Thought for Food

Nov 5, 2009

“Building With Whole Trees”
Architect Roald Gunderson and his life and business partner Amelia Baxter run Whole Trees, a Wisconsin company that builds homes out of local, small-diameter trees that are ignored by loggers, and big trees that are felled by wind, disease, or insects. Over several years, Gunderson trains the small-diameter live trees to curve into arches bound for his unusual buildings. Gunderson and Baxter live with their two young children in a small home that he’s built, next to a solar greenhouse. Neighbors in the farming community have been requesting similar greenhouses because they are inexpensive to build (since they use local, readily available materials) and are inexpensive to run (they use passive solar heat).
Baxter also “manages a community forest project modeled after a community-supported agriculture project, in which paying members harvest sustainable riches like mushrooms, firewood and watercress from these woods.”

Thanks, Nathan!

Architect Roald Gunderson and his life and business partner Amelia Baxter run Whole Trees, a Wisconsin company that builds homes out of local, small-diameter trees that are ignored by loggers, and big trees that are felled by wind, disease, or insects. Over several years, Gunderson trains the small-diameter live trees to curve into arches bound for his unusual buildings. Gunderson and Baxter live with their two young children in a small home that he’s built, next to a solar greenhouse. Neighbors in the farming community have been requesting similar greenhouses because they are inexpensive to build (since they use local, readily available materials) and are inexpensive to run (they use passive solar heat).

Baxter also “manages a community forest project modeled after a community-supported agriculture project, in which paying members harvest sustainable riches like mushrooms, firewood and watercress from these woods.”