I drove out to the farm this week to do a photo shoot for an article on sustainable farming, and took little Strawberry Girl and her best friend along for the ride. As I worked, the girls played with the farmer's tiny daughter and wandered the yard and barn on a lovely summer day.

But at the end of those two hours, as the sun had begun to set and the tractors were gathering up the last bales of hay , the three of us hiked up behind the freshly mown field to hunt for wild orchids. And deep in the tall grasses - in a place anyone might have walked right past - was the bounty of fairies. Wild strawberries!

Farmer Oester swiftly bent down and popped one in his mouth with a contagious grin. "Looky here!"

We picked and tasted, and carried home a copious handful for dinner. 

And the fairies smiled on us.