Michigan Forest Life - July 27, 2026

Good morning friends,

All ten windows in the Treehouse are open. It is daybreak. The air feels neither cool nor warm. 70°F. The forest is 'room temperature'. That’s a civilized way of looking at a wild world - room temperature. The air feels heavy with forest humidity. Birds squeak and chirp all around. This is the wake-up-in-the-woods experience. Lovely.

Today I wonder if I will ever stop seeing the beauty of this forest. Stop noticing its wonder. Like a piece of broken sidewalk that you step over every day and, though you know it is there, simply no longer notice. Or a painting that stopped you in your tracks when you first placed it on the wall, but now rarely notice.

Could this forest ever become like that to me? 

I remember twenty years ago when we began building the Treehouse. By then I had already been gripped by what we now call Winterfield Pines Nature Sanctuary for more than two decades. Now, after more than forty years, I still cherish that wake up in the woods feeling. 

It was a day something like today when Cathy and I attached the first Treehouse board to two trees (Photo 1). In those days, I use few power tools in the woods. I used a brace and auger to drill through each tree, then inserted long pieces of threaded rod through tree and board to hold up the beam.  

Earlier, I dug three holes, 40" deep, for column footings to support the back of the Treehouse platform. I harvested three cedar trunks from the swamp on the property to use as columns. I placed casings in the holes and used river water mixed with Ready-Mix concrete in a wheelbarrow for the footings.

Later, Nick helped to place trusses and build the platform. The first year we stayed in a tent on the platform. In year two I roughed in the Treehouse, added its roof, and began using it as a shell - a shelter (Photos 2 and 3).

It took six years before I finally added the railing and circular staircase, and decided the

Treehouse was complete (Photo 4). In year twelve I added the well and handpump (Photo 5). When the Treehouse was 18-years-old, I decided to set the trees free. I added columns at the front and disconnected the Treehouse from white pines that supported it for so many years.

When I originally designed the Treehouse, I built it for a twenty-year life. I expected by then I would be too old to continue using it. Twenty years have now passed. I unexpectedly discover that I am not yet too old for the forest or the Treehouse. And now, after sheltering me for more than 3,000 nights, the Treehouse is much like it was when first built, but with a patina earned through seasons of honest use.

No, I don't think I will ever stop seeing the beauty of this forest, the wonder of its seasonal change, and the surprise of living things that inhabit it. I count myself as one of them. I doubt if I will stop smelling the fresh aroma of pines at daybreak - finding joy from that wake-up-in-the-woods experience. I am caretaker of Winterfield Pines Nature Sanctuary - an advocate for the wilds - a forest ranger, paid in sunrises.

I wish you a morning in the forest.

Until next time,

Dan