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!

photo credit E.M.

Poetry

Websters definition;

po-et-ry

noun

Literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm; poems collectively or as a genre of literature.

The following excerpt from the poem Little Gidding was written in the year 1942 and is the fourth and final poem of T.S. Eliot’s, Four Quartets, a series of poems that discuss time, perspective, humanity, and salvation.

Thomas Stearns Eliot won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948 and remains a highly distinguished poet, publisher, essayist, playwright and critic.

He was born in St. Louis Missouri in 1888.

Little Gidding by T.S. Eliot

Music; On the Nature of Daylight by Max Richter

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.

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!

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

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.

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.