When the landscape manager at ThorpeWood, a local environmental education center in Thurmont, needed a garden shed to help maintain her garden of heirloom vegetables and flowers, it was only fitting that it be an environmentally-friendly building.

“We wanted to practice what we preach,” said landscape manager Terra DeMedici. She worked with Ben Shuman, interim program director, who engineered a garden that would use a material that was in abundant supply on ThorpeWood’s property: wood.
“We decided to build a cordwood masonry shed which utilizes fallen timber,” said Ben. Cordwood masonry is an old building technique in which walls are constructed of short logs laid lengthwise and filled with a special mortar mix. This type of wall offers excellent insulation and the lime-based mortar serves as a natural pesticide. Wood should be dry, soft wood free of bark and the mortar is a mix of lime, sawdust, sand, Portland cement and water. Many volunteers and staff members helped to frame the structure with cedar timbers, debark and cut wood to the proper lengths, and lay them in the mortar one by one for each wall. This unique garden shed may be the first of its type in Maryland.

ThorpeWood used the shed construction project to educate others on the techniques of cordwood masonry. Volunteers came to a hands-on workshop to help build the garden shed while learning about this earth-friendly building process. Once finished, another class was held to create a maintenance-free Wildflower Roof.

ThorpeWood is located on a 110-acre nature preserve nestled in a secluded, heavily forested stream valley of the Catoctin Mountains on Mink Farm Road in Thurmont. As a not for profit organization serving youth, local and regional communities, ThorpeWood models stewardship of natural resources and provides environmental education through hands-on learning and in a variety of outdoor programs.

For more information on this project, other upcoming educational programs call 301-271-2823.