The monsoons continue here, and things are really greening up. Every day that it rains, we hope it is not the end. It is beautiful and looks so different from how the land looked just a month or so ago.

Other miscellanea for this week…. We have eaten some unusual, truly native food. First, we ate some seeds from  acorns. They were really good, something between a pine nut and a pumpkin seed. I’m thinking of making pesto from some of them. (We have far too many to plant them all.) We also harvested some prickly pears and made lemonade and cocktails from them. For those unfamiliar, prickly pears are the dark red fruits that grow atop a certain type of cactus. We have lots here. They are not only exquisitely colored but delicious.

We had a very nice hike down “our” Horseshoe Canyon Friday.

The garden is doing great. The cucumbers finally have fruit. We have one tomato ready to harvest and several more on the way. We’ve been eating beans and green onions, and they are delicious. The eggplants look very healthy, but no blooms yet.  I’ve transplanted a few watermelon plants outside. They are very spindly and small, but we’ll see.

(Also for anyone interested, here is a post I did for the farm this week on freezing food that has some good tips in it. This week, I’ve been doing a lot of cooking and freezing for the farm. I am officially sick of zucchini! I know we’ll all enjoy it in the winter though.)

Wildlife sightings this week include our bobcat (who we haven’t seen for a couple weeks), a horned lizard, a few desert turtles, and lots and lots of bats in the evenings. They must love all the bugs that are around right now.

On the house, I’ve been working on the bathroom door. Brad’s been doing several miscellaneous catch-up projects while we wait for the consultation on framing for the next house so we can begin on that. I am hoping to get the much-requested  “walk-through” video of the house done this week.

And my big project for work is done! Yay!