By Sahar

I am so grateful to be growing food again. My hands feel at their best ending each day caked in dirt, kissed by the soil. I can feel shifts on the land as the hills grow less green and more yellow with each day, sunshowers and rainbows giving way to cloudless blue sky. Shifts on the farm as we begin planting regularly every week, the fields coming to life, cotyledons unfurled, true leaves emerging and strengthening as the plants root down and expand, drinking in water and sun, preparing to bear fruit. And in myself, I feel the swell of summer’s energy, growing along with the heat of the sun. The days grow longer, sunset a few minutes later each day, as the solstice approaches.

Here is a little tribute to summer’s approach I wrote around this time last year:

i count
the extra minutes
of sunlight
each day, little blessings
hold them in my hands
let them slip through my fingers, through the warm air, towards earth
slide them into my mouth
roll them around
like loquat seeds, cool and smooth,
glossy on my tongue,
savor the taste
ripe and juicy, glowing
like a long awaited peach
holy in the thick heat
soft and fragrant and firm in my palm
i hold the promise,
the certainty,
of sweetness
sparkling,
sundrenched,
dripping