Davis WoodScapes

Davis WoodScapes Custom Landscape Structures | Fully Insured, Licensed Contractor | Rochester's Pergola Specialist Design / Build. Custom Landscape Structures.

For more examples of our work check out www.daviswoodscapes.com

04/25/2026

Today, April 25, is Parental Alienation Awareness Day.

What is Parental Alienation (also known as Coercive Control)?

It is, in short, the psychological manipulation of children and dynamics around a child by one parent against another. The objective is usually to turn the child against the other parent and/or cut the other parent out of the child’s life.

This is a day meant to advocate for better legal recognition of these methods as child ab*se.

What parental alienation can look like:

•Telling the child the other parent doesn’t want to see them, doesn’t like them, doesn’t love them

•Denigrating the other parent to make the child believe they are unsafe or untrustworthy

•Limiting the child’s contact with the other parent such that they are unable to build a meaningful relationship

•Interfering with the child’s contact with the other parent

•Making the child feel bad/guilty/in trouble for speaking well of or wanting to see or talk to their other parent

•Withholding love, affection and care when child does speak or act favorably toward their other parent

•Encouraging or demanding the child reject their other parent or praising/reinforcing when they do

•Asking/telling the child to keep secrets from the other parent

•Excluding the other parent from important information such as living arrangements, sports or extracurriculars, or medical decisions or changes

•Undermining or minimizing the other parent’s role in the child’s life

•And in some of the highest conflict situations, false allegations, brainwashing, breaking court orders and more

These behaviors not only hurt the parent but cause long lasting damage for the child. Children often feel deep down when they are being gaslit or manipulated but don’t have the words or understanding to speak up, or are too afraid of displeasing the alienator. This can lead to lifelong insecurities and self confidence issues as they struggle to trust others or themselves.

And while many alienators’ goal is to sabotage the other parents relationship with the child or minimize / exclude the other parent - this VERY often backfires.

Every day I speak to adult children who suffered alienation who now are no contact with the alienating parent.

I hope to see a world in the future with two changes:

1. That parents start loving their children more than they hate their ex and

2. That parental alienation/coercive control becomes recognized as DV in the court of law.

If you look closely, a few deer stopped on County Rd 8 SW to watch the sunset with me a few minutes ago. Almost the equi...
03/20/2026

If you look closely, a few deer stopped on County Rd 8 SW to watch the sunset with me a few minutes ago.

Almost the equinox already – soon will be watching sunsets from the field out back again as the sun sets a bit further north each day.

Does it really say high temperatures in the 60s for tomorrow? These warm temperatures have me thinking about the growing...
03/07/2026

Does it really say high temperatures in the 60s for tomorrow? These warm temperatures have me thinking about the growing season and my vegetable garden again.

My garden fence project is still unfinished. Maybe always will be as I find ways to improve it. I need to build 3 permanent gates to replace the temporary ones that I threw together to make it rabbit proof in a hurry as some of the earliest plants started to germinate last spring. But I can say with confidence that no rabbit has stepped foot inside my 40 ft x 80 ft fenced garden area over the last 10+ months. It would be difficult for deer too as there are barely visible galvanized wires stretched between end posts on eye screws and turn-buckles.

This fence is more for function than it is for form. I can certainly build a prettier fence.
I built it mainly to protect the plants within, but having a permanent structure in/around the garden is also helpful for providing a trellis for climbing plants. It also gives us a place to lean – both our long handled gardening tools AND ourselves as we contemplate everything from our next task to our life's choices.😆

How many of you enjoy growing some of your own food? Drop some photos of your past gardens in the comments. 👇

How about a Thursday throwback for this cold day in January? For 12 years I was a Minnesota Nursery & Landscape Associa...
01/15/2026

How about a Thursday throwback for this cold day in January? For 12 years I was a Minnesota Nursery & Landscape Association Certified Professional. (I never put the renewal sticker on the plaque as it looked tacky IMO and covered the original year). Every January there's a huge convention at the Minneapolis Convention Center for landscape contractors, greenhouses, arborists, golf courses and more. There was probably a 15 year stretch where I attended annually to get CE credits to renew certification, check out new products at the trade show, and hang out with friends in the industry. Most of these photos are from 2015 when former Sargents landscape architect Jeff Feece invited me to attend the awards banquet for an award he received for a project in Salem Heights in SW Rochester. I built 2 small pergolas for that project.

Just a quick update for those still reading... I'm still working full-time with Degeus doing tile, learning the skill from the best in the business. It is a privilege to learn from primarily Greg Vaughn who has been doing it for 20 years. He is an artist and master craftsman! Its also great to build relationships with other trades and GCs on some amazing new homes and remodels. It is a great place to work. Many of the guys are my age and have similar life experiences so in some ways its almost therapeutic in comparison to being a 1 man operation day in and day out. During the past year or so my cousin Mark Davis who has always been the family go-to for all things tile related said something very fitting when he quoted one of my favorite movies; "It appeals to your [his] meticulous nature..." It is true, tile installation is very meticulous. I always enjoy the meticulous aspects of my business as well – whether it be zooming in to draw tiny details in CAD or SketchUp or making custom cuts on a pergola joint –I take pride in creating something that will be enjoyed for decades. I'm still here, doing what I love. I'm not going anywhere. I'm registered for CE classes with Rochester Area Builders to renew my contractor's license at the end of March for another 2 years, enabling me to maintain the license which allows me to get building permits for the projects I do. Its probably overkill, but I believe it gives prospective new customers a sense of reassurance when it comes to working with someone who has a different full-time job. I'll probably be taking on more side jobs this year to fill my days as I'm essentially an empty-nester many years too soon.

Bonus points: Which movie was Mark quoting from? 😉

Many of you probably already know this, but maybe this will help a newer (typically rural?) homeowner out there.This mor...
11/30/2025

Many of you probably already know this, but maybe this will help a newer (typically rural?) homeowner out there.

This morning I noticed the door on my mailbox open with the chain wrapped around the post. This type of mailbox post is designed to rotate instead of breaking when hit by a plow. The chain is welded to the 2 sides. If the chain is wrapped around the post it's probably been hit by the plow. There isn't enough slack to rotate twice, so if your chain isn't hanging loosely (2nd photo), I'd recommend rotating it otherwise you might need to replace it in mid winter with the next hit.

As you can see with the set of footprints in the snow in the ditch I had to chase down some mail that had blown out or had been catapulted out by the plow. It was sort of a depressing treasure hunt though, tracking down white envelopes for bills and junk mail in the fresh white snow. If anyone is missing a payment from me, send another statement or I'll get it to you next spring! 😬🤪🤣

Also, a huge thank you to my neighbor the Petersen family for the assist with snow blowing! I still need to remove the mower deck from my smaller machine as I was hoping for another dismal snow total this winter.🤦‍♂️🫣 I owe you, Derek!

Need some custom railing for your home? Check out Forges of Rochester! I've seen their amazing work indoors and out.
11/23/2025

Need some custom railing for your home? Check out Forges of Rochester! I've seen their amazing work indoors and out.

11/14/2025

Is it just me, or is everyone and their grandma a "Digital Creator" these days? I guess you might say I'm an OG digital creator as I've been using these 10 digits to create long before social media was a thing.

I can still hear Mr. Murphy, the GMHS Shop class teacher lecturing us about saw blade margins of safety for table saws, band saws, miter saws... For decades I've been minding the margin of safety to keep my digits intact.

Until I needed to learn how to remove a sliver of hard porcelain tile. A diamond blade will deflect from perpendicular trying to find the path of least resistance. Making these fine cuts frequently requires some manual persuasion. I know its not the same as a sharpened carbide tipped wood blade but Imagine my state of mind when first attempting this trick after keeping a safe distance for so long. 🤯😬
Now its becoming 2nd nature.

A coworker of mine at asked me to build a fence at his girlfriend's home in NE Rochester. We discussed different methods...
10/29/2025

A coworker of mine at asked me to build a fence at his girlfriend's home in NE Rochester. We discussed different methods to install it. Level tops, or racked panels that would follow the slope of the yard and more. This coworker is one of the most detail oriented tile setters in Rochester - so level and square it is!

They recently removed the hedge that ate up a lot of real estate and wasn't the best for privacy. Initially they wanted me to come off the back corner of the house, but I made the suggestion to start at a corner closer to the front of the house. Doing so turns an unusable public front/side yard on this corner lot into extra private space which adds to the backyard, perfect for storage, perhaps a pet enclosure or other uses that wouldn't work without the fence. It also provides a buffer from a sidewalk 10 ft away from a bedroom window that I think may allow occupants to be more comfortable letting some natural light in.

I'm best known for woodworking, obviously, but it's a bit of a misnomer as I'm willing to work with pretty much any material (including the new, predominately indoor materials I've been learning the past 18 months!). Its been a loooong time since I've done a PVC fence - maybe my last one was while an employee at Nature's Way Landscape Nursery, so probably 2006ish.

Specializing in custom landscape structures I couldn't just install it right out of the packaging. I measured the elevation at the ends to determine a dimension to step the panels. 1.7" (1 ¹¹/¹⁶) offset slots cut on the opposite side of posts purchased as "end posts". Using my Zip Level to fine tune heights of the tops of the posts while pulling upwards in wet concrete until reaching 1.7" higher than the post to the west. Usually when working with wood posts you can cut the tops level after the concrete sets up. Here, the overall length of the PVC posts were never altered.

Working in newer developments one rarely sees more than a few inches of this beautiful black soil before hitting clay and limestone. Here between Silver Lake and Quarry Hill there's at least 42" of it. None of the 2+/- cubic yards excavated for post footings was removed from the jobsite. All was used to fix low/uneven areas of this and an immediate neighbor's yard. Win - win for me, my customer, and their neighbor.

"This is the most beautiful sight these eyes have ever seen!"🤤🤤🤤😍😍😍I felt a little bit like Ned Beatty did as his charac...
08/09/2025

"This is the most beautiful sight these eyes have ever seen!"🤤🤤🤤😍😍😍

I felt a little bit like Ned Beatty did as his character walked into see his son Rudy dress for Notre Dame football while I walked into Acme Tools in Rochester for the first time this morning. I'd visited the store in Plymouth, MN several times as 2/4 of my siblings have been in the northwest metro for 25+ years. I loved taking my daughters to this store when it was Toys R Us, maybe someday they'll love taking me here? 🤪🤞🤞

It was a test of willpower. I'm happy to note that I was able to walk out empty handed.🤣🤲

Address

10963 County 8 Road SW
Stewartville, MN
55976

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Monday 7:30am - 5pm
Tuesday 7:30am - 5pm
Wednesday 7:30am - 5pm
Thursday 7:30am - 5pm
Friday 7:30am - 5pm
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