Thank you for visiting the fairies this spring! You had some really great questions and Thimble and Blossom had so much fun answering them. It was especially nice to stay connected while we were apart. The fairies are already up in Canada where they'll be spending the summer, but are excited to come back next fall!

Keep reading below to find Thimble’s and Blossom’s answer(s) to your question(s).

Where are you? (Renee, age 40)

Hi Renee,

After we stop in the North Country to rest, we continue on to our summer home in the Canadian forests! We like to stay in Canada during the summer because it is too hot down south. Once fall comes around we’ll start migrating back down to the tropical forest because then the Canadian forests are too cold in the winter! 

What do you eat for food? (Amanda, age 34) 

Hi Amanda,

Fairies are foragers, so everything we eat comes from the forest! The forest is our grocery store and we have fun searching for things like seeds, berries, or mushrooms. My favorite thing to eat is a wild strawberry wrapped in a dandelion leaf, with fresh dew to wash it down. We love to eat mayapples as an afternoon snack and anytime we want something sweet we find a little bit of maple sap or honey to satisfy us! The forest gives us so many delicious things to eat!

How are you doing and what is your name? (Noah, age 7) 

Hi Noah,

We are doing very well and enjoying the summer weather. We hope you are too! Our names are Blossom Dewdrop and Thimble Hickory. We’re twin sister and brother! Make sure to get outside and explore all of the nature around you this summer! Although we’ve left the North Country for now, keep an eye out for when we come around again!

Are there other fairy houses on other trails? (Rivka, age 36)

Hi Rivka,

This Spring we had fairy houses in Colton on the Stone Valley Trail, on the Munter Hiking Trail in Potsdam, and on the St. Lawrence Cross Country Woods Trail in Canton. Now we’ve continued on our way north where we make our home in the Canadian forests for the summer, but check back in the fall when we migrate south to the tropical regions. Our houses will be back, but on different trails!

Where do the fairies work? (Riah and Reese, ages 4 and 7)

Hi Riah and Reese,

The life of a fairy is actually quite relaxing! Although we have to forage for food and like to learn things like the languages of the birds, we don’t have to go to a job every morning. Instead, we try to find the freshest patch of wild berries or we take baths in dewdrop pools. Maybe we’ll hang out with the robins or cardinals or play hide and seek in the leaves of a great big oak tree! When fall comes around, though, we have a long flight, south, to the tropical forests!

What does your house look like? (Kailani, age 3)

Hi Kailani,

This Spring we had three different houses that we lived in on our way north. One of them was small and dark brown, with rocks along the edge of the roof. Another house was nestled in the shade of a tree and had white walls, papered with paper birch bark, and a green door. Our third house had three peaks with bright yellow windows and mushrooms for the roof! Although these houses are gone for now, be on the lookout for clues to find them again in the fall when we migrate south! You can also work with an adult to build a fairy house in your own yard! Maybe we’ll stop by or maybe you will find other fairies who live in the forest using your house. Visit this link if you would like some ideas for building your own house! 

Can you leave fairy dust when you come back home? (Annabella, age 5) 

Hi Annabella,

We fairies try our best to practice something called Leave No Trace, which is why it’s so hard to find us if you don’t have clues to where our houses are. It also means that we can’t leave any fairy dust because Leave No Trace means that we try not to leave behind any evidence that we were ever in the forest.You can “leave no trace” when you go outside too by respecting wildlife and picking up your trash. Instead of taking a cool insect or rock home with you, ask an adult to take a picture for you! By doing these things you are acting just like us fairies do and you are being a great outdoor citizen! 

Hello (Jamie) 

Hi Jamie,

Thanks for reaching out to us! I hope you are enjoying warm summer weather and sunshine. I sure am! This morning I shared berries with my friend the warbler and this afternoon Thimble and I are going to play a game of tag with some toads and go swimming in a puddle! Have a great summer!

Dear Thimble and Blossom, 

Has there been a run on toilet paper in the fairy community? How far is six feet social distancing in your world?

Thank you, Frances (Franny, age 7)

Hi Franny,

Luckily for us fairies, because we use all-natural resources such as leaves, there has not been a run-out of toilet paper in the fairy community! For fairies, social distancing is a bit different. Because fairies are so much smaller than humans, we don’t need to stay six feet apart. That would be so far! Instead, we try to stay three slugs, or three fairy wingspans apart. Although we wish we could hug our friends, like you, we’re trying to be safe and make sure people don’t get sick! 

Why do the leaves change colors and fall down? (Lydia, age 6)

Hi Lydia,

This is a great question that we often find people asking themselves. Do you notice that it get a little colder during a certain time of the year? This is the time of the year when fall starts. Trees are very sensitive to colder weather can’t make the important minerals that helps keep their leaves green.  When the minerals aren’t sent, the trees stop producing chlorophyll (klor-o-fil), which makes the leaves green.  Now that the chlorophyll isn’t being created, the tree makes xanthophylls (zan-tho-fils) and carotenoids (care-o-ten-oids). These scientific words describe the yellow and orange colors the leaves have. Anthocyanins (an-thuh-sigh-nins), the red and purple colorings of the leaves, are made from the sugars kept inside the leaves and they help protect the tree leaves from animals that hunt them for food. The leaves fall down so that the tree can save its energy to keep warm. 

Do fairies like fish? (Landon, age 9) 

Hello Landon, 

Us fairies don’t eat fish but we love to watch them swim while we fly above the water! Our favorite fish in the North Country is the rainbow trout! The rainbow trout is one of many different kinds of trout. It gets its name because its scales (skin) are colorful and shiny. 

Where do the fairies go during the day? (Amelia, age 1)

Hello Amelia, 

Great question! During the day we like to go out exploring out in nature as much as we can, breathing in the fresh air and identifying flowers and animal tracks along the way. Nature is a great way to practice social distancing during this time.

Do fairies poop? Can fairies go to outer space? Do fairies ride small bikes? What can we do to encourage fairies to live in our yard? Can fairies do magic? (Sola and Remi, ages 10 and 5)

Hello Sola and Remi,

Thank you for your wonderful and creative questions! Fairies are just like humans, except we can fly and are very tiny. Besides that, we can do everything that you can do. We’ve never been to outerspace, but I bet it’s just as beautiful as our forests! We do love to stargaze, though. If you go out to your backyard with an adult at night, you can see the stars and our galaxy too! It’ll be just like being in outer space. Maybe you can play a fun game as you stargaze. Oh yes we do ride bikes! We love riding our bikes around. Our bikes are just as tiny as we are and are made of twigs and other materials that we’ve found around our forests. We think it is a great way to help the environment while enjoying nature’s fresh air. To answer your question about how to encourage us to live in your yard: we love when people engage in the environment. Even though we are very shy, we always roam in forests and wherever we can find green space for us to fly around! We usually prefer the quiet sounds of the woods, but once in a while we might roam around the town’s green spaces. We sure can do magic! You can see our magic in nature if you just look very closely throughout the trails. Our magic helps protect the forest, the birds, the flowers and any living thing you see walking about in the forest. We always use our magic for good: to take care of the environment!

How much magic do you have? What do you eat? (Parker, Blake, and Ella, ages 9, 8, and 2)

Hello Parker, Blake and Ella,

Great question! Fairies have a special type of magic,  that helps the forest and all our friends living in it. Even though we take time to make sure our forests are healthy and strong, we also need your help to help take care of it! A few things you can do to help preserve our magic is to respect the animals and flowers around the forest. You can also keep in mind to always take back with you everything you brought into the forest trail or river. This helps everyone have a great experience coming in and out of natural spaces. We love to eat tons of good food that mother nature provides for us! Some edible snacks that both humans and fairies can consume are dandelions, wood sorrels, and wild blackberries to name a few. These are all edible plants for fairies and humans but always be sure to have an adult with you to help you forage these delicious treats that we fairies eat!

Could we have 3 wishes? (Stella and Hailee, ages 7 and 4)

Hello Stella and Hailee,

Thank you for your question! You sure can! Look for our fairy houses in the fall, as we travel back south, and leave those three wishes for us! 

Are you very small? What do you like to eat and drink? (Mila and Bryn, ages 5 and 3)

Hi Mila and Bryn,

Yes! We are very tiny, perhaps as tiny as your pinky finger or a blueberry! It’s nice that we can fly to get around, otherwise we would get very tired. Our forest friends also lend a helping hand; we love catching a piggy back ride on our friend Lenny the Turtle. We have many favorite foods and drinks! In the summer, we like to eat sweet berries and honeydew from our pet aphids. We drink flower nectar almost every day to keep ourselves hydrated. For dessert, after a long day of playing in the woods, we like to have wild mint. In the fall, we love to snack on seeds and black walnuts as a special treat! The best part about being a fairy is finding new edible treats in the forest! We search for all our food here like a scavenger hunt instead of buying or growing our food.

Do you know what type of flower this is? (Ava, age 4)

Hello Ava,

That is a purple violet. It’s beautiful isn’t it? If you are walking around a trail and spot another flower, make sure to snap a picture of it so you can identify it later. You can  even ask an adult to post it on our encounters page for more people to see!

Can you come out? (Elsie, age 7) 

Hi Elsie,

We would love to meet you, but fairies are naturally shy around humans! We watch with our animal friends when our human friends come to visit us and share our dreams of meeting you! For now, we love to leave clues behind that we were around. If you come back to leave us more notes in fall, you may see us glimmer in the sunshine as we dart around the forest!

Are there more fairy houses for us to find and are you real? (Kwynn, age 9) 

Hi Kwynn,

We are already flying back to Canada for the summer months! In the fall, we will be back at our favorite spots in the North Country to see our forest friends just in time to watch the leaves change colors. If you look for us then, you might catch a glimpse of our wings buzzing through the forest. We can’t wait to see you then! 

Do you have pet unicorns? (Gigi, age 8) 

Hi Gigi,

As fairies, we are far too small to have unicorns as pets, but we have met many very sweet unicorns before! We have four small aphids as our pets right now. They make the perfect companions for fairies because they love to make us sweet honeydew! Aphids drink the tree sap that flows under tree bark to make honeydew through their very special stomachs. Having aphid is much like having a puppy that brings you candy!

Where does the fairy go in the day? (Gardyn, age 13)

Hi Gardyn,

During the day I love to fly around the forest and explore. I have so much fun meeting  new animal friends, gathering new edible plants to eat, and learning about the forest. Today I learned that my chipmunk friends spend all day looking for seeds and nuts to store for their winter hibernation. This is when they take really long naps because it is too cold outside for them to find food. Sometimes they wake up just to eat! Instead of sleeping during the winter, like my chipmunk friends, fairies migrate further south to find warm weather in the winter months. This makes the springtime really exciting as new life comes back to the forest and I fly back to see it all happen! And it keeps my days very very busy.

Is the forest magic? (Alyssa, age 5) 

Hi Alyssa,

Fairies have magic that helps the forest! You can see our magic if you look really closely for us. What is even more magical about the forest is what you can do to help us! The best thing you can do is learn more about everything the forest does for you and make sure you take care of it too. This means bringing everything you take inside back outside with you and not leaving toys or trash behind. Doing this preserves the magic of the forest so it can provide a safe and healthy home for fairies, food for all their friends, and a fun place for you to visit!

What do fairies eat? (Aiden, age 6) 

Hi Aiden,

Fairies are foragers, which means we only eat food that grows in the wild. We can’t plant, farm, or buy our food as you can, so we have to search for it like a treasure hunt! This is really fun because fairies love to eat. Some of our favorite foods in the forest are acorns, berries, and mushrooms. We use nectar from flowers, and honey from bees to make our favorite foods sweeter! Thanks for asking Aiden, we love to get questions about food!

How old are you? How long do you stay here and where do you come from? What kind of fairy are you? (The Ballards, ages 9, 10, and 14)  

Hi Ballards, 

Thanks for asking! We have a birthday coming up soon on August 9th. This year, we are turning 17, so we have a lot of experience making friends in the forest! During the summer months when the weather gets warmer, we travel from our winter home in the Amazon Rainforest to our summer home in Canada. We spend time with our rainforest fairy friends before traveling North. This is where we visit our rainforest fairy friends! Then, we make stops all along the way between the Amazon Rainforest and Canada to see our retired fairy friends in Florida, our palm fairy friends in North Carolina, and our ocean fairy friends in New Jersey. We are both woodland fairies so we stop in the North Country to visit with our forest friends: the deer, lots of frogs, and songbirds!

EXPLORE PAST ASK A FAIRY QUESTIONS

Ask A Fairy: Spring 2018

Ask A Fairy: Spring 2017

Ask A Fairy: Fall 2016 (Part 1, Part 2)

ABOUT ASK A FAIRY

Each spring and fall, a merry group of fairies migrates through the North Country. In the fall, they head south for the winter, in the spring, they are northern bound for the summer. These aren't just any fairies – these fairies live in the woods, where they spend their days bonding with birds, talking with trees, buzzing with bugs, and getting friendly with fungi. As you might guess, over time they’ve become expert naturalists. Each season during their visits, you'll have the chance to visit their fairy houses on new North Country trails and ask them any questions you have about nature. Thank you for participating. Please contact info@natureupnorth.org with any questions or feedback. Thank you!