Several months ago, Iain, Elijah and I had the amazing opportunity of working with a local artist/builder/storyteller/craftsman/educator on the construction of a sapling hut.

It was an incredible afternoon. I was really surprise at the fact that only a few people attended, my boys the only children among them. And myself, one of only 3 adults (save for the instructor). The original plan was for only Iain and I to attend, as the advertisements specified that it was for ages 8 and up. Elijah was really sad about not getting to take part. Once we got there, I felt like the instructor would be totally open to him attending, so I asked and he rolled his eyes at the flier and insisted that Elijah join in!

With so few people there, they were a really active part of the building process. I know you can’t tell from these pictures, because the only time I had to take pictures was when we were making decisions about the structure or receiving instructions, not actively building.

The instructor opened with us all sitting inside the circle we had marked out. He told a Native American tale about a village that had lost it’s way, being tricked into coming together to create a community once again and all of the beautiful rewards they found there in. This structure was a gift to our town, to our community and the coming together to make it was a part of it’s blessing.

I couldn’t help but think how fitting and timely this was for my little Iain, heading into third grade to study both building and Native American culture and legend. It always amazes me when some perfect opportunity of this sort, just falls into our laps.

And yes, it turned out quite strong and sturdy! And we have plans to build one in our own yard sometime in the future.