Sugar Bush Fairies

02/13/2026

New doors and some new improved doors. Etsy is reopened for our Canadian customers.

01/23/2026

Just an update on what is happening in our little shop. Currently we are still doing
wholesale through Faire.
Our Etsy store is taking a break, unfortunately things have nearly come to a standstill on that site.

We shall see what the next couple of months bring.

We are in the process of making some new styles.

09/01/2025

After much time spent going through a lot of information, websites, and government mumbo jumbo, we have made the sad decision to no longer ship to the USA through our Etsy store. We really didn't want to do this.

However, we shall still be wholesaling to the States and will provide an updated list of stores for all our American customers.

Thank you all for your support over the years.

Sarah and Alan

02/09/2025

As DAY 11 of no power in my corner of Leitrim ebbs towards another vast night I’m reminded of that quote by Carl Sagan, ‘For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love.’
He was referring, of course, to the sheer scale and haunting darkness of the universe and not to the haunting darkness that thousands of us in the north west of Ireland find ourselves in since storm Eowyn.

When you’re living in a cold dark house in winter for days on end, and you drive into town, only to find it too, in darkness, this is what it feels like. Love has no answer for this particular eerieness. And as the days wear on it’s becoming increasingly clear there is no easy answer.

At the first gust of wind on the night of the storm, everything went. Power, water, phones, petrol pumps, card payments. Gone. The reality of a system where everything depends on electricity.

Used to this by now, I’ve gone as long as five days without utilities before, I prepared as much as I could. I’m one of the ‘lucky ones’ with a fire. I bought a small camping stove, four gas canisters, batteries, candles, matches, a new torch, extra coal and six bottles of water. I filled the car and made sure to have cash, and I filled the bath for washing and for flushing the toilet.
Should we have to be doing this in Ireland, in 2025? And how long do you think these provisions lasted? Or how long before gas was sold out everywhere? Not very long, a few days at most.

My water and phone came back after four days, but there are many people around me who are still without those. As to when I will have power back, I have no idea. It’s going to require excavators to go on to the hill in front of my house and clear a path for the Electricity Supply Board, ESB to install new poles. I’m told that every excavator in the country is flat out at this work from morning to night so I’m waiting my turn. The word weeks has been mentioned. I can’t think about that.

Current regulations regarding ESB corridors for forestry here are from 1992 when it was agreed between the Irish Farmers Association and the department of the time that the set back distance or corridor for most planting would be 20 metres.

Think of a path that runs through the forest, the ESB poles in the centre with ten metres each side, then the trees.
Forestry planted since 1992 should have this distance which is checked by the ESB. When the forest is older than 30 years the 1992 guideline has to be followed for the new planting.

The 20 metre area is left unplanted but 20 metres isn’t really enough, not that there’s a simple solution. The edge tree branches will grow out possibly five metres on each side, so you’re left now with a corridor of 10 not 20 metres. All well and good if the trees don’t fall.

The trees on the edge, used to taking the brunt of the wind, are stronger so they tend not to be the ones that fall. So there’s a gambling element that the edge trees might hold.

The ESB meanwhile compensated the landowner for not being able to plant the 20 metres. If they make the corridor bigger they have to pay more compensation.

So a larger corridor could be one solution, or an underground system.

Forests being planted now must include 20% hardwoods. If the regulation was changed to plant these on the edge of the corridor instead of throughout the forest that might help. Another idea might be to pay a grant to farmers to keep the corridors maintained so they are easier to access. While larger corridors could potentially be fenced and used for grazing.

Sitka spruce tends to be clear felled at 30/33 years, the forests affected by this disaster are at the mature end. If all this comes down now it will be replanted the same. The problem is going to continue.

If we did away with the timber industry tomorrow we would be looking at importing our timber needs from South America or elsewhere for the building industry. Which in turn would have an environmental and shipping cost. Right now it’s we who are feeling the cost.

It’s worth noting too that we have a problem with power cuts even at the height of summer, even without storms. And that trees on our roadsides are also bringing down power lines, and creating immediate danger to human life, when they fall on passing cars.

In the midst of all of this I have to say it galls me to hear generators for private homes being flouted as a solution. Generators are expensive, should be installed by an electrician, and are costly to run. This let them eat cake response is not a solution for many, myself included. If you can afford a generator you will currently pay double. That’s if you can find one.

The toll of mental health and the potential loss of life as a result of this disaster is immense. Yes, generations past lived like this. They also didn’t live as long.

Older people can’t handle this cold long term, many are struggling to keep warm even in bed. As days turn into weeks houses are only growing colder and the forecast is for freezing conditions over the days ahead.

I think about my Dad and vulnerable people like him now, Dad passed away in the summer. His bed, chair, hoist, would not have worked at this time. Carers here in the north west are under considerable stress. And there’s a toll for us all in the daily preparations, in making the most of the short hours of daylight. I know I’m not sleeping well or eating properly since this happened.

There’s the obvious financial cost too. Not only were my decking and green house damaged, there’s the loss and ongoing cost of food. The cost of firewood, coal and so on. Yes it seems there are grants and support. Clarity on these is slow. And it’s difficult when you’re in survival mode to keep up with, well, anything at all.

As you pass through this landscape now, the desolation is both visible and being felt in every aspect of our daily lives. It’s ironic that I’ve been working on a book set during the famine in Leitrim. As my mother said, we've gone back to what it was like here around 1850.


Note: 16 families impacted in my immediate area, just outside Ballinamore. We are just one area of many in the wider vicinity of Ballinamore and Leitrim.

01/26/2025

It is hard to believe that January is almost over already!
I have taken some time and made a list of stores that have ordered from us in the past year.
AEI-Annie, Ella and Izzy, Windsor CO
Aldea Home & Baby, San Francisco, CA,
Artisans of Muskoka, Huntsville, ON
Boston Tea Room, Ferndale, MI
Cariboodles Gifts and Goodies, Hay River, NT
Colt's Nursery Inc DBA Patio Gardens, Saanichton, BC
East West Bookstore, Mountain View, CA
Figpickels Toy Emporium, Coeur d'Alene, ID
Foxtails Market and Cafe, Harry P Leu Gardens, Orlando, FL
Franklins, Hyattsville, MD
Lézard Brevard, Brevard, NC
Linens etc. Home & Gifts, Devon, AB
Loft & Vine, Boston, MA
Made in Arizona/Sedona Unwind/Sedona Bath, Sedona, AZ
Martin House Books, Westerly, RI
Mercurius Curio Shop, Edmonton, AB
Mini Fairy Garden World, Fort Wayne, IN
Pieces of Jayde Uncommon Goods, Chesterton, IN
Platypus, Toulon, France
Port Hopper, Astoria, OR
Rosemont General Store, Mulmur, ON
Rustic, Blowing Rock, NC
Show of Hands, Denver, CO
Soergel Greenhouses and Gardens, Wexford, PA
Soulbury Cultural Gifts Store, Woodbury, CT
Stands, St Augustine, FL
The Artful Nest, York, PA
The Corner Cabinet, Bracebridge, ON
The Green Cauldron, Williamsburg, VA
Historic Gardens, Annapolis Royal, NS
The Peacock Room, Detroit, MI
The 100-Mile Child, Pickering, ON
The Tweet Boutique, Cloyne, ON
Wadoo Home and Gifts, Fort Collins,Co
Waterlilies, Oakland, CA
Whitlenge Gardens, Tearoom and Plant Nursery, Hartlebury, UK

If you know of a store in your area that is looking for something whimsical, make sure to share our page with them.

Send a message to learn more

01/10/2025

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with all their loved ones.

We did have to shut our Etsy store during the Postal Strike, as it was not financially feasible to mail our parcels any other way. The cost is quite high.

Now, we are getting back into the swing of things.

My goal is to try and share more. What would you like to see or know about us, our fairy doors, or other?

We would love to see your fairy doors and where they are in their new homes. Posting pics might give others ideas.

I will also be sharing a list of all the new stores that you can find our doors at.

Stay tuned, and thanks for all your support.

04/14/2024

Packing orders takes almost as long as making the doors.
Did you know that our inserts and labels were designed from paintings we made.
We print out all our packaging. Each insert is hand cut.
A lot of work, but a lot of love goes into it.

03/26/2024

Preparing accessory kits. One flower at a time.

02/03/2024

https://sugarbushfairies.etsy.com/listing/267009290

This Garden Decoration item by SugarBushFairies has 156 favorites from Etsy shoppers. Ships from Canada. Listed on Feb 1, 2024

12/05/2023

We are Back. Etsy is up and running!

12/02/2023

We are currently having issues with our Etsy Store. We are unable to log in. We are not receiving any emails from etsy. So customers that purchase.... we can't process orders.
Hopefully this gets fixed quickly.

11/07/2023

Every dot done by hand.