Harvest, Canning and a Flight

I always think of the week of Memorial Day as the first ‘unofficial’ week of summer.  The weather is getting hot, the kids have their last day of school and it is also a time of harvest.

For the past few weeks, my tomato and bush bean plants have been fruitful.

Every week, I blanch my tomatoes by putting them in boiling water for 45 seconds, which makes peeling them easier.

Then I remove the green part of the stem and then ‘squish’ the tomatoes to get rid of the seeds and excess liquid.

What remains the tomato, is the delicious part and I put it in a plastic freezer bag (making sure to get all the air out).  Then I freeze it until I am ready to use them to make sauce.

*My tomatoes aren’t flowering any longer, because of the hot weather – but the tomatoes are ripening.  By mid-May, you should put some sort of shade cloth protection for your tomatoes.

I am thrilled with how well my bush beans are producing.  I have six plants and they produce enough for us to eat for dinner once a week.  I take the extra and blanch them for 3 minutes and then place them in ice water before freezing them as well.

The end of May is also time that I start canning.

The peaches at Double S Farms (my mother & sister’s family residence) are heavy with sweet fruit.

The trees are so generous that my other sister and I have plenty to make into jam, even after my mother has made hers.

I made three batches so far and have also tried my hand at making ‘Peach Cider Vinegar’, which I will share later.

Soon, the plums at Double S Farms will ripen and then the apples, which I will can as well 🙂

Last Sunday was my son, Kai’s 10th birthday.  We had a family celebration with his grandmothers, aunts, uncles and cousins present along with his best friend.

Monday morning, Kai went on a flight in a two-seat airplane based at our local airport.

Kai was excited, but also a little nervous.

His best-friend’s father was the pilot.

Kai was strapped in and all ready to go.

Up in the air and having a great time!

After his flight, we headed to Target with along with his best friend so he could use his gift cards.

Not surprisingly, he used them all to buy more Pokemon cards….his friend also bought some too.

Kai had the best day organizing his cards and trading with his friends.

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I hope you all are having a great week!

Snapshot of a Summer Week in the Garden

Noelle Johnson, aka, 'AZ Plant Lady' is a author, horticulturist, and landscape consultant who helps people learn how to create, grow, and maintain beautiful desert gardens that thrive in a hot, dry climate. She does this through her consulting services, her online class Desert Gardening 101, and her monthly membership club, Through the Garden Gate. As she likes to tell desert-dwellers, "Gardening in the desert isn't hard, but it is different."