The Abundance of Late Summer

Plums on the counter, tomatoes simmering on the stove, and a porch market coming together.

There’s something about late summer that feels like everything is happening all at once.

The garden is overflowing. The tomatoes seem to ripen faster than I can pick them. There’s zucchini tucked beneath leaves I swear I checked yesterday. Bowls of plums are sitting on the counter, rhubarb is waiting to be used, and somehow there are always eggs to collect before I come back inside and start all over again.

And I kind of love it.

This is the time of year when Hen & Hearth feels most like what I always hoped it would become—not just baking, not just gardening, and not just a little market on my front porch. It’s all of those things tangled together.

The tomatoes we grew become jars of marinara and chutney. Zucchini from the garden finds its way into loaves of zucchini bread. Late-summer plums become buttery crumble bars. Rhubarb gets folded into cardamom coffee cake. And a handful of ingredients sitting on my kitchen counter can suddenly become the beginning of Saturday morning’s porch market.

There’s a rhythm to it that I’ve really come to love.

Pick. Bake. Stir. Jar. Gather eggs. Make another mess in the kitchen. Clean it up. Make another one.

Somewhere in between, I start setting things out on the porch.

And then Saturday comes.

People walk up the driveway. Neighbors stop to talk. Someone comes specifically for the thing they saw me making earlier in the week. Someone else discovers Hen & Hearth for the first time. Bags get filled, eggs head home with new families, and food that started in my garden or kitchen becomes part of someone else’s weekend.

That might be my favorite part of all of this.

Hen & Hearth keeps growing in ways I never could have completely planned, but the heart of it still feels wonderfully simple: make good things, grow what I can, share what I have, and create a reason for people to gather.

And while the garden and kitchen are keeping me plenty busy, there are a couple of other things quietly taking shape behind the scenes at Hen & Hearth.

One of them is something you’ll be able to wear. (I still can't quite believe I'm saying that.) The other is something that might start showing up in your mailbox.

That's all I'm giving away for now.

Both have been living in my head for a while, and they're finally starting to become real. I can't wait to share more soon.

Late summer won't last much longer. Soon I'll be reaching for apples, cinnamon, pumpkins and all the cozy things that come with fall.

But I'm not rushing it.

For now, there are still tomatoes on the vine, plums on the counter, chickens in the backyard, something baking in the oven…

…and another Saturday on the porch to look forward to.

See you at the market.