Summer holds so much possibility, and while I might be more inclined to winter, I love how inviting the warm season feels. Now on the other side of June and July (and half way through August), it can feel like the height of summer is in the rearview. The days are shortening, and soon enough children will be filling their backpacks for the year ahead. (Or, if they are like ten-year-old me, they already have.) Hopefully you tried your hand at something new, or tackled that project you’d been thinking about all Spring. On our part, we got a heap of carrots and garlic into our big fermentation crock. And, hey, maybe you didn’t get to any of that because you were soaking up the sunshine or eating fresh peaches over the sink. That sounds pretty perfect, too.
The flurry of summer endeavors seem to be slowing down. Surely you’ve heard (or perhaps experience) melancholia over summer winding down, even when we know that Ohio will only turn to Fall after dragging its feet a good, long while. Indian summer is all but guaranteed. I do understand the desire to hold onto your favorite season, and that’s precisely why the upcoming months of late summer are the perfect time to approach a new project. Except, instead of with gusto, how about with gentleness? May we all start to slow down a bit (just a bit; it’s only August, after all), and bottle up a bit of summer along the way.
Here are a few ideas to inspire you —
- Hanging a clothesline.
We installed this kit and love it, but even basic cord between two trees would work. There is truly no reward for your line drying efforts like the scent of fresh air that lingers on your clothes.
What better way to bottle up summer’s goodness than to carry it into the next season (and the next, and the next . . .)
I’m eager to tackle pickled corn. Anyone have a beloved recipe?
What are your favorite projects this time of year?
***
Samantha Spigos is a mother and an aspiring children’s book author from Ohio who loves to knit, cook, and travel. She’s also a contributor to Taproot Magazine and has raised more than 100 dairy goats. Now she is actively seeking land on which to raise animals and babies with her husband.
