Trolls are an elusive group and among the largest inhabitants of the Fairy Kingdom as well as perhaps the most misunderstood.

Here on the north side of a small mountain in Maine we live and work side by side all sorts of magical beings including a Clan of Trolls.

Some Troll facts :

Did you know that Trolls have the gift of invisibility so they are not often seen? Did you know that Trolls speak in tones so low they are seldom heard? Trolls love music, and some of them sing but the vibrations are of a frequency that other beings can’t hear them unless they want them to…which mostly they don’t. Trolls are very, very shy and with the exception of the Grand Fairy Spring Ball they mostly keep to themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eugene is a dear friend of mine and a Troll from the Clan of the Knoll. He is a metal smith and constructs all sorts of magical implements, such as the lovely Miss Millicent Mae Mailbox, as well as bells and finely tuned keys for mbiras and kalimbas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eugene’s cousins Beyla and Laszlo Troll are craftsman too; they carve rustic furniture

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and paint not so rustic furniture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They live nearby in enchanted lichen covered caves close to the top of the hill.

Most Trolls of the Knoll are carvers and make lovely over sized furniture and exquisite instruments.

Just below Beyla and Laszlo’s cave lives William Edwin Troll and his wife Nora Russell Troll.

William Edwin is a talented musician who plays many instruments including the zither, violin, cello, viola, mbira and kalimba. (to name just a few!) William Edwin also composes music which he plays for his wife Nora as she prepares their meals.

Nora Russell Troll is just as talented as her husband. Nora Russell plays piano and is the lead soloist in the Grand Troll Opera. She and Edwin make quite a pair and during the Grand Fairy Spring Ball if the breeze is just right you can hear her accompanying his melancholy playing as she hits both the high notes and the lowest of the low with her beautiful voice. Who knew Trolls could sing and play music, and so beautifully at that?

But there’s another thing about Trolls that might surprise you even more…

All Trolls are excellent chefs.

However, as you may have guessed, unlike Fairies or Pixies or most residents of the Fairy Kingdom Trolls are not vegetarians; they consume copious amounts of fish along with the furred and feathered.

Worry not, they consume only what they need, always blessing the food they eat with gratitude.

Out of respect for other members of the Fairy Kingdom while attending The Annual Grand Fairy Spring Ball all Trolls leave their meat dishes at home and prepare a beautiful vegetarian dish which always, always includes cabbage. Trolls absolutely love cabbage!

Their favorite meatless recipe is Troll Slaw. Yes, Troll Slaw not Cole Slaw….same thing but with a few differences.

Following is the recipe and I think you might appreciate the creativity of the Troll Clan in a way you never did before after you sample just one bite. Yes, it’s that good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TROLL SLAW

Dressing for Troll Slaw:

1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper or a pinch or two more.

2 Tablespoons Stevia (Truvia) or  1/4 Sugar (I do as the Trolls and use stevia)

1/4 cup minced and chopped fine cilantro

2 tsp peeled, grated and chopped fine fresh ginger

In small bowl or a 1 cup glass measuring cup whisk together the above ingredients, cover and let set.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For The Slaw:

3 cups very thinly sliced and chopped small organic red cabbage

3 cups very thinly sliced and chopped small organic green cabbage

4- 6 scallions chopped thinly

2 large carrots grated

1/2 red bell pepper sliced very thin and diced small

1 large handful of snow peas sliced very thinly (snip off ends if need be)

1 can organic garbanzo beans drained and well rinsed

1/4 c. or to taste sliced and diced jalapeno peppers, I use organic in jar with NO yellow dye!

1 handful organic dried cranberries ( or raisins)

8-10 seedless organic pitted dates

1 handful of pine nuts (you may substitute sunflower seeds)

 

1/8 or so cup of organic black sesame seeds

4-5 beautiful heads of calendula flowers if you are fortunate enough to have some.

 

For your slaw the Trolls highly recommend all your ingredients be at room temperature and I agree; it really does make a difference and you will find that warm cabbages are more welcoming of the oil and vinegar.

With clean washed hands do as the Trolls do and mix all of the above slaw ingredients (except black sesame seeds and calendulas) together in a large bowl. Set aside.

 

Right BEFORE you are to serve your slaw, whisk your dressing and drizzle on slaw, tossing and turning to coat all ingredients evenly using two wooden spoons.

Dressing minutes before serving prevents the slaw from becoming soggy, (unless you prefer soggy slaw of course). Trolls prefer their cabbage crisp.

Lastly sprinkle on your sesame seeds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, if you happen to have calendula flowers, which are edible by the way… snip off 5 or so flower heads and gently but firmly pinch off only their petals then sprinkle petals atop your Troll Slaw as a lovely garnish.

Nora Russell Troll is a romantic and always looking for ways to make William Edwin smile. Sprinkling on the edible and cheery calendula flower petals is a very special way of expressing her love for him.

I think after you try this recipe you will have a whole different appreciation for Trolls, because Troll Slaw is REALLY good….Trolly good!

Enjoy

Click on the above link to hear William Edwin Troll play his beautiful Marguerite Waltz for Nora Russell as she prepares his slaw.

William Edwin Troll on violin and Beyla Troll accompanying on piano.

I suggest you play this as you prepare your own Troll Slaw.

 

 

 

 

As the sun rises here on the north side of a small mountain in Maine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

everything is exactly as it should be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fairy Folk rise early and begin dusting their magical fairy dust ground precious and fine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My greenhouse is bursting with an abundance of fresh herbs, tomatoes and scented geraniums to name just a few varieties of flora that happily reside within.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Large Lemon Verbena, nasturtiums and over flowing flats of Basil are vibrant and fragrant with scent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

All is as it should be on this very fine wonderful July day.

 

The Fairies and I want to wish a very Fairy Happy 11th Birthday to Grand Daughter Delfina!!!!

All our love and blessings we send to you wherever you go, where ever you are…always.

With Love From,

Nana and the Fairies

 

 

 

The following is such a beautiful story of one man’s generosity , one I thought worth repeating.

It is only a mere a sketch of a story, as it really is Ryan’s story and therefore his for the telling.

Every once in a while you meet someone who’s living their dreams.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ryan is such a person, and on the day he arrived in my gardens with Lady Katherine I could not help but notice how the birds sang louder; how flowers appeared more colorful and how the Fairy Folk instead of hiding fluttered freely as if welcoming one of their own. Even shy Luna the Enchanted Puppet showed herself, happily welcoming these guests.

A world traveler Ryan had just returned from South America, Thailand, India and Nepal.

Enchanted by the sound of an ancient Indian violin Ryan had traveled all the way to India in  hopes of finding a teacher and learning to play.

An amazing journey.

Below is a short video tale of what happened the day Ryan found his way into my garden.

The Traveler, The Camel and The Hand Pan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The background music is mbira, as the Fairies themselves have whispered I play.

Greetings from the endless garden of the mind…where color and flowers are always in bloom.

Follow your heart; and live your own great story out loud.

 

 

 

 

Imagination (im-ag-i-na-tion)

The ability of the mind to be creative and resourceful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Creativity (cre-a-tiv-i-ty)

Individuality, original ideas;  the use of  your imagination.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rejoice in your own unique individuality.

 

 

 

 

 

Explore the world around you.

Isn’t it spectacular?!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many wonders lay before you which will become visible when you pause and slow down to look more closely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gardens are full of all kinds of wonders and no two days are ever the same.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Follow your own path,

Become an explorer, an adventurer,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Be courageous and become the author of your own life story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The possibilities are endless.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Hand in hand with fairy grace

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We sing we dance, we bless this place.”

W. Shakespeare

 

 

Oh, how I love the possibilities each day offers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gardens are full of all kinds of wonders no matter how large or how small they may be.

 

 

 

 

 

As long as a garden is lovingly tended all kinds of plants will sprout, blossom and grow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fairies love gardens and every garden has Fairies….

Everyone enjoys Fairies and Fairy Folk appreciate all the attention they receive even if they remain secretive and hidden.

 

 

 

 

 

Did you know plants enjoy children just as much as fairies do, and that the sound of one child’s laughter is enough to make a flower blossom and want to grow?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fairy Grandmothers! Who knew?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There truly is magic in every garden, all one has to do is look.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lilac season here on the north side of a small mountain in Maine begins during the last weeks of May and if weather permits it can last well until the end of June.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A hedgerow of common Lilacs both white and shades of purplish pink welcomes quests to our farm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very early in the morning Home Place Fairies arrive and begin to sprinkle the gardens here with fairy dust, which encourages plants to vibrantly sprout, blossom and grow.

Each and every morning I like to do a walk about the farm greeting the wildlings as they awaken and the fairies as they arrive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brunhilde Toad is a good friend of mine, she along with her sister Trixie are magical toads and they live in Madeline’s Enchanted Boarding House. Brunhilde seemed awake rather bright and early this morning, saying, “Deep in the garden lays a wonderful surprise.” Then she casually hopped past on her way to tell her sister what she’d seen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Being magical Toads Brunhilde and Trixie have pretty much everything they wish for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I noticed Robin had laid one perfect egg in her sweet little nest which the fairy folk have already sprinkled with magical dust for protection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I met Old Horse as he was just returning from his morning walk with a group of twinkling fairy folk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Fairy Wardrobe Chamber sat quietly waiting for when human children might arrive. She holds many secrets and all sorts of possibilities.

As a  Fairy Magical Chamber she is filled with garments created by the Seamstress to the Fairies and enchanted with fairy dust.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just as the sun began her morning rise fairies began to sprinkle the garden with fairy dust ground precious and fine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each morning is different, no day is ever exactly the same.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today as I walked about I thought something seemed different somehow, the birds were chirping louder, and Old Horse had returned from his walk earlier than is usual.

And so I looked about the garden searching for a clue.

I came upon Eugene Troll’s large sturdy wooden chair, nothing seemed amiss, but where in fact was Eugene Troll, I wondered ?

Only to remember trolls always return to their underground chambers at the first sign of morning’s light.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fairy folk had already dusted the arbor of arctic hardy kiwi and all seemed as it should be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continuing on my merry way I looked high and I looked low seeing nothing unusual, when I spied well into the garden’s center, the most charming little mailbox I ever did see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This turned out to be the delightful Miss. Millicent Mae Mailbox. Millicent Mae glistened and glowed; greeting me with a twinkle and a flutter. She had wings! And she spoke!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Millicent Mae told me she had been made by Eugene the Troll from the Knoll out of fine metals mined by trolls from the hills, far beyond the Enchanted Forest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She said Fairies enchanted her, gifting her wings, the powers of invisibility and when and if she so chose it, the ability to fly! Oh, and yes…she was a shape shifter, meaning she can enlarge or decrease her size as it suits her.

No ordinary mailbox is Miss. Millicent Mae, but a fairy special one indeed. Her purpose is to receive hopes, dreams and wishes from children and grown ups and deliver them to Fairyland.

She was on a mission looking for a fairy special location in which to offer her services.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I never met this little mailbox before and I am so happy to know her name for she did not stay, she chatted with me only briefly as she brightly twinkled, glistened, glimmered and glowed. Cheerfully saying she would be back in 6 days time when the sun shined bright, then she twinkled one last time and poof!

She was gone!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remarkable really, what you might find in a garden if only you look.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In each family, every few generations, there comes along an individual who has a predestined path.

Known as The Memory Keeper this person is a family member who gathers and combines together photographs and stories from our present day lives and those of our ancestors, saving and recording memorabilia that would otherwise become lost or forgotten.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In my family I am this generation’s Memory Keeper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Several generations before me there was Margaret, my Grandfather’s sister. Through her son now passed many of the stories and photographs she shared with her only child, he passed down to me.

Margaret carried a memory book with her wherever she went, recording daily events as they transpired.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They say every picture tells a story. What do you think this one says about Margaret with this young park bear?

I think she looks more innocent than brave and that the bear appears as young and naive as she; happily enjoying the attentions of such a lovely girl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Margaret kept a collection of photographs that have become family treasures, such as this one of Gordon Highlander, her brother during a visit to Dingman’s Ferry in Pennsylvania standing proud before tall Hollyhocks.

It is expected and required that every Memory Keeper create a sacred vessel in which to house their family’s stories. This vessel is then cast with an enchantment by fairies to become a unique one of a kind register of a family’s tales.

Memory vessels are sacred for they carry the dreams, wishes and memories from previous generations to the present day. Passed down from one generation to the next they can serve as inspiration, offering guidance for those seekers that come after, so they know they are never alone, their ancestors are always by their side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Margaret created two sacred vessels, a leather bound book she carried everywhere recording as she went and an embroidered box which held photographs the previous Memory Keeper passed to her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When my turn came for making a sacred vessel of my own I waited until the evening of the first Full Moon of Autumn; then called upon the fairies and my ancestors for guidance and inspiration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fairies whispered, “use what you have at hand”.  All around me I saw an abundance of discarded cardboard and so with the remains of several large boxes I set about to construct my own unique memory vessel.

Being a Fairy Seamstress it seemed a natural choice that I might create some article of clothing, and so I decided upon a dress, a dress made entirely of cardboard into which I would place my family’s memories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I collected large boxes from my basement; I stomped up and down happily hopping on them to flatten and then carefully cut them into large pieces. Next I painted each piece of cardboard with three coats of fresh white paint on both sides.  As I worked I noticed fairies arrived, sparkling and whispering at my side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I  began to sketch on the cardboard as a bodice appeared. I cut out the bodice and manipulated the cardboard “fabric” into a three dimensional shape which I glued together with a hot glue gun..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fairies in their excitement began sprinkling fairy dust on every piece of cardboard I’d painted in soft shades of pink.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next I was cutting and painting cardboard petals.,

 

 

 

 

 

cardboard butterflies…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and cardboard leaves which I painted a gentle shade of green.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was so inspired that I worked all through many days and several nights as a dress took form.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fairies whispered,”wings”, and I was happy to oblige.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I cut and glued together one large cardboard rose,  flowers followed.

 

 

 

 

 

Before me a lovely cardboard fairy dress had taken form. Inspired by my ancestors and encouraged by the fairies I had created my own unique vessel in which to hold my family’s dreams, stories and memories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wings enchanted with fairy dust, came to life on a dress made of cardboard inspired by fairies and ancestors who lived before me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every Memory Keeper must present a book of their own; the Fairies whispered to me…”Cardboard, cardboard, it’s in your bone, make a book to house those stories that are your family’s all alone.”

And so I did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I cut and bent more cardboard, I painted, I drew…and a beautiful book began to emerge filling with the stories of ancestors past.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“A moth a Sacred Luna Moth”, the Fairies whispered and I complied adding the finishing touch.

 

 

 

 

 

On the eleventh day the dress and book were done, a welcome vessel in which to contain all my families memories, past, present and yet to come.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look about yourself at the material you have at hand to create your own memory vessel and you too can turn the ordinary into the extra-ordinary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What if I fall?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

” Oh,  but my darling,”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“What if you fly?”

 

 

 

 

 

So much magic and wonder surrounds us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The inhabitants of the Fairy Kingdom teach us about hope, and the magic of possibility.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About marching to your own drum no matter how different than those around you.

The world is full of wonder and the possibilities are endless.

 

 

 

Early spring dandelion greens are so common that folks often overlook them for the fairy delicious treat that they are.

When gathering dandelion greens I am very selective, snipping the most blemish free young greens I can find.

The fairy best greens are those tender leaves whose buds have not yet gone to stem or flower; I pinch or snip a handful of these greens .

To cook dandelion greens:

Start a medium pot of about 1″ of water to a boil.

Rinse your greens and set aside. If you harvest only young greens there will be no need to chop them smaller or remove veins.

In a small fry pan saute for a minute  a clove of fresh minced garlic. I like to add a bit of chopped green onions and some chopped slices of radish at this time, saute a minute more…maybe. Remove fry pan from heat.

At this time drop your dandelion greens into the pot of boiling water and simmer for about 4 minutes. Then drain greens in a colander and press the water out.

Finally toss your cooked dandelion greens into your fry pan of garlic and what have you, turn heat back on med low and with two wooden spoons toss and turn your greens this way and that to mix flavors. When warmed through set on plate and serve with a sunny egg on top. Perhaps add a bit of goat cheese, some garden chives, a slice of tomato and red pepper too.

Be creative , fairies love beauty and believe cooking is as much about creative expression as it is about appetite.

Of course harvest your greens from a no foot traffic area and where no pesticides have been used.