Log Cabin Playhouse

This blog post is long overdue. You will certainly notice the change in seasons in the photos. But I had never gotten a final photo of the finished playhouse because every time we visited my family, the sun was bright and cast harsh shadows on the playhouse. On Saturday we stopped by to say hello and visit for a few minutes. Getting out of the car, I noticed immediately that because of the overcast sky, I could finally get a photo!

It all began when my then 5-year old daughter and her 6-year old cousin started building a playhouse last fall. They gathered and carried firewood and sticks and bricks…basically, anything they could find to build the outline of a house and a stove. It was hard work! But they had so much fun.

Seeing their playhouse and knowing their desire to build the walls high enough so that they could stand up in the house inspired my Dad to build them a real playhouse.

One of my brothers offered slab wood for Dad to use in the construction. Dad built the walls on a wagon, and then moved it into place with a tractor and skid loader.

When I was a little girl, my older brothers built a similar size of playhouse out of scrap 2 x 4 lumber. I remember seeing them building something on the floor of a hay wagon, but they refused to tell me what they were doing, telling me that it was a surprise. Once they completed my playhouse, and installed running water from a nearby water hydrant with a real faucet and a bucket for a sink that drained directly onto the ground outside of the playhouse, I spent most of my summers in that little playhouse. I canned small, unripe fruit from the orchard in baby food jars. I collected corn and other grains from the barn to use as flour to use in cooking. I gathered walnuts from the field, soaked them in washtubs, and made stain to apply to the walls of my playhouse. My favorite memories of childhood revolve around my time spent playing in my own playhouse. It fell apart long ago, and was removed. I have often longed for my girls to have that same experience. When Dad built this playhouse, I was ecstatic! I am thankful that my girls will have the same opportunity for fun. Even though it is at my parents’ farm, we plan to spend a lot of time there in the summers since that is where our garden is.

Dad set up the playhouse in its site next to the garden and greenhouse and then added a slab roof and a stone chimney. The children hung herbs in the rafters…

…harvested cabbage from the field and covered it with straw to store it…

Mom donated old cookware…

…for the children to use on the stove they built.

Dad built furniture.

We gathered greenery, and the girls decorated it for Christmas.

Of course, we didn’t spend much time there this winter because of the cold days, but I hope that my girls will have many years of playing and making memories in their little house on the farm.

And here is a pin to share if you want to see these photos again or share them with others.

Next week, I will be sharing pictures of the Yellow Bird Nest quilt that I started making last year before the pandemic changed our lives. I am almost finished with stitching around the blocks with a briar (or feather) stitch!