The first day of winter has arrived here at the Farm and the Home Place Fairy Folk celebrate accordingly.

Blue Fairy Hill was covered in snow; a few days ago heavy December rains had washed our second snowfall away. Saturday evening more snow fell.

What a difference a couple days can make.

The Fairies have take notice when the temperatures warm, flying briefly from their chambers; dancing through the Enchanted Forest and all about the Farm before and after the rain. Fluttering back into their chambers well before the first snowflakes fall.

The first day of winter is called the Winter Solstice. It is the shortest day and longest night of the year. Here in Maine the official time of the Solstice for 2021 is 10:59 AM on the 21st of December..

So light a candle, burn a yule log, make a wish or say a prayer…just as the Home Place Fairies do.

The Winter Solstice officially occurs when the tilt of the earth is such that the North Pole is the farthest away from the sun. Which causes less light to reach the northern hemisphere.

While out walking I was delighted to discover an invitation to come join the fairies in their Winter Chambers for Chamomile Cookies and tea.

The Winter Chambers of the Home Place Fairies is a very magical and secret homage nestled deep within the heart of an ancient Oak Tree  hidden in the Way Beyond of the Enchanted Forest.

Cast with three impenetrable Invisibility spells their fairy chamber remains fortified and protected,  impossible for any mortal to find.

The Wildlings know where it is, but they won’t tell.

As Seamstress to the Fairies I am a sworn keeper of their secrets. Because of this and my close relationship to Old Horse their Guardian and best friend, I have been invited to join them in their home quarters for Solstice Tea.

I am honored.

I will never be able to tell you how I got there as I am sworn to secrecy, and in truth, quite simply put, I do not know.

I only know I arrived and returned as if from a dream.

Enjoy the Solstice!

The temperatures are cooling down and the first snowflakes are perhaps just hours away on the north side of this small mountain in Maine,

During the shorter darker days of November there can be a temptation to dream of warmer hours in the garden with fairy folk.

Though truly whatever season, the natural world is simply wonderful.

Late Autumn, November to be exact, the time of year the Home Place Fairy Folk have been waiting for.

All their seasonal chores are completed; their food lockers have been filled to capacity with delectable delights they will consume right up until Christmas at which time they will lazily drift off into a deep and dream filled slumber not to awaken until spring.

photo credit E.M.

The gentler days of November are their one last chance to sing and dance outdoors before the harsher winds blow and the snow flies.

Look what the Fairies left!

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.