Watermelon Arugula Salad -- Summer Comes In Through the Garden Gate

Late August. Corn coming on. Worked at the construction company in Lexington this week. The body holds. Most days.

Connie at the vet clinic, four shifts this week. Her back is tired. She does not say so. I see it. Mama is 86. She is the toughest person I have ever known. She still cooks every day in the company house in Evarts.

Tomato sandwich for lunch — heirlooms from the garden, white bread, mayo, salt. Summer in a sandwich.

Travis called Tuesday. The landscaping company is busy. He sounds tired in a good way. Amber called Sunday. Things are good. James sends his regards.

Earl would have known what to say about that. Earl is not here. I said nothing. I went on.

Read the paper at breakfast Tuesday. The county news is not great. The mines have not come back and they will not come back. The young people leave. The hollows empty. We stay.

I checked the truck oil Saturday. The mileage on this truck is criminal.

I went up to Earl's grave at the Evarts cemetery Saturday. Brought a beer. Drank half. Poured the rest on the dirt. Some traditions are mine alone.

Sunday service at Harlan First Baptist when we go. Pastor preached about Ruth and Boaz. The choir sang. Connie wore her gray dress.

I split a half-cord of wood Saturday. Slowly. The back does not let me work fast anymore. It got done. The wood was for the smokehouse.

Drove the truck to the dump Saturday afternoon. Saw three deer crossing the road on the way back. The mountains have been giving back this year.

Amber sent the kids' school photos this week. Nadia is taller every year. Marcus has Amber's serious face. Little Betty has Mama's eyes.

The dog — old Beau, fifteen years old — slept by the wood stove all afternoon Tuesday. He used to be a hunting dog. Now he is a heating pad with opinions.

The neighbor up the road — Old Roy, eighty-seven, lives alone — had a small heart scare. We took him soup beans Tuesday. Cornbread too. He cried a little when he ate. We all cry over soup beans eventually.

Drove to Pineville for parts Wednesday. The hardware store man knew me. We talked about the weather and the price of feed. Forty minutes for a five-minute errand. That is rural Kentucky.

Connie read aloud from a novel Tuesday evening while I worked on the bench. Some Appalachian writer she had picked up at the library in Whitesburg. The voice was the voice of where we live. We listened together.

I sat at the kitchen table Tuesday night working on the recipe project. Mama's soup beans. I cannot get the words right yet.

Worked on a basement remodel job in Lexington. The work was good. The pay was good. The body is tired.

Connie made jam Saturday afternoon. Wild blackberries from the patch up the hollow. Twelve jars. The pantry is filling for winter.

Connie cut my hair on the porch Tuesday afternoon. She has been cutting my hair for forty years. The barber in Pineville cannot do what Connie does, which is also love.

My back was tight after the wood-splitting Saturday. Took an Aleve. Slept eight hours. Got up.

I sat on the porch with bourbon at sundown Friday. The fog rolled into the hollow the way it has every fog of every year. The porch was the porch. The bourbon was the bourbon.

The creek was running clear Sunday afternoon. I watched a kingfisher work the riffle. Did not move for an hour. Some Sundays the watching is the worship.

That tomato sandwich — heirlooms from the garden, white bread, Hellmann’s, a pinch of salt — is the whole philosophy of late August in one bite. When summer is right outside the back door and the garden is giving everything it has, the best thing you can do is stay out of its way. This watermelon arugula salad works the same way: a few honest ingredients, nothing fussy, the kind of thing Connie and I might put on the table on a Friday evening before the bourbon and the fog come in. It doesn’t try to be more than summer. It doesn’t need to be.

Watermelon Arugula Salad

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 10 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 5 cups seedless watermelon, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 3 cups baby arugula, loosely packed
• 1/4 small red onion, very thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, torn
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1/4 teaspoon flaky sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

Instructions

1. Make the dressing. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, and honey until combined. Set aside.
2. Build the salad base. Spread the arugula across a wide serving platter or shallow bowl. Scatter the watermelon cubes evenly over the top.
3. Add the toppings. Distribute the red onion slices, crumbled feta, and torn mint leaves over the watermelon and arugula.
4. Dress and season. Drizzle the dressing over the salad. Finish with the flaky sea salt and cracked black pepper. Serve immediately — this salad does not hold well once dressed.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 145 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 8g | Carbs: 18g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 210mg