Come to My Garden

It's fairy house season in our backyard again.  We started building fairy houses some time last spring (and here) and continued well into the fall (and here), though I can't find pictures of any of our magical creations (I'm pretty sure I took some but can't swear).  We actually had made our first fairy house of the season back in March, I believe, but it succumbed to spring clean up by the "mower guys."  But fairy houses aren't meant to be permanent, so we just start over.

Today's house has a lean to with fern roof and flower decorations (added creatively and proudly by Sis), a few flag poles in the back, a campfire with cotton-ball "fire," and a full garden of azaeleas, spiderwort flowers, and catmint blossoms.  Unlike the houses of last year, Bud and Sis (with the help of visiting friend D, who "planted" a Solstice tree--my term--and added decorations to the branches--he took it down before I got a picture) really took off on their own to gather materials and then added their own touches instead of handing me bits to put together.  Except for the balancing of the lean to structure, it really is their creation. 

Then, magically, in the mail this evening arrived three books I'd ordered awhile ago from the Fairy House Series:  Fairy Houses, by Tracy Kane, an illustrated tale of one girl's exploration of nature and fairy houses on an island off Maine (presumably; apparently, the tradition of fairy houses originated there), plus two books by the same authors (Kane and husband Barry) of actual fairy houses, Fairy Houses Everywhere and Fairy Houses and Beyond!  I was mesmerized by the  photos, which are amazing and inspiring feats of imagination and miniature architecture, though somewhat out of our league.  And Sis and Bud loved the storybook, having me read it twice at bedtime.  Fairy houses, flowers, and butterflies were their happy thoughts tonight.  

I noticed in the storybook that one of the "rules" of fairy house building is to use only natural materials--nothing artificial--but also nothing living, since fairies don't like to disturb or destoy nature.  Makes sense.  But our house today doesn't follow those specifications since we picked flowers and ferns from our yard (the first time we've done that for a fairy house, actually).   I'll see if I can explain that rule to them tomorrow.  They said they want to head back outside and keep building.

If you want to build your own fairy house or read more on the movement that has cropped up around the books (and apparently a movie), the Kanes have a website with photos.  We always choose a quiet, flat place under our pine tree, where the fairy house is out of the way and won't get stepped on but is also near many of our materials such as pinecones, pineneedles, and sticks.  I start the structure with materials that the kids pile up around me, usually a lean to with two forked sticks supporting a "crossbeam" upon which I lean the sticks for the side.  Sometimes we add a path, a campfire, a fence, a gate, a garden, even a swimming pool.   Once we had a few houses, one was a church and another a store, to go with the house.  It takes a village.  I've also made a teepee-shaped (for lack of a better term, though apparently it is more commonly spelled tipi, which I didn't know) fairy house.  And there was another basic format that I can't remember--I think it had four forked supports holding braces and a flat roof with one or more lean to sides (this is when I wish I'd taken more pictures).  We don't really have bark to work with so everything is made of twigs.  Then the kids help me build up the structure, add features, decorate.  This can go on for a long time and is the fun part of the project.

Well, that, and peaking out at the house morning, noon, and night to see if there have been any visitors!