It is almost July and on the homestead we are settling into the rhythm of summer. With the extra light in the evenings and the birds beginning their song so early in the morning, I don’t feel like I am getting much sleep these days. I find myself scurrying around trying to get everything done in the evenings once the hot sun is off the gardens, and before I know it it’s 9pm and there are herbs strewn all over the counters and dirt all over the kitchen floor and flowers that need put into water and I’m exhausted and ready for bed! But my mornings are slow with a cup of coffee, my bible, and a journal or two. I feel much like Gladys Taber in her book “Stillmeadow Calendar”—

“i advance on the day cautiously, as if it might break. i waste a lot of good time just getting started, which time i make up, of course, at the end of the day.”

Because of this I don’t seem to be fast enough to get into the gardens before the sun hits in the morning so most of our work out there is done in the evenings. I allow my creative mind to run wild in the mornings, writing down any and every idea, inspiration, or aspiration. Once my coffee’s gone and the morning fades I never get to them all of course, but I’m learning to be okay with that.

It seems as though we will be having a colder and rainy summer, which I don’t quite mind as long as my onions don’t rot and the heat comes around enough to make the chill feel like a relief. I wonder how our cucumbers will fair? I do know for certain that our late cabbages are enjoying the weather. Plus it most likely means autumn will arrive earlier and I can never find reason to complain about that.

The gardens are not offering summer crops yet but our spring crops are richly abundant. Sugar snap peas are sweet and plump and the herbs are going to town. We have been bringing in basket upon basket of them to rinse and dry. I have had to purchase a second drying rack as well as hang a string across our dining room ceiling to fit all of our herbs! Not a bad problem to have. Herbs really should be dried in the dark, so I must encourage you to do what I say and not as I do. But when space is limited you have to work with what is given to you. Thankfully our dining room is our darkest room.

Many times over the past few months I have considered investing in a dehydrator. I love doing things the old fashioned way and I’m always hesitant to add yet another appliance to the kitchen. But I feel it may be a homesteading essential, especially since we are using what we grow to make apothecary products for the shop. Our process is extremely slow right now. We plant, wait for the herbs to grow, harvest, dry for many weeks, infuse in oil for many weeks, and if soap is being made, it has to cure for many weeks! But maybe that is how the best things are made. They are worth waiting for.

We do use our oven to finish off the herbs we have air-dried just to ensure all the moisture is gone, but a dehydrator would be handy too especially for herbs like chamomile that are best dried quickly to preserve the aromatics. If anyone has any dehydrator brand recommendations, I am all ears! (It has to be one that is safe and nontoxic…no teflon or other coatings like that. Come to think of it how safe are dehydrators anyways…?)

A few weeks ago we dusted off our water bath canner to preserve local strawberries. It feels good to be filling up the larder again. We really only have a couple jars of pickles and relish left from last year, which is perfect because we need those for summer hot dogs and burgers until this year’s cucumbers come in. Our cabbage is about to be ready to ferment in to sauerkraut, and our raspberries are just turning red and ripe. We have harvested our garlic scapes and a few carrots that are ready. The tomato plants I started from seed are thriving, which is surprising considering they looked so sad when we put them in the ground. We’re even going to have a few sunflowers this year! I outsmarted the chipmunks by starting them indoors. This will be the first time in years we have gotten them to grow without the critters believing we are simply burying snacks for them.

I am realizing the kind of busyness that inevitably comes with living close to the land is different than the busyness the world has to offer. It’s honest and rewarding. It keeps you humble.

“in many ways, the act of preserving food is an act of humility and trust. we freeze and can and dry and pickle our green beans because we believe that God has a future for us. winter will come and we will need them.”

— hannah anderson

I could ramble on and on about the weather and our gardens, but I need to go tackle some things on my to-do list, like fermenting carrots with dill from the garden, and organizing fabric for the shop. Would you guys like to see more diary style posts? I seem to collect photos and thoughts throughout the seasons that never end up being shared and I’d like to inspire you with them somehow.

Blessings on your summer, my friend.

—Kaetlyn