This week, for obvious reasons, I keep coming back to this quote from The Dirty Life:

“The heat came down on us like a solid thing, as though to make up for the frigid winter. The pace of growth redoubled. In the North Country, the plants have to seize the day. You could practically hear them growing; I imagines the cells dividing and madly redividing with tiny pops, the pace of their metababolism stoked by the abundance of light, heat and rain.” — Kristin Kimball, The Dirty Life

This period in our lives has been one of much growth and transformation. But now that we are settling in to the homestead, we are really honing in on all the growth around us — the grasses, flowers, shrubs, trees and their various fruits, seeds and blossoms. Every day something new buds or blooms. There is all the naturally occurring life, then the plants that the previous owners put in the ground, and now the trees and fruit shrubs that we have planted in our infant orchard. And then there is my garden, where the highs and lows and woes have been plenty.

Our tiny homestead is nothing like the Kimball’s massive Essex Farm operation, but I related to her comment about the plants seizing the day — we are intently aware of this — and the harsh winter seems all too near in both the past and future. Our little successes and failures in growth seem so intense — because we are are keenly tuned to them day in and out. We pay attention to the weather so much more — and rejoice when we don’t have to drag the hoses out for a few days in the summer swelter because the rain gods have blessed us. We are humbled by the multitude of “pests” but really they are just the animals who were here first. We need to figure out how to work around them to grow our own food, but without upsetting their natural habitat — it’s a balance I was not adequately prepared for, but we are learning. Right now I’m still in a stage of feeling defeated by them and unsure of exactly who the perpetrators of my sad novice garden have been. The fence openings are fairly small but we think the rabbits and chipmunks, maybe voles too and possibly some hungry birds? I did discover one big success today — one of the squash flowers WAS indeed pollinated and there is a baby zucchini growing — for some reason the critters have not touched the squash plants yet, but I fear it is only a matter of time. I grew those squash from seed inside this winter. It’s a small success but to me it feels giant. The herb garden near the barn fairs better than the main garden plot laid out too far from the house, but even that is not what I expected. It’s certainly not the fault of the plants — they have the fervor that Kimball alludes to and before the pests found them, they were thriving beautifully in that cycle of sun and rain that made them grow with joy. I see the potential and possibilities, and I will try again next year.

For now, we surrender to the long hot days — we have slowed down some, our bodies and minds require it. But we have also turned to other tasks, all of which must be done in early morning or late evening, as long as this heat persists. We water, chop and pile wood for winter, mow and cut grass, and continue planning for the next phases of our orchard. But we will also grill and read and swim and spend time laughing and relaxing with family and friends this summer. It’s what this season wants us to do. We are trying to honor its wishes while growth continues all around us.

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Last month in this Instagram post I talked about my very large to-read pile and a month later, only ONE (The Dirty Life, duh) has been finished! And two more books were gifted to me in the meantime, so I’m actually down even more. But that’s OK — I’m still not allowed to buy any more books, or even let myself go to the library to borrow any, because I really do want to read the unfinished ones I have. So I’m circling back with resolve to READ much more this summer. We are also finally taking a breath on house projects — some major critical things needed to be tackled (electric, water, windows) — not glamorous but definitely the important things to invest in first. The rest is mostly stuff that we really want to do, or sort of want to do, or not sure if its worth doing — and so the approach for these long hot summer days should be to do less and simply mull more. We have to live here longer before we make decisions about upgrades or renovations. And so both inside and out, the homestead is leading us to slow down and just live in the moment for these summer months. With the passing of the summer solstice, the long days are already shortening, but the fireflies are dancing each evening and the birds chirping each morning, reminding us to stop and enjoy the best parts of this season. Also, we will be watching corn slowly grow, literally all around us — its a great do-nothing summer activity! Stay cool and enjoy your summer too!