field notes · 4 min read · July 12, 2026Notes from the kitchen garden, July
July is the cool quiet month on the coast — short days, long mornings, and a garden quietly catching up after the rains.
The kuzi winds came in two weeks ago and the lodge slowed into its July shape. Mornings are cooler, the creek shifts darker green, and the garden, which had been racing all rains, finally takes a breath.
This week the beds are heaving with kale, chard, basil, three kinds of mint, and the first proper aubergines of the season. The papaya at the south corner is dropping fruit faster than we can carry it. Everything else is settling — taking the cooler nights as a long-overdue rest.
In the kitchen we are making a lot of slow soups, garden salads with toasted cashews, and pizza topped with whatever is loud in the bed that morning. Less coconut, more tomato. More herbs than we know what to do with.
If you visit this month bring a light jumper for the evenings and an appetite for vegetables. The cooks will do the rest.