Solstice traditions?

June, in the northern hemisphere.  A beloved month of green, endless sun, and the Solstice.  Here on our farm we have a strange Solstice tradition of snaking our fruit trees, bushes.  I hand the kids enough small rubber snakes, plastic bugs 3-4”, and we tie them to branches nearest fruit.  Why? Well, the kids love it, but it has a practical purpose.  The birds will often leave the fruit alone anywhere near a snake/bug for awhile.  It does not stop all fruit loss, but sharing is ok.   Sure Im crazy, but try it… a small way to celebrate Solstice.

Happy Solstice! Jun 21, this year.

What a lovely tradition.

As a kid, I might have headed off to the pool, not now.

Summer solstice here means checking to see if the first of the St John's figs are ripe!

We also turn the mattress every solstice and equinox - end-to-end every solstice and side-to-side every equinox. Makes sense to me...

The St John's figs timing is a lovely one. Around here solstice is roughly when I do a proper walk around all the fruit trees and take stock of what's set fruit and what hasn't, which ones need attention before summer really kicks in. More of a habit than a ritual but it does feel right to do it at that turning point in the year.

Joao Winckler wrote:The St John's figs timing is a lovely one.

They are actually called São João here, and I'm pretty sure they were named that because the festival of São João is on the 23rd June and that variety of figs is in full swing by then.

When we bought the place, the seller, whose name was João, showed us around, helped by his neighbour, also called João, who knew the boundaries better as, being in Portugal, the boundaries are weirdly complicated, not like the neat squares that seem to be the norm in the US. I raised an eyebrow at the two Joãos but didn't say anything. Then the seller pointed out his favourite fruit trees, and told me that the fig was a São João, at which point I blurted out "Is everything here called João?"

I'm sure you can relate...

Here's a photo taken that day of my other half, me, João and João.