Notes for June

My work

My weekly newsletter, social media, and this blog are one part of what I do and how I share my voice, so putting those things on pause for a bit allowed me more time to read and listen to black voices, and to learn about how I can be much better at supporting the BIPOC community. I am learning how to make anti-racism part of my voice, and more importantly, my actions, and not just this week, but always. As a way to begin, I have made a reading list for June:

• Me and White Supremacy

• How to be an Anti-Racist

• Farming while Black

I have also donated money, signed petitions, and supported black owned businesses—and I will continue to research organizations and businesses to support. For this month, I chose to support:

• https://www.detroitjustice.org/

• https://www.change.org/petitions

• https://blackboxpressstudio.com/

And will continue to do these things as I learn how to become anti-racist. I am also donating two pieces of art to an auction here in Ann Arbor (June, 2020) that is using the proceeds to support Black Lives Matter. 70% of the proceeds will support Black Lives Matter and 30% will go back to the artist. I will use the 30% I receive to support black artists.

Kitchen

The kitchen is getting to the messy counter part of the season. There is always something that has been harvested and needs to be processed in some way, or there are the scraps from processing, or flowers that have wilted that need to go to the compost, and there are jars of things being infused and plates of leaves and petals drying. I do my best to make it look purposeful, but in reality I am just trying to keep up.

The most beautiful project from this week was chive blossom vinegar, which for the color alone is one of my very favorite things to make from the garden. The recipe is below, but really, all you are doing is soaking chive blossoms in vinegar.

Instructions:

1. Fill a jar with fresh, rinsed and patted dry, chive blossoms

2. Cover the blossoms with white wine vinegar and put a lid on the jar

3. Let the jar sit on the counter, out of the sun, for a couple of weeks

4. Strain the (beautiful, pink) vinegar into a new container and enjoy! The vinegar will last for a couple of months on a shelf
   
   Note: I like to keep the soaked blossoms and but them on salmon while baking

Garden

We are in that slight lull between spring and summer blooms. The showy trees and bushes that make for giant vases of overflowing flowers and scent are but a memory until next year. The workhorses of summer are just beginning to put out the tiniest of glimpses of what is to come (I couldn't be more excited about the apricot lemonade cosmos! --lower right). Holding the space in between are the peonies, which unfortunately did not do so well this year. I don't know if it was a fungus, the late freeze, or something I haven't figured out yet. So I am enjoying the handful of blooms, painting them as quickly as I can, and promising to do some more research...