Before starting with July, I’ll share the last week of June. Happy to see flowers started from seed blooming in the greenhouse, especially after spotting a beautiful eggplant completely gone from the vine. There’s a critter determined to not share the garden harvest with me. I spent a wonderful evening at the MS Museum of Art viewing the work of 25 local artists invited to exhibit at the “Call Home, 2025 Mississippi Invitational.” Pleasantly surprised to discover a nest in my garden birdhouse. Totally shocked to see a bobcat in my backyard, which reminded me to be ever watchful and mindful of rural ecosystem. Ended June marveling at how the sun and shadows are cast before my house mural and harvesting with delight my first ever Kieffer pears, Suya and regular cucumbers, bell pepper, and barely ripe Blush Tiger tomatoes and Melanzane Rossa Di Rotonda eggplant just so I could taste them before the garden critter got them.

June 24-30

Two beautiful Rotonda eggplant were growing and harvested with more Blush Tiger tomatoes. Continued to pick them while they were partially ripe to beat the garden critter. After seeing my cantaloupe vines attacked by this critter, I picked my carrots prematurely, because I couldn’t bear to lose them. They were small, but sweet. I doctored up a Chimichurri with carrot tops recipe with a whole lot of much needed spices and hot pepper to give it taste! And I used the sauce and cut carrots in a delicious spaghetti sauce the next day. Thankfully, the Suya and other cucumbers are growing undisturbed. Even though I gave lots of cucumbers away, I still was able to pickle my way 6 jars of cucumbers. Lastly very excited to see my small harvest of pears resting on the kitchen island. It’s my first time growing them and I’m thrilled.

July 2-5

Tried something new and taught two fiber art classes at the Greenville Arts Council summer youth art camp. The theme was all about nature and art. My kids got to either paste or sew flower fabric pieces on cloth. They also, got to embellish them with buttons and stickers.

July 8 and 10

By mid-month, the cucumbers were growing like crazy, but that pesky critter practically ate all my sweet potato leaves! Spotted my first okra and harvested them. Everything else continues to grow even with the intense heat. The geese flock in the front yard. And my greatest news was hearing that I received a Mississippi Arts Commission individual artist project grant! I’ll be doing a series of quilting workshops at the public library with the goal of making twin quilts for a local shelter. Very grateful and excited for the opportunity.

July 18-20

July 22-24, I participated in the Siddi Style Quilting Workshop with Anitha Reddy at the Textile Center in Minneapolis, MN. It was a fantastic experience and I met some very interesting women. Anitha works with a group of Siddi women, who are descendants of enslaved African peoples brought to India generations ago. They practice a style of quilting with its own stitching technique that’s beautiful, colorful and uniquely creative. Since I’m not a traditional quilter who likes to go with the flow, the Siddi style works for me in my own way. One of the ladies that I particularly connected with at the workshop was very kind, gave me rides back and forth to my hotel, shared a couple of dinners with me, and showed me around a bit of the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. I saw some beautiful parks throughout the area and vibrant public murals created as a form of healing by the Hispanic community with the aftermath of the George Floyd murder.

July 22-24

July 24 Murals

Came back home to see that the critter had decimated my cantaloupe vines, eaten a baby melon and left leftovers in one of the raised beds. It must be getting real comfortable because this time around it left droppings on the side of the raised bed. Interestingly, the gourd vines were not touched. But, a horrible hornworm had begun to devour my last bell pepper, and it looked like the critter and started picking at a cucumber. I picked it, gave it to Mother Nature, and harvested the last remaining cucumbers, the last Lunchbox orange sweet pepper that wasn’t orange yet, and 3 okra that I added to my previous day’s stash. Amazingly, I, also, picked one last pear from the tree that I’d missed earlier. These are cooking pears, and the earlier ones were prepared my way as fruit preserves. They’re delicious on toasted English muffins. I’ll find a way to prepare this one last one.

The month of July has truly been full of happenings and memories. I’m grateful to end it with a nice lunch prepared for a friend, who came by to teach me how to liven up my social media videos. A teachable moment sharing a meal and having fun.

July 26-30