The Fairy Garden

I was so thrilled last week to see my nine-year-old daughter wanting to play in the garden...especially in the blazing heat.  She sat under a group of trees and excitedly made her own fairy garden.

After moving some bricks around, she placed some cute little plants purchased earlier that day, then carefully placed sticks and grass into a sweet little house.  She tucked some little chairs in and added a pitchfork for good measure.  We already had the neat mushrooms created by a local artist.

We're just waiting for the fairies to appear now. This is a magical way of living in the garden.

My Childhood Garden: The Woods

Yes, my parents left our yard empty, but we did indeed have a lot of fun playing organized games across that open lawn. Openness isn't a bad thing. It does provide a venue for lots of running...and a lot of opportunity to grow tomatoes.

Photo courtesy of Jessica Hill Photography

But something happened...as children we still sought out that special place filled with trees, water, wildlife and the opportunity for manipulation. What we (the neighborhood kids) all discovered was a woodland. A place where suburban houses had yet to grow. It was a block long and about two blocks deep.

Photo courtesy of Jude McConkey

"The woods" as we called it, provided that sense of adventure, discovery and connection to living things. When we were not playing baseball in our backyard, we were in the woods creating forts, blazing trails, and swinging across creeks.