June is our month of rest: we have no travel planned, and are staunchly attempting to have more restful weekends.

That being said, between our church obligations and the homestead, our days end up being quite full. We’re trying to take each day as it comes, and be intentional and thoughtful about our time. That has meant a lot of time handicrafting, and reading, and gardening.

I finished my Nightshift Shawl while traveling last weekend and I’m in love with it. I have wanted to make this pattern for years, and last Christmas my parents gifted me a kit for it. It’s made with special color-shifting yarn (Spincycle Yarns) and the mosaic (or slip stitch) color work technique, which causes the shifting rainbow effect.

For me, it’s a landmark in my knitting progress. I’m so proud of it. I’ve been wearing it on the porch in the mornings while Michael plays and I sip coffee.

I’ve been reading quite a bit during Michael’s naps and while he’s distracted with other things. I’ve never been able to stick with just one book: I often read several at a time and hop between them as my interest directs.

I’m currently halfway through The Unsettling Of America: Culture and Agriculture by Wendell Berry. It’s quite thought-provoking, and I have several different essay ideas that have sprung from some of his words. I’m sure we’ll see trends from Berry’s work in a lot of my upcoming posts: gardening, Creation, stewardship, technology, the Machine — there will be much to come, I’m sure.

I recently started a Substack (which you can find here, if you’d like to subscribe). I’m planning on using it to publish essays that don’t quite fit the theme of this blog. For this space, I’ll keep discussing faith and family and homesteading, and more. For the Substack, I’ll explore thoughts on things such as Orthodox-specific faith, feminism, education, consumerism, and more.

I’m also reading With All Her Mind, which is a series of essays by Catholic women on the intellectual life. It’s encouraging and beautiful, with essays by mothers and lawyers and nuns and professors. It reminds me that although I’m not in an academic space currently, my mind is not stagnant or going to waste.

For fiction, I’m still listening to Jayber Crow by Berry. It’s a quiet and profound story, and I love listening to the narrator’s soft drawl as I work at my spinning wheel.

My garden has started to produce! Now the great zucchini surplus has begun. I have two plants, and I’m sure I’ll regret planting two before the summer is over. For now, I’m enjoying the fresh produce.

My tomatoes (Early Girl variety) have begun to grow as well. I love checking on them as I water in the mornings. My three plants are a little too close together because I had limited bed space when I planted them, but they’re making the best of it.

My beets, sadly, did not survive for a variety of reasons: dogs, strange stormy weather, nutrient deficient soil, and probably many others. I’m doing more research for next time, and hoping for a hearty crop on my second round.

My parents’ beets, however, did very well. We blanched and froze them for soups in the winter.

Their potatoes also did really well! Michael was very excited to find some mini ones that were “Michael sized”.

There’s something incredibly satisfying about tending to a garden and watching what comes from all the dirt and weeding and watering and care. Every morning when I water, I watch the zucchini blossoms unfurl, and smell the spice of the tomato leaves, and see the bees nuzzle the lavender, and I am reminded that Paradise is indeed a garden.