MARCUS MINDLIN SMILES a lot. And not just in a politely professional way. He has the smile of a guy who cares a lot about other people. When I asked him how he joined the arborist trade he explained that it’s just what he’s always done.
“My whole life I’ve always done landscaping. My mom always said I just liked playing in the dirt. And I like design. I want everyone to find that perfect design for their own bubble.”
He went on to talk about landscape and exterior design, describing how he took architecture classes all through high school, eventually teaching the class in his senior year. And after high
school he served as an AmeriCorps mentor with the now-defunct Seattle Youth Gardenworks, a program that taught gardening and landscaping to unhoused teens in the Seattle area.
Mindlin’s group flourished to the extent that they not only exhibited at the 2005 Northwest Flower and Garden Show, but also took home that year’s Founder’s Cup—as well as two
other top prizes.
“The exhibit was typical of what you can do in an urban vacant lot, lots of plants and flowering vegetables,” he says. “When the kids started they couldn’t identify even one plant. Then they made it so far. It was great.”
Photo by Kris Gray Photography
In a way, the display was biographical. Mindlin’s paternal grandmother moved to Seattle from Alabama in the ‘40s, when the Central District was redlined. She bought two plots of land, built a house on one, and kept the other free for her extensive garden.
“Because of segregation, people in the Central District didn’t have access to fresh food,” Mindlin explains. “So after my grandmother passed so many people came up to us explaining how
her garden had been where they ate back then. They had that community. You can have a rich life regardless of circumstances and what’s around you if you have that community.”
His maternal grandmother was born in Seattle and therefore had a lot of knowledge of native plants, which she wildcrafted. She sparked within her grandson an inspiration toward
self-reliance and lost knowledge that culminated in a move to Bellingham to participate in the homesteading movement with his then-wife and their children.
“When I moved to Bellingham it was like: everything outside, I want to learn how to do.” Eventually he answered a Craigslist ad placed by an arborist asking for someone to help drag some brush.
“I thought, ‘sounds interesting.’ And I lucked into meeting a wonderful, encouraging man.”
That was Dean Bumstead, original owner of Dean’s Tree Service—the man who inspired the logo that remains on Mindlin’s business cards to this day.
The two worked together for many years, until Dean’s recent retirement.
“I learned from him—old-school climbing techniques using just ropes. It was like learning a new sport. I love trees,” Mindlin says. “These days I get a lot of calls from people who buy a
house that comes with a refrigerator that has a magnet with Dean’s number on it. ‘Rooted in Quality’—that’s the motto.” He gives me another warm trademark grin. “The sellers often
leave it there so the new owners know who to call.”
Got trees that need some love? Call Marcus Mindlin! Bellingham, 360.671.4642
