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.
Posted under Uncategorized by Seamstress to the Fairies 31.07.2025
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.
Posted under Uncategorized by Seamstress to the Fairies 24.07.2025
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.”
Posted under Uncategorized by Seamstress to the Fairies 23.07.2025
For the Home Place Fairies who have worked so hard all spring and summer tending the gardens it is a month of merriment and playfulness. Our gardens are bursting with flowers and vegetables. The fruits in the orchard and fields are ripening; heavy with peach, pear, apple, raspberries and blueberries blue!
Posted under Uncategorized by Seamstress to the Fairies 21.07.2025
As the sun rises here on the north side of a small mountain in Maine
everything is exactly as it should be.
Fairy Folk rise early and begin dusting their magical fairy dust ground precious and fine.
My greenhouse is bursting with an abundance of fresh herbs, tomatoes and scented geraniums to name just a few varieties of flora that happily reside within.
Large Lemon Verbena, nasturtiums and over flowing flats of Basil are vibrant and fragrant with scent.
All is as it should be on this very fine wonderful July day.
The Fairies and I want to wish a very Fairy Happy 11th Birthday to Grand Daughter Delfina!!!!
All our love and blessings we send to you wherever you go, where ever you are…always.
With Love From,
Nana and the Fairies
Posted under Uncategorized by Seamstress to the Fairies 20.07.2025
The day began just like any other and then something happened and nothing was ever quite the same.
Anniversary: A day of acknowledgement, a special occasion of gratitude or woe.
On the 20th of July, the Home Place Fairies and I celebrate a private anniversary of great significance.
We rise at dawn eager to take part in each and every moment of this day. Together we tend our gardens, softly singing gratitude to the powers that be.
A very Long time ago, my Grandmother Catherine gifted me with an introduction to the inhabitants of the Fairy Kingdom, reminding me to, “Have faith and to believe in that which you cannot see”. Gramma lived her most of her entire life within a garden, just as I do now and almost always have, thanks to her, and thanks to the fairy folk.
Many years ago after a long and wandering time, when I first began transforming a woodland glen into a garden of my own and before even the first of the Home Place Fairies arrived …
my Gramma traveled a great distance to witness the beginnings with her own eyes, her heart wide open and she whispered, ” It takes courage to plant roses.”
After Gramma left I cleared trees and framed up garden beds with old timbers and rocks. I wandered the woodland and filled buckets with rotten sweet smelling stumps which I stamped down fine all soft and squishy and mixed with old dried oak leaves; rinsed off seaweed and soil, creating a deep rich black loam. I filled the beds with seeds and herbs and perennial divisions from Bonnie my dear friend, along with roadside gathered or old home site dug perennials. Which back then there were many of, now there are none or few.
The Home Place Faires observing my hard work and efforts and sensing my sincerity began to hover about, finally introducing themselves; they have lived beside me ever since. With the help of the fairy folk I added herbs and vegetables and our gardens flourished and grew.
Gardens draw all kinds of Wildlings to them, including a wide diversity of butterflies and birds. They also draw children; artists, musicians and poets, adults and the elderly, the sad and the joyous. Stell Shevis was one such artist and painted images of my garden through many years, over time.
In time I met a wonderful Wizard and together we planted an orchard and tended a barren of blueberries that stretches far and wide.
For me it has taken courage and faith to plant a garden just as it had taken Gramma to plant hers, because the planting of a garden signifies letting roots down; believing that I had finally arrived at my own safe home place where I too, could begin in earnest to root, sprout, blossom and grow.
Like my Grandmother, I converse with fairy folk and the Home Place Fairies and I love to garden, cook, sing, dance and sew.
Some fairy fine Lemon Verbena Rose Petal Cake seems like a very good way to celebrate an anniversary.
In loving memory of my Gramma Catherine and her garden.
Big hugs to all those Fairy Grandmothers out there!
The last tears I shed, let them be upon flowers grown closer to the ground.
Posted under Uncategorized by Seamstress to the Fairies 20.07.2025
Early in the morning the Home Place Fairies Nightingale, La Rosa and Delphinia affectionately greet Old Horse.
Old Horse is their companion; the loyal guardian of all the Home Place Fairies.
Through the long cold months of winter Old Horse stands vigil guarding the entrance to the Fairies secret woodland chambers.
Old Horse was long ago enchanted by the Home Place Fairies
and though Old Horse ages, he never grows old.
The bond between Old Horse and the Fairies is very strong. Forged from integrity and respect as well as love and commitment the bond has solidified, becoming everlasting; suspended in time.
In the earliest hours of each and every August morning before humans are awake, the fairy folk greet Old Horse with hugs and kisses, showering him with fairy dust.
Later in the day when an old friend comes to visit, the fairies will have left the stable yard and gardens for the shade of the Enchanted Forest.
Old Horse will greet Nina who being magical herself in a Nordic gardening kind of way will never let on that she can see the fairy magic that surrounds her dear old friend.
Together they will reminisce about the past as they walk into the Future of Possibilities.
Posted under Uncategorized by Seamstress to the Fairies 18.07.2025
In late July the lovely green wide leaved annual herb Basil tastes especially fine and we traditionally make pesto to freeze for the winter months.
I plant our Basil in mid to late April from seed in my greenhouse and transplant the seedlings come late May into raised beds nestled up to colorful Cosmos Flowers; dry seeding Hollyhocks and lettuce. We like harvesting basil to use in salads, tomato dishes, soups, stews and stir fries.
Preparing to make some fresh Home Place Fairies Pixie Pesto a granddaughter removes Basil leaves from their stems and sets them aside. Then we begin gathering together our ingredients.
Home Place Fairies Pixie Pesto
Ingredients:
4 cups packed full of fresh Basil Leaves, rinsed if needed, and stems removed.
4-5 cloves of Fresh Garlic
1/4 cup Pine Nuts
1/4 cup Sunflower Seeds
3/4 – 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin Olive Oil
Salt a wee bit to taste (and maybe Pepper)
Optional you could apply a small squeeze of Fresh Lemon, just a tiny nip!
Many folks add a tablespoon of melted butter, I generally don’t but you can
Directions:
Combine all ingredients into a food processor or a blender. (I use a food processor) and blend on low speed, then medium, then high. Sometimes the basil leaves bunch up in which case, turn off your machine and rearrange the ingredients with a wooden spoon so blade will move more effectively. Blend until everything turns into a smooth paste. Presto! That’s it! That’s your pesto!
There are many delicious ways to serve Pesto. You can simply smear your Pesto on crackers or toast and top with freshly harvested cherry tomato slices. Try topping this with sprinkles of goat cheese and pinched tiny basil leaves and florets.
You can serve Pixie Pesto over cooked pasta, smear on roast chicken, fish or chops.
Pixie Pesto can be frozen for a late winter treat. I like to freeze my basil in little heart ice cube trays, or heart shaped baking sheets, or simple ice cube trays will do. Just smear Pixie Pesto into your tray, place in freezer uncovered and wait until frozen then remove and place in freezer proof ziploc bags, return to freezer for later use.
We might toss 6-8 (or more or less) frozen or thawing hearts onto a dish of hot pasta depending upon how much Pixie Pesto we are craving.
Yum!
Posted under Uncategorized by Seamstress to the Fairies 18.07.2025
