Hello, happy August! Our monthly threshold was made rich and beautiful from heavy doses of quality time, both with a few special loved ones and with each other. For these well spent hours I am deeply grateful.

Now we are charging our batteries for a very back to business work week. I suspect this first slice of solid routine, sans the visitors and staycation partying which pretty much defined the fun, gorgeous month of July, will be much easier than it could be, for two good reasons: 1.) We now have very fancy and futuristic high speed internet (wahoo!) and 2.) our weather is supposed to be especially mild. We’re talking crazy low humidity and daily temps from 65 to 89 degrees. This is almost unheard of for early August in Oklahoma!

And the gardens are at that luxurious stage when I just walk past and they pour out basketsful of zuchinni, peppers, tomatoes, herbs, and flowers. It is a non stop harvest lately, with watermelon coming soon. I plan to spend plenty of time in these upcoming mild days “working” outside. Heavy on the air quotes there, it is so much fun.

My gardening jobs this coming week will include: Weeding, pruning, feeding and watering literally everything, all the raised beds and blackberries especially. Excavating and rethinking the east facing flower bed. Mowing and edging the people-ish areas of the lawns. Scraping and scooping manure in the middle field and collecting chicken litter to add to the compost heaps, also flipping the compost heaps. Trading out the honeybee boxes and doing a hive inspection. Sweet talk the horses into having their hooves trimmed. Sweet talk the chickens into laying more eggs. Sweet talk Little Lady Marigold into, well, loving me.

This is a fun but ambitious list, and I very much want it finished before next weekend. Good thing I have nowhere to go!

Are you gardening this summer? I want to hear everything! Tell me what you’re growing. What surprised you. What disappointed you. What inspired you. Tell me what is coming next in your garden.

And please share how you are approaching this fresh new week! Tomorrow is a full moon, by the way. An excellent time to release anything not serving you well. Burn regrets. Halt waste. Feel the fulness of your belssings, health, and happiness.

“He who keeps a garden
still his Eden keeps.”
XOXOXOXO