My oh my, where to begin? Whew, can I just say how happy I am it's August? We LOVE what we do, this little defiant farm, but its been a doozy. Lots and lots of +90F days here on the hill, floods, blow down, logging, Lyme disease, loss of livestock. I am ever so excited to see that evening light take on that just beginning to be Autumn golden twilight hue. To re-experience the 50s at night. To throw on my favorite (not Bob's favorite) thrifted Loon sweatshirt as I head off to morning chores. Hallelujah. I know there will be a day, not too far in the frosty future, where my chilly bones will yearn for these sunkissed days, the eating straight from the garden, the "need" for routine ice cream, the steady soundtrack of hummingbird wings. But for now, in the air anyway, there seems to occur a crystalline moment where there is a pause, a breathe, a space and I am all the more thankful for it.
The garden, sad to say, slips into a little benign neglect this time of year. The weeds get a bit leggier than would have been tolerated in middle June, we are sparser with the precious drops of water that begin to be meted out with less regularity than in the Spring rains. There is a general shagginess that I kind of enjoy, but my early season Type A farmer lady would not tolerate. Its harvest and market instead of plant and cultivate. The hustle, the hustle has been hard. Keeping up with our other 3 jobs, working on wellness & healing, devoting some serious life energy picking up after the storm, ie logging, logging, logging. But that's farming and really, that's life, you know? But just when you (ME) wants to buy an air conditioner, crawl under the covers, and sleep for two weeks, letting that crazy world continue to spin on without you...there it is, The Pause. Or rather the reminders to pause: the sun setting just a bit earlier, the longer day onions bulbing up, the school supply aisle abrasively popping back up at the local grocery. And I stop, and I inhale and exhale, and I remember to be grateful for this breath, this breeze, this opportunity to be here, NOW, this tomato, this work, this life...and I hope you do too.
Click here to see what we've got from the Defiant Field this week.
Roan takes a rare Siberian husky swim. You know it's hot when sled dogs take to the water.
Teaser for next week: the first few tomatoes are ripening up! We should have them available for sale next week. Stay tuned.