If you’ve been reading the Blind Pig for a good long while you know my least favorite time of the year is what I call the dying of Summer. It usually happens at the end of August or in early September. The lush green of the mountains takes on the dingy hue of death as it begins to die back for its winter rest.
A few years back I noticed Summer has another time that grabs my attention.
I was driving home from work and as I turned into Mason Road off Brasstown Road I was struck by the scene before me. The giant oak was still laying where it fell beside the old white farmhouse in a recent storm and the trees and bushes were heavy with their green burden of leaves. I was so struck by the view that I stopped my car and just looked at it. There was a wildness about the land that lay before me that stirred something deep within my soul.
Since that moment of realization, I’ve noticed the wildness of Summer every year. It happens exactly like the green-up of Summer in the Spring of the year. I notice it slightly and then all the sudden I’m surrounded by it. The trees bend close to the road as their leaves reach their full glory and bushes and weeds thrive in exuberance in every available nook and cranny.
I wonder if I’ve come to notice the wildness because the roadsides aren’t cleared as often as they used to be or if it took my older eyes to recognize the beauty each season brings as it progresses to the next.
—July 2018
The wetter weather we’ve had over the last week has certainly brought on the wildness of summer. I still haven’t made the move to my old office, but the new window above my desk allows me to see the over ripeness of green. I can hardly believe how tall and full the trees are, even though they’ve been like that for at least the last few years. Amazing what clear glass can do to improve your view.
Last night’s video: Our First Tomato Sandwich of the Year – Straight from our Garden!
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PS: I found this video about some ladies in Italy, who were canning tomatoes. Oh!, how I remember being deployed to Sicily and enjoying the pasta and pizza with fresh marinara sauce! I also loved canning our tomatoes AND making marinara sauce and freezing some of it for later. I hope it is okay to share. Please and thank you!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CsZN_Mtyc8
Thank you for this post and for the sharing of thoughts. I love the wildness of Summer too. I love all of the gardens with the vegetables and flowers. I love the green grass and blue skies. I love the sunshine and warm weather. I think I read somewhere that Hawai’i was the State with the happiest people in it. Hmm… I wonder why? Maybe the warm weather and blue skies. Being outdoors is supposed to elevate our moods and bring better health. I guess it is a common thing to many people to enjoy nature, but especially Summer. Thank you and God bless!
This is the season when the kudzu builds up along the roadsides and chokes you down to a single lane. It often crosses on utility wires and even down on the pavement. The paint crew came through the other day and painted the white lines on the sides of the road. Some of it made it to the pavement but most of it was on the kudzu.
NCDOT used to spray or mow it. Now they just let it go until frost and say “See what we did with your tax dollars!”
I’ve not been outside too much in the past few days, except to take short walks in my yard–I have covid and I’m trying to keep pneumonia away, plus covid hates sunshine. I’d not really noticed until yesterday that the slant of the sun is different – something I notice every year about this time. Thus the shadows are deeper, the greenery of the trees, shrubs and plants is no longer a fresh green. It’s dull and dark. The jarflies are hollering so loud all around me, but underneath the crickets are beginning to chirp. (Do you call them jarflies or cicadas??) My home here in Southeast Tennessee is surrounded by lush greenery–and every year about this time I feel like it’s quickly growing towards me, living things, knowing their time is almost gone, surrounding me and overtaking my yard, the woods—it’s almost overwhelming. And then, it’s all gone. I might pick the last tomato sometime in late October. Most of my zinnias have gone to seed, the dry bean vines are hanging over the cattle panel, and the wood thrush, with his beautiful song, has left me again for his winter home. The ‘wilderness’ as you so aptly describe it, shrinks back into normal proportions. The summer ends and fall begins—my 64th trip around the sun–and each one has been the mostly the same, but all have been different.
Sheila-hope you feel better soon!
Sheila, I hope you beat Covid quickly & feel fit as a fiddle soon. Also, I hope you will keep us readers posted on your progress. I call those evening singing bugs cicadas. I love to hear them-reminds me of wonderful visits to my grandparents’ home in the country. I most surely will send prayers up for you for a speedy recovery.
Hi Sheila! I hope you are feeling better at this time. Thank you for sharing your touching thoughts about Summer setting and Fall rising. I really appreciate you taking your time to do so. Your comments are beautiful and cause me to think on those things too. Take care, be safe and be blessed. PS: we call cicadas ‘dry flies’ and seven year locust.
…. if it took my older (more matured) eyes to see it …. Amen! I think as we age, we begin to see most everything differently. We appreciate things more.
Tipper, that post was beautiful. I’ve done the same on the road that leads up to our little neighborhood. When I first moved here I told everybody we lived in cow country because the farm had fields on both sides of the road he used for grazing his cows. Coming home I’d stop my car and just be in aww of the peaceful beauty of the land and the evening sky. There use to be an old farm house that had went to decay on one side of the road. I use to wonder about who lived there and why they let it go. Later I found out the story from Farmer Bill. One of his sons bought the land from his parents estate and built a huge double story brick home. Honestly it looks out of place on this country road but it is very pretty. The cows have since gone and now the farmers other sons plant corn or hay on one side and next to the big house that son raises goat and sheep, which make that big house look even more out of place. Sometimes I still find an area on the road I can stop to enjoy the beauty of the fields and I’m still in aww of God’s beautiful sky.
I notice this time of year but never heard it termed The Wildness of Summer. I like that, I’ll add that phrase to my vocabulary, thanks.
Maybe the wildness is just the culmination of every green thing reaching its peak growth at about the same time. Nature has that way of sneaking up on us. We can know about it in our head, even see it coming then suddenly – there it is. We just about get smothered.
I love Pinnacle Creeks “dusty rose” description of the mountains when the twigs are turning reddish but the limbs and holes are still.gray. I think if I were an artist painting the late winter mountains I would try mixing gray and pink(ish) on one brush to see if it would work.
I think your ‘summer wildness’ is a mood the face of nature evokes in you as much, or maybe more, than the face of nature itself. Maybe that’s part of why there is attachment to.place; the sights and sounds are symphonies that stir our emotions even when we are not much aware of what or how.
My husband LOVED spring and really disliked fall as he said all the greenery was dying. I am definitely a spring and summer person but I see the beauty in the fall and even in the winter. Seems I’ve always lived where we had the four seasons but I must say I have also enjoyed being in Florida’s greenery during the icy, snow covered winter days of PA.
I can hardly wait for the first tomato sandwich!!! I don’t buy tomatoes at the store either as you can’t beat fresh off the vine in your own garden. My tommy toes are coming in and are delicious, as are my cucumbers. I will definitely plant more than one green bean plant next year as they have really been producing. Also, my little yellow squash is just producing a bumper crop. Good thing I love yellow squash!!
Ya all be careful, if you have a bear coming that close to your house. Even here in SC PA, we have black bears that come down out of the mountains in the spring and will take bird feed from feeders people put out. I’m sure that bear would enjoy your blackberries very much:)
Bears in Southwestern North Carolina know that there are still lots of people around that have a taste for their flesh. Matt, Tipper and the girls love deer meat. I’d bet they wouldn’t turn up their noses at bear neither.
It’s really ever new but we forget that in our efforts to put everything in its correct box. All the trees are getting bigger as we are getting older. Wait a minute, I’m not that much older, am I? I’ll have my second M&M (mater and mayonnaise) sandwich for the season in a few minutes and ponder time trees and tomatoes.
Yesterday I was pulling all the spent squash vines, some 20 feet long! They had wound through the tomato trellises and around the plants – it was unbelievably hot and humid (FL) and the squash bugs were now covering the green tomatoes. My tomatoes are not even blushing yet – we have such hot weather, the blossoms didn’t form until the rains started so I have yet to pick a ripe tomato. I was horrified to see the squash bugs now blanketing the few green slicers I have growing. Getting over the grossness, I started holding the green slicers in my hand quickly squishing the hundred baby bugs as I slide my hand around the green balls. I even found them covering the metal t-posts used to hold up the hog panels. It was so discouraging. When I sat down, completely soaking wet with sweat, and exhausted from the weeding and pulling and untangling, the feeling of my beautiful garden being destroyed was overwhelming. My garden is where I feel closest to God and I was totally discouraged. I quickly started looking for the beauty in the small things that would bring me the joy I was missing. Concentrating on the ants and trying to find peace, my SIL came up and asked if I was OK? Well, at 76 I’m never all ok – I was in my garden, not sick, feeling a slight breeze, my cat sitting under my chair purring, and I was sitting next to a beautiful pepper plant that was bent over with abundance. I answered my SIL, yes, I’m finer than frogs hair! I was in my garden surrounded by the abundance of weeds that God wanted to cover the naked ground which I had not covered with mulch, peppers that were living a productive life, and my family worried about me. Yes my garden brings me closer to God and corrects me in my human thinking. It was the wildness of summer that was helping me remember what was important. Today you have reminded me of that moment and I’m blessed!
Mary-Bless you! I know how frustrating it is to see all your hard work devoured by insects. I admire your cheerful hopeful spirit in looking on the bright side 🙂
I wish we could get some of tht wildness…we’ve been in the death of summer for a month. Everything is brown & it’s too hot make any tomatoes at all.
Ideally we would like to capture our favorite time or even day of the year. By remaining close to nature, we are able to see subtle changes in everything. I often said my favorite is early spring when the trees on the mountains are just beginning to bud out. The mountains take on a dusty rose hue for just a short time due to the abundance of buds. Blessed to know the mountains and how they change with the seasons. I don’t work as hard as I used to, but for several years I was glad to watch summer wind down because it literally “worked me to death.” I appreciate the summer breezes in the mountains that cool us down even the hottest days.
“weeds thrive in exuberance in every available nook and cranny” – you got that right! I love the picture you posted here, I love going down those less traveled country roads. There is such a sense of peace about them; it makes me yearn for days gone by. Have enjoyed the recent videos of the girls walking on those roads.
My husband and I also love tomato sandwiches. We are so thrilled when we get a good tomato. I look forward to the BP&A every morning. I learn so much and it is a blessing. Take care and God bless ❤️
The phrase, “through older eyes” caught me. I do think we see things differently in the different seasons of our lives. I sure notice that for myself anyway! My husband is an old Kraft Food sales rep so it’s Miracle Whip for us! We love tomato sandwiches on toasted white bread with lots of Miracle Whip!
Kraft makes mayonnaise. They call it Kraft Real Mayo. Miracle Whip is touted as a salad dressing. I’m not a Kraft Foods rep but I spent most of my working life in a food distribution warehouse. 1,000,000 square feet under roof, 40,000 products when I retired. They have added on since I left.
Oh my, that’s a good description of this time of year. The road crews can’t mow as often because of the rains so everything puts on its jungle clothing, especially the kudzu that likes to take over. Makes me want to get a pith helmet and a machete to get out of my driveway. The months of July and August are what our family calls “dog days of summer”. The steam bath heat makes it very oppressive and we start wishing for the first cool day of Fall. Some folks love it but we don’t. Maybe it’s because it is so uncomfortable to work in the garden, even at 6 am.
I do agree summer takes on a wildness about it especially in the hills! The different shades of green have boggled my small mind before. I’m going to tell you 2 things. One I read dusting your tomatoes with FLOUR will kill aphids and is HARMLESS. Well that’s another load of google crap!!! It put the literal blight and kiss of death on my garden. I WILL NEVER trust google again (not that I did.) Yesterday I went to the local produce man down the road a short piece. I saw CHEROKEE PURPLES and grabbed one, never having eaten one or seen one in person. The lady who checked me out is from some place up north. (I can tell by her accent.) When I checked out she WARNED me against eating what she called black fruit. I never said a word back. Murr complained cause he thought he gave 16 $ for 2 cabbage heads and 2 bottles of pop. I thought he knew he paid for corn, plums, squash and other stuff too. Later I told him he paid for all the produce and I laughed cause that’s funny. Then after we ate our supper, I had 2 slices of that tomato left and was going to trash them. MURRMAN said you’re not throwing them away are you and he hobbled them down which he’s never done. Then he proclaimed that Cherokee a Purple was THE TASTIEST tomato he ever ate! I’d have to really agree, Tipper, it’s a keeper!!! I told him I heard about them from you and Deer Hunter loves them too! Now he thinks Deer Hunter is THE man!!! Lol – he’s got another fan looks like up here in WILD, Wonderful WV…. much love and many blessings, ALL!!!
Half of one of the biggest trees on the farm fell in my yard last week. It didn’t fall due to rainy weather, but just the opposite. This area has been dealing with drought all summer until we got a downpour last week. The storm didn’t produce much wind. I think it fell after baking for weeks and then cooling suddenly during a huge temperature drop and heavy rain. Thank God I didn’t have any property damage as close as it was to the house.
My tomatoes are not ripe yet. My friend is going to bring me a few from her garden. Can’t wait!
I love tomato sandwiches too!
I like white bread ( Sunbeam) we used to have it all the while. But I don’t see it around here no more. I to love Hellmans mayonnaise, and some salt and pepper. I’ve been a eatin them since I was a youngin. Thank you for reminding me about this. I’m going to get me some garden fresh tomater, and have me a sandwich!! Have a good day y’all’s!
I like “Bama” mayonnaise on mine, mainly because its the brand I grew up with.
Hey tipper I live in east Tennessee I have lived in thies mountains all my life except I went to Chicago when my husband got marred I watch you all the time I love your girls and you have a good husband. My husband passed away in 1999 he was my first love and my last.my oldest son was killed in a car accident in 1986 he was 22yrs old in the army but he was killed while on leave in our town .I live in lake city Tennessee I lived in Ohio my husband had to transfer from Chicago to Toledo Ohio. I want to subscribe to your blog but I haven’t been able to I just don’t know what to do .but I have been watching you and your family for two yrs I feel like have known you forever. I love your recipes and I have enjoyed it so much I have been cooking since I was 9yrs old my mom was a great cook and she put me in a chair and stood me up to make biscuits I lived in big city’s but I’ll take my mountains any day over the hussal and bussel of a big city
Jarica-I will email you and help you get subscribed. I’m sorry you lost your husband and son way too soon. So glad you enjoy our videos!!
Wow!! We love our tomatoes sandwiches too, just like you and Matt. Light bread, a lot of Bama mayo, salt and pepper. However we have never had a glass of milk with ours, just sweet, iced tea. We ‘ve had a bad tomato year here but I still have a few on the vines that I am watching and anticipating with a watering mouth ❤
Hi….I also love that first tomato sandwich on white bread nothing compares so simple yet so delicious. Altho I wait much longer for that ‘first tomato’…living in Eastern Canada our gardens produce much later than yours. Nonetheless all the work is well worth the rewards. Love your Blog and videos…. ps….It’s Hellmans for me too!!
I know what you mean! There’s a field that I pass on my way to/from work that fascinates me! It’s beautiful! I’ve taken pics of it in all kinds of weather. My daughter doesn’t see the beauty that I see in it. I think it’s partly due to growing up in the hills and age, probably. You gain an ability to slow down and actually SEE the beauty around you.
Thank you for that post!
Tammy
I inderdtsnd I think. The heavy rains have destroyed do many trees by lraving their roots nothing solid to hold on to. It saddens me anytime to lode a tree for whatever reason. Tuesday I had to drive to Bryson City, I daw 3 huge ones down on the eay. All healthy looking all green.
Living by the Blue Ridge Parkway we often drove enjoying the pretty mowed road banks, no more though. High grasses and weeds littered with dead or dying trees fill the roadsides now. Maybe it is the grace of God that allows us to see beauty in all creation. God bless you.
I love seeing something new in familiar places or things. The “new to me”may have been there all along, I just failed to recognize it. Life in Appalachia remains full of wonder and beauty.
And just like that, we are in the 2nd half of 2022. Before you know it…Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. It seems the older I get, the faster the years slip by. I try to cherish every day and appreciate God’s Blessings, being well and safe and having everything I need that He has blessed me with, especially my good health. Enjoy you window and the scene you see when looking out, leaf color change and then winter.