What if I fall?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, but my Darling…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What if you fly?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quote by Erin Hanson

 

 

August is the hottest of months in Maine and tiny wonders abound this time of year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Late in the afternoon as the sun reaches her rise, little fairy feet retreat from the gardens and greenhouse entering into the Enchanted Woodland for the cool comfort of shade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The smallest of the small are carried as Fairies march through the woodland to hidden chambers; resting during the hottest hours of each day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fairies work long hours from twilight to dawn ripening the harvest which will be gathered by mortals during the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fairy sweetened tomatoes, ripen in the greenhouse. Yum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taking one last look around to see that all is as it should be,the last of the home Place Fairies flee for the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But do not worry they will be back again at twilight to work and play.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Magic happens all around you, all one has to do is look.

 

 

 

Welcome to August, the hottest month of the year in Maine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Children and Fairy Folk delight in these hot summer days. Our gardens for the time being require less attention as far as weeding goes and sprinklers take care of the necessary watering. Which leaves plenty of time for children and fairies to play in the gardens, meadows and woodlands of our farm. Of course, they still sprinkle fairy dust wherever they go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Surprises around every corner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Play, Dance, Sing and be Merry as any Summertime Fairy!

 

 

 

On the north side of a small mountain in Maine sits a happy little farmhouse surrounded by gardens of vegetables, flowers, berries and herbs. This little farmhouse is circled round and round by meadows of rich hay to the south and a lovely hardwood forest to the east.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Directly north and to the west lay a barren of blueberries which stretches far and wide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Early on one particular evening late in July as the sun sets heavy in the west, fairy folk will gather atop the blueberry field’s tallest hill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Their mission; to sweeten blueberries to ripeness as only Home Place Fairies can.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Fairies undertake this mission seriously and with great pleasure every other year because these fields are organically grown, which means they yield a crop for harvesting every other year, taking one year off to rest and grow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First just a few fairy folk come to gather, then more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They fly in from all points of the farm, arriving from the orchard, the gardens and meadows of tall grasses which will be harvested as hay. This is the time of that blueberries are blue and fully ripening. Harvesting begins the next day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Together Fairy Folk work their magic sprinkling the barren’s with fairy dust, by twilight these fields will glimmer and glow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On a particular morning, someday in time,  a little girl will rise and walk far out into the blueberry fields for the seasons first harvest and she will notice the last lingering traces of sparkly dust and she will whisper a thank you to the fairies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I find walking through my garden is the absolute best way to begin any day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the evening when every human is fast asleep Nightingale and the horse fairies arrive. They spend hours riding Old Horse taking him with them into the fairy realm where dreams are made.

Together they ride into the dreams of sleeping children looking for true believers of fairy folk and enchanted horses who never grow old.

As dawn approaches the fairies must return Old Horse to his stable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There they tenderly hug him goodbye for the daylight hours, showering him with affection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every evening the fairies will return to Old Horse and they will enter into the dreams of slumbering children.

 

 

 

 

 

In the morning when the little girl rises she goes out to the stable where she feeds and grooms Old Horse. He is her guardian; her best friend and watches over she and her sister as he did their mother before them.

Long ago Old Horse was enchanted by fairies and though he ages he never grows old.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Choosing  just the right dress for a fairy party takes quite a bit of time and consideration, especially when one is distracted by charming little fluttery folks sprinkling fairy dust all about. This little girl is being encouraged by fairies to enter the wardrobe chamber at the edge of my garden. It is filled with all sorts of silky finery for mortal children, like caps and capes, crowns and wings, instruments like drums, pan pipes and bells that ring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gardens are mysterious places where magic really does happen. As I walked through my garden this morning these are some of the plants and wild-lings I happened to encounter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The garden provides food for butterflies like this beautiful Eastern Tiger Swallowtail sipping nectar from a common white lilac blossom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Children’s Garden is full of surprises, like this new sculpture that found it’s way here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lilac on the left is called Pocahontas, she is very fragrant and bees, moths and hummingbirds favor the nectar from her flowers.

Guardian of the Garden 

 

A tribute to the fairies, this garden angel watches over both children and Fae. Did you know Fae is another name for Fairy and can be spelled either Fae or Fay? Some other names are Little People, Good Folk, Flutter-by, Wee Folk, The Hidden People and Faerie. At my farm the Home Place Fairies hold court. They are garden and house fairies native to the state of Maine, they help tend gardens, are fond of children and pets and live inside large old trees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Toads are companions of the fairy folk, they like to snap up insects ,earthworms and slugs with their long sticky tongues. This little girl toad is named Brunhilde, she is only about an inch long.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fairies love foxglove flowers. These beautiful apricot foxgloves are growing beside the entrance to my greenhouse door. The fairies like to wear hats made from these cap like flowers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring is a busy time in the greenhouse, yesterday I finally planted most of my seedlings into the garden. Whew!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Large rosemary plants live year round in my under ground greenhouse, called a pit-house it is insulated by the earth on three sides, sunlight warms from above. These Rosemary have become large and quite heavy over the 25 plus years I have housed them. Too heavy to transport outdoors each spring, as I have not grown younger. This week I will take cuttings and root them for fresh new growth plants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Catbirds are curious birds and somewhat annoying. Their name comes from their catlike call. They are mimics and imitate other songbirds as well as tree frogs and mechanical sounds! They make nests in coniferous shrubbery, like this one outside my bedroom window. They are fierce parents and will swoop down without hesitation on who or whatever goes near their nest. They allowed me to photograph this nest only because I am such good friends with the fairies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you spot this little ground bird nest I found while edging the perimeter of my wild garden, I am not sure what type of bird is making it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This glorious little creature is called a Hummingbird Moth and in my garden they are plentiful. A close friend of the fairy folk you can be certain fairies are nearby when you spot one of these little fellows.Their name comes from the fact that they look a lot like hummingbirds and are often mistaken for them. Unlike other moths they are not nocturnal, preferring the bright light of day to the darkness of night. They have olive green bodies banded with red stripes and  little tufts of hair on the ends of their tails which resemble feathers. They arrive here at the farm as soon as the Lilacs, Dames Rocket and Dragons wort begin to blossom, sipping nectar through long tongues they roll up under their chins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remember this little fellow from the Tower by the Lake in one of my earlier blogs? Last seen as a nestling, now fully feathered, this little fledgling hopped out of her nest and flew off shortly after this photograph was taken, much to the delight of two little fairies who happened to be passing by. This little Robin’s parents will watch over her and assist in her feeding for 3 more weeks.

These are some of the sights in my garden from this morning. I wonder what I might see tomorrow?