Homes Photo: left to right - Frank Vassen via Wikimedia Commons, Catherine Henderson, Rudolphous via Wikimedia Commons, Catherine Henderson
Home
Catherine Henderson shares some ideas for younger Friends on the idea of ‘home’
There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, ‘It is just as I feared! –
Two Owls and a Hen, four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard.’
Have you ever built a nest or a den – maybe in a secret corner behind the sofa or under a table, or outside under a tree? Most of us like to curl up somewhere secret, with a friend, or a cat, or just quietly by ourselves – somewhere we feel cosy and safe. Animals and birds do this too, sometimes in unusual places – though not usually in beards.
I used to make camps with my friends in the barley fields when the straw was cut. We made a horseshoe-shaped wall out of straw, laid sticks across the top and heaped straw on top of that. It made a kind of straw cave, and when you were inside no one knew you were there.
I once met a man who lived in a tree. It was his home, all year round. It was a huge ancient oak – when you looked up you would never guess there was someone up there. I think he built a little platform to sleep on, though sometimes, he told me, he slept on the ground snuggled up against the trunk.
He shared the tree with many other creatures – woodpeckers drumming on the bark, squirrels scurrying along branches and a pair of tawny owls, who flew out at night to hunt, calling to each other in the darkness. The oak tree was home to them all.
In the winter, though, the man got a bad cough because it was too cold to sleep outside, so he came into the town to live in a hostel with lots of other men and women who didn’t have homes.
He missed the tree very much, and used to sit and make beautiful drawings of it, full of detail – the rough patterns on the bark, the sun shining through the leaves, and of course the birds and animals.
It’s hard to imagine not having a home. But like the man in the tree, there are a lot of people who have nowhere to live, and a lot of different reasons why this is so.
In countries where there are wars people’s homes are destroyed, and they have to leave all the familiar places behind to find a safe place to stay. Sometimes they shelter in tents in massive camps in the desert and are often there for many years. Sometimes they live in crowded rooms with lots of other families and no quiet corner for anyone. It must be difficult to feel at home in places like this.
Everywhere people go they try to make a home, a shelter, a safe place to be. Animals do the same. But sometimes animals, like people, need a bit of help to make a home.
Hedgehogs need somewhere safe to shelter, especially when they are hibernating in the winter. If you have a garden, or know someone who does, you could build a hedgehog house.
You need four bricks, placed hollow-side down to form two walls with a space in the middle, and a small paving stone for a roof. A handful of hay inside will make it cosy.
Build it in a sheltered corner facing away from the wind, perhaps near a hedge or compost heap (plenty of worms for breakfast!), with a few logs on top for extra warmth, if you can find them.
If you’re lucky you might find a hedgehog has moved into your garden – or even a whole hedgehog family!
