Children have been asking this question for generations.

A wonderful book of poems called “Beyond The Mountain” by Sarah Stokes Halkett published in 1917 asks this same question.

Here in Maine on the north side of a small mountain I am Seamstress to a troop of Home Place Fairies.

I sew and weave a very elaborate assortment of clothing for these fairies to suit their needs.

I also create with the fairies assistance what I like to call, “wearable gardens” for human children.

The Home Place Fairies in turn help the Wizard and I care for the orchards on our farm as well as assist bees pollinating flower and vegetable gardens and fields of organic blueberries.

Old Horse is Guardian of the Home Place Fairies and has lived here at the farm as long as anyone can remember.

Long ago enchanted by the Fairies, he ages though he never grows old.

So where do the fairies go when it snows ….

Old Horse knows , but he’s not saying.

This sweet poem from “Beyond The Mountain” was asking that same question in 1917 and well, it’s still being asked today.

The Snowdrops

Where do the pretty fairies go

When the world is white with snow?

I asked the sun, he did not know,

He never saw the fairies go.

Where do the gentle fairies stay

When all the world is cold and gray?

I asked the moon, he could not say;

He too wonders where the fairies stay.

Where do the pretty fairies hide

When on the snow we slip and slide?

I asked the stars, they only sighed;

It’s lonely when the fairies hide.

Where do the pretty fairies go?

I think perhaps the flowers know

I’ll wait until the snowdrops grow,

And ask them where the fairies go.

Fairies are mysterious little beings and maybe we as humans are not meant to know the answer to every little thing.

Possibly real magic rests in faith and believing in possibilities which you cannot always see;

Maybe magic is the same as dreaming and wishing upon stars .

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, which is very exciting, and made all the more so by the welcome gifts of gratitude Fairy Folk leave around our farm.

For an entire week leading up to Thanksgiving members of the Fairy Kingdom leave offerings of thanks for all the enchanted clothing I have sewn or mended for them over the year. They are grateful that the Wizard and I have maintained our gardens, woodlands and organic blueberry barrens where fairies and wildlings together mingle and grow.

The Foxchild, one of my very best friends has been keeping an eye out for the Elves, Brownies, Hobgoblins, Pixies, Sprites and Trolls (to name just a few)  who come ahead of time when no one is looking;  leaving the most delicious surprises which I will serve to family and friends.

Look what Nora Russell, a Troll from the Knoll left for me this morning at the entrance to the Enchanted Forest.

Why it’s one of her Trolly Delicious Flourless Chocolate Cakes!

Nora, like most Trolls is a very accomplished chief. Each year for as long as I can remember  she has left us one of these exquisite cakes.

This year’s cake is topped with fresh pomegranate seeds and walnuts, set in a herbal bed of fragrant rosemary. Yum.

Nora’s husband William Edwin is gifted composer and violinist, and Nora as well as being a fine chief has a lovely soprano voice. Nora and Edwin perform together with the Grand Troll Opera, and they are about as romantic a couple as you could ever hope meet. Only chances are you will not meet them because Trolls are notoriously shy of humans, so encounters seldom happen.

However if you have a fair amount of patience and a keen ear you might hear, when the breeze is just right; after the wind has died down, William Edwin Troll playing his mesmerizing Marguerite Waltz on Violin as his friend Belya Troll accompanies him on piano.

Live your own great story out loud and remember to thank those whose gentle acts of kindness have touched you.

We know it’s a different kind of year and things are not quite the same, but the world has a wonderful way of righting itself with time.

A Very Happy Holiday to All of You Near and Far!

Happy Thanksgiving from The Home Place Fairies!

The Children’s Garden of Earthly Delight just before the October Full Moon

Right before the hard frost arrived and most of the leaves fell…

As Autumn begins to wane Fairy Folk are busy preparing for winter.

The blueberry barrens on top of Blue Fairy Hill twinkle with fairy dust encouraging plants to surrender their leaves of scarlet and gold.

Meanwhile deep within the enchanted forest a Wood Nymph gathers together all of the bunnies.

Wood Nymphs have a natural affinity for the gentlest and most defenseless beings who inhabit the forest.

Singing chants only Wood Nymphs know, they cast powerful spells transforming bunny brown summer fur into a safer winter white.

Wood Nymphs are as gentle as they are efficient and each bunny once enchanted is returned to his or her own burrow with care.

Late in Autumn as dusk falls the veil that separates our mortal world from the Fairy Realm blurs for a bit…and if you look carefully, listening with your heart as well as your ears.., you just might…

hear the lovely song of a Wood Nymph as she sings to bunnies turning soft brown summer fur into protective winter white.

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.

Late  September is harvest time . The Home Place Fairy Folk and I have been busy gathering vegetables,  late season fruits such as apples and grapes as well as flowers and herbs . Vegetables are cleaned and frozen for consuming during the long cold months of winter. Herbs and flowers are gathered and hung to dry.

A little bit of fairy dust goes a long way to sweeten and ripen fruits and flowers.

Helpful children tend the gardens as Fairy’s dust sparkles and twinkles all around them.

Our greenhouse is filled with tomatoes for ripening just before the frost arrives. A few branches of arctic hardy kiwi rests in the foreground of this photograph. Huge kiwi vines cover one of my arbors with thousands of little fruits; they will be perfectly ripened after the second gentle frost of fall.

Small children gather sunflower seed for birds and wee wildlings; tiny field mice and chipmunks.

Gardens are like magical kingdoms, they are filled with mystery.

The Home Place Fairy Folk work hard tending my gardens but always make time each and every day to dance and be merry.

At day’s end when the fairies are done with both work and play, they leave the gardens, fields and orchards as they flutter and march one by one into The Enchanted Woodland.  Their home is a beautiful chamber snug and warm, hidden deep within the trunk of a grand oak tree.

I collect my days harvest as the last fairies depart for the evening and I bless the Little People, forever grateful for the loveliness of this magical world all around me .

Magic happens in every garden.

All one has to do is look.

Late September, October is on the rise as summer gives way and autumn begins to fall.

Winter is not far on the horizon and springtime is just a memory away.

So many tiny wonders everywhere.

A Statue of the Fairy Guardian Angel honors the day’s first light as glimmers of fairy dust twinkle all around.

This will be a fine day.

The sun will shine for awhile

and later, a welcome rain will fall.

Tiny wonders around us, everywhere and always.

Magic happens in every garden, all you have to do is look.