In August on the north side of a small mountain in Maine
Where the Elfswort blooms golden and 6 feet tall,
Home Place Fairy Folk dance the Midsummer Waltz of the Fairies.
Amid Scarlet Monarda, Red Astillbe; beneath Joe Pye Weed and Phlox, all shades of white and pinks of every hue, Fairy Folk whirl and twirl as they usher out the heat of summer and welcome the cooler temperatures of Autumn.
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.
Within the heart of my garden there is a special place for just being and thinking.
Birds congregate with butterflies; Fairy Folk and a special child or two.
Dreams and secrets are shared here.
A place where for an hour or two you can be anything or anyone you dream your self to be.
You can even ask a bird how she sings!
Tiny wonders, everywhere.
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!
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.
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.
Happy Birthday Old Horse !
Happy Birthday to you!
Born in July on a bright sunny day you were long ago enchanted by Fairy Folk and though you age you never grow old.
Your most loyal companion and her friends three, bring a cake topped with carrot candles all a glow.
A magnificent birthday cake made of freshly cut hay; a bit of grain, molasses, pink clover and carrots for you!
Make your wish as we wish along too.
Carrot candles are for eating once your Horse wishes are heaven sent.
Cake to eat and children to pat and groom you as fairies flutter about… what more could a Horse wish for on such a fine day?
Later two sisters ride upon your back , their hearts filled with love and gratitude for a companion such as you.
Another child shares the joy of living this dream.
You are the Fairy Best Friend a child could wish for and we love you dearly.
We have always cherished you and will continue to love you to the moon and back.
Happy Birthday Old Horse!
Such a Fine and Grand Old Horse, if ever there was one!
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!
Trolls are an elusive group and among the largest inhabitants of the Fairy Kingdom as well as perhaps the most misunderstood.
Here on the north side of a small mountain in Maine we live and work side by side all sorts of magical beings including a Clan of Trolls.
Some Troll facts :
Did you know that Trolls have the gift of invisibility so they are not often seen? Did you know that Trolls speak in tones so low they are seldom heard? Trolls love music, and some of them sing but the vibrations are of a frequency that other beings can’t hear them unless they want them to…which mostly they don’t. Trolls are very, very shy and with the exception of the Grand Fairy Spring Ball they mostly keep to themselves.
Eugene is a dear friend of mine and a Troll from the Clan of the Knoll. He is a metal smith and constructs all sorts of magical implements, such as the lovely Miss Millicent Mae Mailbox, as well as bells and finely tuned keys for mbiras and kalimbas.
Eugene’s cousins Beyla and Laszlo Troll are craftsman too; they carve rustic furniture
and paint not so rustic furniture.
They live nearby in enchanted lichen covered caves close to the top of the hill.
Most Trolls of the Knoll are carvers and make lovely over sized furniture and exquisite instruments.
Just below Beyla and Laszlo’s cave lives William Edwin Troll and his wife Nora Russell Troll.
William Edwin is a talented musician who plays many instruments including the piano, the zither, violin, cello, viola, mbira and kalimba. (to name just a few!) William Edwin also composes music which he plays for his wife Nora as she prepares their meals.
Nora Russell Troll is just as talented as her husband. Nora Russell plays piano and is lead soloist in the Grand Troll Opera. She and Edwin make quite a pair and during the Grand Fairy Spring Ball if the breeze is just right you can hear her accompanying his melancholy playing as she hits both the high notes and the lowest of the low with her beautiful voice. Who knew Trolls could sing and play music, and so beautifully at that?
But there’s another thing about Trolls that might surprise you even more…
All Trolls are excellent chefs.
However, as you may have guessed, unlike Fairies or Pixies or most residents of the Fairy Kingdom Trolls are not vegetarians; they consume copious amounts of fish along with the furred and feathered.
Worry not, they consume only what they need, always blessing the food they eat with gratitude.
Out of respect for other members of the Fairy Kingdom while attending The Annual Grand Fairy Spring Ball all Trolls leave their meat dishes at home and prepare a beautiful vegetarian dish which always, always includes cabbage. Trolls absolutely love cabbage!
Their favorite meatless recipe is Troll Slaw. Yes, Troll Slaw not Cole Slaw….same thing but with a few differences.
Following is the recipe and I think you might appreciate the creativity of the Troll Clan in a way you never did before after you sample just one bite. Yes, it’s that good.
TROLL SLAW
Dressing for Troll Slaw:
1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper or a pinch or two more.
2 Tablespoons Stevia (Truvia) or 1/4 Sugar (I do as the Trolls and use stevia)
1/4 cup minced and chopped fine cilantro
2 tsp peeled, grated and chopped fine fresh ginger
In small bowl or a 1 cup glass measuring cup whisk together the above ingredients, cover and let set.
For The Slaw:
3 cups very thinly sliced and chopped small organic red cabbage
3 cups very thinly sliced and chopped small organic green cabbage
4- 6 scallions chopped thinly
2 large carrots grated
1/2 red bell pepper sliced very thin and diced small
1 large handful of snow peas sliced very thinly (snip off ends if need be)
1 can organic garbanzo beans drained and well rinsed
1/4 c. or to taste sliced and diced jalapeno peppers, I use organic in jar with NO yellow dye!
1 handful organic dried cranberries ( or raisins)
8-10 seedless organic pitted dates
1 handful of pine nuts (you may substitute sunflower seeds)
1/8 or so cup of organic black sesame seeds
4-5 beautiful heads of calendula flowers if you are fortunate enough to have some.
For your slaw the Trolls highly recommend all your ingredients be at room temperature and I agree; it really does make a difference and you will find that warm cabbages are more welcoming of the oil and vinegar.
With clean washed hands do as the Trolls do and mix all of the above slaw ingredients (except black sesame seeds and calendulas) together in a large bowl. Set aside.
Right BEFORE you are to serve your slaw, whisk your dressing and drizzle on slaw, tossing and turning to coat all ingredients evenly using two wooden spoons.
Dressing minutes before serving prevents the slaw from becoming soggy, (unless you prefer soggy slaw of course). Trolls prefer their cabbage crisp.
Lastly sprinkle on your sesame seeds.
Finally, if you happen to have calendula flowers, which are edible by the way… snip off 5 or so flower heads and gently but firmly pinch off only their petals then sprinkle petals atop your Troll Slaw as a lovely garnish.
Nora Russell Troll is a romantic and always looking for ways to make William Edwin smile. Sprinkling on the edible and cheery calendula flower petals is a very special way of expressing her love for him.
I think after you try this recipe you will have a whole different appreciation for Trolls, because Troll Slaw is REALLY good….Trolly good!
Enjoy
Click on the above link to hear William Edwin Troll play his beautiful Marguerite Waltz for Nora Russell as she prepares his slaw.
William Edwin Troll on violin and Beyla Troll accompanying on piano.
I suggest you play this as you prepare your own Troll Slaw.
Some Fairy Fun Facts:
William Edwin Haesche (born in New Haven Ct on April 11, 1867 ) was an American composer.
Gr. Uncle Will co-founded the New Haven Symphony Orchestra where he played first violin and conducted the People’s Choral Union, a choir of 250 voices. In 1903 he became instructor of instrumentation at Yale University. At the end of his life he taught violin and music theory at Hollins College in Roanoke Virginia.
He wrote a number of works for orchestra, chamber music and songs, as well composed choir pieces. Will composed “The Marquerite Waltz” for viola and piano. In 1890 he married Gr. Aunt Nora Helena Russell, a noted soprano.
Together they created their own great story of music, love and companionship.
Live now the stories your children and their children will later tell.
The possibilities are endless.
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 © 2025 Robin Horty
