Spring peeks her head out from behind winter's dark cloak, offering a glimpse into florally fragrant days to come. A bulb pushes it's green sprout up through the dark, moist earth, minuscule leaf buds appear on trees and flowers and the piece d'resistance, the fluffy, pink tufts of the plum tree blossoms remind us of spring's imminent arrival.
Each February, we get a week or so of spring-like weather to tide us over through the long, cold, wet winter months ahead. This year, it just so happens that the nice weather has arrived for President's Week (yes, week!), a school holiday for our children. We bundle up and head out each day to seize the sun that we won't see again for month's to come. The winter winds have knocked down leaves, branches and have peeled the bark right off some of the trees. Pine cones and acorns litter the ground. To the adult eye, I can only see hours of raking and yard clean-up. To a miniature set of eyes, this is a goldmine, a bounty of treasures to be collected. We fill baskets of these goodies daily. Then inspiration strikes! "Let's turn our treasures into a fairy garden!", yells my son. "Yes, let's!", I reply... and we're off.
First we dig up a small plot of ground to make the garden (maybe 2'x2') and lay down an old ground cover moss that we have from a previous planting project. It isn't enough to cover the whole area - but more on that later. Taking a handful of branches of similar length, we bundle them and tie it tightly at the top with yarn, flaring out the bottom to make a Tee-Pee. We place it gently on top of the ground cover to make the fairy house. Next, we take small sticks and make a criss-cross shaped fence around the back and sides. We use acorns to make stepping stones up the path to the house, line the walkway with sticks and using the yarn, tie together a few more sticks to make an entry gate ( arbor is more like it). Every day when we go out, we add more to it. We scout rocks and north-facing tree trunks for moss, peeling it gently off to be used as "fairy grass". Today's additions included (1) a "water tank" (a medicine cap that came on the Motrin bottle) that we poked a hole into for a straw that drips the water down into (2) a very tiny fairy pond and surrounded by a (3) hammock made out of sticks and leaves. We are hoping to add Champagne cork and cap furniture and, according to my fire-loving son, a fairy grill in the near future.
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The fairy Tee-Pee, fence and mossy ground cover
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The gate / entrance to the walkway. Notice the acorn stepping stones
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| An arial view of gate, walkway, stepping stones and Tee-Pee |
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Another view of Tee-Pee and fence. Notice the tiny fairy Christmas tree in front.
Stay tuned for more photo updates to the fairy garden! |
This is a really sweet project to do with our children and I so enjoy our time together out there in the fairy garden. I just marvel at their creativity and use of natural resources. Who knows? We may even get some fairies.
