I Made A Tree Stump House

Dear Bored Panda,

I’ve lived in this location for more than twenty years and have always interacted with my little woodland friends who call this place home. I created “The Tree Stump House” during the height of the pandemic when much of what was coming through the media and my FB feed was negative. I was also spending a lot of time at home, and even working from home. I needed a creative project winter of 2020, something positive with no agenda or purpose other than to be entertaining and put a smile on your face.

I had recently cut down a few large jack pine trees on my property because they were getting a little too dangerous, some of the stumps left behind were quite large, and at first, I was just going to have the stumps removed. But then I thought that I could use them to add a garden feature, so I drew up a sketch and took some measurements of the first stump. With just some scrap material I had lying around the woodshop I created the curved roof for the first house, that Victorian charmer. The goal was to construct a whimsical feeding station for the Eastern Chipmunks who lived on the property. The stump was hollowed out with a small cavity to put black oil sunflower seeds in, a favorite food of the chipmunk.

It was a success, and in the spring of 2021 as the chipmunks came out of hibernation and with a little coaxing they started to use “The Tree Stump House” and I started to photograph them as they moved in and out. The main character was a chipmunk I’d known for a number of years, Rollo Holyfield. I shared some of the cute photos through social media and friends really seemed to enjoy them. Then I decided to add a second home with the adjacent stump and created the Toadstool House. In the last few years added the Gristmill House with a working waterwheel and the Furryfoots Hobbit-like house.

Now I’ve started to share the photos and storyline through social media with the Facebook page “The Tree Stump House”.

I hope you enjoy it.

Best regards,

Thomas Cooper

More info: Facebook