A taste of Spring

This past weekend proved to be quite gorgeous in terms of weather...highs in the 60's and intermittent sunshine.

And altho the kids loved spending it outside...Im sure doing yard work wasnt what they had in mind.

At any rate....I looked at this flowerbed for the millionth time and said enough was enough. It was time for a little bit of Spring cleaning.

We got to work and began clearing out all the debris from last season and loaded it up in my trusty wagon. That wagon is looking a little weary these days. But not to worry...it got all fixed up by S as we were working.

G is telling me that raking is a whole lot of hard work.

Now hes putting a little emphasis on that statement by telling me just how worn out he is. Being 4 is really hard at times.

Lucky for him he has a really great big brother who offered to help.

And that break wasnt very long lived. Before I knew it G was in the back yard starting on a whole new spot.

Water and soap are always attractive to a 4 year old.

After very specific instruction he says hes ready for a go at it all on his own.

We were all very happy to see brand new green growth. Soon to be tulips to be exact.

And look! Even a tiny bit of color with some precious yellow crocuses.

Between the 4 of us, we busted out those flower beds. And now when I walk by this one....not only does it make me happy that its all pretty and clean, but it reminds me that Spring really is just around the corner.

Second verse same as the first

Only this time with pears.

We harvested about 10 gallons of pears from our Bartlett tree. The Anjou tree didnt do nearly as well...we had some to eat fresh, but not to preserve. Maybe next year will be better for them. Or us.

Pears can be a little tricky. It is a little known fact that pears are actually supposed to be harvested before they ripen. No ripening on the tree is what the research says. You want to pick them when they are mature, but not ripe...and that can be a very tricky thing. And once they are mature and you pick them, depending on the variety, they are then supposed to rest in a very cool place for anywhere from a couple days to appx 30 days. This can prove to be difficult to accomplish when you live in the desert.

At any rate, after a good scrubbin in the sink...

It was time to get to work. First order of business was pearsauce. Upon making the sauce tho, I realized that it just had a lot more moisture in it then when I made the applesauce. It was going to take forever to cook down. And I didnt want pear butter...altho, that does sound tasty.

To remedy the moisture issue, I decided to grab the jelly bag and pour the cooked and already strained pears through that.

It worked like a dream. The sauce turned out very nice and thick.

And it was a win win for me. Straining the pears for a second time left me with a very nice version of pear juice.

A little over 3 quarts of it actually.

Enough for 2 batches of pear jelly. Which gave me 18 jars.

And, of course, not to be forgotten are the pear crisps. Oh my goodness...they are heavenly.

I tell you what...these are not gonna make it till winter. As much as I would love to eat a nice, warm pear crisp this winter....yeah, Im thinking Ill be doing good to have any left by Thanksgiving.

And G was all business when he was capping these off.

He got really, really fast by the time we were all done.

And did I happen to mention that I have about 8 more wagon loads just like this that are waiting to be processed??? Anyone wanna come help me puree some pumpkins? I think I may have been a little over zealous in my pumpkin planting!

Jeez

I cant seem to keep up.

And dont even get me started on sneaky zucchini.

Garden surprises

I have been in the garden...for days. Quite literally, the weeds have taken over my garden. Im not even going to show you just how many zombie weeds are in there. Just know, its not good. Not good at all. I pull one and return the next day to see 3 in its place.

Aside from that tho...Im happy to say that the apricots have been going strong for the past couple weeks.

The green beans are super yummy.

The garlic was planted by the previous owners, so I dont have any idea what kind I have, but I do know that this particular one came from a group of hard neck garlic.

Hence, the scape you see. I left the scapes on this season. Not for any real reason other than I just didnt cut them off.

Imagine my surprise when right next to the little hard neck garlic I found...I unearthed this puppy.

Look at the size of this guy.

Now look at the little guy.

The size of that big guy just amazed me. And he wasnt the only one in there. I think I came away with about 10 of those big guys. The main difference between the 2 heads of garlic (besides the size) was that the smaller guy scaped and the bigger guy did not. So, is the bigger guy a soft neck? Did the absence of a scape make the garlic larger? I just have no idea.

A little further away in the garden, I was checking on my lovely tomatoes. All of which came from my friend, danni. She started them from seed and then took care of them for me as I was making my big move across the country.

This particular tomato is called Itty Bitty.

And itty bitty it is.


The tomato anyway.

The actual plant on the other hand is a huge sprawling thing.

Can you see how different it is growing compared to my more upright tomatoes?

This gardening season has been full of surprises for me. And even tho the weeds are making me crazy...I am in love with all the fresh produce that I am harvesting every day. It makes me very, very happy to be able to walk to my garden and bring in such plentiful bounties.

Its that time

So, about two weeks ago, the neighbors that live behind us "warned" us that their cherry guy (also known as the guy who sprays their cherry trees) said that the cherries would be ripe for the picking very, very soon.

Well, this week appears to be soon.


For the most part, anyway.

And even tho our tree is a dwarf cherry tree....yes, I still need to use a ladder.

Can you see them in there?

G is checking it out to make sure that it doesnt have any flaws. At the same time he is letting me know that he thinks it quite odd that someone would plant a tree that grows sour cherries.

Along with our one sour cherry tree, we also have 2 pear trees.

Bartlett


Anjou

We have one plum tree.


One apricot tree.


And 4 apple trees.

2 granny smith

And 2 that are some kinda "delicious" variety.

So we are told anyway....thats all subject to change upon reaching harvest time. When we can see things fully ripened and draw our final conclusions.

I think we made a pretty good haul of cherries for our very first harvest. 3 pounds and 2.25 ounces to be exact.

Without a doubt, I can say that cherry season has just begun.

So, if you need me, Ill be in the tree.