They say the best thing an artist can aspire to be is a child. For one New Jersey mom, it took the inspiration of her own to find that magical spark. As for what she did with it, the only word is magical.
Therese Ojibway, a mother from Milburn, originally began to leave tiny houses and traces of fairies in the forests around the Rahway Trail in the South Mountain Conservancy as a way to enrich her autistic son’s experience in nature.
Over time, the fairy homes, fairy footprints, and fairy dust began to accumulate, and once the park authorities caught wind of the project, they let her continue on for 10 whole years.
Today ‘The Fairy Trail’ is a volunteer-led organization that provides a fantastical space for children to let their imaginations swirl like dry leaves in an autumn wind.
“She thought this was a dynamic way of getting little children into nature, getting them to use their imaginations, getting them to tap into their creativity and stimulate both early childhood and special needs children,” said Beth Kelly, a trail keeper.
“This is really about a magical feeling when you come here … it touches your heart, it gives you a sense of wonder, imagination, creativity, it all blends and bonds with nature,” Kelly told CBS News.
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Ojibwe and her son actually moved out of the area some years back, but the local attraction had become so beloved that Kelly and her colleague Julie Gould continue to maintain the Fairy Trail standards in her absence.
Kelly found the trail and its magic during the pandemic when she needed a place where her two little boys could go out and explore and breathe fresh air, while Gould came upon it through her work in Pre through K schooling.
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Over 100 tiny homes have been built in the area and tucked into the nooks and crannies of the forest—the perfect place for fairies to dwell in peace away from prying eyes. Made of natural elements, some scavenged from the forest itself, and always with subdued colors, the homes will eventually biodegrade without a trace.
According to Kelly, the children who visit firmly believe she gets to talk and meet the fairies, while they, as just visitors, report only catching glimpses of them through the trees—perhaps bounding up a tree on the saddle of a chipmunk, or disappearing down into the pollen of a forest flower.
WATCH the story below from CBS News…
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