The summer solstice heralds the start of summer and the longest day of the year. Come see how to celebrate with lavender!

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Today is the long day of the year as well as the first day of summer . It is severe for this gardener to trust that the day will now start getting short . Geesch ! However , this is the cycle of the season here on earth and I am grateful to be here and go with them .

The summertime solstice is the prison term of greatest light . It is a Clarence Shepard Day Jr. of tremendous powerfulness . The whole planet is twist fully to the brilliance of the Lord’s Day .   … Today , day far surpasses dark , and yet night will bit by bit get to reassert itself . All of life is cycles . All of life is proportionality . ”—Deng Ming - Dao365 TAO Daily Meditations

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Summer heat has blasted us and then we have those arrant lovely June days . I love it when the Capital Weather Gang stake a prognosis like “ Today will be spectacular ” or “ tomorrow should be awe-inspiring ” . Those forecasts make a nurseryman like me smile . I also love it when it rains — we have been blessed with a few skilful soakings as of former — so I have n’t had to drag the hose around . This time of class , our well - go to gardens are look good .

Although we have not quite reached the altitude of summer yet , we can exult in the gardening season . Right now my cerise tomatoes are mature and I still expect my first summer - ripe , clean - var. - the - vine tomato . The salad greens are still going strong , however , they will presently beetle off with the heat . The garden is growing in leaps and bounds — you’re able to tell a difference from morning mash inspection to eve circle . Lemon balm , the mints and winter sweet have take off and need to be harvest . My lavender is in the peak of its bloom , as it is every June about this time .

This retiring weekend , I spent at thePennsylvania Lavender Festivalat Willow Pond Herb Farm in Fairfield , Pennsylvania . The weather was just about thoroughgoing and the crowd plow out in gravid numbers to break up lavender from the theater of operations , take the air amongst the garden , adopt garden tours , browse the vendors for garden treasure and of course , herb plants , and everything lavender , hear herbal talk and watch cooking demonstrations , attend workshops , make - your - own - lavender - wands and to try an raiment of delectable lavender recipe from sandwich , cookie , blondies and brownies to lavender lemonade , iced tea and 6 or 7 different flavors of homemade ice emollient ! I still have n’t decided whether my favorite was black cherry or mango ; dark chocolate and coconut cocoa chip were jolly darned good — all of them flavor subtly with just a mite of lavender .

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See the photo above for a pictorial of the lilac-colored festival and field . Also go toPeaches and Blueberries with Lemon Herb and Lavender Syrupfor a perfect seasonal   recipe to celebrate the summer solstice !

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Peaches and Blueberries with Lemon Herb and Lavender Syrup

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Lavender fields forever… Willow Pond Herb Farm in Fairfield, Pennsylvania is home to the Pennsylavnia Lavender Festival. Click on other pix to enlarge and read captions.Photo/Illustration: Susan Belsinger

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