Imagine Childhood : Magic & Memories That Last a Lifetime

... mudbrick houses

During the whole month of May we've been digging in the dirt, preparing our gardens, making mud pies, and planting seeds.  What better way to round it all out than with a mudbrick house?

Building structures out of sun dried earth is one of the oldest construction methods there are, and with this fun project kids can try their hand at early architectural techniques and build a miniature playhouse in the garden while they're at it!

Adobe, mudbrick and cob structures all use similar ingredients (sand, clay, water and some sort of binder like straw or sticks), and can be easily made in miniature version in the garden. After mixing up our batch of mud (we didn't have straw so we substituted some grass clippings and the fibrous parts of maple seeds) we pressed it into an ice tray with removable dividers.   If you don't have one of these, the flexible versions would work well too, but a traditional version wouldn't be the best choice because the bricks would be hard to remove without falling apart.

Making strong bricks requires a fair amount of clay in the mixture.  One way you can tell if your dirt will be good for bricks is to mix it with water in a clear jar until it is almost completely saturated and then shake it up... kids love this part.  After the mixture is shaken for a while (about a minute or so), and then placed on a table to allow it to settle you will be able to tell how much clay there is because it will fall to the bottom of the jar.

Once you have removed your bricks from the mold they might need a little more squeezing to make them as compact as possible.  Then either leave to dry for a few days in the hot sun, or you can bake them in the oven (if your climate is too humid) at a low temperature (about 150 degrees or so) until they are dry and hard, usually a few hours.

When the bricks are ready you can start building your structure using a soupier mixture of mud as the mortar.  If you have any openings you would like to include (we made a window and a door for ours) you can bridge the top with a couple of sticks and then continue building with the bricks on top of that.

We made our roof out of some ferns we had growing and a few sticks, but you could also make the entire structure out of bricks (with sticks used to frame the roof).  And that's it, you're done!  You could leave it as is or....

... you could add a few embellishments to invite the elves or fairies to find their way in.

Happy Building!

... what's in your dirt?

What's in your dirt?  Although the most immediate answer might be something like "chives... lemon balm... zucchini... tomatoes.. eggplant..." that isn't exactly what we're asking (although we would love to hear about that too!).  What we mean is,  what components make up your garden soil? Most gardeners check their soil for its PH or add things like compost and manure to enrich it, but have you ever tested your soil for lead?  If you live in an urban area or in a house built before 1978 (when lead paint was taken off the marked), you might want to do a quick check. Lead in the soil can be common in these areas but even if you find it, it doesn't have to be the end of your backyard gardening.  According to this article you can either replace the soil, plant in raised beds, or alkalinize it by adding lime or compost, which makes plants less likely to absorb lead. Since many fruiting crops don't readily accumulate lead, your tomatoes, squash, eggplant, corn and beans are most likely healthy, but herbs, leafy greens and root vegetables are a little more at risk and perhaps worth planting in a raised bed. Nothing beats beautiful veggies fresh from the garden, especially when you know the soil they came from is healthy! A few resources: The Environmental Protection Agency's lead hot line is 1-800-424-5323.  They can refer callers to health departments, which will either do soil testing or provide names of local certified labs. County extension services can be found through the website of the Department of Agriculture's Cooperative State Research. They often do testing or can provide referrals to universities, colleges or private companies that do. Just click on your state to see all of the offices in your area. More information available at Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry More on lead in the environment can be found at the EPA website

... barn stories: welcome iggy!

Iggy arrived Friday morning between 4:00 AM and 7:30. I checked on Abby at 3:30 to give her some hay and she ate it.   They say horses quit eating when they go into labor, but I guess that wasn't true for our Abby. Since she ate something I thought it was safe to go back to bed, and I ended up missing the whole event! We had a large front come in with severe weather, and at one point I could see a tornado from the barn! I think Iggy was ready to come and the storm made it happen a little too quickly.

Iggy had a rough start, and both mom and baby had to go to the ICU.  But by Tuesday morning both were ready to go home and the word "miracle" was mentioned a lot at the animal hospital. Iggy had developed dumb foal syndrome which is generally a sign of a difficult birth.   We came close to loosing him, but with the great care of his veterinarian and technicians he made it. Friday night through Saturday he was hooked up to oxygen and feeding tubes with an IV in place for injections and his doctor went home at 1:30am with no change in Iggy. Then she got a call at 3:00am saying "he is up and we can't keep him down".  I arrived at the hospital Sunday morning with him nursing and acting like a normal foal.

{First Steps!}


Welcome our little miracle Iggy,  Abby's new colt!

... more ways to explore

If you enjoyed yesterday's beautiful nature walk, here are a few more pictures from our friend Angela's trek!

{Angela told us that due to local customs, the grave sites in Kangding are beautiful places to visit.  This is because the sites are placed in areas with wonderful views ( a way of honoring the dead) and often filled with trees that have been planted in order to make them more comfortable.  She said it is not uncommon to see a group of herders among the graves making tea during a break.}


We met Angela though her father (he makes these great walking sticks for us!) and she told us all about her life in China and shared this wonderful adventure. A number of years ago on a trip to the region she met and fell in love with her husband and now they run Chyoger Treks and the Khampa Nomad Arts Cooperative, where they work to preserve traditional Tibetan nomadic arts and ways of life. If you have a moment, take a look at their wonderful Artisan Workshops where you can learn how to make traditional Tibetan nomadic crafts or even take a course in Yak husbandry! What an amazing way to explore such a beautiful place in the world!

... nature walk: kangding, china

This Week's wonderful Nature Walk comes to us all the way from Kangding, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, China where Angela and her family went on a wonderful adventure through the hills noticing all of the new spring life along the way.  Thank you so much Angela for sharing!

If you would like to contribute to our weekly Nature Walk series, you can learn more about submitting photos here, or you can also visit our new Nature Walk Group Pool on Flickr to add your adventures to the collection.

Thanks again Angela for sharing!