Ironweed Summer

Middle of July and the ironweed, my favorite wildflower, is in bloom. The individual blossoms are small but they have that intense purple color of kings. Hardly anyone but natives would want to be in Florida in the middle of summer. The rains, proceeded by wonderful clouds, and ending with double rainbows, are happening each day. The sensual heat envelops us in a humid batting. We give thanks for the air conditioning we have in our work spaces. In the main house we sleep without a/c and use only a fan. We love hearing the frogs and owls by night and the dawn chorus of birds backed up by the insect tympani. We read the morning papers in the cool of the morning on the screen porch. We watch the pileated woodpeckers and the hummingbirds feeding and the butterflies flitting among the flowers and tree trunks. We feel incredibly blessed.

Time to order the new tomato seeds to start for planting in the vegetable garden by the end of August. Andy has made a big new armadillo-proof planter for lettuces.(We have trapped four armadilloes lately!) We bought new mats for the porches so the old ones are going into the vegetable garden as mulch to smother the weeds. The compost pile is cooking away, getting ready to be the planting medium for salad greens. Tomorrow morning before it gets too hot I will turn it over.

We are deciding what trees to plant in the yard outside the dining room. Last week we had a huge hickory tree, rather rotten, and ready to fall on the house in a high wind, removed. The area now looks naked. We are thinking of having several native palms planted there. We are so aware of which trees will withstand hurricanes yet lower the profile of the house and give us some shade from the morning sun.

The pastures are so thick with grass that they laugh and sing. The cows are fat. Blackberries are over, but now we have figs, eggplants, and the grapes are coming on. We have to mow and keep the fences intact.

I wake up each day with a delicious plan. It's a lot of work to keep this farm going, but so worth it! In the heat of the day we are in our studio spaces, painting or making furniture, or whatever.

And all the while, we think, listen or read about the dreadful state of our country and world. We volunteer for environmental and political initiatives. We try to reduce our footprint. I find myself apologizing to my grandchildren!

Soon, we will have many more children visiting us. The Lacochee kids are coming this week for an art and swimming day, several old SunFlower graduates will come for a day or so. And both of us are so looking forward to the annual summer visit of The Girls, four of them who come every summer and just do nothing. Feels just right to me. And then, just on the heels of The Girls, we'll have all our grandchildren and their parents together here at the ranch. I hope there won't be any hurricanes!

We love this place!