Saturday, June 9, 2007

Garden News

Bee on a bean leaf

Yesterday I took the camera out to take a picture of Clarisse, the goat. She was laying flat out in her pen in the sun. She looked like she was dead. I don't make a habit of taking pictures of dead animals. I knew she was just basking. I wanted to take a picture to show everyone because it's kind of funny.

My neighbor's pygmy goat has done that to me a few times too. I've seen him laying in his grass, not moving. I'll talk to him, but not even his ear flickers. Then I start moving towards him, and my adrenaline starts pumping. I've actually had to reach through the fence to poke him and then he jumps up all indignant.

Our garden

Anyway, by the time I got back to Clarisse she had returned from la la land and she was mosying around her pen. Not wanting to waste a good photo op, I turned to the garden.

So far I'm very pleased with how it's turned out. The weeds haven't gotten away from me this year. I guess it really does take just a little bit of effort. Every other day or so I go through and tuck the wayward tomatoes back into their cages and dig up any weeds I notice. It also helps that we didn't plant as much stuff in the garden this year as in past years.

Health Kick tomatoes

The pepper plants also have peppers. Now I just need the tomatoes to get red so I can start making salsa!

Jalapeno peppers
My grapes are doing better than they ever have. About three years ago I thought about making wine and ordered two grape plants, a Muscat and a Gewuerztraminer. I figured even if I didn't go through with it the grapes would still be good to eat. When I finally got them from the mail order company out of Washington State, I had to laugh because the plants themselves actually came from Kern County!

Lots of grapes this year!

The basil has been growing very well and there was finally enough to make a pesto. My husband decided to have pesto pasta for dinner so I made some for him. It's really easy and delicious.

The basil, between the grape and chives.

Here's what you need: olive oil, garlic, parmesan cheese (I prefer the shredded), salt, and of course fresh basil.


Put about a handful of basil and three large garlic cloves in the blender.


Turn on the blender til the garlic is chopped up. It's already smelling good!



With the blender on a low speed, slowly add the olive oil. The basil leaves should all start blending together. Stop when it reaches a thick, but still slightly runny consistency. Some people add pinon nuts but I don't think that's necessary.

Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/3 cup parmesan. Blend for another 30 seconds. It should look something like this:

Mix with your favorite pasta. I like to sprinkle a little more parmesan on top for good measure.


Enjoy!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh, that looks sooo good! To heck with the diet - give me pesto and pasta!