If you've visited Wild Woods Retreat & Farm recently, or followed along on our social pages, you've seen the pasture change over the past few months. The chickens and ducklings still have the run of it, the walipini is still growing garlic and zinnias, and now there's something new taking shape near the middle of it: a 16x20 shade-sail pavilion, built by our son Zac.

Eight log posts, cut from trees on the property, hold up the frame. A canopy of tan shade cloth stretches across the top, big enough to cover a long table and then some. Right now the ground underneath is still grass, growing up around the post bases faster than anyone can mow it, and there's a ladder and a scatter of tools where Zac's been working.

This is what a working farm looks like mid-project. It's not styled for a photo. Log posts still showing bark, hardware still exposed, grass that needs cutting. That's true to how Wild Woods gets built, in general. This isn't a set built to look finished. It's 30 acres that's still being planted, fenced, and figured out, the same way it has been since the first guests stayed here.

Since we took these photos, Zac added something nobody asked him to. He inscribed a quote across each of the beams that runs along the top, one he chose himself. We'll share what they say once the whole structure is done, but it's the kind of detail that tends to show up here when the person building something also gets to decide what it says.

What the pavilion is for

The pavilion is built for the parts of Wild Woods that don't fit inside the dome or the treehouse: day retreats, small group meetings, and dinners outdoors, under real shade instead of a rented tent. Our first Group Retreats cohort used a nearby space that inspired this one... a few benches under a tree. This pavilion is what comes next, built to hold a group comfortably, out of the sun, close enough to the pasture and the woods that nobody forgets where they are.

If you've been to Wild Woods for a private stay at Orion or Otter Beach Treehouse, this isn't a replacement for that experience. It's a separate one, built for groups who want a day on the land together rather than an overnight, off-grid stay. Team offsites, small retreats, family gatherings that need a place with actual shade and actual room to spread out.

Building in real time

We're posting the pavilion in progress instead of waiting for a finished, styled reveal, because that's closer to how Wild Woods actually gets built. Nothing here arrived polished. The dome, the treehouse, the Sit Spot Network, the orchard that's still going in, all of it started out looking a lot like this pavilion does right now: raw, half finished, and a little muddy after rain.

We'll keep posting as the pavilion comes together, including what Zac's quotes actually say once the beams are done. If you want to be one of the first groups to gather under it, get in touch or check current availability for Group Retreats at wildwoodsretreat.com.