This time of year is especially sweet, albeit at times unbearably hot; the tomatoes are heavy and ripe, and every day it seems there is more to harvest. On Wednesday, we plan to dig our first rows of potatoes, a little later than usual because of a later planting date this spring, We've had a lot of little challenges woven into the growing season this year, and they are certainly amplified by the extreme weather fluctuations of the year, like a hot March, a cool April and May, and now a very hot and dry June and July. Notably, the turkeys, deer, bunnies and insects are feasting on our verdant gardens, likely as a tasty source of water during this dry spell. At times it feels frustrating, and then it reminds me how interconnected we are in this great food web, and there will be seasons where our harvests are shared. Of course, we do our best to protect our crops from loss, but we also must accept that our crops are also an offering and sharing is part of being in community with the landscape we're surrounded by.
Flower Fest
We hosted our fourth annual Flower Fest potluck at our homestead in mid-June. It was a hot day but our community showed up in abundance with flowers in their arms and the day was filled with live music, lots of friends, and left our cups feeling extra full. It is the most special thing to me to open our homestead up to visitors and share the magical landscape we are so lucky to call home! The big 'ol oak trees in the front yard offer generous shade and keep our yard cool even on hot days. And our U-Pick flower beds were full of flowers to harvest, despite a few of our neighbors calves breaking their fence and meandering through the gardens... a shocking surprise to see when I looked out our kitchen window after finishing up some weeding in the garden!
Florence Mercantile Pop-up Market
Just this past weekend, we co-hosted a pop-up market at The Florence Mercantile on North 30th Street, just a few miles south of our homestead. It was such a special market to be part of as we watched the otherwise sleepy main strip of Florence come to life with over 30 vendors, open businesses and tons of shoppers from the community showing up! We were set up with our own wares in the courtyard between the Florence Mexican Market and The Florence Mercantile. The Mercantile has a long history, and previously housed a cobbler shop, a craft store, a stained glass studio, and certainly more that's been lost to time. Florence is the one of the oldest settled cities in Nebraska and is home to the Mormon Bridge Trail Center and the historic Florence Bank (they used to print their own legally recognized currency which included 3 dollar bills!). North 30th street has a lot of potential for the future, but has struggled with accessibility due to Highway 75 sharing the road for a few miles, with heavy traffic from semitrucks using the highway and a lack of pedestrian cross walks making it difficult to walk on foot.
One of the goals of the market was to open the spaces up to our community and small businesses to start imagining what it could look like to have people, pedestrians, in the space. Many shoppers asked me if we would be hosting the market weekly or even once a month - and for now, the answer is no (it's a lot of work to host a market!). But I am hopeful that with a little support from our community, Florence will become a vibrant place for people to gather, to share their talents, and to thrive!
Heat Wave
When it's hot like this (yesterday's heat index was 120°F) there is very little we do in the garden. We try to get outdoor work done in the early mornings and late evenings, which leaves a lot of time for thought, rest, and dreaming. I'm thinking of projects for the rest of the season, starting to think about caramel season (which is somehow right around the corner) and enjoying the last days of summer break with our littles with all the things on our bucket list. To me, it's hard to believe that I've been working on our gardens since Late January, when we start our first seeds, and that, at this point we're closer to our first frost than we are to our last frost. The cycles of the seasons seems to move more quickly each year.
Today, Scotty and a friend are processing dried elderflowers to make a batch of mead, I plan to distill a test batch of cucumbers (something I've seen happening via the internet and am excited to try) and might even dye a batch of silk scarves. Slowing down, exploring the beauty of plants and remembering the magic of it all. It's something I value in both extremes, of summer and winter, to slow down and take a pause.
