"Petricor" - such an odd word for such a fundamental, comforting aroma. The earthy smell of dry ground after a soaking rain is more than just bacterial secretions, plant oils, and ozone. It's life, springing forth, rejoicing, sighing in satisfaction at abundance after needfulness."

I'm pretty sure some of the plants in the garden doubled in size overnight. We've had unusually warm weather, and not much precipitation to moderate it. There was enough to keep plants going, but not thriving. We'd started watering the blueberry patch, and had plans to start moving the watering through the rest of the gardens and orchards, but thankfully the skies opened up last night and hose dragging has been avoided. (At least for now.)

It reminds me of how we sometimes go along in life, getting things done, tackling the projects, and speeding through the days - and then finally have the opportunity to connect and laugh with an old friend; or make time to finish a craft project we wanted to do for personal enjoyment; or simply be outside, soaking up the sun or the rain. It releases tension that you may not even realize you're holding. Like the soil after the rain, we can open up, breath, and relax.

I admit, it's not something that comes easy to me, as life places many demands, but I keep reminding myself that it's good to enjoy life more instead of working all the time.

And with that, I'm going to wrap up, and find myself a comfy chair and a good book, near an open window with the aroma of petrichor wafting in.

Helping you create resilience and abundance,

Laurie (and August IV, August V, and Duncan

This week's featured articles...

A friend messaged me yesterday saying the Peach Truck was in town, and asking if we wanted them to pick up a box for us when they grabbed their box. How could I say no? The strawberry season has wrapped up and other berries aren't quite ready yet, so it's a good time to enjoy some and preserve some.

I've made a variety of peach jam recipes over the years. This article includes basic low sugar jam, peach vanilla, and fuzzy navel variations.​

For fast peach peeling tips and other ways to preserve peaches, check out this article.

It's been a toasty start to July, so husband requested that the boys make up some of his favorite summer treats - no bake chocolate peanut butter bars.​

We've also been making homemade quesadillas for meals to limit heating up the kitchen. They're a great option for remaking a bit of leftover meat into a whole new meal.

This year the gardening season started wet, then flipped to dry, so we've had no problems with excess rain, but that wasn't always the case. Back in 2017, we had rain, rain, and more rain. (This prompted us to completely redo the drainage in the yard and gardens, as we ended up with two and a half years of heavy rain, so now we're better set now.)

But, before we put in two ponds and drainage channels, we had to improvise. These are some of the strategies I used to save the harvest when dealing with soggy weather.

Do you ever automatically reach for a solution to a problem - and then realize that most people don't know anything about what seems to normal to you?

Recently, I was at a Zoning Board of Appeals meeting (I'm on the board for our township), and we were out at the property that was being voted on. It was an old abandoned farmstead with tall grass and probably some standing water nearby, so of course the mosquitoes showed up to welcome us. I got a bite on my arm - nothing serious, just annoying.

When we got back to the town hall, we had some time before the meeting started, so I looked around for some plantain leaf (Plantago major). One of the other board members joined me. Though he'd never heard of using it for big bites, he knew what the plant was when I described it. Usually it volunteers along paths and even cracks in concrete, but we didn't have any luck finding some.

When I got home, I stepped out my front door, and there was a volunteer plantain in my flower planter right by the door. I picked a leaf, crushed it, applied it to the bite, and within minutes the bite stopped itching.

If someone ever tells you, "That herbal stuff doesn't work", odds are they haven't been using it right.

My friend, Heidi, is hosting her popular free herbal training later this month, and you can reserve your seat here. She'll be talking about five easy to use, readily available herbs. It's a great way to start your herbal training - or potentially add to your existing training.