This year's addition to the nature table is a very warped looking life-sized squirrel I made. (K, your caterpillar is welcome to join us any time!) My son absconded with it before I had a chance to sew on the back haunches - it's sorta a big stuffed cone with a tail, a head and oversized ears - dh named it Bullwinkle because it's face has a definite MOOSE-like quality. It has joined our little papier mache bird, my son's little grey mouse, 3 leaf fairies and Mother Earth (who'll be replaced by a witch in October).

The table is covered in dark orange velvet and has a hollow log half as a house, a wheelbarrow that is full of seeds my son is collecting from outside, some Indian corn, some bark, and as the season progresses more signs of autumn will fill it out. When Samhain approaches we will add a cauldron, our witch doll and miniature pumpkins, one will be cut to hold a tealight, and the others will get pushed around in the wheelbarrow in a fairy pumpkin weigh off.

Right now the rodents are arguing over who's cache of seeds are in the hollow and I'm wondering about how to babyproof this seasonal centre of our lives.

THE RESPONSES:

• I am having a Mabon craft party on the equinox to make a door wreath and some other things... I'd love any easy craft ideas you might have!

  • Ohhhhh! I have lots of ideas for you! Make autumn leaf crowns for the kids - we use silk leaf garland (super cheap) and trim off the leaves we need and wind them onto a pipe cleaner circle. Make a pumpkin soup tureen full of pumpkin soup and serve with homemade bread. Harvest necklaces - get cobs of dried Indian corn, pop out the kernels, cover in boiling water and let soak overnight. Dry them on a towel and use a tapestry needle and good thick thread to make strands.

  • We're planning on making the harvest necklaces, and I also really want to start a seasonal table. Maybe we'll pick some things up on our hike this weekend. We've never celebrated any of the seasonal holidays before and I am really looking forward to it!

  • The best advice I can give about Nature Tables is just start one! So many people feel they have to have a bunch of stuff gathered, dolls etc at the outset but it's for the kids it's not an altar (unless you want it to be!) and you have years and years to add dolls and animals and accoutrements. Ours started as a shelf on the hutch in the diningroom where we put the socks and sticks and leaves and bouquets of weeds my son picked as a toddler. Now it's central to his play.