Midsummer
June 20th, 2020 should have been my wedding day.  However, we still spent the day celebrating Summer Solstice (longest day of the year) also known as Midsummer. 

Last year during Midsummer celebration, the man of my dreams asked me to be his wife.    And of course I said yes!  Over the past year we have been planning and re-planning our wedding.  Sadly, due to Covid, we made the decision to push back our wedding a year to Midsummer of 2021.  The benefits of moving our date brought us to bring the celebration to our own back yard!  As you know, we have been working on being more self sustaining/green by growing our first garden.  What an adventure that has been.  This year I was a little bummed to not be getting married but am now even more excited for next year.

This year we still hosted a small Midsummer celebration with close friends, which of course included a feast!  What has been so exciting about all of it is being able to harvest clover flowers, herbs and greens from my own yard/garden for decorations as well as feasting for the occasion. 

As apart of our culture and traditions, we made flower crowns and had a feast of amazing foods.  What made this feast so special was the fact it was the first time we harvested anything from the garden! 

Here is what we had: smoked porkloin from Mike’s Star Meats here in Eau Claire, stuffed with feta cheese, cherry tomatoes, fresh basil from my garden, pie & fresh sourdough bread from the Hanisch Bakery of Red Wing, garden salad (mustard greens & kale), and fruit salad!  In addition, we couldn’t have Midsummer without some amazing flavors of Mead from White Winter Winery.  Needless to say, locally grown, made and distributed food is the best!  We love supporting local and small businesses!

Anyway… it was a fantastic day!  I am so thankful for even the bountiful Midsummer we had and cannot wait to see what we yield during harvest season.  So far things are coming along great!  I discovered that we have ONE cucumber plant that survived.  One of the tomato plants already has a tomato growing!  In addition to our potatoes flowering, with major growth of the stocks/leaves of each of the veggies growing taller as well as girth. 

Flowers have been abundant as well!  Many of the lilies blooming in my yard were here before we moved.  In addition, I found a random wild flower growing out of a bale of straw I had placed next to the garden.  I am not sure what it is – but it is beautiful!  It made me think that for the wedding next year I am going to make sure I find wild field flower seeds to plant later this year so that they grow nice and early for the wedding.  That way we can have a more natural selection of flowers grown right here (if they bloom in time).  To me there is nothing more beautiful than wild flowers.

Watch for more updates from the Clauson Homestead as things continue to grow & bloom.
Thanks for reading!
M. R. Clauson