Green

I just harvested 9 cups of basil from my garden on growth-tipping* alone. 9 cups. That's so much basil I had to bring it inside in stages because it was too much to fit into my harvesting basket. That's 9 compressed cups, pressed down into the measuring jug so they don't all explode green and leafy out over the top and all over my kitchen. 9 freaking cups of basil.

I don't think it's too early to suggest that I've fucking rocked at basil this year. I've definitely made my money back- $2.50 for a packet of seeds, about $15 worth of potting mix, and as a result: more basil than I know what to do with. Given that I used to have $4 bunches of basil in my shopping basket every week or so, I'm coming out way ahead.

I'm going to make pesto out of the basil and freeze batches of it. I already have frozen shredded zucchini in my freezer for soup & baking projects. Growing enough food to freeze, even in small quantities, makes me feel all sort of Laura Ingalls Wilder, 'putting up' food for the winter.

*: Growth tipping is where you pinch out the very end of a stalk, just down to where the next leaf joint is, so that those leaf joints grow out into their own branches and you wind up with a broad & bushy plant rather than a long & leggy one.