On Sunday, June 20th just before midnight the summer solstice will occur--a time when the sun has climbed as high as it will and, from our perspective, to stand still for a few days in the height of its glory before beginning its descent southwards towards the summer's heat and fruiting, a barely perceptible turning towards Autumn. In what may seem like a contradiction, many cultures celebrate this abundance of brilliance with bonfires, adding light to light. Children stay up past their bedtimes to witness the never ending sunset and gloaming; and then a fire kindles to flame, and bedtime gets completely lost in the magic of a midsummer's night. We on the farm celebrate in this way, too. A pile fueled by wood that can no longer be used for a project, or bits of tree branches gathered from here and there, and weeds with especially noxious seeds catches fire and transforms into a glowing tribute to the sun. This transformation from refuse to radiance bespeaks a kind of transformation within us, a pausing, a turning. What that turning means is different for each of us gathered around the flames.
Adding light to light, let us look toward the honeybee hives.
We are blessed with three hives this year on Against the Grain. These honeybees augment the crowds of native bees and other pollinators that show up for work every hour of every working day. As we approach the hives, if we are aware, we sense the sweet smell of their inner work. To me, the aroma is of a bakery with all the ovens full of sweet pastries baking. Outside the hive, clinging to its sides perhaps, the tired crowd of field bees weary from work bringing in nectar or pollen are resting. If we could enter the hive we would perceive an invisible golden light formed by what Rudolf Steiner memorably calls "love...the substance of the hive." Within this cavity of the boxes we have supplied them they build their structures of wax comb. On these structures they raise their young, bake their bread and transform nectar into winter food. Literally sweating out wax scales, they form these into hexagonal cell walls to accomplish their work. What is occurring within the hive while the sun reaches its heights? Having built out their combs completely, they soon will begin the slow recession of activity leading to the storage of their fruits, the attrition of the tired workers, the eviction of the drones, the birth of the few who will hold with the queen through the long and dangerous winter. For them, too, the solstice is a turning.
But let's not hasten into the Fall! Rather, with this, the first few days of summer, let us rejoice in all the forces which make food delicious: the heat of summer and the swelling of the fruits, led by the sun in the broad heights. We hope you enjoy this once a year intensity of deliciousness, and savor if for many weeks to come!