a mid-summer snapshot

what I'm growing, reading, wearing & doing <3

making yard bouquets :) 💐

L: our first sunflower!! R: a teeny bouquet for delivering by bike to my dear mentor :)

I cannot take credit for those dahlias (I wish!) but all the rest are yard-grown! :,)

I’m obsessed with the hopi red amaranth and the little bit of whimsy it brings to bouquets :)

harvesting & processing 🍃

I’m motivated to grow flowers for bouquets and natural dyeing, and Josh is interested in tomatoes, cucumbers, and hot peppers for pickling. Massive thanks to our friend Al for keeping the garden watered while we were away so we could harvest so much bounty when we returned :,)

My Itty Bitty Apothecary (lol). I’ve really enjoyed deepening my practice of Bioregional Herbalism. This year I grew nettles, marshmallow, lemon balm, calendula, comfrey, tulsi & yarrow. I also enrolled in an Herbal CSA from a nearby farm to try out herbs that were particularly unfamiliar to me. I’m drying most of them to turn into tinctures, vinegars, infusions, and salves!

The relief I felt when I realized I could make a respiratory relief infusion (more info) on days with poor AQI out of things I had grown or already had at home was immense! I’ve enjoyed it as a cooling summer beverage more generally, as well. This latest batch is cold-infused oatstraw, tulsi, chamomile, lemon balm, marshmallow leaf, rose, and hibiscus :)

cheap & cheerful activities

• Visiting a new-to-me public library. This one has a “Library of Things” and one of the “things” you can check out is a kayak! (Turns out you can also borrow a kayak through my local library which I did not know until today!)

• $5 Tuesdays at the local cinema. They even have recliners!! The A/C was pumping, the popcorn was oh-so-salty — a dream 😇.

• Hanging at the “public pool” (a portion of the Green River they flood seasonally for swimming & have done since 1930!) with my friend and her kiddos 🌊.

• Riding my bike very slowly to get an ice cream cone 🍦

• Wrapping my neck in a bandana with ice cubes in it. Word of warning, though — this seems to sometimes (temporarily?) stain the clothing underneath it? Maybe it’s my sunscreen getting involved?

• Taking any/all classes at the YMCA. Even when they’re doing HVAC repairs, they still keep it nice & cool in there, praise be.

• Using the library’s free museum passes to go to Mass MoCA :) — We found a new portion of the Laurie Anderson exhibit and it was so unhinged. Highly recommend!

wearing

As you can see, I’ve been pretty fixated on “fairy camo” (my working title for this flower dyeing project I’m deep in right now, with big thanks to Nicole for suggesting the name!). I have a lot more to say about the process and what inspired it, but for now, this is how I’ve been dressed lately — fairy camo, Josh’s Gramiccis, my thrifted dad sandals + these socks and perhaps my favorite addition to my wardrobe so far this year, this $5 necklace from a garage sale.

I was talking to a 6-year-old about my new necklace and she said “that’s really pretty. [thoughtful pause] I have one that is much more magnificent at home”. Devastating!

reading

Bluets - Maggie Nelson — Maggie Nelson is one of my favorite authors of all time. Reading Bluets out loud with a group was a highlight of my summer :)

Girl’s Girl - Sonia Feldman — Sometimes an author’s language lights up my brain in new ways, Sonia’s did that for me. This was such a nostalgic (Sims!) and honest look at that young, queer porousness of friendship/desire/love/lust, but written with the benefit of hindsight, so it felt mature. I really, really liked it and I think you should read it, too :)

Slow Productivity - Cal Newport — A great listen while I sewed! The TL,DR is: do fewer things, work at a natural pace, obsess over quality. Worth the read to see how he illustrates & deepens those concepts, though.

Cherry Baby - Rainbow Rowell — This was the first non-YA Rainbow Rowell novel I’ve read. The perspective felt really raw (in a good way), but the character’s romantic choices kind of stumped me? Or we learn that she was sort of an unreliable narrator to begin with? Fun read, good writing (as always from Rainbow Rowell), slightly frustrating. Would still recommend.

Down to Earth - Julia Turshen — The premise was promising (queer romance between a bougie NYC mom & an upstate farmer), but I needed more — more depth, more from the language, etc. Still, I’m never mad I picked up queer lit 😇

---

I’ll leave you with these pictures of these precious babes, Sky & Bea, who we got to visit in person recently! :,)