The Almighty Push

It is the almighty push to get the harvesting done, along with the canning and freezing. I feel  pressured all around. What's the dilemma, you might say.  Its getting close to the time I leave for my once in a life time trip to Europe. Of course when planning this trip, I didn't take in consideration that my garden would be copiously producing large amounts of veggies! It is probably one of the best gardens I have ever had. My goodness, the tomatoes are late but large and just starting to turn red.

Weighing over two pounds!

Yesterday, I tackled the pepper crop. I made some jalapeño jelly. Yum, I love the sweet and hot of it all. 

I also roasted green chilies and froze them along with bell, cayenne, and banana peppers. Whew, some were flaming hot. When cooking the jelly my respiratory track was irritated to say the least!

I still have beans coming on and had to picked some more. I will probably will freeze them. Hopefully, Jessamyn will make the trek here Tuesday to help me with the great grape harvest. The plan is to make grape jelly and juice.

Grapes hidden but ready to pick.

It will be a race to see who gets to the grapes first, us or the birds...

Farming Is My Game

Farming is my game for sure. Harvesting and getting tired of it already. Have given much produce to my family, neighbors and friends. I am thankful for the bounty and glad I am able to share my windfall. Beets were on the docket yesterday. Pickled some and froze the beet greens. Nothing goes to waste on the old beet!

Saturday I picked up a bushel of corn at the church bizarre and froze the corn in their husks. Hope they turn out! It was a lot easier than blanching, cooling and cutting the corn off the cob. All you have to do is pull a couple out of the freezer and put them directly into boiling water, microwave or grill. Sounds good to me. The grapes are about ready to be picked also and jelly will be made. Hopefully the tomatoes will start turning before I leave on my European adventure. There are some on the vine that are the size of grapefruit or larger!

Faith Of Our Parents

Its has been a weekend of jam packed activities. I traveled to the valley and headed to Paqui's house Friday afternoon with Rico in tow. Our assignment was to watch the kids while Paqui and Marc attended Paqui's 20th high school reunion. Did I say 20th reunion? Let me see, that makes my high school anniversary at 42! Oh...I did the math, can it really be that long ago that I graduated? Life continues on whether we are ready or not. 

Jessamyn and her family arrived at Paqui's Saturday afternoon. We had a cookout with Marc's family celebrating Jarret's 13th birthday and Breqkon's upcoming baptism Sunday morning. Marc's brother Danny and his wife Renee from Phoenix and Jessamyn and Jay are Breqkon's sponsors. We had some great garden food plus the traditional hamburgers and hot dogs.

Happy 13th birthday, a true teenager now!

Sunday Breqkon was baptized. We have been blessed with a little guy that is so trusting and good natured. He is truly God's gift to our families! We will always stand by him in his faith.

Happy little man!

After the service Pastor Juan and the Mitchell United Methodist Church put on a grand potluck meal with wonderful musical entertainment. It brought back all the memories of when Brian sang Zeyda's song in the very same church when she was baptized. James was able to attend on his way home from Sturgis 2013. We are glad he did so he could represent Brian's side of the family. 

Harvesting

Harvesting both minds and gardens. I have tended my twelve nursing assistants through seven weeks of schooling. They have made me proud and all graduated with their certificates. They all had A's except one B+. It is exciting to know you initiated these students into the health field; some are on their way to nursing school.

I have also been tending my garden and picked a bushel or more of beans. Other veggies have also been picked like cucumbers, onions, beets, zucchini, peppers, and lettuce. Way too much for this gardener. That is the pleasure of it all, to be able to give the bounty away to my kids and neighbors. the following is a pictorial of my wonderful produce.

 

Breqkon

Growing too: 6 month update...weight 19 lb. 15.5 oz (87th percentile). Height 27 & 3/4 inches (89th percentile).