It's almost Midsummer, which is a time that some say is the best time to encounter fairies! One of the reasons the concept of fairies exists is to give a face and name to the forces of nature, so let's honor them and our interconnected web by connecting with nature and building fairy houses with all-natural materials.

There isn't a set list of supplies for this activity, since you'll use what you find, but here's what I used.

Supplies

-sticks

-bark

-flowers

-berries

-...what else can you find?

Step 1: Go on a Walk!

Head out your door and see if you can find a place that looks like somewhere that fairies might hang out. You'll probably know it when you see it. There are places everywhere, even in the middle of town! Near my apartment is a big field of grass with a boring-looking brick building at one end...but if you turn around, there's a tiny, mysterious wilderness of ivy and raspberry bushes! I could imaging fairies living here. Can you?

Step 2: Look Around to See What You Notice.

As I poked around this tiny oasis of wilderness, I found lots of things that could be used to make a fairy house. There was a pile of sticks and dead roses, fresh blackberries, leaves, flowers, bark...

While I was exploring, I found a bluejay and a neat spider, too. What will you find?

Step 3: Gather Your Materials.

I grabbed what I thought I could use and put them in a big pile next to a flat bit of ground that I thought would make a good location.

Step 4: Build Your Base.

This may take some experimentation, but that's half the fun!

After playing around with my materials, I found that I could build a sort of platform with my sticks if I broke them up into similarly sized pieces. Then, I used pieces of bark to make a rough house shape.

Make sure you only use natural materials that you find lying around. You don't want to litter or use something that won't naturally biodegrade! Also, if I was a fairy, I don't think I'd want to live in a house made of weird human stuff.

Step 5: Decorate!

This is the best part.

I draped flowers around on the roof, and then I covered the stick floor in dried rose petals to make a kind of carpet.

Step 6: Leave an Offering If You Like.

Fairy mythology is full of people leaving offerings of food to appease and honor fairies. Since there were ripe blackberries everywhere, I picked some and left them inside the house.

Other traditional offerings include bread or milk with a little honey in it, but if you leave milk, make sure you return to collect the bowl later.

If you want to try and see a fairy come to visit your house, the best time to find fairies is at twilight or at dawn, as it's said that the veil between the worlds is thinnest during these transitional times. Full moons, Midsummer (June 20th/21st), or Samhain (October 31st) are days when the veil is thought to be the very thinnest, so those are also good days to go out and build a fairy house.

Have fun!