour. Erika lives on that street, in a house tucked into a dense patch of woods with her husband, two dogs, two cats, and eleven chickens. The seclusion is reminiscent of the dead-end street she lived on as a child in Staten Island, NY, where a woodsy, scenic park was practically her backyard. She'd walk the trails with her father. She'd indulge in the beauty of nature.
Erika developed a protective interest in wildlife like Steve Irwin, who she admired for his efforts in wildlife conservation, and who inspired her childhood dream of becoming a veterinarian. Child Erika also loved space and wanted to be an astronaut.
"I would end up going into the bathroom and crying."
Treating sick alien pets may have been her little girl aspiration, but after growing up and earning a bachelor’s degree in business marketing and management, Erika landed her first full-time job as the assistant to the buyer in the mattress department at Macy’s. “I didn’t do well sitting at a computer for 40 hours a week,” she says. “I would end up going into the bathroom and crying. I didn’t know what else to do with my life. I’d just spent all that time getting my bachelor’s degree, and I was nervous about making a big change.” Lacking a clear direction, Erika maintained her position at Macy’s while pulling focus toward her mental health. “My father died a week before my diploma came in the mail, so I got really into exercise as an outlet for all the anger.” But she was still miserable at work.
For a woman like Erika whose adventurous spirit feeds on kayaking, hiking, and archery, her windowless Macy’s office and the benefits she received from exercising outdoors served as examples of sharp contrast. “Especially in the winter time,” she says. “It’s dark when you go to work, and it’s dark when you leave, and it was really bringing me down. I thought it would be really cool to work outside.
"My dad was a dockbuilder and two of my uncles are still dockbuilders. I thought it would be kinda cool to try and chase that."
Back when she was pursuing her bachelor’s degree, Erika had heard of Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW); a non-profit that prepares women for careers in the trades. But she wasn’t keen on pursuing a career in the trades, at that time. Now that she was considering a change, NEW seemed like a great prospect. “My dad was a dockbuilder and two of my uncles are still dockbuilders. I thought it would be kinda cool to try and chase that.” At NEW, she graduated top of her class, was hired as the shop assistant, and formed a network. In no time, she was accepted into the New York City District Council of Carpenter’s local 1556 as a dockbuilder apprentice. She chose dockbuilding over general carpentry because she wanted to work outdoors and learn how to weld.
Her first job as a dockbuilder was in May of 2013 at Coney Island. What made this job special, in addition to it being her first in the construction world, was that she got to work with her uncles Greg and Ted who are known to almost everyone as Uncle Greg and Uncle Ted. “I was super nervous,” Erika recalls. “I was such a little goody-two-shoes. ‘Uncle Greg, we gotta get there early. They told me I have to be there at seven o’clock. That means I have to be there and be ready to go at six-thirty’.” Erika laughs. “I packed a lunch. I was super excited, like a kid on the first day of school.” Uncle Greg suggested she not be too eager and assured her she’d be given what was needed; gloves, safety glasses, a hard hat. “‘No’,” she said. “‘I got my NEW hardhat. I want to wear my NEW hardhat’.” “‘But it’s white’,” said Uncle Greg. Erika was determined to wear her white NEW hardhat despite the fact white hardhats protect the heads of those white collars who visit job sites wearing nice dress shoes. She went to work eager to learn, and was “smoking the dudes, moving so fast”.
The Coney Island carriageway project has always been Erika’s favorite because she loved going to Coney Island, as a kid. She loved the Mermaid Parade, and she loved working the job with her uncles. It was a job that broke her in, requiring eight hour days, seven days a week the first month, and twelve hour night shifts, seven days a week the second month. Getting broken in didn’t break her, however. She loves her work. She says she meets great guys who take her under their wing, treat her like a sister, and teach her. She also comes across men with “fresh mouths who need a smack”.
"They go, ‘Oh, you’re Erika? You’re the girl that’s really awesome with the torch, huh?’. I’ll say, ‘Oh, if you think so’. I gotta stay humble. But in my head, I’m like: Yeah, you know!"
What Erika loves most is that there is no such thing as a typical work day on dockbuilder jobs. The work varies from pile driving, to drilling, to welding, to driving sheets, to water work. And while some workers prefer to specialize, Erika likes to do a little of everything. Perhaps, it’s her baby doll face or her authoritative presence that prevents people from envisioning Erika swinging a hammer. Once they discover what she does for a living, the response, says Erika, is generally: “‘You wear the tools and stuff?’.” She wears the tools and stuff. She uses the tools and stuff. Erika is all about getting dirty and doing the work. Her favorite detail is cutting with the torch and welding. She admits she’s really good at it and has a reputation for being one of the best. “They go, ‘Oh, you’re Erika? You’re the girl that’s really awesome with the torch, huh?’. I’ll say, ‘Oh, if you think so’. I gotta stay humble. But in my head, I’m like: Yeah, you know!
Erika excelling at her job is no surprise to anyone who knows her well enough. She’s competitive, loves to learn, and takes pride in her work. She works hard, which is why she cherishes her reclusive New Jersey abode. Her neighbors are an acceptable distance away, and she and her husband Hernan are free to raise their furry and feathery babies in peace.
Their cats, queen of the manor, Cookie Puss (12) and the smooth Cat Daddy (9) handle feline business in the house, while the dogs Logan (11) a German Shepard/Boxer mix and Rufus (2) an Australian Border Collie get protective over Erika and the chickens.
Erika thought having chickens would be fun when she saw her sister-in-law’s chicken coop. “We went to her house, and she showed me her setup. I thought it looked really cool and I like eggs.” In the spring of 2020, Erika and Uncle Greg built an attractive chicken coop in the backyard, which Erika quickly filled with chicks: Billy Gene the rooster, Jolene who likes to hop onto Erika’s lap, and Maybelline who gets jealous when Erika pets Jolene or Billy Gene, but who bobs, weaves, and ducks when Erika tries to pet her first. There’s Bobby Joe and Willie Mae (Willie Mae got sick and had to be put down). No time passed before Erika came hone with three guinea fowl. One of them didn’t make it through the night, leaving Leslie and Petey. Then six more chicks came to the coop: Easter eggers Gertrude, Matilda, and Beatrix who will lay green or blue eggs, and Helga, Nadine, and the one who got away when Hernan miscounted the chickens while rounding them up for bedtime.
Cats, dogs, and fowl are just a start. Erika has plans to buy a pig, once she and Hernan make their way someplace where she can take in the natural beauty of the land and live on a cabin by a lake. She’s narrowed her choices to Montana or Colorado and would love to have a farm. Exactly how she’ll build and operate one is still quite unknown. “There’s so much I would need to learn about having various kinds of animals.
One thing we know about Erika is she’ll figure it out.
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