October is apple season in Maine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is when the Fairy Kingdom and mankind merge together working side by side to harvest nature’s bounty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Humans unlike Fairy Folk cannot always see what lays directly before them, so although fairy folk work along side us they most often remain invisible to the average mortal’s eye.

Fairies and Gnomes and even the tall elegant Wizard can wander about undetected while sweetening and gathering apples at our farm.

It is usually children who catch a glimpse of them and of course the Wildlings.

On rare occasions an adult will come along who has not lost their magic of believing and for them the The Kingdom of Childhood, the gateway  to The Fairy Realm remains wide open.

It is these few individuals who will see the fairies who live and work by our side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gnomes collect tender apples sweetened by fairy dust which glimmer and glow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wizard samples the first apple picked this season for flavor, nodding his approval.

The Fairies have sprinkled the proper amount of fairy dust for taste and sweetness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After gathering  apples the Gnomes consult with The Wizard of Time regarding the weather.

This Wizard is very wise and he watches over all of the Fairy Kingdom.

He reassures the Gnomes that all will be well as they slumber through the winter months in their cozy chambers.

The Wizard knows that time moves forward and that faith is as important as the air we breathe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our family has harvested their apples we gather bushel basket fulls into the greenhouse where we will sort them for eating and pressing into cider.

 

 

 

 

 

Home Place Fairies wheel apples to their home within the heart of an ancient tree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trolls and Gnomes with the help of Fairy Dogs will carry baskets and sacks filled with apples to secret root cellars hidden on the Knoll.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This evening we humans will savor the fragrance of apples baking. Tomorrow we will bring them to The Magician and His Lady of The Orchards for pressing into cider.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just before departing into the Enchanted Forest the Fairies peek into our greenhouse filled with a bounty they helped bring to fruition, while a little girl in red boots dances a jig on the table.

 

 

 

 

When the sun sets all Fairies, Trolls and Gnomes have retired to their chambers and we to our cozy home by a fire; the Wizard to his tower on the hill.

This is the hour when nocturnal Wildlings awaken, returning to the orchard, meadow and gardens, where they will feast upon dropped apples, late peaches and pears.

 

A bit of Home Place Fairy Lore:

Did you know that each of the Gnomes from the Knoll has their very own Fairy Dog? Well, they do.These tiny dogs are loyal companions and like most fairy folk they have the power to shape shift and increase in size. They also posses the power of partial invisibility, meaning they can make their wings invisible and appear as any average mortal dog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gnomes are playful folk and Fairy Dogs are too. But don’t be fooled, what looks like play is also about getting the job done. Gnomes are responsible for making sure each and every piece of fruit has been properly dusted by the Fairies for taste and painted by the Pixies for color. Then with the help of large invisible Trolls, Gnomes have the task of gathering enough fruits for distribution to the entire Fairy Realm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fairy dogs love to run and flutter following Gnomes; in the process they prevent any magical dust from settling on the ground.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The view from my bedroom window this morning as the sun rose in the east.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wearing a moss green cape to ward off an early morning chill I set out early into my gardens with Paco to nibble on Arctic Hardy Kiwi and say hello to Old Horse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I ventured into the forest, enjoying the painted colors of nature;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the majestic beauty of ferns and trees accompanied by the sound of leaves twirling as autumn fell down all around me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I came upon a fairy boulder rising proud among the ferns, where dust scattered by the wee folk still glimmered and glowed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a while I circled round and wandered back towards the Fairy Wardrobe Chamber where mortal children enter and exit dressed up like the Fae.

As I headed back towards my little farmhouse I heard a creaking upon the walk of stone and spied three little Home Place Fairy Folk busy with their chores.

One Fairy pulled a wooden cart, another pushed from behind; the smallest of the three sat atop their gatherings tucked safely within.

Busy collecting provisions for the long cold winter ahead these fairies had no time to stop and chatter so just waved and smiled instead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Across the roadway of interludes they went heading for the orchard where apples have ripened and the arctic kiwi grows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a long day of foraging and gathering fruits and herbs to dry the fairies headed down the road to Blueberry Hill where they say goodnight to the fading sun, dance in the twilight and greet the new moon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I too climbed the hill just before dusk enchanted by the native blueberry barrens whose fields roll far and wide turning from shades of blue to leaves of scarlet, brilliant in hue.

Each and every day I am grateful for the opportunity to step outward and move forward, for the ability to look outside of myself and discover something new.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Don’t you know that everybody’s got a Fairyland of their own?”

P.L. Travers … Mary Poppins

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the seasons come and the seasons go, here’s something you might like to know.

 

 

 

 

 

There are fairies everywhere!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Under the bushes, in the air, playing games just like you play, singing through the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So listen, touch and look around, in the air and on the ground.

And if you watch all nature’s thing

you might just see a fairy wing!”

(author unknown)

 

 

Last night on Blueberry Hill the moon rose just as the sun set.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fairy Folk twinkled in the moonlight as dusk set into night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every garden has a story and mine in large part began here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every gardener hears and answers to their own song, has their own vision and every garden is unique.

A long time ago on the south side of a small mountain in a woodland glen I cleared a bit of land bit by selective bit and built a small sunlit house. I gathered together divisions of old plantings from the tiny house I had been living in which sat nestled at the foot of a blueberry hill bordered by a stream, an enchanted forest and one large Apple Tree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I dug divisions of Bearded Iris, Monkshood, Monarda and Primrose; Old Roses and Solomon’s Seal, Feverfew, Hostas and Rue. My goal was to rescue as much of this garden as I possibly could as the tiny house was to be demolished, the apple tree cut down and the site leveled. I worked long days into the night to better my woodland soil for transplanting and seeds. I wandered deep into the surrounding woodlands filling and gathering together buckets of old composting tree stumps, which I used to lighten and enrich my future garden beds according to what fairy folk say.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I planted flower seeds, Delphiniums, Cosmos, Bells of Ireland. I transplanted Ferns ,Violets, Forget me knots and Bluebells. I planted Arctic Hardy Kiwi, a gift from a Lonely Magician who lived by the Sea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Grandmother Catharine ; gardener extraordinaire, traveled a great distance to come view this garden that had always lived inside of me. She came to me one midsummer and shared her secrets of gardening, she whispered to me, “It takes courage to plant roses.., that which you have…”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes someone comes along who visits my gardens and becomes so moved by the flora, the peace and the strength that a creative spark begins to seed itself deep inside of them and a vision of their own internal garden begins to take form, to sprout to blossom and eventually grow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This time of year the gardens are abundant with food crops to harvest here at the farm.

The Concord Grapes are ready, recently sweetened by both the sun and the fairy folk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fairies as you probably already know, are shy folk, and not often spotted in the  gardens they tend. It takes an observant eye and a lot of patience if you want to spot the Fae.

It is believed by some that every human child that believes in the Fae has a kindred fairy reflection, an actual fairy that resembles them in appearance and in heart.

Do you wonder if that’s true?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tatiana is the Grape Fairy here at Home Place Farm, her mission is to sweeten all of our grape vines with Fairy Dust. In the process the green grapes over time ripen to purple and become oh, so sweet!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tatiana takes her job seriously and enjoys it immensely, especially when we humans come and harvest these grapes, savoring their fairy sweet goodness with each and every bite.

 

 

 

 

 

So next time you are out in your garden take a moment to pause and look about, there ARE Fairy Folk about, it just takes a wanting eye and open heart to see the beauty they instill all around you.

Remember there magic is in every garden, all one has to do is look.

 

 

On the north side of a small mountain in Maine the wild blueberry season is drawing to a close.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The harvesters have raked the fields removing all of the blue for human consumption and few berries remain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every evening during berry season the Home Place Fairies come out of the Enchanted Forest scattering fairy dust helping to nourish and sweeten the berries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Under cover of twilight by no mortal are they seen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Busy with their chores they remain playful and always take time out to enjoy a blueberry or two.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the morning sun begins to rise the fairies head back to the Enchanted Forest, confident that due to their efforts the fields will continue to grow lush with a ripe and bountiful harvest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the time mortals awaken the Fairies will be long gone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All that will remain of their twilight labors will be a sparkle or two.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a north facing view of my  garden taken this afternoon from beneath the grape and hops arbor. Pink and magenta astilbe and brilliant red monardas are in full bloom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many things need tending to on the farm this time of year. The pithouse and glass greenhouse need constant monitoring and weeding has become a  daily meditation. At the end of each day I harvest fresh greens, kohlrabi, pok choi and tomatoes,  flowers, kale and herbs.