Get Going with Kira King: what to do this summer

Get Going with Kira King

Kira King has a 4-acre homestead in Savannah, Georgia with her husband, daughter, and menagerie of animals. After graduating from the University of Georgia with a journalism degree, she began her own social media marketing company which over time morphed into a homesteading blog and podcast.

The Homestead Kings treasure local and sustainable food practices beginning in the home, the simple lifestyle that homesteading provides, and the companionship they share with their animals. They didn’t grow up in the homesteading or farming way of life, but Kira says they got there as quickly as possible and still learn something new every day.

What to do this Summer

It’s hot. It’s humid. It’s buggy. It’s a struggle to walk outside to get the mail, let alone to be working outside. Welcome to sweet summertime in the South. With all its challenges, our summers are still a great time to get some things done! It’s time to get late-season seeds in the ground, harvest, harvest, and harvest some more, and figure out what to do with your growing abundance. Though after spring’s cleaning and prepping, summer feels like the perfect time to let yourself relish in a handful of leisurely, carefree moments.

In the Garden

For your annual garden, now’s the time to start thinking about succession planting to extend your harvest bounty. Your early spring crops are more

than likely done, and it’s time to replace them with the things that do well in this late summer heatsquash, zucchini, beans, eggplants, and okra, to name a few.

You may still need to have a watering schedule depending on your rainfall and how deep your top dressing of mulch is. We had a dry spring here in South Georgia, but the afternoon thunderstorms of summer have started rolling in, which have their own set of pros and cons. One definite con is fungal diseases. They thrive in hot, humid, and wet conditions. Luckily, most plants can grow through most leaf diseases. Pest pressure also ramps up in the summer. Try spraying neem oil mixed with water and a few drops of dish soap to get rid of scale, aphids, mealybugs, thrips, and vine borers. It’s a constant uphill battle, but it’s best for your overall production if you try to tackle the problem early.

world. But, if the heat coming off a big pot of boiling water doesn’t sound like something you’d like to invite into your house in the dead of summer, blanching and freezing the tomatoes are always an option. One of my favorite ways to preserve tomatoes, and

the easiest I’ve found thus far, is to roast them with herbs, garlic and onions, let cool, stuff them into a gallon jar, and top with a good quality olive oil. It lasts for months in the fridge and makes the most savory instant pizza or spaghetti sauce when you’re ready for that unmistakable home-grown tomato taste. Just make sure they are always submerged in the oil while storing.

Your perennial garden should be cranking out food around every bend. The blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries take turns so that you always have some juicy delicacy at hand. New perennial flowers are smiling daily enticing all those precious pollinators to your garden. The peaches may be finishing up just in time for the figs to arrive.

Creating some homemade jams out of the abundance may sound cliche, but until you’ve tasted the sweet goodness of the fruits of your labor, you don’t know what you’re missing! It’s also a wonderful process to do to control the amount of sugar content in your jam. Look for the lowsugar pectin option when gathering your supplies, and sweeten it with raw honey instead of sugar. You’ll be delighting in the tastes of summer months after it has passed.

For your animals, make sure they have a continuous supply of water and a source of shade. Floats for your water trough are very affordable and are an extra assurance your animals will have water available to them at all times. Just make sure to check that it’s working once a day and dump and scrub the trough sporadically to keep it clean. Chickens and ducks love this time of year with its watermelon and cantaloupe rind treats, scraps from tomatoes, and more. Freeze the scraps beforehand for some homemade popsicles, appreciated by the birds on the hottest summer days. Chickens don’t like to get wet, but your other livestock and ducks will sometimes enjoy a sprinkler to shower off and cool down occasionally, especially if there hasn’t been much rain. The key is to keep your animals safe and cool. Do your best to proactively prevent any heat-related issues.

In the House

All your spring cleaning was worth it because now is the time when you spend most of the sweltering midday indoors (unless you’re out partaking in water activities!). Unlike winter, when all you want to do is curl up with a hot cuppa, the heat of the summer has you searching for ways to cool down and take it easy. Try making yourself and your family some tasty, chilly treats, like water kefir popsicles, or dressing up regular ice cubes with mint to give your drinks some zest and beauty. Taking it easy doesn’t have to mean stagnant. There are plenty of things to keep your creative spirit alight during the summertime!

Get crafty and make your unpaper towels a sustainable solution to the regular throwaway ones. Or try your hand at arranging flowers you’ve picked from your garden. There’s no right or wrong way, but you can take an ordinary vase and make it extraordinary with just a little fine-tuning.

Seek out your local library, ask the wise librarian what you should read, and let a book’s inner enchantments whisk you away into new lands and adventures one page at a time.

Even if it’s out of your comfort zone, pick up a starter paint set and a canvas from a craft store. Then turn on some music, pour your favorite beverage, maybe look at a picture for inspiration, and let the paint flow. It doesn’t matter how the result turns out. The value is in the process. And, who knows? You might just have a natural talent!

Write letters. Letter writing for the sake of communication is slowly fading away. Revive it. Write to your closest friends or distant relatives, about anything. Tell them about your garden’s progress. Ask them about their lives. It’s another way to show that you care, and we all like getting special things in the mail.

Bust out the board games or cards. Keep an array of board games or a stack of cards near your dining room and pull one out at least once a week after lunch or supper. Once the table is cleared, gather around and enjoy your loved ones. Or invite friends over for a designated game night. Board games and cards are timeless activities that truly are fun for all ages.

You may have noticed a theme for all of these suggestions. None of them involve a phone or television. Soak in the slow times of summer with a Digital Detox. Pretty soon, you’ll realize you’re not turning the tv on as frequently, and you’ve misplaced your phone because you haven’t used it. Summer is the perfect time for rest, relaxation, and restoration.