Is it a tree? Is it a table? It’s parota!! A lovely warm Mexican wood starts taking center stage in furniture We have been hearing about parota wood for many years in our Mexican travels. And in fact there exists a kind of “lore” about it. I remember that the first time I heard about parota I was sitting in the gorgeous Mexican living room of a dear friend near Cuernavaca. She told me, "In my beach condo in Puerto Vallarta, the furniture is all parota.” But it’s tough to find artisans who make it because they can end up getting sick unle...

Mexican Furniture Made With Pine Pine (Pinus spp.), or Pino in Spanish, is one of the world’s most commercially important trees. Pine species are native to almost all of the Northern Hemisphere, and have been introduced to temperate and subtropical regions around the world. Mexico boasts several native species of pine tree, including the Mexican White Pine, the Michoacan Pine, and the Montezuma Pine. All members of the pine family are fast-growing softwood trees. Because the trees are typically grown on plantations, they are also a sustainable...