Kidhood

Part of why I wanted to start a blog was to share stories about my rather unique childhood. As perviously mentioned, I grew up as one of 9 kids in the middle of the woods. We lived in a cabin that my mom dreamed up and my uncle, with some help from my dad, built. We were home schooled, which is really hard to explain to anyone who wasn't. My learning, at least till I was twelve or so, was very unorthodox. To learn history we would read about, say, Leif Errikson discovering America, and then go outside and act it out. Or, to study fractions, we would cook and add together the measuring amounts to understand it better. We raised chickens, had pet goats and a rather failed attempt at a pony,  tried to grow a series of gardens, and spent hours playing in the woods everyday. 

Once I spent an hour standing by a fence on the edge of a field, holding my breath as I watched four fauns eat. Something startled them and they ran and my heart jumped to see the tiny deer leap over the tall fence.

Once our dog scared a poor baby bunny have to death and we took it home and fed it strawberries and named it Bonnie.

Once, we had an ornery old pony named The Artful Dodger who was determined that no one should ever ride him ever and took to biting anyone who tried to put his saddle on, namely me.

 Although a lot of times I was a typical kid that couldn't appreciate what I had, especially on Saturdays when we did chores all day, I most definitely appreciate my childhood now. I do think that growing up in the woods, surrounded by trees and animals, and being so free to dream and learn so free of rigid structure allowed me to be creative and use my imagination in my own way. That may have something to do with the fact that I sew animals obsessively :-)