A Simple, Peaceful 'Midsommar'

Five small ways to mark the longest day and welcome the season with more beauty, less fuss, and a little Swedish mid-summer spirit

Hello to you, dear reader,

It happens every year - the longest day. But somehow, the Summer Solstice always feels like it sneaks up on me.

Even though we’re just beginning the season of warmth and bloom, this is also the moment when the light reaches its peak… and begins its slow retreat. I do feel a bit conflicted about that — but there it is, the natural order of things.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the solstice usually falls on June 20th or 21st. This year, it lands on Sunday the 21st, when the sun reaches its highest and northernmost point in the sky.

But I think of this day less as a celebration of Summer’s start, and more as a lovely moment in the earthly cycles.

A chance to catch my breath and notice that these days are full and long and brimming with life.

I don’t do anything elaborate. No big rituals or bonfires. Just a moment of awareness. A moment to say, yes, I see you, Summer. Welcome.

A moment to mark the longest day and welcome the season with more beauty, less fuss, and a little Swedish midsummer spirit.

Growing up in Sweden, ‘Midsommar’ was something we celebrated with flowers in our hair and the sun still hanging in the sky at midnight.

It was joyful and earthy and beautifully communal.

image: thelocal.se

There’s the custom of wearing your family’s traditional regional folk dress - this was based on the province where you came from. And then there was the dancing to traditional music around the summer pole. And much laughter.

images: Jason Mendez, Carl Tronders, David Biscuso.

I think I still have my dress from when I was 9 years old, in a sealed box somewhere. For a future grand-daughter maybe?

And while my life here in Arizona now is a world apart, that reverence for light and season has never left me.

Cooking with the Seasons

One of the simplest ways to honor a season is through food.

There’s something deeply satisfying about letting the time of year guide what comes to the table. Not in a fussy or complicated way, but in the old, ordinary way of looking around and asking: what is growing, what is abundant, what tastes like right now?

While I won’t delve into the traditional Swedish recipes here, I did want to share with you an old cookbook that I’ve had for ages. It’s truly one of my favorites.

The Tra Vigne Cookbook: Seasons in the California Wine Country,

by Michael Chiarello, 1999

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It’s an older cookbook - first published in 1999 and, as far as I can tell, no longer widely in print - but it remains one of my favorites. And it looks like it can be found at second hand retailers - it’s worth a look.

It isn’t just the recipes I love, though there are plenty of good ones. (Okay, in fact, I don’t think I’ve ever made a single recipe from this book that isn’t truly outstanding, to be honest.)

It’s not the fame of that restaurant in norther California where I lived, or the celebrity chef.

It’s the way the whole book is organized around the seasons, and specifically what produce is in season for each time of year.

That structure helps you think differently about cooking: not “What do I want?” but “What is this season offering?” What belongs to this moment?

And the other layer is that most of these recipes don’t just use produce items that are in season, but they truly feature them. The approach is clean and simple.

• Simply Tomatoes

• Hallibut and Corn Salad with Broken Tomato Vinaigrette

• Fuseilli Michelangelo

A seasonal cookbook is more than a collection of recipes. It’s a reminder to look around, pay attention, and let the time of year guide what comes to the table. And celebrate that abundance.

5 Simple Ways to Mark the Summer Solstice

While it would be fun and joyful to go build a Swedish midsommar pole to dance around, I figure that doesn’t really meet the Simple and Peaceful intention I began with.

Instead, I’ve got five no-fuss and truly simple ideas for you to consider for your solstice celebration.

1. Eat with the season

Fresh herbs, summer fruit, greens, grilled vegetables, a simple outdoor meal, whatever is abundant.

2. Stay outside a little longer

Porch sittin’, garden wander, walk at dusk, watering slowly, noticing the evening light.

3. Bring flowers or herbs indoors

A jar, a cup, a tiny arrangement. Nothing elaborate. Even my cutting celery that has bolted makes a fantastic indoor bouquet.

4. Make one small summer promise

More meals outside, more evening walks, more time in the garden, more beauty, less hurry. For me, it’s more picnics in the forest with my husband.

5. Look up after dark

The solstice belongs to the sun, but summer stars deserve their moment too.

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The poet Carl Sandburg once wrote, in Summer Stars:

Bend low again, night of summer stars.
So near you are, sky of summer stars,
So near, a long arm man can pick off stars,
Pick off what he wants in the sky bowl,
So near you are, summer stars,
So near, strumming, strumming,
So lazy and hum-strumming.

From Smoke & Steel, 1920. Mr. Sandburg was an American Pulitzer prize winner who’s parents were Swedish. He lived in North Carolina, and his home is now a national museum.

My twins, when they were teenagers, picking wild blueberries in the woods on the shores of Lake Vänern in Sweden. Honestly, the berries are so abundant, but somehow I think most of them ended up in their mouths - haha. 🫐

However you choose to honor the solstice - with a meal, a walk, a jar of flowers, or simply a few extra minutes outside in the long light - I hope this season invites you to be present, rest a little more often, and notice what summer is offering while it’s here.

Wishing you peace and beauty.

With contentment & possibility,

P.S. What does high summer taste like where you are? Strawberries, tomatoes, herbs, corn, something grilled outside? Have you tried any of the recipes in the Tra Vigne cookbook? I’d love to hear what feels most like the season to you.