Staining hugelkultur raised beds?

We are building new raised beds and they’re partially on our front lawn. The wood is very fresh and bright, so they stand out. We live in an upscale area and I want to keep peace with neighbours. I know the wood colour will mellow with time but want to make things easier for the neighborhood and avoid issues. My question is, is it okay to stain the wood? Will doing so affect performance or ability of wood to breathe etc? Thanks in advance.

I think someone recently posted an old recipe for wood stain/preservative made of linseed oil and ground char. That should be fairly benign.

I’ve been using “Eco-wood treatment” for the past year and have been happy with it so far. I chose it because it is endorsed by OMRI, LEED and the Canadian green building regulators as food and garden safe. It gives a drift wood like aged grey with a tiny hint of greenish hue (like drift wood). Our water is drawn from a spring below our house,  so I am especially careful about chemicals anywhere on the property, not just the garden, and I feel pretty good about using this product and like how I don’t have to feel like I’m working with hazmat and paranoid about it touching my clothes or skin, or running off. I don’t have enough time to judge its longevity yet, and it is of course troubling and annoying that the consumer cannot easily find the complete ingredients list of any stains, green or not.