“Hold on to what is good, even if it’s a handful of earth.” – Isapo-Muxika (Chief Crowfoot)
I love summer. I even enjoy the heat – bit of a necessity, being that I’m deep in East Texas and it’s pretty much always hot and humid. Some of the best parts of summer are the moments when I get to escape my normal day-to-day stuff and go fishing, hiking, or camping, but my absolute favorite moments are our family dinners. Every weekend, in summer especially, we host our children (both young and adult, born to us or adopted), grandchildren, neighbors, and folks we consider family, and we make a huge dinner and simply spend the day existing – we eat, play cornhole, crack jokes, roast marshmallows or apples, catch fireflies, and just generally have a great time outside. These dinners are lovely and make me appreciate life just a bit more each time.
Simply spending time with my family on some sort of adventure (yes, I consider it an adventure just navigating around all those tiny humans) is always at the top of my list. The catch is, when I want an adventure off-property, particularly for more than a day, I can’t really go anywhere without a lot of effort and planning. I’m willing to bet many of you can’t either – who’s going to watch the farm or homestead, feed the animals, and water the plants? Luckily, Kirsten Lie-Nielsen tells us how to find the perfect-for-us farm sitter. Once I’ve got a sitter lined up, I’d love to take a fly-fishing trip, but I’ve never done it, so I’m particularly grateful for Dana Benner’s primer on getting started with fly-fishing. Before I plan that trip, though, it won’t hurt to read a refresher on survival essentials – any good fishing trip should include a nice hike out to the water, in my opinion – and Dr. Stephenie Slahor spoke with Wilderness Patroller Royce Jones for some excellent survival tips; find them.
If you’re like my family and have get-togethers often (or even sometimes), you may want to eat something more than the typical finger-foods-style potluck, so I gave Hannah McClure a call. She provided some delicious and hearty potluck recipes, and even threw in a nice dessert dip to pair with all the fruit we enjoy in summer. (Trust me, I made these recipes myself, they’re delicious.) Check out her suggestions.
Here’s to summer, adventure, and living life to its fullest and most fulfilling.
Karmin
