Attached to our barn we have a pit greenhouse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our so called Pit House is a greenhouse buried 8 feet deep into the earth with a southern facing glass roof.

 

 

 

 

A wonderful haven where magic happens all year long.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brunhilde Toad and her sister Trixie winter here, it is their version of the tropics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amaryllis flowers blossom among large pots of  Rosemary and  Scented Geraniums.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The earth banked sides retain solar warmth collected from the glass roof on sunny winter days.

 

 

 

Fairy Folk visit with me as I tend  herbs on the warmest of the winter days. They sprinkle fairy dust about which encourages the plants to continue to sprout, blossom and grow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of my favorite children visit with the fairies as they help water the herbs sparingly during the long cold winter months.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spending an hour or two in this green and flowering little haven is truly magical, especially on a cold Maine winter day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I come from a long line of gardeners who were friends with the fairy folk, and many of them had pithouses as well as above ground glass greenhouses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each generation in my family there have been individuals who were friends with the Fairy Folk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And each generation has had their own Memory Keeper. I am the Memory Keeper for my generation. I am known as Seamstress to the Fairies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I make fairy clothing for the wee folk as well as enchanted wearable gardens for human believers of the Fae.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I‘ve also been known to write a fairy tale or two.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the winter when my gardens are asleep I enjoy spending quiet moments in my pit house enjoying the greenery and scent of herb flowers and warm rich earth on a snowy white day.

 

 

 

 

Cinnamon is a fairy happy bunny who spends the winter residing in the warmth and flora of our pit house along with his pal Toast.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cinnamon and Toast are fairy small rabbits and very friendly, they tend to the winter pruning of my rather large Rosemary plants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A little nibble here and a little nibble there, they keep these shrubs tidy and tame.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They also like to munch on tender little weeds who poke up through the sand and gravel floor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rosemary sparkled with fairy dust.

 

 

 

 

Here are some images of other pit greenhouses. They come in all sizes, but the concept is the same, each is a glass roofed structure nested snug into the warmth of Earth’s soil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring is right around the corner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Glorious New Year from the Home Place Fairies!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nina Enchanted

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little Nina was in a predicament, she did not know what to do. All the other fairies were leaving the forest and heading as they always did towards the bright sunlight of their well tended gardens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“As much as I enjoy tending these beautiful gardens day after day, I would like one morning where things were, well, different”, thought Nina. When suddenly one little fairy departed from the group and veered left instead of right, heading down a path Nina had not noticed before. Far in the distance a tiny beacon glowed. Nina could not decide what to do, as she had always followed the rest of the troop, never once had she ventured off alone. Suddenly very curious, Nina wondered how different her day might be if she too were to travel down this new path instead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After much contemplation Nina adventurously set out alone. Instead of turning right like the fairies have always done, she turned left, stepping onto a path much less traveled. Nina walked for what seemed like a very long time, going deeper into the forest, further than she had ever gone before. The trees seemed much taller here and it was darker; less sunlight and lots of toadstools, but Nina was not scared. After a while she found herself in a small clearing, the fairy she had been following was nowhere to be seen. Surrounding her were common woodland ferns and mosses, lichen and assorted mushrooms all muted in pale greens and grays; lots of shadowy places, not the brilliant colors of the gardens she generally tended. “Why this is not so special”, she thought, wishing she had taken the path to the gardens instead. Disappointed, she turned back toward where she had come from, when she noticed a tiny flickering orb of light.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nina gazed at the bright little orb in wonder and the little light politely asked that she step closer, and so she did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The little orb said, “Look deeper Nina, not a me, but at what lays before you.” And so Nina did look around herself into what she had thought was just an ordinary wooded glen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And what she saw was very beautiful. While Nina had thought she was surrounded by common woodland ferns and mosses, upon closer inspection she discovered that they weren’t so common after all. They were extraordinary and tucked in among them were hundreds of tiny flowers of a soft blue hue, the likes of which Nina had never seen before. These flowers whispered softly to her,”Please take us with you so we may cast our seeds far and wide.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nina gathered these little blue flowers together, wrapping them with tender ferns and soft spongy mosses. As she did this the little flowers began to shimmer with happiness and the dark woodland glen became illuminated with a soft golden glow, a radiant light, created by the joy of flowers who have waited so long to be seen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nina hurried back to the garden of sunlight, eager to share her adventure with the fairy folk and as she left that secret hidden woodland glen, the little blue flowers whispered “forget me not, forget me not”.

 

Ours is a glorious world filled with all sorts of surprises.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those who seek experience the extra ordinary possibilities found in unexpected places.

Happy New Year from the Seamstress to the Fairies!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year from Old Horse and the Seamstress to the Fairies!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year from the Home Place Fairies!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very unusual weather this winter with much warmer temperatures than we normally experience. No snow anywhere when a few days ago everything was covered in white. Several days ago I met a night crawler wiggling slowly but with determination across the semi solid ground…from where did he come and where was he intending to go? He could not say so I scooped him up and carefully brought him down into the pit greenhouse where the ground never freezes and greenery all winter grows.

 

 

 

Today the granddaughters and cousins found a frog! Now that was a surprise, groggy but sitting upon solid ground in a clump of withered leaves.

Later when I hiked  down to the waterfalls I was not too surprised to see that the Home Place Fairies had left their cozy winter quarters to flutter and  dance in the warmth of a late December Day. This is highly unusual for them to do this time of the year. To my knowledge this has only happened a few times ever before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The forest bordering my farm is enchanted and deep within in very secret places there are two sacred waterfalls where fairies fly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For believers anything is possible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dream

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adventure out into nature.

 

 

 

 

 

The possibilities are endless.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two little Fairies left the forest with their wands hoping to meet and wondered

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As they wandered …

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How simply wander-fully wonderful wandering with wands can be!

 

 

 

On the north side of a small mountain not far from the sea sits a fine little farmhouse as happy as can be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Surrounded by meadows of hay, orchards of fruit, gardens of flowers, vegetables and herbs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Old Horse is Guardian of the Home Place Fairy Folk who reside in the Enchanted Forest that borders this farm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Foxy Friend and Fairy Companion, Caspian rests at the edge of the Enchanted Forrest as he contemplates the events of his day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fairy Lee checks that the greenhouse has been properly dusted with just the right amount of fairy dust as day begins to slip into dusk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She double checks that all of the Toadstools have been sprinkled with precisely the correct amount of magical dust in preparation for the Cricket Band who will perform their symphony while standing upon them beginning at dawn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The very first evening of each October, right at dusk the Fairies will venture from the hills where the little farmhouse rests and fly to the shore where they will sing goodbye for the season to their Selkie cousins who spend their winters further out at sea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later the the fairies will return to the meadow here at the farm and dance in the twilight of autumns cooling moon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By August the Home Place Fairies and I have been faithfully tending the gardens here at the farm since early spring. Late summer days in Maine can be hot and heavy and traditionally it is a time when I pause from my daily gardening chores to sit or wander soaking in the loveliness and bounty all around me. The fairies are playful little sprites who always find time to play and be merry.

Being fair little beings their fairy skin is tender to the bright sunlight of an August summer day so they tend to the gardens now only at dawns early light or just before the sun sets and a soft gentle chill sets in.

 

 

 

 

 

By mid day most of the fairy folk head for the enchanted forest and bask in the shade. Those few who venture out to the gardens take parasols creating their own protective shade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Delphinia and La Rosa soar through the kiwi arbor as Nightingale approaches  suggesting they return to the forest to wait until the sun sets lower on the horizon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A breeze picks up and Nightingale joins the other fairies frolicking beneath the shade of the kiwi arbor heavy with fruit. She  cheerfully sprinkles fairy dust everywhere she goes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Delphinia is next as she glides to a landing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last is La Rosa with her wand all a glimmer.

 

 

 

 

 

“To the enchanted forest and the shade”,  she says. And so the fairies head to the forest and I am left alone in my garden with visions of fairy folk in my head.