each season we try to be intentional about how we are going to spend our time. summer is often a busy time in our garden & kitchen, but my hope is to slow down & enjoy the warmer months! 

in an effort to remind ourselves of what’s most important, i made a little summer manifesto & taped it to our giant chalkboard!

i simply typed up our list, printed it at home & added those little black boxes with permanent marker. 

there are plenty of other ways to make & display your summer manifesto!

ann-marie has this cute summer bucket list printable.

elise has the best print & handwrites her manifesto.

i also make our chalkboard one giant list of seasonal activities!

do you have a summer manifesto? please share!

love,

if you’re new around these parts, this is my series, “in the garden.” during the spring & summer months, in celebration of gardening, i am going to share a garden overview of what our garden looks like along with what we plan to plant throughout the month!

may was rainy. in fact, it was one of the rainiest months on record, which our plants loved & our weeds loved even more.

in the garden – june 2015

i cannot believe how much difference one month can make in the garden! see the may garden here. 

our garden is filled with bushy lemon balm, zinnias & many more flowers in bloom! 

last year a late frost got our hydrangeas so we were without hydrangeas all summer long. it’s so nice to have these beauties in the garden providing huge pops of color! 

our potatoes are very impressive. this might be our best harvest yet! we plan to harvest & store our potatoes before leaving for europe.

our bushy tomato plants are flowering & looking promising. we cannot wait to come home to juicy, ripe tomatoes!

we’re also harvesting large baskets full of sugar snap peas. i plan to pickle a few jars of sugar snaps this week. my recipe is here.

we’re also harvesting large heads of broccoli, chinese cabbage & red cabbage! luke made kimchi on sunday & this evening we plan to freeze bags full of broccoli for the winter months. 

other garden news:

+ our onions were hit hard by the unusual amount of rain & left diseased. we can still eat the onions fresh, but we’re disappointed that we won’t be able to store any this year.

+ we plan to harvest all of our root crops this week & plant eggplant & bell peppers in their place. i am hopeful for a good eggplant harvest this year! we love eggplant parmesan on late summer evenings.

+ we are working furiously to prepare for our farm guests during the month of june. it’s quite challenging to prepare our hearts & minds for leaving the farm during such a busy growing season, but we’re thankful for our village that is making this happen for us!

what is happening in your garden? please share!

love,

natalie

p.s. our perpetual planting posters are available in my shop & serve as an amazing resource for what to plant in your garden & when! available in all growing zones… snatch one up here & enjoy 20% off with the code “CREATESUMMERFUN” at checkout!

it’s june & we are just days away from leaving for our european adventure.

of course, i couldn’t leave you beauties without a june natalie creates shop opening!

mark your calendars for thursday, june 4th, at 8 am cst! 

the shop will not re-open until late july so this is your last chance for some fun summer goodies!

we’ve got new bow bands just in time for summertime! i don’t like to play favorites, but this citrus beauty is just so pretty. it would be so cute worn with a simple white tee & a good pair of jeans. 

we can’t forget the 4th of july fun! i’ll have a very limited supply of 4th of july happy flags available! perfect for your festive holiday centerpieces & in a pretty mason jar full of wildflowers. lovin’ it!