Every Garden has a Story.
Once upon a time you were so much younger than you are now.
One day long ago you sat in your grandmothers garden as the west winds blew,
You were so young and your whole life lay before you…
You swore you heard fairies singing,
And there might have been…
When blueberry season arrives folks ask me for my fairy fine recipe for yummy Blueberry Yogurt Bars. As August approaches there are plenty of fresh blueberries to be had here in Maine.
Remember you can certainly use frozen berries if you do not have fresh and have the same results.
Mid July through August are the months for harvesting blueberries here on Blue Fairy Hill. The fields are bountiful with berries and glimmers of fairy dust attest to the hard working Fairy Folk who help to sweeten berries here on our farm.
Blueberry fields or barrens as they are called, are covered with ripe fairy sweetened organic blueberries every other August much to everyone’s delight.
Friends and neighbors gather together to harvest nature’s bounty of sweet satisfaction.
Low bush blueberries are rather small and very sweet tasting. They grow on rocky ledges in wide open spaces.
Blueberries may be picked by hand.
Or they are picked with large metal rakes like these children are using, which allows you to collect berries faster than when hand picking.
However you decide to harvest blueberries the important thing is that you enjoy the process and take in the beauty of nature all around you.
Wild Maine blueberries generally grow on high rocky land which offers you spectacular views while you pick.
I prefer picking berries by hand or using a small wooden blueberry rake which Sampson the Troll made for me over 40 years ago.
After these children gather containers full of blueberries they will take them home for their Mothers who will use them for baking.
Below is a recipe the Home Place Fairies shared with me. I hope you enjoy it as much as we all do.
BLUE FAIRY HILL YOGURT BARS
Preheat your oven to 350
Line a 9 x 13″ baking pan with aluminum foil.
Lightly spray foiled pan evenly with oil and set aside.
Next make a crumble for your bottom crust and topping as follows.
BOTTOM CRUST and CRUMBLE TOPPING
1/2 c. unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar packed
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
pinch of salt
1. In large bowl whisk melted butter with sugars to combine.
2. Add flour, pinch of salt stir to combine. Mixture will be dry and crumbly. Set aside 3/4 cup of this mixture to use later as topping.
3. Transfer remaining mixture into oiled pan. With your fingers hand pack, pressing the mixture to create a thin, even, flat crust. Set aside.
YOGURT FILLING
1 large egg at room temperature
1/2 cup Greek Yogurt at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 Tablespoon all purpose flour
1. In medium bowl add egg and Greek Yogurt, sugar and vanilla. Whisk together well.
2. Add the Tablespoon of flour and whisk again.
3. Pour this yogurt filling evenly over the crust spreading with rubber spatula.
Set aside.
BLUEBERRY LAYER
3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 handful finely chopped walnuts (optional)
1/4 cup sunflower seeds (optional)
1. In separate bowl toss in blueberries, sprinkle with the sugar and 1 teaspoon cornstarch. Drizzle with 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice and gently mix to combine.
2. Evenly spread blueberry mixture on top of yogurt filling. (Then if you choose toss on some chopped walnuts and sunflower seeds. (Fairies love seeds and nuts and so do I)
3. Next take your reserved 3/4 cup of the crumble/crust mix and evenly sprinkle on top. Gently squeeze the crumbs through your fingers as you spread over filling. I sprinkle some fresh blueberries on the crust.
4. Place pan on middle rack in preheated 350 oven and bake for about 40 minute for fresh berries and 50 minutes for frozen blueberries. Baking is complete when crust has turned a nice golden brown and berries have bubbled.
5. Remove pan from oven and place on wire rack and let cool completely. Then set pan in fridge to cool firmly before cutting into bars.
6. After cooling in the fridge for about 30 minutes I lift the foiled dessert in it’s entirety from the pan and carefully remove the foil from the large “blueberry bar” and set dessert on cutting board and cut into small bars.
8. Now you can cut the bars into small pieces without them crumbling and falling apart.
Blueberry Yogurt Bars may be stored in your refrigerator for up to 10 days, though they don’t last that long in our house.
Serve your Blue Berry Yogurt Bars plain and simple or with some fresh blueberries and a sprig of mint.
They also taste good with a dab of whipped cream, or scoop of ice cream. Oh, if you happen to know some Fairy Folk like I happen to you can even add a dash of Fairy Dust! Yum, magically delicious!
Enjoy!
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.
August is a month of great beauty in my garden.
Here are some images taken right before dusk, a time when birds nest in for the evening; when butterflies stop fluttering and our honeybees have returned to their hives
During the quiet morning hours, or right before dusk, I like to sit or meander about in my garden, soaking in the sounds and natural beauty abundant all around me.
When darkness falls the fairies are snug and cozy in their chambers relaxing after their busy day spent tending vegetables, flowers, herbs and seeds.
Come twilight they will sing and dance among the flowers with the wildlings, not to work but to play.
Every garden is a paradise, a source of beauty, harvest and inspiration.
Where gardens grow fairies reside.
These brilliant red monarda flowers cozied up to a bit of magenta phlox and day lilies are a brilliant bit of Maine Garden Magic.
Harvesting Fairy dusted flowers for arrangements is one of the most pleasant ways I can think of to spend a morning, or an entire day.
Flowers sprinkled with fairy dust have a certain something extra special about them
and are welcome at both happy celebrations as well as those which are sad.
Fairy dusted flowers shimmer and glow,
spreading goodwill and cheer wherever they go.
Whether one stem or pots of plenty, flowers aim to comfort and please.
A single pinch of fairy dust encourages flowers to sprout, blossom and grow.
Happy first day of August from Seamstress to the Fairies!
Esmeralda Fairy enters my greenhouse each and every morning with her baskets of fairy dust flavoring our kale plants, so divine.
We are very appreciative of Esmeralda’s efforts and welcome the Home Place Fairies that help tend our gardens.
It is very important to express appreciation and gratitude to all of those who offer their services so selflessly.
The Wizard and I harvest Esmeralda’s Fairy sweetened Kale from our glass greenhouse from March until late November… when we let the greenhouse rest for the winter.
My family loves kale which I grow in straw mulched garden rows next to bush beans and kohlrabi, lettuce and chard.
I enjoy planting kale in different environments such as raised beds covered with remay. Remay is a sheer gardeners fabric which lets in the warming rays of sunlight as well as rain drops pass through. Remay protects Kale’s tender leaves from insects such as aphids, weevils or mites
Kale is delicious and used in many Fairy Folk recipes here at the farm.
As August approaches, fairy folk work diligently alongside the grand children as we harvest and prepare our foods for winter storage.
Early each morning the fairies add an extra sprinkling of fairy dust to help ripen and mature our fruit and vegetable crops.
In our farmhouse kitchen a small child prepares fresh picked basil and fairy sweetened sun ripened tomatoes for puree.
This time of year there is an abundance of greens; one salad a day; sometimes two, has becomes part of our regular diet.
A simple salad has many possibilities and here at our farm, while in season we eat a different variation every night.
Here are some ideas for a few fairy simple salad recipes you might like to try.
Consider combining lush kale, various lettuces, a bit of basil and red cabbage. How you arrange these greens will add visual complexity and beauty; top it off with a splash of organic virgin olive oil or your favorite dressing.
Another simple salad: Try sweet halved cherry tomatoes (red and gold), a bit of chopped green onion, on a bed of baby lettuce; a smidgen of broccoli florets, a bit of grated or chopped Parmesan cheese. Add tiny bits of whirled prosciutto. Yum.
For those of you who prefer a more hearty dinner salad, try combining these ingredients for a multi bean and corn based combo.
For the Dressing:
2 Tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 of sea salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
Whisk all together in a glass 1 cup measuring cup or small bowl and set aside.
Now here’s the ingredients for the salad. I basically use more or less depending upon how many folks I am serving.
You can play around with the volume of stated quantities of ingredients as you may want to make an individual salad or family size.
Here’s the ingredients:
6 -8 sweet cherry tomatoes sliced thinly
1 can 16 oz organic garbanzo beans drained and rinsed
4 cups rinsed organic black beans
4-6 green onions chopped fine
broccoli tops chopped small (use as much as you like)
handful green beans cut 1 inch
4-6 ears fresh corn on cob , uncooked kernels shaved off the cob
organic black olives sliced
a bit of red bell pepper chopped fine
1/3 cup cilantro chop fine (optional)
chopped and diced fine jalapenos to taste (optional)
pine nuts (optional)
a couple nasturtium flowers for garnish, you may eat the petals only.
Gently mix all ingredients in large bowl with very clean hands or two wooden spoons to combine.
Drizzle your dressing over salad and gently toss to evenly coat.
Now you can toss in your jalapenos if you desire and sprinkle with pine nuts and calendula petals
If you are lucky and have a few heads of calendula flowers in your garden, pinch off just the petals, sprinkle them upon your salad just before serving.
The Fairies encourage beauty and strive for it in all of their creations.
They suggest you take your time creating all these salads, experiment with color and texture, fragrances and tastes.
Fairies serve all their meals with gratitude for those who are present and the bounty of each days harvest.
Oh, and dessert fairy style can be so enjoyable!
Especially when it’s this simple.
Try mixing a simple salad of fresh blueberries along with the last of this seasons lingering raspberries. Add some sliced purple grapes and decoratively top with a sprig of fresh mint harvested from the herb garden or market. A dollop of whipped cream would finish things off nicely.
Of course there is always berries a la natural.
And don’t forget smoothies.
Fruit Smoothies Yum
Most any fruit and berries will do.
Think New England fruits such as apple, peaches and pears.
Cherries, red raspberries, black berries and blueberries.
Rinse and chop fruit into 1” pieces, pit stone fruits such as cherries and peaches
Rinse your berries.
Plop into a blender whichever mixture of berries and fruits you have chosen.
Pour in a cup or two of Orange Juice. Press go, and blend. Presto! There you have it, one fairy fine smoothie. Add more or less orange juice to get the thickness you desire. Add ice if you want your smoothie good and cold.
The Fairies say to be creative, try adding a bit of chocolate, a scoop of ice cream. Yum.
Try blending or adding an assortment of tropical fruits, kiwi, pineapple, mango. Even a bit of coconut can be a delicious addition. And don’t forget the melons… watermelon and good ole honey dew!
Enjoy the process and as the fairies like to say,“Bless and be grateful for each and every day.”
Copyright © 2026 Robin Horty
