JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Unlike any other season, there are multiple starting points to “summer.” Because summer, more than any other of the four seasons, is a concept. It’s a verb, a vibe, a change in our lives. The astronomical start of summer is, of course, the solstice on June 21st. The tourism industry start of summer is Memorial Day weekend, when three days off work and school combine with (hopefully) good weather to encourage everyone to take a trip to the shore/coast/lake/mountains.
For any of us who have raised kids or worked in the school system, the next start of summer is the end of the school year. In the snowy Northeast, this is often right around the middle of June. I looked back at my calendars, and it consistently hit between June 13 and June 17 in our town.
But to me, the real start of summer is the beginning of July. In Maine, we’re finally getting warm enough weather to risk going places without an extra layer. I can leave the windows open all night, and I’ve gotten the fans down from the attic. In my family, this week was usually the first week at camp Bishopswood for one of our kids (we usually staggered them over the summer because they didn’t want to be part of a sibling set while there.) And of course for most of us, no matter where we live, the hallmarks of summer occur in July and August: sweet corn and amusement parks, trips to the beach and to the swimming pool, baseball and badminton.
Reds, when does summer really start for you, and what are its hallmarks?
HALLIE EPHRON: Of course summer starts for me with food. Sweet corn, cherries, and local strawberries! Even though our local corn isn’t ripe for weeks and the cherries are from another coast. The end of the school year (no more bus-driven traffic jams in my town square)! And this year, going to Maine for July 4 to enjoy the fireworks over Casco Bay.
Meanwhile I’m staring at the air conditioner sitting on the floor of my office and figuring out who I’m going to cadge into helping me lift it into the window.
LUCY BURDETTE: It’s been the weirdest weather in New England–cool and cloudy. Actually, I am very grateful we don’t have a heat wave! My summer hallmarks, like Hallie’s, are mostly food. Tuna melts, cookouts, corn on the cob, strawberries in our garden, tomatoes!! This year our church has been given the honor of being the grand marshall in the July 4 parade. I think we are marching, and I *hope* the grandchildren will be marching with us. I try not to make too many plans when they visit, because they change and change:).
DEBORAH CROMBIE: By the time I left Dallas for London on Midsummer’s Day, I was already over it. We’d had a few weeks of weather bearable enough for grilling, the summer produce was in at the farmer’s market, but you knew the heat was coming, and it did. Followed me to London for the first few days, too, which were truly miserable, but now we have perfect English summer, with temps in the 70s. The British strawberries are everywhere and they are wonderful! Everyone is dining al fresco! I am not going to want to go home, where the rest of summer will just be a heat endurance test.
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Lucy, I just burst out laughing. I am so ..relieved and reassured. When are the kids coming? We honestly NEVER know, It’s already changed three times, seriously. How I know summer is here is that our farm shares come, and it is SO great! Snap peas, and super fresh lettuce, and fantastic bread, and all kinds of amazing vegetables–broccolini, and spinach, and corn corn corn. (what do I do with garlic scapes, again?) And tomatoes! Our SunGolds are on the way..they’re green now, but I know they will be here soon. If the rabbits eat them, I fear for the battle royale…they can have the hosta–just ask them–but our tomatoes are off limits. Ad the perennial question: Will I get into the pool this year?
JENN McKINLAY: Living in AZ, summer starts in mid-May when the temperatures spike into the 100’s (although we got lucky this year and it waited until mid-June). And it’s all about getting the heck outta here! When not on vacation at our summer place in Nova Scotia or beach time in San Diego, we spend time in our pool, waiting for the heat to pass. Summer ends in mid-Oct so we have a ways to go.
RHYS BOWEN: I am currently enjoying English summer in the wilds of Cornwall, with extremely spotty internet, hence my absence from Jungle Reds so much recently. We’ve had some glorious days, eating outside, light until ten o’clock. I think that spells summer for me— eating outside. I love picnics. I love sitting on a balmy evening watching lights come on in the valley. Usually summer starts early in California but it’s been a weird year, cooler in CA than in London. When I get home I’ll look forward to farmers markets and fresh fruit.
JULIA: How about you, dear readers? What defines the start of summer for you?
Images by velk1976, David Mark, Jill Wellington, -Rita-👩🍳 und 📷 mit ❤, Engin Akyurt and Walter Bichler, all from Pixabay.
I always think of summer as starting with the close of the school year in June and ending with Labor Day and heading back to school. Summer is the time for barbeques and corn and strawberries . . . .
ReplyDeleteBarbecues... I'm going to a Brazilian BBQ on the Fourth and am SO looking forward to it!
DeleteHere in SW Florida it's summer all year long and I like it that way. I hang around the pool in my lounge chair, read, get hot, go in the pool, dry off and repeat. The snowbirds have gone home and we can get into the restaurants easier and faster. The beaches aren't as crowded as it's so hot. Just keep something on your feet and wear your sunscreen. Farmer's Markets are open year long.
ReplyDeleteYes, definitely, something on your feet!
DeleteThat's kind of how we feel about the period after Labor Day here in Maine, Queen. We're grateful for the tourists/summer people, but we're glad to see them clear out as well!
DeleteI can't read most of the content (in Chrome browser on Windows laptop) because the lines aren't wrapping. I hope someone can fix that!
ReplyDeleteThat said, the start of summer is fresh strawberries at the start of June, no matter the weather! Now I have little green tomatoes, we're eating lots of garden salad, my potatoes are blossoming, and the blueberry crop is sizing up nicely. Local farms grow everything else. Summer for me is all about local produce - and the beach.
Not wrapping on Firefox on a Mac either. Summer to me is fresh tomatoes from a farmer's market and later, from my own plants. I am the only one in my family who eats tomatoes so I don't buy them often but what a treat! Sun-warmed sliced tomato with Hellman's mayonnaise. Bread or toast optional. Yum!
DeleteAnd now that I have read the full posts, amen on summer eating and eating outdoors!
DeleteHank, this Friday read Mystery Lovers' Kitchen - I made Karen from Ohio's roasted garlic scapes and dipping sauce. SO good.
How fun, Edith! I made them for book club a couple weeks ago, and everyone thought they were green beans. They were a big hit.
Delete(Oops, Hank, that recipe will be up on July 14, not this Friday. Let me know if you want it earlier!)
DeleteOh, thank you!
DeleteThat sounds like a great recipe, Edith and Karen. Garlic scapes are the new kale - I've gone from never having heard of them to now seeing them all over the place!
DeleteAll fixed now!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Debs! Blogger doesn't like me today, it seems - I keep getting kicked out of the comments and having to re-log on.
DeleteLike EDITH, summer means local produce. I bought the first local strawberries this year from the Byward Market vendor on Canada Day (July 1). Cherry tomatoes are forming on 3 plants, I see my first eggplant flowers and I continue to eat baby kale and salad greens from my balcony garden.
ReplyDeleteStill waiting for local sweet corn.
Despite being able to get nearly any fruit or veg year round now in grocery stores, there's nothing like the real thing, in season and locally grown.
DeleteCalifornia farmer’s markets bring in produce from Mexico, several months of the year. Yet, it still tastes like it is locally grown. Excellent tomatoes and avocados, twelve months a year.
DeleteOn Nome Street, summer begins right around St. Patrick's Day and ends on April Fools Day. After that it is an endurance time when I sleep mostly during the hottest period in the afternoon, and wear minimum clothing. We check NOAA hurricane center every morning to see what is brewing, drink copious amounts of iced tea and coffee, and dream of the mountains.
ReplyDeleteCoralee, that sounds like the summers I remember in Tuscaloosa. I'm old enough to recall the time in the 60s before my grandparents had AC, and I recall those afternoon lie-downs, with the green shades drawn and everything so still.
DeleteSummer is the local pool, spending an hour pulling weeds every morning, salad recipes from the Silver Palate cookbook, and local produce. Road races, outdoor concerts, and the Cincinnati Opera season. Discussing local wildlife with the neighbors: the pair of coyotes menacing the neighborhood every evening, the never-ending mole problem, garter and black snakes, foxes, the local predator owl, and the deer who escorts us on our morning dog walks.
ReplyDeleteIn Southern California June is definitely our winter! We call it June Gloom. And this year it started in May (May Grey) and has continued almost non stop til this week. We have had two months of gloomy, grey, cold weather. But I'm not complaining because it's better than those in AZ and Texas and most of the south. I hope things cool down for them and SOON.
ReplyDeleteOur summer generally starts around the 1st of July.
Clarifying, this person must live near the ocean, i live in the same area, but further inland. Our June weather was wonderful, highs in the eighties rather than near 100. We are now in the fifth day of temperatures above 100. Summer starts in April and continues into November. The coast is often shrouded in fog, so cool temps in the seventies.
DeleteTwo California Anons! I'm not surprised about the variation in the weather. I've only ever been along the coast of CA, but I traveled all over Washington State and was amazed at the stark variation between coastal and inland. You don't see that in any of the same degree in the east, since our mountain ranges (the Appalachians) are too far away from the ocean to create any dramatic climate differences.
DeleteWhen I was in LA for a confererence in June, it was totally June gloom, but I didn't mind. Better than Texas heat!
DeleteMe again from above, our summer goes through August, Sept. Oct. when it really heats up. We have what is called a Santa Ana which is hot air that blows from AZ westward to the ocean. It also means fire season.
ReplyDeleteMade famous by Raymond Chandler! "
Delete“There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen.”
I love that Julia! I am NOT a hot weather person, so I can relate with the meek wife! I live near Olympia, WA and thankfully we only get extreme hot weather a couple days at a time. Yes, the low-mid 70's is the perfect temperature! Charlene Miller-Wilson
DeleteGreat passage, Julia!
DeleteJulia, I love Raymond Candler novels. And I remember that passage. It just knocked me out the first time I read it.
DeleteI grew up with that weather. We mainly liked the Santa Anas because they pushed the smog out of the San Gabriel Valley.
DeleteSummer starts whenever it's warm enough for me to take a cold drink and a book out to my swing in the big flowerbed, stretch out, and laze away an hour or two, reading, napping, giving the swing a gentle push or two.
ReplyDeleteFlora That's a great way to spend summer!
DeleteFlora, it hasn't even gotten to that here in southern Maine yet. We've been having a cool and very wet summer so far - I got in an hour or so worth of mowing on Saturday and there's no prospect of sunny, dry weather again until Thursday!
DeleteFor me on the Canadian prairie, I think the idea of summer begins as soon as the snow is (mostly) gone and I can go outside without boots and mitts and jacket. Next stage of summer is when early things start poking up through the ground; I realize this is called spring but I think of the seasons as cold/indoors and warm(er)/outdoors. Real summer hits when it's shorts 'n t-shirt time, and windows-open time, and breakfast on the deck time. The height of summer is swimming in the lake.
ReplyDeleteAmanda, I have the cold/indoors, warmer/outdoors phenom at my old house. For some reason, it keeps out heat marvelously well (alas, it doesn't seem to keep it IN nearly enough) and so I have a period of time in the spring when it's 68 out-of-doors and 60 inside.
DeleteWhen I was a child, summer started with the end of school in June. Now it's when the Hood strawberries arrive in the farmers' market and when I can sit outside in the mornings to do my meditation. It's been lovely here for the last few weeks, cool mornings, sunny afternoons. The next few days will be hotter, involving more fans and less sleep.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate you sharing Portland with us btl. I miss berrying season in the PNW.
DeleteGillian, we have an ice cream company called Hood here in the northeast, and your comment has ignited a deep craving for strawberry ice cream. For some reason, it's the ultimate summer flavor to me.
DeleteAhhh summer – my favourite season. I love the heat, but that is never a problem in the Maritimes, but humidity can be a thing. Summer is every day the sun is shining no matter the season, and I can spend my time avoiding other things, and just sitting on Geriatric Row, listening to the birds and watching for butterflies. So far this year, we have had 3 days of 30C (86F) temps, in May and June which is highly unusual, and now it has been so foggy for 3 weeks that you can’t see the other side of the lake. It is much better, even if just as opaque as the horrid smoke that is over so much of the land, and we can breathe. Summer also means all the cousins rotate through their cottage next door from May until October. So, as you can see, Independence Day usually falls on Thanksgiving (October in Canada), when there is no more company!
ReplyDeleteAs for food – fried green tomatoes – one of my favourites. Forget about the cankers.
Margo, your summer season sounds utterly delightful. I'm glad to hear the smoke has largely bypassed you. I was staying in DC and traveling through NYC last week and it was so, so bad.
DeleteNo disrespect but the air quality you experienced on the east coast was good compared to active fire situations that take place in the west,
DeleteSo many years teaching -- summer is when school lets out. In Missouri, it can be cloudy and chill in the morning and scorching hot by afternoon, with thunderstorms for extra drama. Right now, it's predicted to be clear for July 4th celebrations, but weather forecasters use percentages to cover all the possibilities. My favorite produce stand has wonderful offerings now, local corn and peaches included. Storyteller Mary
ReplyDeleteThe corn hasn't arrived here yet, Mary, but I'm keeping my eyes out!
DeleteIt's funny, I spent so many years as a parent and as the wife of a teacher, I'm still attuned with the school year. I'm grateful to not still be going through the rush of events in May, however...
Abbreviated second try: dinner is salads from the Silver Palate cookbook on the screened porch and daily swims in the local pool. And intense discussions with our neighbors about coyotes, snakes, moles, and the local predator owl.
ReplyDeleteMargaret, once of my neighbors saw a Maine Bobcat n her back yard, so that has everyone keeping an eye on their pets...
DeleteLike so many others, summer for me always started around the third week of June when school was out. But now it is summer when I think it is, no matter when that is. What I look forward to all year is a perfect BLT sandwich, and that depends on my tomatoes. Grocery story tomatoes just won't do. I have blossoms on the plants now, so that's a good sign. My blueberry bushes look loaded, but it will be at least a couple of weeks before they are ripe. I might even finally have a berry or two on my raspberry plant. My son gave me the plant last year but I wanted it in a barrel planter. With the wind, it didn't do well at all, so last fall I had him take it out of the barrel and we put it directly in the ground. It looks much better.
ReplyDeleteLately I've had fun watching a little chipmunk. He comes right up to my patio door; not sure what he thinks he's doing. Now all my little citrus trees are out on the deck and he climbs into the large pot with the orange and up the branches. I think he is after the little oranges but it's hard to tell through the screen and he's so quick. The oranges are very bitter so nothing I want to eat although I have read you can make marmalade from them. They are quite small, about the size of a large gumball, so it would require many oranges to make the jam.
This morning when I lifted up my shade, there was a deer, looking at me and munching on something. Summer has arrived!
Judi, great description for those red balls that come supermarkets: “grocery story”…definitely supermarket tomatoes are fictions! Even if autofill did it, take credit for originality. Elisabeth
DeleteGood catch, Elisabeth and I couldn't agree more!
DeleteIn California we get good tomatoes from the farmer’s market at least ten months of each year.
DeleteOh, sweet. I go nuts when farm stand tomatoes come in in July. My favorite is toasted bread, thickly spread with Miracle Whip (come at me, haters) with fat tomato slices on top. A little pepper. Heaven in a bite!
DeleteJulia, I remember Miracle Whip when I was a child. I saw TV ads for that. I never see that in the grocery shop these days. Maybe it is local to your area?
DeleteDiana
Judi, you are blessed to have a summer garden. Diana
DeleteANON: Those of us in Canada really appreciate getting local tomatoes in summer since our harvest season only lasts a few months!
DeleteYuck, Miracle Whip! Sorry about that, Julia. My father loved the stuff and my mother hated having it in the house. But I think he grew up with it, so of course that was his preference. I remember in school, on Friday, Tuna salad sandwiches were offered. I tried them once and tasting the Miracle Whip, or probably an even cheaper version of it, I never chose them again. Diana, if I remember, I'll look to see if it is still in stores. Google found it for me so they must still be making it.
DeleteFunny how we're almost all focused on food! Summer in my part of Maine is on hold for a bit. Our spring has been cool and rainy so alfresco dining is out of the question. I'm looking forward to cooking and eating out and the arrival of our back yard tomatoes. Our farmers markets will be open soon. It's all good!
ReplyDeleteSame, here, Kait. I feel sorry for our summer visitors who've come up for the holiday weekend only to get 60-something degrees and rain!
DeleteSummer around here is when I can start outside without a jacket, when the deer turn red mysteriously overnight, when the farmers markets are open, and when I start hearing the red-winged blackbirds and the rufous towhees calling their distinctive cries. And when it's warm enough to plant the summer garden: tomatoes, beans, peppers, etc. There is a nearly two-pound tomato ripening on my vines right now, along with loads of green ones. We've had fresh corn, but it wasn't local--if you get a chance to try Wild Violet corn, it is delicious.
ReplyDeleteHank, for a dinner party we had last weekend I accidentally made the best chimichurri sauce for our steaks. Instead of garlic cloves I used chopped garlic scapes because I have so many right now. The taste was subtly fresher and greener, and I will probably never make it the other way again.
Garlic scapes FTW!
DeleteWhen I was teaching, summer began when school let out. Since retirement, for me, summer is when all the floral spring precursors burst into full bloom and all the colors dazzle. That can be anywhere from late April through late October-true in both Sacramento and Braga. They have similar climates, although Sacramento is a little drier. Both are extremely hot in July and August. In Sacramento we used to sit on our shaded patio and enjoy our garden. Here in Braga, we only have a flat, but we enjoy the many gardens around town, and we also enjoy the outside tables at the cafes.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, I believe eating al fresco at restaurants is one of the great pleasures in life. I've actually enjoyed how establishments have extended the outdoor eating season in Maine, since they all bought heaters and wind breakers during the pandemic.
DeleteYes, I love eating outdoors on a plaza and people watching.
DeleteSummer all year long? Or mid-May to mid-October? Hard for me to fathom here in SE Minnesota. Summer starts when you can see the lightning bugs winking on and off in the twilight and it is warm enough to be outside chasing them in your bare feet. It ends with Labor Day, the close of the State Fair, and the start of the new school year.
ReplyDeleteSeptember and October are the hottest months in a lot of western US, but especially California.
DeleteOh, Brenda, I didn't even mention fairs. When I was a teen in Liverpool, NY, the big event at the end of the summer was the NY State Fair just a short drive away in Syracuse. We had to eat Italian sausages, and marvel at the butter sculpture, and admire all the plant and craft entries.
DeleteThe butter sculpture! At the Ohio State fair, it was always a full-size butter cow--and the dairy barn was where you got the best strawberry ice cream you ever ate!
DeleteFor me, summer begins when I can go outside without a sweater or jacket. And when I can get decent strawberries! I’ve never been to the farmers markets in my town, but reading all these posts about what everyone is getting at their farmers markets makes me want to put them on my calendar! There are three of them here.
ReplyDeleteDebRo
DebRo, we are clearly an army that marches on its stomach here at JRW!
DeleteWonderful post and so many wonderful comments!!!
ReplyDeleteFor me, the summer starts when the days get longer. I can enjoy the outdoors longer. Before the pandemic, I could meet relatives for dinner and it would still be light outside. Summer means longer days, warmer weather and yummy seasonal food like strawberries.
Finding fresh strawberries and fresh blueberries while grocery shopping is a treat.
Diana
Diana, I love the longer light as well. It's lovely to sit outside with a lemonade or a cocktail (depending on my mood) and just enjoy the soft light and the warm air.
DeleteTurning off the furnace and opening windows. I split time between Minnesota and Wisconsin, and that can be fairly late. Also RHUBARB PIE!
ReplyDeleteRhubarb! I entirely missed mine this year, since I was gone for almost all of June. I adore rhubarb - we always used to freeze a bunch and haul it out again when the strawberries were in season. My husband made the BEST strawberry rhubarb pie.
DeleteI made my first strawberry rhubarb crumble (Smitten Kitchen recipe) of the summer with the local produce I bought on July 1. Delish!
DeleteANd oh, having dinner on the patio, with the twinkly lights above...SO pretty!
ReplyDeleteYes, summer twinkle lights!
DeleteWhen I was working at a college (in admin, so I worked year round), I considered summer to start when the students went home, which was always Mother's Day Weekend. Now, I view it as when the TV season ends, which is usually right around Memorial Day weekend, although that's much more flexible than it used to be.
ReplyDeleteI remember that benchmark from when I was a kid, Mark! Summer was always "rerun season," and the big chance to catch any episodes you had missed. I don't think my kids would be able to comprehend that last sentence...
DeleteWho said rhubarb pie???!!! Yes, please!!!
ReplyDeleteWe are ALL about the food at Jungle Red Writers!
DeleteWhen I was a child, my family lived in a big house with a backyard. They had rhubarb plants and I remember my mom and I would bring the rhubarb to the kitchen. We baked rhubarb pie. Yum!
DeleteDiana
For me, summer begins when school is out. Kids outdoors everywhere, college students gone until August. I'm growing tomatoes again for the first time in many years. I can hardly wait until they're ripe. Joy!
ReplyDeleteI just hope there are blueberries and peaches left in the farmer's market when I get home. I should have added a photo of all the tomatoes Rick picked while I've been gone. My tomatoes are gangbusters this year. Sadly, he doesn't eat them, so into the composter they went:-(
ReplyDeleteHere in Bern, warm weather begins for me when my husband and I can eat lunch on our balcony, but true summer is when we can eat dinner out there. Even in July and August, there are occasional evenings when it's too chilly for a balcony dinner, but it will be late August before there are two chilly evenings in a row. I love summer! Yay, blueberries.
ReplyDelete