Tumbleweed Infant House, LLC
“I always tell parents how much easier they could raise healthy, ‘happy’ children if they would make outdoor living a regular habit for your babies. Why? Because babies thrive out-of-doors. They sleep better, eat better, look better, play better and learn better. Fresh air[…] both soothes and stimulates.”
--Cara Wilson in The RIE Manual: For Parents and Professionals.
The entire lot is fenced. We view the outside space as five areas: the front yard, the side yard (we plan to plant fruit trees here), the garden space, the jungle, and the backyard.
The backyard, the main outside
area for infants, has undergone quite the transformation. Shane has been
digging out azalea, rhododendrons, and other toxic plants. This left quite a
bit of space for non-toxic plants. We've planted sunflowers, sage, lavender,
various sedum, a pumpkin plant, corn, thyme, mint, butterfly bushes, and fennel
to join the mature yucca, rosemary, wood violets, roses, rosemary, and spirea.
It will take some time for this space to look like a mature garden, but it's on
its way (pictures to the right are the work in progress)! And there's plenty of space to roll, crawl, smell, feel, and explore.
We chose this area for many reasons, but especially because it's mostly shaded
by the large maple tree--perfect for infants who are on their backs and not
wanting to be blinded by direct sunlight--and secluded far from the street. The backyard is directly off of the sunroom, which allows for easy exit and entry.
Our garden area is loving all of this sun. Hopefully we'll have corn, pumpkins, watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumber, beans, and peas to harvest in a few months. There are also raspberry, blueberry, and current bushes along the south side of the green shed.
The area between the garden and the shed has tall grass much of the year and is what most children visitors refer to as the "jungle." We have a mowed path through it to the berry patch, and children like to make their own paths as well. This area found the sun a bit too hot, and we've just cut down all of the grass. The "jungle" will return next Spring.
Our outdoor space is all organic. We use no weed killer, pesticides, or chemical fertilizer; we pull dandelions and other weeds by hand, use organic and natural fertilizer, and live with friendly (and edible!) clover and wood violets.
The various stages of the jungle:
