Summer

the first bell of the death knell has rung

The Tai-chi people at Memorial Park don’t do this.

Whenever my brother Tyler’s birthday passes (it was last week - Happy Birthday! You are officially old! The T-shirt is coming.), I begin to hear the first of summer’s death knell bells - the bell that warns of impending death. The garden is at a standstill, I’m stalking Google Flights for my November ticket to Dublin, and I just paid an annual visit to my gynecologist. Fall is coming up in a spankin’ minute. Don’t blink.

If you need them, now is the time to buy a swimsuit or a pair of hiking boots, book a holiday flight, sign up for a relaxation Yoga class, massage, or infrared sauna, and get a grip on your 2025 taxes if you are like me and file an extension for October every year. Yes, places across the globe are still on fire or about to be, but dust off that slow cooker and fill it up with your favorite protein and all the veggies you bought at the farmer’s market over the weekend. Because Fall is coming up in a spankin’ minute. Pray for rain before you eat.

Speaking of the farmer’s market, after doing my one-stop-shop at my favorite organic produce table (Bridgewater Farm), I meandered over to another organic table belonging to Tom Lundahl who owns Meristem Farm & Nursery in Papillion, Nebraska. He had a lovely and very captivating plant on his table, laden with a blackish berry about the size of a blueberry. We struck up a conversation over the plant, which is:

Aronia melanocarpa. No wonder I want one.

For the edible landscape. What a great tagline! Who doesn’t want an edible landscape? I think even the “lawn-people” would like some small portion of edible landscape. I realize a vegetable garden is technically edible landscape, but for me, the imagery conjures up blueberry and raspberry bushes on the side of the house, like my friend Paula used to have. Edible plants strategically placed so they look like nature put them there and not you or Mulhalls.

Back to the Aronia shrub - also called Black chokeberry: I sent Steve (my rockstar master gardening friend who is the expert extraordinaire of all things bee, butterfly, and native plant in Nebraska and probably Kansas) a text from Tom’s booth saying, “I want an Aronia shrub! Do you have one?” There will be a field trip out to Tom’s later this month.

Tom informed me that only a few years ago there was a trending on the berry, with folks making jam out of it and selling it at the farmer’s markets. I think people figured out it is cheaper to plant and harvest their own shrub than buy a pint of berries or a jar of jam. Packed with super-antioxidants, its nutrient-dense profile ranks higher than blueberries, with its high fiber and vitamin C content. Aronia cheesecake popsicles, anyone? Good LORD.

Cheers to these dogdays of summer, Aronia berries, farmers and their edible landscapes, my brother and his decades-long love affair with Colorado, and to Alex looking so at home next to a tree in Memorial Park (top photo). And cheers to you.

This week in pictures:

clockwise: my Irish cat Sydney; sign at front counter of Chippy's in Omaha; Crested Butte, CO where my brother spent his birthday; ditto.

Frontier Co-op Organic Aronia Berries

Blessings & Love,

Tyler, what are you doing?