In the middle of summer there’s so much to do, so much to share.
The fields are bursting now, the harvests literally getting heavier with the addition of zucchini, carrots, beets, onions, and cucumbers, with tomatoes and new potatoes soon to come.
“Bring a wheelbarrow,” Edge joked with CSA members, preparing them for the weight of next week’s harvest.
In the midst of it all, I realized I need some time away from the computer.
At the beginning of July I took a week-long break from social media. I admit the first two days were hard—my thumb has muscle memory of its own when it comes to opening instagram anytime I open my phone.
But oh, the simple freedom that followed. How the days opened up and seemed to get longer in the best possible way.
For all the time I spend writing about growing a life you love, I found myself with a screen between me and my life a bit too much.
So this month, I’m claiming time to experience. To carry my camera instead of my phone. To swim and eat and adventure in the woods with my son. To slow down, soften, and grow joy.
There are already enough challenges in this world: the close ones of farming through a heat-wave, of raising a family while running a business, and the wider ones of living compassionately on this earth in this time with the seemingly never-ending catastrophes.
Breaking my screen habits for a month is one small way to reclaim, re-root, and tend to the seeds I want to grow. One small way to come back into presence.
And I so encourage you to find the time and space you need, however you most need it.
This world is meant to be lived in, to be inhaled and experienced. We’re part of it all, and I’ve learned over and over that joy comes pouring in when I root into place and reconnect with the nature around me.
So, my blog posts may be a bit more sporadic this month, but I’m still sending out my weekly Friday newsletter (because I love writing them to you!) If you don’t already get them, you can subscribe for free here.
In August, I’ll be back weekly with new blog posts. Until then, I’ll leave you with this:
Thank you for showing up and planting whatever seeds you can.
Be it actual seeds of lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, and more, or the seed of a smile, a kind word, a moment of tending to yourself that grows into joy.
What you’re growing matters.
Every 3-lb heirloom tomato started out as a seed. Every compassionate act starts out as an intention.
Whatever challenges you face—a heat wave, a wildfire, a drought, a flood, a situation in the world that’s breaking your heart—remember that you have the ability to plant a seed. To grow more beauty, love, and joy. To nourish your body, your community, and the world around you.
Pema Chodron, in her book No Time to Lose, writes: “The most significant step any one of us can make toward global peace is to soften what’s rigid in our heart.”
Every seed that’s ever grown has done so because it softened first.
The seed coat gave way to water and soil, opened itself and put down roots, sent up a shoot, and grew.
You can do this, too. I’ll be here doing it with you.
Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter to keep in touch for the rest of the month.
I wish you a bountiful and joyful July!
