Summertime on the farm

Sunday, June 21 ushered in the longest day of the year and the start of summer.

The things I love best about summer are varied.

I love the fireflies - they go about their nightly display as if on queue and greeted me Sunday evening with a dazzling display in the waning sunset and shortly there after flitting and twinkling about in the grass, my holyhocks, the wheat, the trees, everywhere.

I love sunset after 9:30 p.m. because even though I only get to see the very end, sometimes that last bit of twilight is the most beautiful as the stars in the skies start to show but the sun is still adding its glow on the horizon.  I was able to enjoy both edges of night time this way.

I love the night sky.  My most favorite night in the summer is August 12 when the Perseid meteor shower comes through and I can sit outside in the middle of the farm yard where I have no light pollution and watch the meteors fall for an hour or 2 before I make myself go to bed.

I love sun tea.  I always have some on hand and use a very old recipe that is tried and true.

I love my birthday so near the 4th of July so I can have sparklers to celebrate with.  The downside is that I can't do fireworks on my birthday if the wheat is still in the field because it might catch fire and I surely could not blow those candles out.

I love watching the wind dance through the wheat fields as it ripens and dries out the heads just before harvest.

I love the song of the summer night chorus when the crickets and birds and other bugs sing their songs together in one beautiful serenade.

I love to watch my garden grow.

I love to go to the cabin in the Rocky Mountains and unplug from the hectic daily grind, reconnect with mother nature there and find my inner peace in the sound of the wind blowing through the pines and rustling the aspen leaves in my favorite aspen grove.

The last thing I love about summer is that when it comes to a quiet close my most favorite season starts and that means pumpkins, Halloween, cool, crisp air and football games on Saturdays.