Summer in Maine. A beautiful, fleeting season, coming and going with a quickness that causes us all to run around like crazy people, trying to squeeze out every last drop. With the arrival of cooler weather and a new page on the calendar, I find the fog clearing enough to think and plan, to settle quietly with a cup of tea and contemplate. It was a lovely, busy season for our family, with a host of new experiences I’m excited to share…now that I have time to sit quietly and sort through them!

So tonight, I want to share my friend Shevenell’s garden with you. She and her little ones invited the girls and I over to visit not too long ago. We brought a big box of apples for the pigs, tramped through the woods like wild things eating blackberries, and wandered in her gorgeous garden. Shevenell and her family moved back to Maine about a year before we got here, so this is her third season gardening in this spot – which gives me so much hope for our own garden’s potential! It was such a beautiful, calming space – definitely the manifestation of some of my own garden goals. I only wish I had taken my photos earlier in the day – the light was so peaceful when we arrived! – but my wild things were off and running for the pig pen before I was even out of the car.

Speaking of the pigs… I was amazed at how docile they are! All four kiddos hopped into the pen with them, and while not exactly snuggly, the piggies didn’t seem to mind their presence at all. They have a while to grow yet before being dispatched; I’m excited to see how much bigger they’ll get. It was adorable the way they snuffled for the apples and crunched away at them, and I can see how useful they’d be to take care of the kitchen waste not wanted by the chickens or the dog.

Perhaps I could handle having a pig…or two.