Vashon Forest Stewards

So it turns out there's a nonprofit group on the island that not only helps you think about how to develop your land in a sustainable way, but they also have things like a sawmill and kiln to help keep wood on the island - so fun!

Dave Warren came out on Saturday to do a "forest walkthrough" with us.  The guy is hilarious and knows a ton of trivia about the island (did you know that Seattle's Best Coffee was originally named Stewart Brothers Coffee?  Apparently they had all of their "SBC" marketing material printed when they lost a lawsuit to Stewart Brothers Coffee of Chicago, so they switched over to Seattle's Best).

Besides crazy island trivia, Dave also has a ton of wisdom about the forests themselves.  Like what to look for to find diseased trees and which side of the house to keep the big trees to lessen the likelihood that they fall in a big storm.  For $50/hr, his knowledge was invaluable and it goes to the nonprofit, so it's doubly good.

We're so looking forward to getting some of our Douglas-firs (capital D because a dude named Douglas named them and hyphenated because he misnamed them - they're not firs, they are pines!) milled into giant beams for our house and keeping this thing sourced as locally as possible.

Thank you Vashon Forest Stewards!