Summer At Last

Hello, loves.

I’m quite amazed that I can sit here at the picnic table on the terrace and write to you. In a sundress, no less. Just this week, summer seems to have arrived at last. What season we had before, I’m not quite sure. It wasn’t spring, as spring seems to have vanished from the lineup altogether. In its place was some unknown, a hover in time, dangling us there without our bearings for weeks on end. Cool. Rainy. So unusual. When I ordered rubber boots and a rain coat in May, I thought I was just getting a jump on fall. But no. I’ve breathed thanks for them surprisingly often as the cold rain pattered down.

But now? Now the sprinklers are ticking, there’s watermelon chilling in the fridge, and I’ve dropped two ice cubes into my chai. It feels like a celebration.

On the other hand, the opposite of a celebration: I didn’t plant a garden. (Such a hard sentence to write!) So many reasons for that, but by the time late June had arrived and I was yet to see a single seed hit the soil, I realized that a fallow year might be the best thing for both of us. Last year’s garden seemed to struggle. Lack of nutrients, most likely. I’d read from the experts that taking a fallow year and sowing the soil to a cover crop is one of the better choices (though heartbreaking) a gardener can make. Restore. Replenish. Rest. I’ve done it. Oats, field peas, hairy vetch, and red clover are in the beds now.

And hallelujah for my friend down the road who did plant a garden and who has shared the loveliest of mixed greens with me. I call her my private CSA. Another hallelujah for the mini herb garden I tucked, at the last minute, into an available flower bed beside the shed. Dill, oregano, sage, basil. There was a beautiful bunch of parsley, too, until this morning when a deer helped herself to a fresh salad. In pots nearby, I planted rosemary, thyme, and spearmint. When there’s nothing else to harvest this year, I can remind myself, oh, there are the herbs.

So, loves, how’s summer been where you are? Any surprises? Heartbreaks? Thrills?