Slow Living in Summer Reflections — *We are at the cusp of Autumn where I live in Australia. It’s time to farewell Summer.*

The Energy of Summer

Each season holds different energy to explore. The mystery of the season. Summer evokes nostalgic feelings. Many of my childhood memories with my family that come to mind are in summer.

There is a sweetness to the energy of summer. The days are long and fruit is ripened and readily available. Seasonal eating is enjoying fruit, juices and smoothies. Aprictots, nectarines and peaches are a few fruits I like to devour in summer!

Our feet are bare and connected to the earth.

It’s a wonderful time to disconnect, many take time off work to holiday (vacation).

I adore summer, I love the feeling of the hot sun on my skin, swimming in the ocean, family days in the pool and eating dinner while the sun is still shining. We don’t have a clothes dryer so I hang all of my family’s clothes to dry outside, the summer sun does the final cleaning of any residual marks remaining. By hanging everything to dry in the sun, I love the feeling of getting into bed with fresh sheets dried in hot summer sunshine.

The daylight from the sun peaks in summer and our energy does too. We have UVB for many hours of the day, giving us optimal Vitamin D opportunities. No seasonal depression in the summer!

If we consider our mysterious and sweet companion the moon, the full moon is the phase associated with summer. The light is the strongest and the energy most outward.

I’m focused on seasonal living, and while the sunlight is the strongest in summer, I still aimed for a soft and slow summer.

Now summer is ending and we are moving into autumn. I wanted to share a wrap-up of my slow living in summer reflections.

Soft and Slow Summer Reflections

Slow Summer in the Garden

Growing something from seed is one of our greatest slow living teachers. You cannot rush something you plant or sow. You cannot force flowers to bloom. You cannot force trees to yield fruit. You simply have to wait.

Most of what blooms in the summer, is sowed in the spring. Or even earlier!

This summer I had my first dahlias bloom from seed. This was a slow journey. It is a slow and gentle process. The first seeds I sowed in Spring never took. The second attempt in seedling pots, they grew to little seedlings before dying. On my third attempt, with different soil and sowing in the large final pot the seeds took. After a few months we had the first dahlia bloom! I was so happy to see the first flowers :) Dahlia’s have become one of my favourite flowers. They have appeared in yellow, pink and deep purple.

My daughter was very involved in the process which is sweet. I love tending to the garden with my daughter for her to be involved in slow living. It’s outside time together. A lesson to learn from gardening is that you can’t force nature. Plants and flowers will bloom when ready and retreat or hibernate when necessary.

Other seasonal summer success stories in my garden were cosmos flowers, pink California poppy flowers, basil, silverbeet, green onion, sweet cherry tomatoes and rocket (when the caterpillars weren’t hungry).

Gardening in the summer is hot work. But here’s the thing, it’s still work, it can be hard work on your body when you spent long periods bent over and digging about. The misconception about slow living is that you aren’t doing anything. Just because I choose slow living, doesn’t mean sitting around doing nothing. Slow living is doing things that are meaningful to you. Slow living is about being intentional with your time. Slow living is about your choices and what you are choosing to do, so that you can be present in the moment.

While I’m gardening I’m very present in what I am doing. I rarely have my phone nearby. Only when I run in to grab it to catch a photo of my harvest! I am listening to the sounds of the birds. I’m spending hours of additional time outside, I’m getting my hands dirty and I’m working up a sweat.

The initial joy of first seeing seedlings emerge from the dark soil. Then the seedlings grow and grow. You have flower buds appear and they look like they want to open. Then one day you step outside into the sunshine and voila! A beautiful flower has bloomed. Then you get you enjoy the flower.

A wonderful slow living lesson that gardening teaches is it is all about the journey!

My takeaway: Life is enough right now. So settle in and enjoy the journey.

Slow Living in Summer pink flowers — *Pink was in abundance for slow summer in my garden.*

Slow Summer in the Kitchen

The lost art of preparing food in the kitchen from scratch. I say it’s a lost art because it’s slow and steady work and it’s work that is not valued like it used to be.

Work is highly valued in society when your time is exchanged for money through a salary or wage. Work outside of the home is of the greatest perceived value for a lot of modern society. The famous question people ask when they meet you “what do you do?”. By that question, people mean what is your job. Tending to your home and preparing food from scratch for your family is often not the wanted response. But we have all come from generations of hardworking homemakers making food from scratch in the kitchen. It is honest and humble work.

I’m taking inspiration from my ancestors and an important part of my slow living lifestyle is to make almost all of our food from ingredients, not ready bought or takeout.

This summer with lots of silverbeet (swiss chard) in the garden, I loved to make quiche! I make the crust from scratch with butter, salt, flour and iced water. Then from the garden I used our homegrown silverbeet, green onion and French shallots to mix in with eggs, milk, cream, garlic, salt and nutmeg. It is delicious. A wonderful dish to make for Summer hosting or events.

Slow Summer in the Kitchen Quiche Baking — *Slow Summer quiche baking.*

Another favourite I like to make every season is bread. The smell of it wafting through the house is hard to beat and I like that I can buy bulk flour that has not been enriched. The hardest part about baking bread is to not overeat once it’s baked :D

Sitting on my balcony in the warm summer sun with a slice of warm bread, butter and seasonal jam is soul nourishing!

Slow Summer Evenings

I’m focused on living seasonally and that means being guided by the light. In Summer, we are blessed with longer days. This makes eating dinner easier as I prefer to minimise eating once the sun goes down.

I’m not somebody who does much at night ordinarily. My boy was a baby under 1 for this summer and I’m still breastfeeding so my focus in the early evening was my kids. After bedtime,

Soft Summer Reading

Reading a book is a lovely way to be embrace slow living. For me, after my kids bedtime my favourite way to spend the evening is reading a book.

Having a “summer read” is a necessity to me. It’s the season where I am more likely to dabble in page-turning romance or thrillers. A little palette cleanser between my usual go-to fantasy and historical fiction books.

That said, my favourite fiction read this summer was fantasy, but with romance! I adored Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross. The world created in thus story was so lush. It was a completely unique universe and it was a soft and soothing read after my kids bedtime or quiet moments on the weekend.

Slow Living Summer Read Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross — My 5 star book highlight from summer. Available here.

Transitioning to Autumn

The earth continues the annual journey around the Sun and next it will be time to celebrate the Autumn Equinox.

Where I am in NSW, Australia, the ocean is the warmest at the beginning of Autumn. I love enjoying the feeling of a swim during the day, while the nights begin to cool for a more cozy and restful sleep.

Autumn is the season reminds me of the waning moon phases. It is about gently contracting down. We are softening further. Inside the home becomes cozier. The layers of clothing start.

I personally, will try to keep wearing my sandals as long as possible! I do not like closed in shoes very much.

In Closing

I hope you enjoyed my end of Summer slow living reflections. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Wishing you soft and slow living days ahead.

Rachael x

My Slow Living in Summer Reflections

The Energy of Summer