An Homage To Trees

In the four years Scott and I have been building this house, we have also been planting trees: fifteen cottonwoods, five blue spruces, five apple trees, two cherries, one plum, four lindens, two peaches, two apricots, five walnuts and two willows, We have plans for others - red buds, green ash, big-tooth maples, mountain ash -  but we need to finish the exterior plaster and grade the ground around the house before anything more can be planted.

Much of this “reforestation” could be called mitigation for the douglas fir and ponderosa pine that were once standing in neighboring forests. And, even though those trees had already been killed by insects and fire before they found themselves resurrected as the posts and beams supporting our house, it seemed appropriate to recognize the origins of our home’s framework.

This is a beauty of straw bale. Any metaphor one might wish to create, can be written in the details of the finish plaster. Thus, we are surrounded by trees outside and in, an homage to trees...

Entryway Tree

Bedroom Tree

Office Door Tree

Office Bathroom Tree