Hello Monday - hello Abundance!

Good morning everyone!

I hope all you Mothers out there had a fantastic day with your loved ones!

I sure did! We set out really early (6.20 AM) to Schnepf Farms in Queen Creek, an organic u-pick farm. They opened the peach orchards just the day before for picking, and lovely sweet smelling (and tasting) organic peaches were a-plenty!

 

 

We also got some wonderful apricots. There’s just nothing like freshly picked organic! So good! So juicy! So bursting with real flavor!

Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything much in terms of vegetables,  which was a bit of a disappointment for me!Luckily, we are not too far away from our own garden-fresh zucchinis and tomatoes! I just harvested the first zucchini this morning and there are more to come!

But it was a lovely trip and the kids sure enjoyed themselves, not only at the picking, but on the train ride around the farm, watching some very obliging peacocks up close, the petting zoo  and the general play area.

 

 

I just thought it was so funny, that in an orchard full of about one thousand or so peach trees, that were loaded with peaches, my boy would, excitedly, yell “I found one!” whenever he picked a ripe one. So cute!

And I love that even though my boy in particular, isn’t much of a fruit eater ( he still has some residual texture issues with juicy fruit, but he drinks it just fine in the veggie and fruit smoothies I make though,) his enthusiasm for picking the fruit was in no way dampened!

My girl, who could live on fruit and veggies alone, could hardly wait to lay into all that we were picking!

 

Since we were so early, we didn’t have to fight any crowds, or the blistering heat, so it was great!

 

 

Of course today, I’m busy with my abundance of peaches and apricots!

 

 

The apricots we’ll keep for eating, since we didn’t get too many, but most of the peaches will need freezing or canning within the next couple of days. I’m not much of a canned peaches fan, so I will mostly quarter and freeze them for morning smoothies, blender ice creams and peach cobblers/pies at a later date!

 

And when I went into my little backyard garden this morning, it became clear that I really needed to make a move (yet again) on my abundance of herbs.

I plant a lot of herbs every year, because I just LOVE fresh herbs for cooking. And every year, they go totally nuts in the yard and produce like crazy! Which means that about every three weeks or so, I process the bunches of herbs, that I haven’t either used in the kitchen on a daily basis, or given away, for freezing or drying.

 

 

This morning I started again, as this weekend seems to have brought a LOT of growth for the herbs! So, my countertops are loaded with bunches of Lovage, Dill, Winter Savory, Thyme, Lemon Thyme, Chives, Cinnamon Basil, regular Basil,  Tarragon, Parsley, Rosemary, Mint and Lemon Verbena, waiting to be prepared for the months to come, when our little garden will succumb to the blistering heat - until “Winter” finally brings some relief and with it a new opportunity to plant and grow!

 

But for now, I am thoroughly enjoying the abundance of great family time, good food and the amazing smells mingling in my kitchen! And I am so grateful for the abundance that is in my life!