A Woodland Charm Box

After watching Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women” in the theater last December, I came home inspired not only by the color schemes, costumes, performances, and quaint house decor, but also by the little wooden mailbox in the woods, through which the March sisters and Laurie passed notes and objects to one another.

I knew we needed a woodland mailbox like it at Spring Bird. I had a surplus of special objects that called to me as I walked through the woods – sticks, stones, bones, and feathers. I often stick them in pockets where I forget about them, or they collect on window ledges. They feel special to me, and I want to share them. I think small objects can be charming and something to hold on to -to focus on. They have their own energy and presence. Someone once gave me a rock during a tumultuous time of uncertainty, and it’s smooth, everlasting self was a tiny anchor of stability. Anyway, it is from this place of charms, offerings, and hopeful messages that I wanted to make our own mailbox in the woods. 

I originally conceived of constructing the mailbox from a hollowed log or some other organic structure. Many moons passed without making anything when I came across a  small glass cabinet that we’d acquired from the dusty basement of our first house. I’d intended to make a shrine out of it someday, and I supposed I sort of did with this iteration of a charm box. 

I decoratively painted the charm box and sealed it with a marine varnish. Pat helped me mount it to one of the fallen oaks. Then,  after getting soaked in the rain, I realized that the box needed a protective roof, which I tucked above it. Finally, I filled the box with charms and messages for Spring Bird guests as an invitation to take one or leave one. 

AND, you know what, the box has been up for weeks and not a single charm has been adopted! Perhaps the guests have not found the box or have not been called to take one. 

If you find yourself at Spring Bird in the coming weeks, please help yourself to a charm if you feel called to do so. Or maybe you would prefer to leave one! 

You can find the box on the north side of the pool/greenhouse.