What are the ingredients in your perfect day? A long, hot bath? A walk in the woods? A   drive down country roads with the windows down and the music up?

I find that the things that make my heart sing haven’t changed much since I was a child. Like most adults, I get caught up in the doing-ness of life and make different choices with the way I spend my time now, but when I need a dose of pure, uncomplicated joy, I make myself a mud pie.

I recently shared my love of mud pies with my friend Miss Janice, whose husband’s family has lived in the Chattahoochee Hill Country for seven generations. She said, “You know, Marie, those mud pies are an early indication of your love of cooking.”

And that makes so much sense to me. At my childhood home, we had a huge, beautiful mimosa tree in our yard with pink flowers and I’d use its funky looking leaves as plates for my mud pies and serve them at pretend meals. Making mud pies gave me the freedom to create. If I put in too much liquid, I learned that my pie wouldn’t hold together well. I was adjusting my own recipes at three years old.

Not every mother lets her children play in the mud, but mine did—and it turned me into a mother who did the same. We put in three pools at different times and houses when my daughters were young and every time the girls wanted to roll around in the mud. I have great pictures of them literally covered in mud and smiling from ear to ear.

Mud is good for you in more ways than one. I recently found a book in my library called Earthing about the health benefits of dirt and the nutrients that come through the soil. Where do plants grow? Where do they get their nutrients? A little dirt in your system can be good for you and your immune system.

No matter what brings you back to that place of child-like joy, make time for it today. Maybe it’s riding your bike and letting go of the handlebars as you ride down a hill. Maybe it’s wading through a cold creek while the tadpoles dart around your toes. And if it’s making mud pies, try this recipe I perfected many backyard pretend picnics ago.

 

Mud Pies

1 bowl

1 big spoon or small shovel

2 hands

Water as needed

Use big spoon or small shovel to dig up dirt, mix it with water to the consistency you like and make mud pies with your hands.