it’s energy is electrifying. shaking things up for clarity’s sake. it’s setting us on a new path. and we have electricity now at the land. are you ready for what comes next?

Learning how to can + preserve seasonal food has been such a rewarding and important part of my journey to connecting with the land I stand on, my ancestry + folkways. Food preservation was, an is, for everyone. It was a vital skill for resilience, and I truly believe, it still is. in celebrating the end of canning season + samhian on the wheel of the year, I’m connecting to my ancestors + honoring them through one of my love languages: cooking.

under this aries full moon, I’m releasing, shedding through somatic embodiment of my anger, pain, and resentment. at this moon we look back on the spring Aires new moon, what energies were shifting within you then + what has changed + taken on new life? this full moon I took my energies to the soil, digging trenches + moving soil at our land for planting spring bulbs. a hope shot.

It may be october, but the fall garden is still producing. I’m taking advantage of what fresh produce, herbs and flowers are available. I was excited when Ball® Canning asked me to test out their new recipe for Tomato Chili Sambal, an Indonesian condiment made with tomatoes, garlic, peppers, shallots and ginger. This Ball® recipe calls for cherry tomatoes, which I currently have in abundance

Rosemary is one of those herbs that brings me home. The smell reminding me of huge warm climate perennial shrub hedges growing in California. Rosemary, a plant of the mint family, native to the Meditterean, is an herb for remembrance, increasing memory function through blood flow to the brain…This combination reminds me of my childhood in california, plucking figs off trees and tucking sprigs of rosemary into my pockets.

the light is shifting from the skies, the mornings are wrapped in a chill, the shift is upon us. the warmth of summer slowly slips into fall. do you feel it?

I’ve found myself at the tail end of a cycle. Emotionally, physically + spiritually, i’ve felt stuck in old mindsets, still nursing old wounds, but deeply craving a shift in perspective. The old mindset of trying really hard to make things work, to finesse metaphorical square pegs into round holes and trying please everyone over myself and the wishes that dwelled within my heart.

succulent peaches are a sigil of summer. the pinnacle of the suns energy, juicy and filled with sweetness. one of our local growers has peach trees that can withstand the midwest winters + when they are in season they are griffin’s favorites. i love to put up peaches in this way, honeyed and spiced, and perfect to pull from the pantry on a winter’s day to top oatmeal, dutch pancakes or to eat straight out of the jar.

the seasonal shift always holds a tension for me. letting go + embodying a new mode of being. after eighteen months home with my children, my partner working from home and juggling homemaking and working, the children are back in school. for me, i’ve found myself a bit lost. the past year and a half have been working around my children and their rhythms and needs, and now I have time.

The summer season is in full swing. Tomatoes are ripening on the vine and peaches have arrived in the Midwest. Market stands pop up with fresh peaches from down South + even a couple local growers grow a smaller peach varieties in their greenhouses. I love getting stone fruit in season, there is really nothing quite like it.

We bought our cottage for the gardens, for it’s proximity to the local co-op, and the gardens. Over the past four years, it has been a slow but steady process of making the space ours. We bought this home from the granddaughter of the original owners who designed and built this house. There are still a good many half-done, unfinished projects with this house, aka our exterior paint (sorry neighbors). Our kitchen was the first project we took on and this bathroom is our last.

I plan my gardening around what our family can and likes to eat fresh + what I can preserve. Each year, each garden contains lessons, garden triumphs + failures. For me, food preservation comes in making the most of what is in abundance allowing our family to eat locally, seasonally + healthy year round.