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

The Holyfield House

The first sketch

Rollo Holyfield

Lila Holyfield

Lila at the kitchen window

The Toadstool House

Pippin and Poppy Toadstool

Pippin and Poppy Toadstool

No mail today

Yeva Gristchuk at the Gristmill

Yeva Gristchuk

The Furryfoot House. . .

We have a package in the mail

Moving in day

Spending time with Frizzell Furryfoot

Games

View all games

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