THE WAY OF THE BLACK WALNUT
Gorgeous, delicious and toxic! Their nuts are super nutritious and a mouthful of earthy flavor. Walnut wood has vivid grain. When peeled, they reveal a muscular, sculptural beauty. Everything about […]
Author Archives
Denise Thornton
WHERE IS YOUR HONEY FROM?
I’ve been given honey twice in the past few weeks. What a wonderful gift! It’s a gift that has been given twice. People gave it to me, but bees gave it to them. Some new friends, Amber Nicole and Paul, gave us a jar of Mad Urban Bees honey. http://www.madurbanbees.com/ […]
SPENDING THE DAY WITH STRAW-CLAY INFILL
Last July, Doug and I joined the timber-raising of one the carpenters who helped build Underhill House. (Check it out in my post Timberframing with Friends: Sweat, Love and a Little Drama. ) Prairie and his partner Lindsey are restoring an old farmhouse. The back of the house proved too far […]
No Mow Fescue and Annual Rye Planted Just in Time
The making of Underhill House was also the destruction of all but the most rugged organisms living in the soil around it. We moved here in January, and as soon as the snow melted, I was counting the days till I could start to heal the earth outside our walls. […]
SEE UNDERHILL HOUSE ON THE 2013 SOLAR TOUR
Saturday October 5, Underhill House will be part of the National Solar Tour — the world’s largest grassroots solar event. We are so thrilled to part of a coalition of over 5,500 home and business owners, volunteers, solar installers, public officials and grassroots organizations who conduct open house tours of […]
MOWING THE ROOF AT UNDERHILL HOUSE
Doug and I have had several houses with shingle roofs and even lived in a house with a thatched roof in the Netherlands, but a living roof is a whole new beast. In fact, it seems a lot like having a pet. To learn more about our sodded roof, check […]
BUILDING A TERRACE GARDEN
When Doug was hiking in Nepal years ago, he saw many examples of how the people in that steep land terrace the garden beds they depend on. We decided to do the same on our own slanty land. Fortunately, our rock wall builder still had a few more rocks that […]
THE TALE OF A TIMBER FRAME TREE
There are many trees holding up our house that I remember with the same detail. Where they stood, why we selected them, working on finishing them, watching them come together into the timber frame of Underhill House. It’s easy to forget how much we rely on these amazing plants. The […]
TIMBER FRAMING WITH FRIENDS – SWEAT, LOVE AND A LITTLE DRAMA
One of the unexpected outcomes of building Underhill House was the bond that formed between our building crew members, and Doug and me. For some of the crew our project was the first time they’d worked together. This amazing team generated lasting friendships. Getting together this weekend to help Prairie […]
SAYING IT WITH FLOWERS CAN CURSE THE ENVIRONMENT
Doug and I have just returned from a week of visiting his mom in Seattle. Dorothy loves flowers, and when she lived in Wisconsin, we used to bring her bouquets from the Dane County Farmers Market throughout the growing season. I normally do not buy flowers through commercial outlets because […]
Digging in the Driftless 