Happy summer solstice! Summer solstice officially occurs at 2:07 am Alaska Time. Where I live in McCarthy the sun will rise at 3:49 am and set at 11:17 pm for a total of 19 hours and 28 minutes of daylight. That contrasts with the winter solstice, where we have 5 hours and 22 minutes of daylight. Daylight gives us energy and makes us happy so it’s a reason to celebrate. You can use this daylight calculator to see how much daylight there is on a certain day of the year in your location.
Above: Scenes from Summer Solstice - from top left: Cloudberry, Standing in the dogwoods, Sparrow's Egg Orchid about to bloom, Spruce flowers, Wild Rose, Serviceberry in bloom, my garden, and Cottongrass
The wild roses are going crazy – more bloom every day, we just had to hang our mosquito net (it’s the first summer we’ve had to do this in the Nizina cabin), the robins that nest in our eves hatched last week. It’s warm, the glaciers are melting, and the rivers are swollen. I talked a bit about the frenetic energy this time of year in my newsletter (you can read it and subscribe here), but right now I just want to be present and share this moment with you.
The Nizina River swelling for summer
Do you have any solstice rituals or things you do to mark the day? I often pick some of the plants in my yard and make a big batch of sun tea. I just set it in my front yard and let it infuse during the year’s longest day.
Today marks a shift as the days start getting shorter. I do love the summer and fall. I think each minute of extra darkness is more opportunity for rest and reflection. Soon it will be time to start growing fruits and putting energy into roots.
I haven't quite figured out the balance I'm going to keep between my blog and my Patreon page (since it's basically a blog as well). Head over there to read more about using wild rose on the solstice.
Above: Celebrating wild rose, which is blooming in abundance today.