Locavores Should be all Aboard This Home-grown House
December 2, 2016
By Richie Davis | The Recorder
Brian Donahue’s “New England Good Food Vision 2060,” showed how the region could produce most of its own vegetables, dairy products, and much of its own meat — and still leave plenty of room for a sustainably harvested forest in southern New England.
And to demonstrate how to make better use of the region’s woodlands, the Brandeis environmental studies professor and part-time Gill resident has used the 100 wooded acres on his Bascom Road farm to build a home that showcases locally harvested, mostly “low-grade” timber. He built a home that not only supports the local economy, but also “makes a connection” with the surrounding landscape.
The two-story, post-and-beam house that Donahue and his wife built appears modest on the outside, but the 2,500-square-foot structure makes use of hemlock, black cherry and other classic New England woods, and at a cost that he says isn’t much more than a similarly sized, custom-built house.
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