Kirsten Dirksen

What if your dream cottage fit between the trees out back? Back in 2013, Su Pang had an underused 5,000-sq-ft backyard in urban Oakland & a long love for traditional Swedish cottages. Out of that came a 500-sq-ft L-shaped home (700 with the loft), built carefully around decades-old redwood & walnut trees — + the freedom of living mortgage-free. Red corrugated metal stands in for wood siding, plywood walls & floors keep costs down, & the shower (lined with leftover siding, a skylight veiled by walnut branches) blurs the line between indoors & out. On the back deck, a recycled bathtub turns evenings into something close to bathing in the trees. A quiet favorite worth revisiting 🛖 Have an inspiring & inspired end of the week!

1 week ago | [YT] | 95

Kirsten Dirksen

Retirement doesn't always mean "stopping." Mitch Marks could have built his retirement home on his Big Island land. Instead, learning that only 10% of Hawaii's food is grown in Hawaii, he started farming what had been a coffee plantation a century ago — mangos, cacao, avocado, and enough Kona to keep a neighbor's coffee shop in business when their own crop got hit. The round, glass-walled house perched over the farm came later. It includes an open atrium, a triangular office lofted overhead, a rectangular lap pool jutting off the side. Circle, triangle, square, all looking out at the work. Briefly escape to Hawaii's Big Island with Mitch. Have a great end of the week.

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 126

Kirsten Dirksen

On a windswept island in northern Jutland, Denmark, Anna Marie & Rasmus decided to stay and not leave for the city. Instead, they created a house that maximizes light and allows them to tend a garden as they'd do in the Mediterranean (certainly, not as far north as the equivalent of southern Alaska). They accomplished this by wrapping their brick house inside a greenhouse. Much of the project comes from two unsung abilities in the modern world: care and patience. They hand-cleaned 21,000 bricks, salvaged windows, and rescued a staircase, all woven into something completely new. The result is a simple, resourceful home where indoors and outdoors blend year-round. What do you think about greenhouse homes in the north? Have a great end of the week, y'all!

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 185

Kirsten Dirksen

Sometimes, a whole new chapter in life starts with a humble tent. When Eugene first arrived on the land in Blanco, Texas, hired as a land caretaker, he pitched a tent and still drove back to his mom's place to sleep. Then he built a porch for the tent. Then a one-room shelter. Then an open-air kitchen. Marlena joined him in 2016, and the two of them kept going. Over a decade later, their homestead runs entirely off-grid: home, workshop, rainfed garden, and a rental cabin, all built with a tight budget, mostly from salvage: doors, windows, floors, furniture. A slow, thrifty, deeply self-reliant life, built piece by piece. We invite you to revisit Eugene and Marlena's enchanting place 🏕️ → 🛖 → 🏡🌲 have a great weekend!

1 month ago | [YT] | 114

Kirsten Dirksen

We are saddened to share that Charles Bello has passed away. We visited him twice over the years on his 400-acre redwood forest in Northern California (once when he was 87, and again at 92), and both times we left in awe. Over 55 years, he had built roads, bridges, homes, a greenhouse, a forest restoration program, and a life that was, as he once put it, entirely his own. He had a name for the great hollow tree at the top of his property: Big Tree. He spoke of it the way you speak of an old friend. That said everything about how Charles moved through the world —with reverence, with attention, with joy.
We stayed in touch after the cameras were put away, and we are grateful for that. His curiosity and his enchantment with the natural world were not a performance. They were simply who he was.
He wanted the land to outlast him, and we hope it will. Rest well, Charles. With respect and gratitude in the name of the community, RIP.🌲

1 month ago | [YT] | 8,261

Kirsten Dirksen

"To plant a pine, one need be neither god nor poet; one need only own a good shovel." In 1935, Aldo Leopold bought a worn-out Wisconsin farm, mostly barren land: Dust Bowl terrain, depleted and forgotten. He moved his family of seven into a former chicken coop and got to work. They planted 50,000 trees. Between 3,000 and 5,000 a year, every year, by hand. Leopold called it a land ethic. His chicken coop still stands. And the trees his family planted are still growing 🌲 Have you ever planted something and watched it outlast your expectations? Have a nice end of the week!

1 month ago | [YT] | 149

Kirsten Dirksen

Sometimes, the most radical thing you can do is build a space of your own. L Gilbert spent $25K and 6 months constructing such a place, using salvaged lumber, then wrote to farms across California offering help in exchange for a place to park it, landing on a Christmas tree farm scorched by the 2018 megafire. The solitude wasn't "escape"; it was what made showing up for others possible. And living on land that burned once, likely to burn again, L is still working out what it means to truly belong somewhere. Remember this story? Have a great end of the week! 🌲🌱🏡

2 months ago | [YT] | 111

Kirsten Dirksen

What if an apartment building could feel like a forest? This apartment building in Turin is basically a giant treehouse for grown-ups. 25 Verde has 150 trees growing across 5 floors of terraces, balconies, and roof gardens— plus geothermal energy, water reuse, and lots of natural cooling. Luciano Pia designed it as a kind of living ecosystem in the middle of the city, and resident Paolo Botto gave us a tour. It’s one of those places that makes you wonder: why aren't we more creative around housing? Have you seen this one before? Have a great weekend.

2 months ago | [YT] | 208

Kirsten Dirksen

Not all suburban life is created equal. What was once a barren lot in Corvallis, Oregon is now a little magnet for biodiversity: Andrew Millison’s 1/3-acre microfarm, packed with vegetables, fruit, chickens, bees, cover crops, native flowers, and fruit trees along the property’s edge for neighbors to enjoy free organic fruit. There’s also a small shed studio where Millison makes his uplifting YouTube videos and prepares his college classes. Don't miss our walkthrough with Millison, it's that time of the year and gardens are calling. Have a great weekend!

2 months ago | [YT] | 102

Kirsten Dirksen

We get used to things, and, all of a sudden, we think we can't live without tools invented a few years ago 🤳 Now, imagine growing up where the nearest store required hours of rowing, where winters meant 14 family members sharing a small cabin, and where self-sufficiency wasn’t a trend—it was simply how people lived. In the far north of Norway’s Lofoten Islands, Birger’s father grew up in that world. Families fished for cod, kept sheep and cows, and built sod-roof homes anchored with stones to withstand Arctic storms. Life was demanding, but deeply tied to the sea, the land, and each other. People eventually left for the cities. But Birger felt drawn back to his father’s homeland on the island of Austvågøya. Today, he’s slowly reviving the place, grateful for modern life, but also determined to remember when his ancestral family of 14 made ends meet at this corner that feels like the end of the world. Come with us to revisit Birger's story in Northern Scandinavia 🌊

2 months ago | [YT] | 116