Our girls will have spent five collective years at Hartley Nature Preschool, a very special school, hosted on 640 acres of protected forest, wetlands, skiing, biking, hiking, trees and water—and tucked right in our city.

Every Tuesday morning for the last two years I have brought our second daughter to her morning of school by way of a park trail. The slowness of our walk throughout the year allows for so much noticing—of changing seasons and ice and mud and creature tracks and actual creatures (two wolves crossed on the trail ahead of me just this winter!) and how peaceful we feel from being in the woods together.

Her time in class builds on our walk. Learning by way of noticing, exploring, touching, climbing, building, sliding, squishing and all in the hospitable forest where wonder is so easy to practice. In fact, if you walk through Hartley on a school day, you will likely hear the joyful squeals and sounds of children in wide open play in the woods.

One morning last year, after I had dropped Tova off and was walking back to our car, happy to have a quiet walk of my own, I was overwhelmed with gratitude for this place and places like this. Free! For everyone! Good for body, heart and mind! I longed for these natural spaces to remain protected for years to come. And then I wondered, what if I made a print and gave all the money back to this place? Maybe it could be my small part of participating in this vision.

And that is indeed what has happened. :) This print is a scene of children at play (Hartley folks will know this particular spot on the woods as Fairmont Forest), fully alive in nature, adventuring in all the creative possibilities among the trees.

As for the title of it, as Tova and I were walking to school, she began singing a song as we went along. She sang about the sticks and the trees we passed and then she sang these lines, “You can have a home in the woods…the woods can be a hopeful place.” We decided “Home in the Woods” was a good fit for the title, and true for all of us.

These prints are printed locally in Duluth on nice, slightly textured, 120# paper. They are each hand titled and signed.

And as for what I envisioned on my walk, 100% of profit from every single sale of each print and pack of cards was sent to Hartley Nature Preschool / Hartley Nature Center from April 2022 to July 2023. I am so happy that nearly $3000 was sent their way. Thank you for being part of the dream to keep natural spaces for generations to come, and especially available to children!