10/04/2026
By now you know of the Farm in the Woods exhibit, which just opened at Amelia Park Children’s Museum in Westfield, MA... but I wanted to share some of the inspiration behind it.
I (Terra, Panoptic co-owner and The Artistic One here, pictured above) grew up in southern NH, on a family farm. I had access to a childhood full of exploration and nature. The second I had the opportunity to bring this experience to more children, I had to take it.
Each detail in this space calls back to a part of the farm I loved:
🪨 The Big Mossy Rock was a glacial erratic that jutted out of a field, too big for the farmers to ever move, providing a perfect place to observe delicate mosses, squirmy bugs, an oasis of lush life tucked in the expanse of golden hay. We did nothing less than bring a real boulder to start growing moss of its own.
🐻 The three bears' cottage was a small house at the top of the hill. I never knew exactly what lived there, but I always wondered... So we brought it to life on the "mountain", full of all the creatures we could imagine making a home there.
🐄 The barn was a place I spent hours in, helping care for animals and stacking hay bales. Amelia Park already had the perfect cow... we just had to add the hay and some chicken eggs to sort! (plus we hooked the cow up to solar... story for another post).
🌱 My mother's herb garden was always full of the most amazing smells and colorful insects. It has been realized here with plantings of strudy thyme, oregano, and sage, colorful strawberries, blueberries, and sunflowers, and fragrant garlic, lavender, and beebalm. Nothing toxic, everything hardy enough to survive curious hands.
I feel grateful for the opportunity and the freedom Amelia Park gave us to create a space that recalls from precious and personal memories, and how enthusiastically they supported this direction as a unique and special offering for families. I hope that hundreds or thousands of children get something out of it that is hard to find anywhere else.
algorithm snacks:
hands on outdoor exploration nature play museum childrens museum science learning memory
