When given the opportunity to explore nature, wildlife, plants, and trees in our woods in Piermont, children who visit here are most likely to come up with a variety of engaging activities. They invent, they concoct, they devise, and they have fun! It is the glory and inventiveness of youth ive them a water source, lots of dirt, pinecones, bark, sticks, and stones, and the next thing you know, you will see the beginnings of a Fairy House.
So, it was fun for Polly and me to watch two of our great-grandchildren, Isla and Bryson, go to work building a Fairy House. Their mother, Marissa, introduced us to the concept of the Fairy House, and we found it to be delightful and fun.
Not only did the kids tell us about the Fairy House, but they also got to work building one right here. It all turned out to be a fun day in the sun as they lugged freshly made mud to an area beneath our wooden ark of a picnic table, and beneath it, they constructed a Fairy House out of mud, oak bark, twigs, sticks, sod, acorns, and other woodsy products they could scrounge and use.
As they progressed with their construction project, the 12-by-12-inch square Fairly House began to take shape. There was no plan involved, and the design work and components were created as they went along on their adventure, narrating their intentions to us as they packed mud on the sides and on the oak bark roof, something they said would protect the tiny inhabitants living inside from the wind, rain, and cold.
This was all new to us. We were accustomed to seeing our own young kids (two boys) undertake serious earth-moving projects, tree house startups, and all types of wood and stone forts to defend their parents from invaders. There were many kinds of weapons invented to stave off wild animals, marauders, interlopers, neighbors and invaders from other strange territories here and away.
Our kids and others in the neighborhood where we came from built clunky things in the woods, not the graceful little buildings that Isla and Bryson were putting together. These dainty structures were being built by kids who use diminutive forest products for furniture and housewares. Did you know that acorn caps can be repurposed as bowls for the Fairy House dinner table?
Our two Fairy House builders have access to the Fall Portsmouth Fairy House Tour. The program this year included, we were told, more than 100 Fairy Houses of every shape, size, and design according to the Strawbery Banke Museum and the historic Governor John Langdon House.
Featured during these special children's and adult shows were outdoor events, including ballet and theatre productions that highlighted the lives of Fairies as envisioned by youngsters from throughout the area.
We have wrapped our Fairy House in weatherproof materials to preserve it. We are unsure how protective it will be for the future of this structure, as local chipmunks have been seen scurrying off with a cache of acorns placed there for future food of the Fairy House inhabitants.
Eventually, the chippies will find their way under the protective wrap, and whoever the little fairies are that live there will soon be joined by a group of rambunctious chipmunks who will be taking up winter residence in their little living room.

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