Website www.AdamMcIntosh.com
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Website www.AdamMcIntosh.com |
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Index of Writings
Here's the article I wrote that launched an arboreal career. It was originally commissioned by Reforesting Scotland because I'd become enthused about treehouses whilst at one of their annual conferences. It was then re-worked it in the following form and published in The Scotsman.
How I branched
out into a leafy des res A
treehouse takes you closer to nature and give young people a bird’s eye
perspective on life, says Adam McIntosh,
14, who built his own (The Scotsman, 4 Nov. 1997, p. 14)
Recently
this newspaper had a big article about the fuss over a treehouse in Morningside.
Neighbours were complaining about it. Some were saying, “I am worried about
the effect it may have on the price of my property.” Well,
I would like to ask such adults, what matters to you? Real estate? Or a real
place where your children can learn from nature? I
am 14 and go to Firhill High School in Edinburgh. I have been interested in
treehouses since I was very young. I first started studying building techniques
at road protest sites like the M77 Pollok Free State in Glasgow. I then put
these approaches to use in constructing my own treehouse. The
first was one that I built with some friends in woods between Firhill School and
the City Hospital. My new treehouse is on an organic farm called Craigencalt,
where my Dad lives in Fife. By
using rope techniques to tie beams of old timber to branches of a big sycamore,
it meant that I didn’t have to hurt the tree by hammering in nails. After one
week of hard work I had made the floor, four walls and the roof, but since then
I have been adding to it. The
main features are a woodburning stove made from a five gallon oil drum, a 3ft x
4 ft glass window and a permaculture garden growing potatoes, parsley and peas
inside natural hollows in the tree. I
also have a grass lawn and a four person bed with pillows, sleeping bags and
blankets. The treehouse has electric lighting, running water, a hammock and
artwork. It is fully carpeted, with English oak lined walls. I even have a
stereo system rigged up to a Walkman. Some
visitors leave contributions such as pictures and poems. One that relates to all
this fuss about treehouses was done by a Fife bard called Barnie McCormack. He
wrote: “Child
go break off from the herd go
beyond the lowlands leave
the valley of shed antlers the
elders are sick it is your time
now” Safety
factors are very important, especially as we’ve had as many as ten people up
there in one go. To hold the weight, I have the primary beams supported by
primary and secondary ropes. Then there are the secondary beams which have
primary and secondary ropes in case the first lot break. Every two weeks I
absail down the wall and check knots, ropes and beams. An
open stove in a treehouse could also be quite dangerous, so I have a fire guard,
and heat-proof mats in treble thickness at both sides to stop the walls from
burning. For
climbing down from the treehouse, I have banisters and a rope net surrounding
every gap, so I can’t fall through. It also makes it safe for some of my
Dad’s friends, who might be coming down a little tipsy after making music
there. After
parties, some friends and I will often sleep up there, even in January. What we
do is stoke up the fire for the night, put the fire guard on, fold down the
mattresses, tell stories and go to sleep to the sound of a waterfall outside and
the smell of incense sticks inside. I
think if every child had such a magical place of its own there wouldn’t be so
many problems of young people hanging about on the streets. That would mean less
crime and drugs. Just
now in the West, the basic stages in life for your average person is to “make
bucks, get rich, be better than everybody else, get fat and have a heart
attack.” But this could all be changed with the way future children are
brought up. We
must ask ourselves, what is reality? Is it when the book I’m studying comes
before enjoyment in nature? Or is it what a treehouse can teach you? I have this question to put to people like the neighbours of Morningside. What do you want your children growing up with? Ecology? Ecstasy? Evolution?
(for
adam mcintosh, 6 December 1997) (Written
by Barnie McCormack, Bard of Craigencalt) And it came into passing that the Descendants of Adam At the Great Feast of the
Tabernacles Spent seven Days In the Boughs of the Trees So it is now, young friend You and I can hold court And sway up here in the very blows of the
Wind’s Breath Look down at the loch with a Buzzard’s eye view A wider scope for our plans While the merry minstrel robin The resounding wren of the den Sing youth’s incredible song Then later, at nightfall, As if thorough owl’s pupils We can stare into our souls and ask: What lyric did the robin bring? What hope the wounded wren sing? Child go break off from the herd go beyond the lowlands leave the valley of shed antlers the elders are sick it is your time now
A burning desire to leave home
LEAVING home can be a traumatic experience for any teenager. But for Adam McIntosh it was a rite of passage he could deal with in only one way - burning his house down. The Edinburgh 18-year-old has spent the last four years living in a treehouse 30 feet above the ground on Craigencalt Farm, an ecology centre near Kinghorn in Fife, at weekends and on school holidays. He has been continually building and improving his home in a sycamore tree, which had solar-powered heating, hot and cold running water, a cooker and air conditioning, with his parents’ blessing since the age of 14. But after arranging to travel the globe for the next two years, Adam decided he had to give his cherished home a "Viking burial". He said: "It was really hard watching it burn. The night before, I cried thinking about it, but I knew deep down it was the right thing to do. "It took four years to build but only about 20 minutes to burn. It was quite depressing, but I suppose it’s the end of an era for me really. I’m moving on so it is only right that part of my life has to go." Adam, who describes himself as an "eco-pacifist", added: "To be honest, I didn’t think it would last as long as it has. It was never a long-term home for me. "It wouldn’t have been safe to leave it up there so I decided to send it to Valhalla - give it a Viking burial by setting it alight. All that is left now is a pile of ashes." 
Guitar
21/02/01 www.AdamMcIntosh.com
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