Tomatoes and Peppers

Last Friday, I took a half day off of work to go tomato and pepper picking with Henry and my mom.  We had such a good time and we had near perfect weather for picking produce, overcast and about 68 degrees.

As we approached a crossroad, I asked Henry which way we should turn.  He said "hmmmmmm" while bringing his finger to his face as he contemplated.  He does this pretty often when he is thinking, and I think it is super cute.  He also will bring his hand to his ear when he is trying to figure out what a noise is and ask "whazzz that noisy???"

 While pepper picking, Henry thought it would be way more fun to sprinkle the plants with dirt instead.

 I can't get enough of this little dude!  Happy, happy.

After picking tomatoes and peppers, I spent the next day and a half canning various things.  I made a small batch of pear sauce with pears from my mom's garden, a small batch of pickles (since I still have a dozen jars from last year...but we get through more than 20 jars last year), and larger batches of pickled jalapeno rings and lots of canned tomatoes.  My mom used her half of the 80 lbs of tomatoes we picked in her dehydrator.  They were absolutely delicious.  This upcoming weekend I plan to try making some homemade spaghetti sauce with a jar of the canned tomatoes.  Spaghetti is one of Henry's favorite dinner selections.

Peach Picking

I recently took Henry and my mom peach picking at Bays Farm in Banks. They have a little slice of heaven up in the foothills where they grow various fruits. Henry of course had to start our adventure with a good look at the "lift it" (aka forklift tractor).  He loves all things with wheels, the bigger the better!

 Peek-a-boo.  "Mama find you!!!"  This is what Henry likes to say when he wants me to find him.

As I was busy picking peaches, Henry found a stray two-by-four on the farm.  Good thing it didn't have any nails!

After playing with the two-by-four, Henry discovered the rocks on the gravel road running through the middle of the farm.  I had to remind him that rocks are not meant for throwing like footballs.  He already has quite a little arm on him!

My mom and I quickly picked 57 lbs of peaches (3 buckets).  At first it didn't seem like all that many peaches when I dumped them out on my island, but then...

I stayed up until 2:30am canning 21 quarts of peaches and still had at least 20 lbs left over.  So, I proceeded to peel, cut and freeze 3 gallons of peaches.  Henry and I drank multiple peach smoothies throughout the weekend.  We ate a couple fresh peaches at each meal.  AND, I still had more peaches!  So, I made a peach crisp with about a dozen peaches to share with my mom and then shared about 5lbs of peaches with my next door neighbor.  Through this process, I discovered that 57lbs is indeed A LOT OF PEACHES!  It was a really fun adventure and it was exciting to try canning something new.  I will be happy this winter when we enjoy summer's bounty.

Happy Anniversary

Love, you make it all worthwhile.