“We might think we are nurturing our garden,
but of course it's our garden that is really nurturing us."
~ Jenny Uglow

Celebrating Summer! Quotes, Art & Folklore

by Amanda Bergloff

WELCOME SUMMER!

Summer is here, and to inspire you, we've collected some of our favorite things about this magical season...so please enjoy the quotes, art, tales, music, and folklore below that highlight this most enchanting time of year!

Image: "Three reading women in a summer landscape" by Johan Krouthén, 1908

Suppose for a moment you live in a land,
Amazed at what happens during summer solstice.
Very strange things begin to occur,
Instantly, there is little darkness,
Night that we are so used to
Gone; what is left is the brilliant colors.

Daylight from dusk to dawn to dusk again,
Alight in all its energy and brightness.
Yes, we are north of the sixtieth parallel;
Land of the midnight sun.
I have been here before and seen things,
Gazed upon the horizon, waiting for darkness to reappear,
Holding on to summer in all its life, love and beauty;
To see it ebb once more as daylight fades to night.
~"Saving Daylight" by Davidson Pickett

Summer Folklore

Be sure to look at your noontime shadow around the time of the solstice. It will be your shortest noontime shadow of the year!
A swarm of bees in May is worth a load of hay.A swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon.A swarm of bees in July is not worth a fly.
Mist in May and heat in June will bring all things into tune.
A dry May and a leaking June, make the farmer whistle a merry tune.
June damp and warm does the farmer no harm.
A cold and wet June spoils the rest of the year.
A dripping June keeps all things in tune.
July is the seventh month of the year according to the Gregorian calendar. It was the fifth month in the early calendar of the ancient Romans. The Romans called the month Quintilius, which means fifth. A Roman Senate renamed the month to Julius (July) in honour of Julius Caesar, who was born on 12 July. The Anglo-Saxon names for the month included Heymonath or Maed monath, referring respectively to haymaking and the flowering of meadows.
In centuries past, the Irish would cut hazel branches on solstice eve to be used in searching for gold, water, and precious jewels.
The glowing Ruby should adornThose who in warm July are born,Then will they be exempt and freeFrom love's doubt and anxiety.
If the first of July be rainy weather,It will rain, more of less, for four weeks together.
If ant hills are high in July,Winter will be snowy.
In July, shear your rye.
If the 24th of August be fair and clear, then hope for a prosperous Autumn that year.
St. Swithin's Day, if it do rain, for forty days it will remain.
St. Swithin's Day an' it be fair, for forty days 'twill rain nae mair.
A Summer fog for fair, a Winter fog for rain.

Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire
I do wander every where,
Swifter than the moon’s sphere;
And I serve the fairy queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green:
The cowslips tall her pensioners be;
In their gold coats spots you see;
Those be rubies, fairy favours,
In those freckles live their savours:
I must go seek some dew-drops here
And hang a pearl in every cowslip’s ear.
Farewell, thou lob of spirits: I’ll be gone;
Our queen and all her elves come here anon.
~ William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

Sunflower Fun Facts

The botanical name for sunflower is helianthus annuus.
Sunflowers are symbols of faith, loyalty and adoration.
Sunflower faces track the sun.
There is a sunflower that is totally fluffy – it’s called the Teddy Bear Sunflower.
Sunflower seeds are nutritious and make a great snack.
The world’s tallest sunflower is featured in the Guinness Book of World Records. It is 30 feet, one inch!
Parts of the sunflower have long been used for their healing properties.
They are one of the fastest growing plants.
A single sunflower can have up to 2000 seeds.

Tis moonlight, summer moonlight,
All soft and still and fair;
The solemn hour of midnight
Breathes sweet thoughts everywhere,

But most where trees are sending
Their breezy boughs on high,
~Or stooping low are lending
A shelter from the sky.

And there in those wild bowers
A lovely form is laid;
Green grass and dew-steeped flowers
Wave gently round her head.
~ Emily Bronte

"When the sun is shining
I can do anything;
no mountain is too high,
no trouble too difficult to overcome."
~ Wilma Rudolp

"Across the open common land
shines glowing purple floral blooms
The bumble bee can hardly stand,
as flowers' scent is rising fumes

And lies there in the summer shade
a resting deer quite joyfuly
for in this beauteous sunlit glade
all's observed by sent'nel tree

This tall oak stands by sparkling stream,
whose water splashes grass and rock,
reflecting in its azure gleam,
the woodland plant and dandy clock

While goes beneath the cloudless sky,
amidst a warm and dreamy breeze,
a squirrel idling, passing by,
past numerous, careless, floating seeds."
~ Stephen Patrick, Sleepy July in Skipwith Common

The Full Moons of SUMMER

The Strawberry Moon

This first full moon of summer is named the Strawberry Moon because the relatively short season for harvesting strawberries comes each year in the month of June.

The Buck Moon

July is the month when the new antlers of buck deer push out of their foreheads in coatings of velvety fur, thus the moon is named after them.

The Sturgeon Moon

The fishing tribes are given credit for the naming of August's full moon, since sturgeon, a large fish of the Great Lakes were most readily caught during this month.

I saw dawn creep across the sky,
And all the gulls go flying by.
I saw the sea put on its dress
Of blue midsummer loveliness,
And heard the trees begin to stir
Green arms of pine and juniper.
I heard the wind call out and say:
'Get up, my dear, it is today!'
~ Rachel Field, Summer Morning