The sounds and sights of summer are finally amongst us!  Whippoorwill chat at dusk, I picked off the first tick crawling up my leg, the trees have finally leafed, large leave aster sprouted throughout the upland soils of the forest, and sarsaparilla has begun to turn root beer brown.

Our garden is planted with beans, peas, parsnip, potato, carrot, onion, cucumber, zucchini, and tomato.  We added to our orchard with the planting of a cherry tree.  Our rhubarb is flourishing.  We've started a raspberry patch on the back edge of the vegetable garden and strawberries on the sandy hill in front of the house.  Lettuce is sprouting in lined up containers.

With long days helping the cause I had a birch splitting marathon and now have a pile of curing fuel for next winter's fires.

I often find myself wandering up to the main house site on top of the property during the last fleeting moments of light. I'll stumble there and simply look down over the homestead. Quite often I'm amazed at the sight. These quiet times serve as moments of reflection and inspiration. I've pounded nearly every single nail that holds those buildings together, cut every tree, lifted every rock and dug every hole.  Most of the time, however, I simply find myself standing there watching the wind whirl through forest thinking of nothing at all...