So How Was Your Summer?

Updates from an Unintended Sabbatical

Excuse note for my absence:

I had every intention of posting in June & July, but alas, did not. It turns out that I have a limit for what I can accomplish with a reduced workforce of 3 on a property set up to be managed by twice that many.

Phillip Otherhalf

& our youngest daughter were in Japan from April 1 to August 2, for a teaching exchange, and our son was in North Carolina from mid-May to the end of July, working & living with his uncle & aunt. That left me and 2 daughters to mind the homestead (plus go to work & school, etc.). It’s amazing how many chores & repairs have been done in the short time since the travelers’ return! Many hands really do make lighter work.

A few of their photos from Japan. So much beauty, of nature, architecture, historic sites- amazing! They both celebrated birthdays while there, & slept in a yurt on our daughter's birthday weekend.

Summer Synopsis

It’s been an interesting growing season. Early last frost date, hot & humid, rained at least once during every 24 hour period until very recently. Every crop has been ready for harvest about 3 weeks earlier than expected this year. Some staple crops, namely squash, corn, & peas, never made it into the ground for 2024.

This year, we are pretty much berry & garlic farmers. We had huge, early harvests of strawberries & raspberries. The elderberry is outdoing itself. A couple of weeks ago, we harvested multiple rows of garlic that were planted last Fall. The garlic and onion scapes were put to good use earlier in the season, added to every possible dish. Our first beehive from May survived a successful split into 2 in July, and on Phillip’s return we split each of those again! Four hives?! I think I might really be a beekeeper.

That’s me, checking the original hive.

It looks like there will be a small harvest of beans, peppers, potatoes, pears, and herbs, and a moderate amount of tomatoes and horseradish. I’m still crossing fingers for cucumbers and watermelon, but that’s probably a pipe dream at this point. We did have a great number of salad greens early in the season, just from what self-seeded last year, and the arugula continues to produce. Kiwi, figs, paw paws, and grapevines have grown in grandeur of healthy green leaves, but not so much in fruit. The blueberries were looking good, but an excess of rain ruined that. There will be a few spotty peaches and some pears, but sadly no apples. The lilies have been magnificent. The native plants in our yard have thrived in the tropical monsoon that hit our area of the Midwest; we now practically have tree-sized boneset, tickseed, cardinal flower, and iris. Mullein popped up everywhere, as did milkweed, and sections of the back garden were overrun by horehound.

We shall not lack for garlic!

The native wildlife have been thriving, too, except for the skunk that found itself being thrashed around by our dog’s teeth, and fought back in the typical way skunks do (yes, ick). There also was a terrified possum who lumbered into the live trap we’d then set for more skunks, whom the dog became intent on freeing into his jaws. It’s unfortunate that no one caught the ensuing scene on video: me trying to lift the cage trap out of reach, dog leaping up at the cage anyway, me spinning away holding the cage with the possum who was now hissing by my face as it spun, me screaming in response but holding tight to the cage handle. 15 year old daughter finally separated the dog and released the frightened possum (well, she opened the trap at any rate, and by morning it was gone). At least that incident didn’t require a jug of vinegar, several dog baths, and the disposal of a deceased skunk. Anyway… so many birds, in type and number, including a nest of robins born just outside the back garden and screech owls heard at night. Many native pollinators, another migratory visit from monarch butterflies, plus fireflies and cicadas in the evening.

More Photos

Our milkweed hosted the monarchs again!

Top L to R: Front yard strawberries, elderberry bush, backyard raspberries. Mid L to R: Grapevines, blueberries, raspberries in June. Bottom L to R: Goji berries, 1 day's strawberry harvest, raspberry patch

I spy…mullein, bee balm, wild bergamot, horehound, potato plants, wild mustard.

Top L to R: garlic hung for storage, monarch on goji bush, red bean blossoms. Middle L to R: new type of bumblebee arrived this Spring!, garlic scapes & rhubarb, peaches. Bottom L to R: yarrow in front yard, lilies in full glory, pear tree

Beehive in Japan. Phillip toured a garden in which they set out hives to attract honeybees. It works; the garden owner has healthy bee colonies this way.

Top L to R: Fig tree & lilies on the front yard berm, wacky beautiful comb, fleabane; Middle L to R: borage, lilies, daughter with deer at the temple in Nara. Bottom L to R: 1st cherry tomatoes, a very cute garden invader, seriously large cicada in Japan

Back to the Title Question

How was your summer? Did you travel? Grow anything especially beautiful or delicious? See or hear cicadas in your area? Did you have unusual weather patterns? Any wildlife encounters? Please share in the comments.

Now that our crew is living under one roof again, I’ll be posting more often. I missed chatting with you all in this space! It’s good to be back in the ‘Stacks.

—Erin, in Michigan