what do fairies do for a living?

They have fun - first and foremost, even when they are working. :)

From what I learned, The Faerykind help the plants to grow, mature, go to seed, and propogate. They also act as energetic support for the wild animals .

They tend to all wild-life and nature much the same as guardian angels tend to us humans. All plants and animals and trees respond to positive or negative energy. Alot of times, they need that extra energetic push and encouragement in such a fallen World-- and the faery are there to give them this boost.

The faery count on us humans to cooperate with them on a physical level while they do thier work on an etheric level.
Sadly most humans make work harder for them instead of working WITH them.

Favorite Froud Book? Faerie's Oracle

they LIVE! LOL they don't need to "make a living" like we think we do. They do what they are called to do, which is often taking care of plants, animals, water, this planet etc...I think someone else mentioned that already.
Some of them like to play tricks on us, some of them bless us and look after us and some of them ignore us.
All of them enjoy what they do.
They make every day a celebration.

Just my experiences/thoughts!