Peggy Sue Sorensen
Did you know that tasty chips can be made from a mesquite tree bean pod? When most people hear of mesquite, they think of the wood that’s used to grill food. People are surprised to discover that the bean pods on the mesquite tree produce one of the sweetest treats in the Southwest. Peggy Sue Sorensen and Mike Clow will show members and guests how to identify a mesquite tree and how to harvest the bean pods and grind them into flour. They’ll also share how to prepare the pods into yummy food and drink, with samples for everyone to try. Peggy Sue of The Desert Kitchen is a wild-foods enthusiast who enjoys helping people discover the edible cacti, trees, and weeds that grow all around us but are not recognized as food. Mike of Desert Life Ranch is an engineer and entrepreneur who also enjoys spreading the word about many of the edible plants in the Southwest desert. Peggy Sue will bring homemade items to sell, including mesquite flour, organic apple butter, organic pear butter, organic prickly pear apple sauce, fire cider tonic*, and fire cider chutney* (*ingredients: ginger, turmeric, horseradish, onion, garlic, lemon, apple cider vinegar).
Visitors are always welcome to attend a meeting or field trip before deciding to join. Members with no previous gardening experience are welcome and not required to live in Sun Lakes.
We meet every third Tuesday of the month, all year. Attendees gather at 9:30 a.m. to socialize and enjoy amazing refreshments and coffee. During this first half hour, we greet visitors and check out gardening books from our reference library and purchase any raffle tickets. There is also a “Free Stuff” table where members donate citrus or herbs or plants for other members. The meeting is called to order at 10 a.m.
Check out our monthly newsletters and “Resources” section on our website at SunLakesGardenClub.org. There is an option to “Join” online under the “Membership” option. Club memberships are only $20 per year, and a spouse or second member in the household is only $10 per year. The meeting location is the Chapel Center (house next door to Sun Lakes All Faiths Community Church and across the street from the Sun Lakes Country Club), at 9230 E. Sun Lakes Blvd. N., in Sun Lakes.