In the Valley, a person able to make or fix almost anything is called le patenteux in the local French, and a patente is an individual creation made with available tools and materials for a specific use, often made from almost nothing. Where wood was once plentiful and metal scarce and expensive, French-Acadian ingenuity produced practical substitutes such as a plow made almost entirely of wood with only an iron blade, water pipes made of hollowed logs, and other machinery with minimal iron parts. This culture of improvisation grew from poverty and isolation, when people repaired things or created what they needed from leftover parts or scrap metal, and it continues as Valley people still modify and customize even the newest tools and equipment.