{"id":16139,"date":"2026-08-03T19:48:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T19:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=16139"},"modified":"2026-08-03T19:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T19:48:12","slug":"these-brothers-arent-just-building-cabins-theyre-building-on-family-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=16139","title":{"rendered":"These Brothers Aren\u2019t Just Building Cabins\u2014They\u2019re Building on Family Tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"justify-start\">\n<nav class=\"align-left col-span-full mb-base\" data-pom-e2e-test-id=\"breadcrumbs\"\/>\n<p>As kids, Benito and Arjuna Steen helped build their family\u2019s home with straw and clay. Now master carpenters, they\u2019re raising their kids in the same legacy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-body\">\n<p>Published August 3, 2026 11:01AM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Steen brothers\u2019 upbringing might sound like paradise or hell, depending on how you feel about getting dirty.<\/p>\n<p>Brothers Benito, Kalin, and Arjuna Steen grew up on a remote family compound in the mountainous \u201csky islands\u201d of southern Arizona. Their parents, Athena and Bill Steen, were artists and masters of straw bale construction, a clay-based building method similar to adobe. In the \u201880s, the couple purchased a swath of high desert south of Tucson, determined to build their entire family home by hand\u2014and quickly looped the kids into the work.<\/p>\n<p>The boys spent most of their childhoods on the 40-acre homestead, playing with and shaping clay, and helping to repair and expand their family\u2019s home. The property\u2019s remote location meant a lot of family time\u2014and a lot of hard labor. Fortunately, they all seemed to take to the work. Today, Benito and Arjuna live on-site with their own partners and children\u2014and they\u2019ve both gone into the Steen family business.<\/p>\n<p>Benito Steen never intended to go into construction, but he remembers helping out in the shop at age 8, and loving the feeling of working with his hands. Over time, a passion for straw bale construction\u2014and then for carpentry\u2014started to seep into his soul. There was something about going out with the family in the old truck, harvesting clay, and hauling in downed logs from the forest. Something about sawdust hovering in the morning light. Something about the spirit of playful collaboration that seemed to hold every project together like glue.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2748263\" class=\"pom-image-wrap photo-alignnone\"><figcaption class=\"pom-caption\"><span class=\"article__caption\">Benito and Arjuna Steen<\/span> (Photo: Morahan Visuals)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>He gravitated toward the trade, helping with workshops for the family\u2019s education nonprofit\u2014<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"article-content-link text-brand-primary underline hover:text-brand-primary\/85 break-words overflow-wrap-anywhere underline-offset-[3px]\" rel=\"sponsored\" data-afl-p=\"2\" href=\"http:\/\/caneloproject.com\">the Canelo Project<\/a>\u2014and then taking on builds of his own. Now, he can\u2019t imagine doing anything else.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI get to wake up, and it doesn\u2019t feel like a job\u2014it\u2019s just what I want to be doing all the time,\u201d Steen says.<\/p>\n<p>More than anything, the work has taught Steen the value of being surrounded by materials you don\u2019t just love, but know intimately. Everything you own is more meaningful when you\u2019ve collected it and formed it with your own hands. You appreciate every plank when you know what it took to mill it, and every brick when you know how long it took to shape it. That\u2019s one of the reasons Steen loves teaching workshops so much; the idea of learning construction often intimidates people, but it has the power to unlock something at the soul-level.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2748020\" class=\"pom-image-wrap photo-alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Morahan Visuals\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1366\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2748020\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/morahan_visuals_outside_tv_nissan_frontier_12675-lowres.jpg?width=2048&amp;auto=webp&amp;quality=75&amp;fit=cover 1x, https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/morahan_visuals_outside_tv_nissan_frontier_12675-lowres.jpg?width=3840&amp;auto=webp&amp;quality=75&amp;fit=cover 2x\" bad-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/morahan_visuals_outside_tv_nissan_frontier_12675-lowres.jpg?width=3840&amp;auto=webp&amp;quality=75&amp;fit=cover\"\/><figcaption class=\"pom-caption\"><span class=\"article__caption\">The 2026 Nissan Frontier<\/span> (Photo: Morahan Visuals)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>These days, Steen\u2019s passion for natural building is all-consuming, which means he\u2019s constantly on the go\u2014doing repairs around the property, prepping for workshops, or working on builds for clients. Most of the latter are deep in the Arizona hills.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019m drawn to\u2014places that are pretty off-grid and out there,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not trying to build anything in the city.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Out there, narrow, winding roads are the norm, and towing trailers full of equipment and lumber through that kind of terrain isn\u2019t always easy. Lately, the brothers have relied on a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"article-content-link text-brand-primary underline hover:text-brand-primary\/85 break-words overflow-wrap-anywhere underline-offset-[3px]\" rel=\"sponsored\" data-afl-p=\"2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nissanusa.com\/vehicles\/trucks\/frontier\/unleash-the-power.html\">Nissan Frontier<\/a> to haul wood through the hill country to the furthest corners of Arizona.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2748268\" class=\"pom-image-wrap photo-alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Nissan\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2162\" height=\"1454\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2748268\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-2.png?width=3840&amp;auto=webp&amp;quality=75&amp;fit=cover 1x\" bad-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-2.png?width=3840&amp;auto=webp&amp;quality=75&amp;fit=cover\"\/><figcaption class=\"pom-caption\"><span class=\"article__caption\">The Nissan Frontier has a 7,150-pound towing capacity, which the Steen brothers rely on to get the work done.<\/span> (Photo: Morahan Visuals)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI hate driving big trucks around, but having a small, compact truck that also has a big towing capacity\u2014that\u2019s been huge,\u201d Steen says. It\u2019s been nice to have something powerful enough to get the work done, and reliable enough to get him back to his family in time for dinner.<\/p>\n<p>Living, working, and running a business with your parents and brothers isn\u2019t always easy, Steen says, but it\u2019s something he\u2019s more grateful for by the day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you start to have your own family, there\u2019s another layer of things you appreciate. I love taking my son with me out into the hills, and raising him in the place I was raised,\u201d he says. \u201cIt feels like a big hug being surrounded by your family. And having my boy grow up next to my brother\u2019s boy\u2014it brings us all closer.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><i>Nissan North America, Inc., headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee, delivers innovative automotive products and services that inspire and move people. As a global leader in electric vehicles and advanced automotive technology, Nissan offers a full lineup of vehicles, highlighted by the new <\/i><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"article-content-link text-brand-primary underline hover:text-brand-primary\/85 break-words overflow-wrap-anywhere underline-offset-[3px]\" rel=\"sponsored\" data-afl-p=\"2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nissanusa.com\/vehicles\/trucks\/frontier\/unleash-the-power.html\"><i>2026 Nissan Frontier<\/i><\/a><i>. Driven by a commitment to sustainable mobility and thrilling performance, Nissan aims to transform the way people live and drive. For more information, please visit <\/i><i>Nissan USA<\/i><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/culture\/active-families\/these-brothers-arent-just-building-cabins-theyre-building-on-family-tradition\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As kids, Benito and Arjuna Steen helped build their family\u2019s home with straw and clay. Now master carpenters, they\u2019re raising their kids in the same legacy. Published August 3, 2026 11:01AM The Steen brothers\u2019 upbringing might sound like paradise or hell, depending on how you feel about getting dirty. Brothers Benito, Kalin, and Arjuna Steen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wild-living"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}