Although fall is my favorite season, I have to say there are great things about every season. This year even with all the craziness in the world, I’m finding lots of things to love about summer.
This summer had hints of feeling like it did when I was a kid and school was out. When summer stretched out in front of us full of time, possibilities, and adventures. I certainly started out summer 2020 with a lot of extra time on my hands.
It’s now August and kids are maybe going back to school soon, depending on where you live. So it might feel like summer is coming to an end for your family. But technically we’ve only hit the middle and I’m still intent on embracing it with these five things I’m loving this summer:
1. Long Days with New Rhythms
I started tracking my time back in May just before I began blogging. A few years ago I read Laura Vanderkam’s book, 168 Hours. It’s all about how people have more time than they realize and how tracking your time can make that evident. I wanted to try this out ever since reading the book and I’m glad I finally did.
I think tracking the time itself helped me be more efficient and focused on the task at hand as well as the transition time. It also helped me look at my schedule from a weekly view rather than a daily one. Now I can look at tasks and figure out where in my week they fit best rather than feeling like there are never enough hours to get it all done in one day. I’ve rearranged my thinking with my to do list and what I can get accomplished in a week rather than measuring by a day. It seems obvious now but that was not my mindset before looking at my time sheets.
I have also been reading a lot about Ayurveda and the doshic times of the day. I’ve been getting up at sunrise as Ayurveda recommends and I have a morning routine. I’m playing around with different tasks that fit better in each block and testing how that goes.
The biggest thing that’s working for me is eating breakfast and lunch around the same time every day. I’m one of those people who forgets to eat especially in the morning because I never feel hungry. But I also know I need a good sized breakfast to keep from feeling sick later. Dinner has always been easy for me since my husband and I would eat together if I wasn’t working. With being home more having a time set for breakfast and lunch is really helpful to plan my day around.
2. The Farmer’s Market
Our local Farmer’s Market opened at the beginning of June. We live in a rural area so it is wonderful to have this event so close by. I love going weekly and getting my produce there. It helps me plan out seasonal meals. This year I’ve also enjoyed getting extra produce for my fermentation experiments.
3. Our Garden
The garden season started out a little rough here with crazy high and low temperatures back to back for May and into June but it’s all been worth it now. This was my first year starting everything from seed so there’s been a learning curve. My first plant babies were stunted by an unfortunate power outage when they got too cold for too long.
Now we have five garden beds going and I’m trying square foot gardening for the first time in two of them. I love going out and watering in the evenings and of course harvesting things now that they’re bearing produce. It’s fun to learn even from my mistakes. I enjoy being outside, taking care of things, and observing the magic of nature.
4. Working Outside
We’ve had a busy summer with a lot of land projects. It has been nice to spend quite a bit of time outside helping my husband with some good old manual labor. Who needs a gym when you’re working to develop raw land? While I do complain about the heat it feels great to work outside again. I love that we can get an early start and take advantage of the cooler mornings and all this daylight.
5. Cooling Down with Refreshing Homemade Drinks
Some of my ferments have come in handy when we need something cold and refreshing. I’ve fermented ginger beer several times this summer and I have a constant rotation of water kefir going. I’m loving experimenting with different flavors in the second ferment. So far our favorite flavor is strawberry cucumber.
I’m at two cups of coffee a day now max which is good for me. I prefer a cold coffee in the afternoons. Some mornings I’ll get a tea going too to make iced tea for the afternoon. I’m enjoying experimenting with small quart sized batches and mixing different tea bags. My best combo has been raspberry leaf with a black tea. I love one of my tangerine teas also on it’s own.
What are you loving about this summer? What’s your favorite season?
