Inspired by SouleMama

Fairy Houses, by Tracy Kane, has been our latest inspiration. This book is about a little girl who makes a fantastic fairy house in the woods and finds herself immersed in nature in the process. Last year we made a small fairy house using a large pot turned on it's side and buried under the dirt a little. We filled it with little trinkets and rocks and flowers. This book sets some rules for building a proper fairy house:

1. Fairy Houses should look so natural they are almost hidden. A location close to the ground is best.

2. You should use only natural materials. Dry grasses, leaves, sticks, pebbles and pinecones are just a few examples of materials to choose.

3. Be careful not to use or disturb any of nature's materials that are still living, especially flowers, ferns, mosses and lichen. Fairies do not like to disturb or destroy anything that is growing in nature.

Erika studied this book many times and we discussed what the rules meant at length. Then we went an a walk around the neighborhood and collected materials to build with. I ended up doing a lot of the work on this house because Erika's fingers, however small, were not quite steady enough for this line of work. She directed, collected, revised, and decorated, and I built the little house much as one plays the final rounds of Jenga. I can see already that this will be a work in progress from tomorrow until snow falls again. As you can see from the pictures, it's already been through a few remodels.



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I finally got some seeds in the dirt today. Since this is Michigan and we could still have a freezing temperatures at any moment, I planted most of the plants in egg cartons so we can bring them in at night over the next few weeks. In my small raised garden bed I planted carrots and lettuce on either side of the already existing strawberry plant that has yet to yield a single strawberry, but somehow managed to survive winter. I also have a small peppermint plant in there that survived the winter. Not quite sure what to do with the peppermint but pick the leaves and smell them.

In two small pots I planted basil and cilantro. I'm saving another huge pot for a tomato plant. In the egg cartons are sunflowers, because last year Corey accidentally weed whacked the sunflowers last year and Erika hasn't forgotten about it, Marigolds, because I heard that they will keep the squirrels away, Zinnia, because they are pretty and I can cut them for the house, and pole string beans because I am determined to get a good bean house going for the fairies this year.

This was a special planting year because it was the first year that I had a little helper. Last year Erika was able to help a little, but this year she really sat and worked with me, really getting her hands dirty and staying focused. It was pretty awesome.

Inspired by SouleMama

For anyone who lives anywhere with a long, cold, winter, these pictures need no explanation. On our walk today we saw the following signs that spring is here and I can finally put my salt and shovel away.

"Of you desire happiness, you should seek the causes that give rise to it, and if you don't desire suffering, then what you should do is to ensure that the causes and conditions that would give rise to it no longer arise."
-The Dalai Llama



The subtitle to this book, "A Handbook for Living", intrigued me, so I checked it out. What I love about the wisdom of the Dalai Lama is that it is so simple. It almost seems too simple. The first few chapters are devoted to the idea that the ultimate goal in any life is, or should be, happiness. Simple, right? Who doesn't want to be happy? And yet when I began to examine my life, there were so many things standing in the way of pure happiness, and they could all be changed by my attitude, actions, words. And so began the cleansing of this home.

I don't know where I got this need to collect stuff and hold on to things that are useless and unsentimental. I have this fear of wastefulness that would better fit a war survivor or someone who had gone through the Great Depression. I hate waste. But when the kids were at their grandparents for the night I went through and cleared out closets, toys baskets, rooms. I believe in the Montessori approach to learning and play: simple is better, less is more. But you would never know it to look at my home. I felt stressed because the house always seemed messy, stressed because my ideals weren't in line with my reality, stressed because there was just too much stuff. And now that stress is slowly lifting. What in your life is standing in the way of your happiness? And what can you do to change it?

Last week we took a little field trip with some friends to a 4,400 acre park in Kensington, a suburb of Detroit. Kensington Metropark has activities from fishing and hiking, to disc golf and cross country skiing. We went for the Farm Center, which not only has all the animals you would expect to see, but also hayrides, a nature center with classes and activities, and maple syrup tapping. The kids loved running around and meeting all the animals, especially since most of them had babies. Baby farm animals!

Erika's favorite part of the farm was the chicken coop. She kept running back in there and waiting for a hen to lay an egg. As we turned out the lights that night she said to me, "Mommy, I want to live on a farm. Then I could go out everyday and collect eggs." Audrey's favorite part of the farm was the horse which was hanging out right by the fence. He was so sweet and gentle and loved all the attention we were giving him.