Say You Saw it in The Monadnock Shopper News, August 20 – August 26, 2014
Fairy Houses – The Epitome Of Green Living
When my daughter
was two years old, she received a book called Fairy
Houses by Tracy Kane. It
details a little girl’s family vacation to an island
off the coast of Maine.
She soon discovers that
this is no ordinary island,
but a place where people
take the time to build little
houses out in the woods
for the fairies. Luckily
there is a perfect spot right
near her cottage, and over
the course of the book she
builds a house, embellishing it with treasures she
finds in the woods and
on the beach. A series of
insect and animal visitors
come calling. Eventually
– spoiler alert! – a charm of fairies (“charm” is evidently one of the accepted collective nouns to describe a fairy group – don’t say you never learned anything
while reading my column) pays a visit, and they are very happy with the house
she has so carefully made for them.
The book is a little advanced for a two year old, so after an initial week of
looking at the pictures it was relegated to the shelf for the past 15 months or so.
Just recently, I took it down on a whim and read it to my daughter at breakfast.
She was instantly hooked, and wanted to know if she could build a fairy house.
Of course, was my reply, and there was great excitement amidst the pancakes
and peaches. We made plans to go out later that morning while her little brother
was napping. But first we had to review the rules for constructing fairy houses,
which are pretty simple.
Fairies do not like living
things to be hurt or disturbed, and they cannot
OR
abide artificial materials. So when building a
house, you can only use
with Richard Popovic
found materials from
nature that are not living
– sticks, dry grasses and
leaves, acorns, rocks, etc. This is zero impact construction at its best. Location is
also important. Quiet places in natural settings are preferred – forests, meadows,
beaches, and the like.
Armed with this knowledge, we headed out back to get started. We are
fortunate enough to live in prime fairy house real estate: an older forest full
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of big trees, plenty of
rocks and boulders, and
an abundance of natural
materials on the ground
all around us. Step one
was gathering supplies
like sticks, bark, small
stones and larger rocks,
acorns, leaves, and pine
cones. My daughter then
scouted out locations and
found a perfect spot at
the base of an old oak
tree. From there, it was
just a matter of designing
and building. She started
with a walkway lined
with rocks, which led to
three pine cone couches.
She noted that there were
little mushrooms already
growing inside for stools.
Next we made the roof by
laying a big piece of bark
across the top and placing
some sticks on top of that.
A table was constructed
from a smaller piece of
bark and four small sticks,
with acorn caps as plates.
Speaking of acorns, she
was adamant that they
have enough to eat, so
we made a “pantry” next
to the table, which we
filled with acorns. A few
small red maple leaves
and a couple of recently
fallen oak branches were
found and added as the
final touch to decorate
the doorway. Just like
that, our fairy house was
done and we had spent
a relaxing and creative
hour outside, imagining
the many different visitors who might use the
new house.
If you are looking for
a fun way to have your
kids get outside and get
creative, give fairy houses
a look. Happy building!
Richard Popovic is a
musician and freelance
writer who lives in Nelson
in an efficient little house
he built in 2007 where he
spends most of his time
attempting to convert
run-on sentences into a
viable source of clean
energy.
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FREE
HAZARDOUS WASTE
COLLECTION
A Great Opportunity to Clean Toxic Wastes from
your basement, workbench, garage and cupboards.
All collections run 8 am to 1 pm KEENE RECYCLING CENTER
From Route 12/West Street intersection, travel Route 12 North approximately
4.5 miles. Facility entrance is at the top of the hill on left hand side of road.
Collection takes approximately 10 minutes from the time of arrival.
QUESTIONS: Please call (603) 352-5739
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Limit: 10 gal. per household per collection.
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All collections will be held at the
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located adjacent to the
Keene Recycling Center,
55 Old Summit Rd, Keene
from 8 a.m. - 1 p.m.
(603) 355-2401
Sat. 8/23/14
Acworth
Bennington
Chesterfield
Dublin
Fitzwilliam
Greenfield
Hancock
Harrisville
Hinsdale
Jaffrey
Keene
Marlborough
Nelson
Richmond
Stoddard
Sullivan
Surry
Swanzey
Troy
Walpole
Sat. 9/13/14
Acworth
Bennington
Chesterfield
Dublin
Fitzwilliam
Greenfield
Hancock
Harrisville
Hinsdale
Jaffrey
Keene
Marlborough
Nelson
Richmond
Stoddard
Sullivan
Surry
Swanzey
Troy
Walpole
Wed. 9/17/14
Acworth
Bennington
Chesterfield
Dublin
Fitzwilliam
Greenfield
Hancock
Harrisville
Hinsdale
Jaffrey
Keene
Marlborough
Nelson
Richmond
Stoddard
Sullivan
Surry
Swanzey
Troy
Walpole
WHAT TO BRING: Products marked toxic, poison,
corrosive, irritant, hazardous, flammable, danger. If you
think it’s hazardous, bring it up.
WHAT NOT TO BRING: Empty Containers (can be
recycled), Latex Paint, Ammunition, Fireworks, Radioactive
Materials, Make-Up & Toiletries.
OTHER INFORMATION: Containers must be labeled as
to their contents. No containers larger than 10 gallons will
be accepted.
ALSO: Check out our new reuse center for items such as
good quality paint or various cleaning products. Perfect for
a small job and, best of all, it’s FREE!
DO NOT MIX PRODUCTS
Sat. 9/27/14
Acworth
Bennington
Chesterfield
Dublin
Fitzwilliam
Greenfield
Hancock
Harrisville
Hinsdale
Jaffrey
Keene
Marlborough
Nelson
Richmond
Stoddard
Sullivan
Surry
Swanzey
Troy
Walpole
Sat. 10/11/14 Wed. 10/15/14 Sat. 10/25/14
Acworth
Acworth
Acworth
Bennington
Bennington
Bennington
Chesterfield
Chesterfield
Chesterfield
Dublin
Dublin
Dublin
Fitzwilliam
Fitzwilliam
Fitzwilliam
Greenfield
Greenfield
Greenfield
Hancock
Hancock
Hancock
Harrisville
Harrisville
Harrisville
Hinsdale
Hinsdale
Hinsdale
Jaffrey
Jaffrey
Jaffrey
Keene
Keene
Keene
Marlborough
Marlborough Marlborough
Nelson
Nelson
Nelson
Richmond
Richmond
Richmond
Stoddard
Stoddard
Stoddard
Sullivan
Sullivan
Sullivan
Surry
Surry
Surry
Swanzey
Swanzey
Swanzey
Troy
Troy
Troy
Walpole
Walpole
Walpole