Harvest Monday

It has finally reach a level of hotness that feels like summer here... You know, the kind of days that start and end with sweat? I'm not complaining, really, I'm not. Because I was just complaining about it not being hot, and not feeling like summer. Har!

Right after breakfast yesterday morning, I pulled everyone outside to help harvest plums before the sun cooked us. I'm pretty sure our tree is a Santa Rosa variety... We're right on time with last year's harvest at the end of June.

From Gardening For You:

"The Santa Rosa plum is probably one of the most popular plums in Arizona and California. Whilst the Santa Rosa plum tree is partly  self  fertile, hardy and upright,  the plums need no pollenizer, (but the plum  crop would increase with a pollenizer close by). Santa Rosa plum trees  produce medium-large plums that have a crimson reddish skin which is slightly freckled yet the flesh of the plum is amber with a tinge of red, this  is a firm plum that is aromatic, sweet and juicy, but near the pit it is quite acid."

We should've gotten out there a few days sooner, but just didn't have the time...

Since our harvesting method from last year worked so well, we used it again. With two of us holding a bed sheet under the tree, and the third shaking the branches with our limb cutter (which DH showed me that it does extend... Grrrr--I could've reached all those cherries that needed to be harvested earlier this month!), we harvested 11.5 pounds! There are a lot more plums that are ripening, so we'll get one more round off the tree later this week.

I took the boys to a friend's house this morning to play in the pool, and traded two pounds of plums for 4 pounds of loquats. I have absolutely no idea what I'll do with them, but it was neat exchanging fruit. Did you know that loquat seeds contain cyanide?

I also harvested 4 ounces of green and yellow beans. I steamed them with CSA broccoli and sea salt, and threw them into farro with torpedo onions and zucchini (both from CSA) I had leftover from the previous night.

It's going to be pretty busy around here this coming week, so I may only post again with my CSA update. I'm off to clean for the next 48 hours, and then my mother-in-law arrives for a week-long visit. I can't wait! I get along exceptionally well with her, and haven't seen her since our visit home in October...

Each week Daphne over at Daphne's Dandelions hosts Harvest Monday. Check out her page to see what other's have been munchin' and crunchin' on this week.