soil is the great connector

early summer field notes

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It feels like summer is just getting started around here. Even though the Summer Solstice of late June is a midpoint between the Spring Equinox and Fall Equinox, to me it still feels like there’s a ramping up of energy towards that September Equinox shift.

It’s in the blooms, the leaves, the fruit, the intense growth, and the harvest that’s becoming more abundant with each passing day.

The biggest learning so far this season in my home garden is how much the soil still needs from me.

This land was a home site, farmed, then forested before we cleared it again for garden space (and who knows what before that). The deficiencies and excesses of certain minerals and nutrients are something we’ve been working on since we started our garden 8 years ago.

Nature has graciously still bloomed and fruited abundantly all these years. And yet, if we want more out of it, we have to give back and put more into it — it’s reciprocity.

It’s why I’m learning about regenerative farming and making my own amendments. It’s why I’m curious about biodynamic farming methods. It’s why I have fish fertilizer rich in nitrogen ready for the sprayer tomorrow, to apply first thing while the dew is still on the plants and before the sun reaches them. It feels good to nourish that which nourishes me.

“The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrector, by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life. Without proper care for it we can have no community, because without proper care for it we can have no life.” -Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture

oregano

Now for some glimpses of the last 4 weeks in photos…

Carrot greens in the early morning just before harvest. Harvesting from home must be one of life’s most precious delights.

New varieties of carrots in a rainbow of colors. Quietly and boldly rebelling against the stereotypical orange — I think they taste sweeter because of it.

Asparagus planted in late spring starting to emerge. The size is about right but some haven’t sprouted (yet)? The soil needs nurturing. Everyday is earth school here.

Kale… More than we can eat fresh right now. I chop and freeze it to add to soups, stews, bakes and burgers. If you sense something is missing about winter, try freezing the goodness of a summer harvest or farmers' market haul and pull it out of the freezer or canning jar in February.

Our blueberries giving back to us — these might be my favorite (a close tie with black raspberries which I’ve picked on the property and at a local farm). Did you know I picked blueberries for a summer job in my teens? I still do it with both hands in a bowl to catch each one.

I’m standing just outside the garden and I’m surrounded by June daisies. Their emergence always reminds me of my Gram. As the story goes, it was her favorite (and wedding) flower. They spread more beauty every year in new places.

Turnips & thyme - have you tried this combination? For the freezer: I roasted the turnips, added fresh thyme chopped from a steep hillside where we planted a creeping variety. I could not be more thrilled with this flavor discovery.

These purple beauties popped up everywhere in the spring and for the first time I looked up their name… Virginia Spiderwort. I think they need renamed but I love their presence in the vegetable garden and fruit orchard. They’re also propagating themselves around the house at Forest & Flowers Retreat.

To all the gardens and garden tenders everywhere… may you experience beauty, gratitude, and abundance this season.

Thank you for reading.

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