June Begins. We Greet it with Garden Greens, Fresh Bread, Mild Sunburns, and Much Gratitude

Here’s the great garden salad we made Saturday!

The Aquinnah bread I made on Memorial Day: plain for my husband, and cardamom, agave, and almond for me

I’m trying the Epsom salt method with our vegetable garden this season. The two components of Epsom salt, magnesium and sulfur, are said to be great for vegetable production. I’m using Epsom salt in water and giving all our plants foliar feedings. 

Also, this weekend, I started applying fish emulsion to the veggie garden. Fish emulsion smells awful, and attracts insects and curious animals, including our dogs, who started digging holes near the veggie plants. My husband is worried that a black bear will come around. I’m not worried about any of that. I used fish emulsion on vegetable plants years ago, and the results were amazing.

I’m trying to give these plants the best start possible. It’s been a cool, wet spring, and we had to plant later than we wanted. The temperatures are nice and warm now, but there is an inordinate amount of rain, and that stresses young vegetable plants and encourages fusarium wilt and fungal infections. I’m hoping that by amplifying their nutrition early on, they will develop into strong plants that will resist rot and disease.

A great salad is worth mentioning. We spent the day on the ocean Saturday, and came home sunburned and feeling parched and tired. It was no time to cook, but a fresh salad sounded great. So we gathered greens from our now burgeoning greens bed (lettuces, arugula, parsley, spinach, basil, mint, and kale), added cold, sliced nectarine, chopped avocado, grated carrots, and crunchy hemp seeds, and topped it with my own mango vinaigrette.

We washed it down with our own sun tea. It was completely rehydrating, satisfying, and delicious. It cooled us down and energized us for the evening. There’s nothing in the world like living food.

I also made two loaves of Aquinnah bread this weekend. This yeast bread is simple to make and has always turned out yummy. My husband loves his with lots of butter. I drizzle honey on mine, or spread some hummus or chutney on it.

Today is the last day of May. Tomorrow begins my favorite month of the year. June is awesome. Strawberries come into season, and gorgeous pink peonies bloom. The days are at their longest, and golden dusks seem to last for hours. I hear baby birds in their nests, and see their loving parents racing back and forth with food. Weekends revolve around the gardens and the beach. Fresh garden food begins to eclipse processed. Clothes are easy to wear. Showers feel great. Barefoot is mandatory: earthing and barefoot hiking are simple again. The dogs go swimming. I light candles at the shrine at night: as they glow, peepers sing their mating songs. There’s always a bullfrog or two in there.

During the long winter, I wonder if I am ever going to see another June, and then along it comes. Thank you, Mother Earth.

Live in peace.