The last couple of posts I’ve made about my work with the Fair Folk have been pretty woo, so I thought I’d share another anecdote that’s decidedly more… mundane.
It’s spring now by most people’s reckoning (though I personally tend to see the equinoxes as the midpoints of their respective seasons), and as I write this it certainly feels like it, too – 65 and sunny and breezy. Which means I now need to fulfill a promise I made last year to my local Fairy Queen.
When we moved to our current house at the very beginning of the pandemic (no joke, our closing was three days before the governor shut the state down), there was a flowering cherry tree in the front yard that was clearly on the wane. Some of the branches were dead and there was a hole in the trunk that revealed rotten wood inside. Still, that spring, it flowered. And again, in 2021. And again, in 2022. We trimmed away some of the dead branches, and tried to prune it gently each year, but when it failed to put out a full crown of leaves last spring, we got a notice from the HOA – dead trees weren’t allowed, particularly not in front yards, and it would need to be cut down asap. I had hoped we’d be able to let the tree die gracefully over a winter, but despite the few leaves it did have, there was no convincing the HOA it was still “alive enough” so we conceded.
The poor little stump, all that is left of the tree we had to take down
As I usually do when I have to make major changes to my yard, I explained what had transpired to both the land spirits and our local fae — and was met with disapproval. I understood — I didn’t really like it, either — but caught between the two powers, I attempted to negotiate a fine price for the tree, instead. I was told I would need to replace the tree the following spring, before a year and a day had gone by, and that it would need to be a tree that bore both flowers and fruits, and should be in the Rose family, as wild roses are the symbol of my Local Queen.
So this week’s fairy witching task was calling several local tree nurseries and garden centers to find one that has something like a crabapple or wild cherry or upright serviceberry, that will plant it for us, and has some kind of guarantee to replace the tree if it dies… that fits my somewhat small budget. And once I do, I’ll need to schedule the tree to be planted before the beginning of June.
I think I’ve decided which nursery, I just want to go in to select the tree (likely a crabapple), and then I think they should be able to schedule the planting sometime before Bealtaine, which would be ideal! And then the lonesome stump in the front yard will have a friend, and hopefully the Fair Folk won’t blight my vegetable garden.
But yeah, word to the wise… these connections and agreements do have measurable effects on my personal mundane life as well. So keep that in mind, if you’re interested in doing this work.