I have a confession to make.  I believe in fairies, and many other mythical creatures of the forest, desert, streams and lakes. I always have, I just didn’t ever dare say.  I love the stories and folklore, the magic of it all and I often tell my kids about the fairies and other creatures that live among us.  We have slowly named areas and landmarks on our land, some names are quite practical, for example: the chicken yard, the garden, the drive way, or the wood lot. Other names are a bit more magical (and I’m always thinking of new ones), we have: The Mother Tree, Little Tree, Orchard Meadow, Greenman, and the Shay.  The Shay is a small area of land that we intend to keep wild, with very little modification, there is one Juniper tree that stands in the area, who is the guardian, he has yet to be named, and we plan on planting a few more (native of course).  In the Shay we are very careful not to leave any trace we have been there, unless they are gifts to the fairies that make it their home.  The kids have made small fairy houses out of bits of bark, moss and other natural materials and on occasion they will leave little bits of food, crusts of bread from a picnic or crumbs from a cake, to keep our fairy folk happy so they will bring us good luck.

This weekend a bit of whimsy washed over us and we decided to build us a fairy castle, of course made of the finest material available.  We found a fairly flat area in The Shay, collected materials and went to work. (I got the idea here: http://www.hgtv.com/design/outdoor-design/landscaping-and-hardscaping/wildlife-wall)

In all practicality what we were creating was a habitat or home for beneficial insects and places for smaller mammals and birds to hide.  A land that is teaming with life, from bug to human, is healthy, nourishing and giving.  Just the thing we are working to create.  When a land is sterile of all the little creatures it is dead, physically and spiritually, it cannot nourish.

Inviting the fairies invites life.