Early Harvest: Pesto Farm 3000 is a Go

Seriously, pesto is my favorite. That's the reason why I have so many basil plants, which all seem to be thriving, yay!

About a month ago, I propagated a couple cuttings from my original basil plant. They sat in a glass of water for a week, seemingly doing nothing, until one day: BAM, roots. Awesome! In the interest of science, I took another cutting from the same plant, didn't wait for it to grow roots, and stuck it in the same soil. It seemed very unhappy at first, but now look at it! Seems to be doing fine.

I read that it's good to keep your herbs on their toes by getting rid of flowers (check!) and also to knock them down to size frequently. In my (admittedly limited) experience, basil doesn't store in the fridge as well as, say, rosemary or thyme, so I have to use it right away. So, I needed to get rid of the huge, huge bowl of basil that I'd liberated from its home. Pesto time!

I didn't have any nuts, of any kind. I only had basil; cheap, grated parmasan cheese; olive oil; and garlic. The internets say it's possible, though, to make nutless pesto, so I was on my way.

Here's what I did:

Filled my 10-cup food processor about 3/4 full with loose basil leaves
Chopped up three, maybe four (sorry, don't know!) cloves of garlic
Added about 1/2-3/4 cup of parm cheese
Started the food processor
Realized at this point that my pesto needed some bulk, so looked at the rest of the herbs that I'd just harvested, and decided on adding a few leaves of sage
Added olive oil until the stuff in the processor had a pesto-like consistency
Rejoiced!

I'm patting myself so hard on my head right now, you guys, you just don't know, because the sage turned out to be really cool in the pesto. However, it still didn't go very far. I got about two, small jars out of all of this, and it's air-sensitive, so I topped each of the jars with some olive oil to keep it from turning brownish (ugh, didn't notice it did that before with store-bought stuff.) No worries, though, because it's not lasting long.

The first thing I did was make pesto mayonnaise to go with fries (Sean made dinner). I didn't take a picture of this, but I'm guessing you could imagine it looked like mayo with some green stuff in it. The ingredients were:

1 tbsp-ish of pesto
2 tbsp-ish of mayo

It was awesome because it was basically a little ramekin filled with fat and herbs. You can't go wrong.

Next thing I tried was pasta.

1/2 bag linguini, cooked
1 6 oz strip steak, sliced and cooked to medium well, unfortunately, because the steak was really thin.
2 tbsp pesto
A few grape tomatoes (from my garden!!!!), quartered and sauteed in butter
Random herbs (from my garden!!!!), I think thyme, rosemary, and parsley
Alfredo sauce, because screw it, we're already full of carbs and fat anyway.

Cook the linguini, cook the grape tomatoes and steak, when it's all done throw it together with the pasta and the sauces. It looked like this. I was pleased.

And my favorite thing: pizzas with pesto. You need:

Round pita bread
Pesto
Pizza toppings (I did pepperoni, tomatoes (from the garden!!!) and immature purple bell peppers (they keep rotting on the vine so I pick them young)
Mozzarella cheese (or whatever you like)

Heat the oven to, like 425, or whatever. Take your pitas, spread pesto on, add cheese and toppings. Put in the oven until the cheese is bubbly and the peppers and tomatoes look a little wilted. Then shove unceremoniously into your face because it was really damn good.

In fact, I might have one after I add more wood chips to the smoker.

So, that's what I've been doing with my pesto farm. It is fun and rewarding!

The artichoke is dead. Long live the artichoke. Also: companion planting

After a short battle with aphids, and some really regrettable pesticide choices, my artichoke plant is officially dead. The pot is now a compost bin. Hate you, aphids. You're the worst.

Good news is everything else is doing OK. I've been a complete Pinterest addict lately, shameful, useless time that I'll never get back, but I found this neat chart for plants that go well together, realizing with horror that the placement of dill by my brussels sprouts was ALL WRONG.

Since Brussels Sprouts are cousins (I think) to cauliflower and broccoli, I just went by those recommendations. I also don't know how asparagus fits into this equation. I guess we'll see.

At any rate, here's the new plant configuration:

Everything in its place. Stuck the marigolds in the middle of the tomatoes, and then added some basil to the circle. The herbs are all next to each other--luckily, none of the herbs in the same container have major conflicts--and the Brussels Sprouts and asparagus are up against the deck wall. Neat! Oh and the Pickles plant basically moves wherever she wants.

Decided to put the parsley next to the peppers. I was originally doubtful of this configuration since the parsley is supposed to be part-sun...and honestly, it hasn't been growing super well in its new spot, so maybe I'll move it back. But the peppers are all supposed to be friends. Let's roll with it.

So, that's exciting. Yay! I haven't been posting a lot of stuff lately, but I have been saving it up. I have nothing to do today but run the smoker, pick at my plants, and (to be honest) day drink, so there might be a lot of random crap posted.

Tarragon and corn are a match made in heaven

Gah, I haven't even had this blog for a month and already I'm slipping. Whoops. Things are still going mostly well. I harvested my first couple of jalepenos, and about 10 grape tomatoes, but my artichoke plant, I'm pretty sure, is totally, just, dead. It's so depressing, and I keep procrastinating when it comes to just tossing the damn thing. So, that's that, in a nutshell. I also have some jacked up mold stuff on my tomatoes, but they seem to be otherwise healthy. I'll try to get some more pictures up soon.

However, the point of this post is that I finally hacked into my tarragon plant, and I'm going to make corn on the cob a la amazingribs.com. Oh my God, this is the only way to make it. The first time I did it, I used thyme along with the tarragon, and it was still pretty good. But after trying it pure, I'm never going back. There is something magic about tarragon and corn together, and of course, with butter to tie it altogether.

So, there's my public service announcement on this lazy Sunday. Steep tarragon in butter, grill your corn, be happy. That's all!

"They can't all be winners, kid." Failure on the Farm.

One of my favorite lines from one of my favorite movies: Santa to "Kid" in Bad Santa. It just fits in every scenario. I go into every hobby thinking I will be the best, a natural, and I fall way below my exacting standards and usually give up. Not this time. Things aren't exactly awesome on the homestead, but I'm far from giving up. Let's take a look.

Sara's Fails

Let's just get this out of the way here. We have what I believe is our first casualty of the year. Sorry, Violas. I thought you could take the heat. They were perfectly fine when I watered them last night. Now, they have the texture of cooked spaghetti and appear to have given up on life. I'll monitor them over the next couple days, but if they're not better by Saturday, a burial may be in order.

My poor artichoke plant has aphids. Bleargh. I thought it was just dirt (because I am an IDIOT) but the other day, I was all like, "Hmm...my artichokes don't look so goo...oh my God that dirt is moving." I've been looking up all natural solutions to this, but the end result might be the just trashing the plant. Not going to give up yet.

I didn't know cilantro was supposed to look like that! Because it's not. I don't use a ton of cilantro, so I don't care that much, and the flowers are kind of pretty, so, meh. Whatever. My parsley is doing well though. Harvested a whole bunch of it over the weekend, and it's bouncing back like a champ.

Eeeh. Separated tomatoes aren't doing so hot, either. I call the one on the left my Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. It hasn't grown, vertically or horizontally, at all, but there are new buds forming, so I haven't lost hope. Also, I've been obsessively checking the three wee tomatoes on the plant on the right for signs of rot, thinking that the plant is just giving up. Well, the tomatoes keep growing, even if the plant isn't. So, once again, wait and see. I might have to repot Charlie Brown.

This sprout needs to be repotted, forthwith. It is not pleased to be in that tiny little pot. It appears to be growing, somewhat, and I hope it's not too late. There are little buds on the stem which signal the appearance of Brussels sprouts at some point in the future. Also, it's being eaten by something. I really, really need to look into pesticide.

And...onto the (this far) successes!

My jalapeno has, like, six peppers on it, in varying stages of growth!!! Eeeee! In fact, my habaneros and bell peppers are doing OK as well. There still aren't any actual peppers on those, but there are lots and lots of buds. So, if anything, we'll always have peppers.

The sprouts that have suitable living conditions, despite being a little bitten up, seem to be doing quite well. So does my asparagus. The more I read, the more worried I get that I am not going to be able to eat it this year. The challenge, in this case, will be keeping the damn thing alive over the winter.

And here come my lovely herbs to make me feel like less of a failure! Look at that forest of dill! I hacked A TON of it off over the weekend, as well. Seriously, like I took away a third of that plant, and it's bounced back like crazy. I'm concerned about my basil, but other than that, my biggest problem with the herbs is that I don't have enough ways to use them (or the time to cook with them the way I'd like to).

Yay, at least some of my serranos are doing something. I still don't think I'll be able to harvest before Christmas, but I'm convinced I will get at least one pepper out of the pack of them.

Last year, my lavender was super depressed, so this makes me happy that it's growing like crazy. I think it and the marigolds (the ones that aren't in the death pot with the violas, anyway)get along quite well and are helping each other. And finally, my white whale...Tarragon!!!

It has FINALLY tripled in size from when I first got it! Hallelujah!!! I think I need to repot, though. Pretty soon it's going to outgrow its space, and we cannot have that!

I plan on having a super productive day on Saturday (no rain, got it????) repotting, and burying, and de-infesting, whatever the case may be. So, look forward to (if you care, which, seriously, I don't think anybody reads this, but isn't it a nice record of the growth??) more updates on Saturday!

Soundtrack

Let's talk about our favorite 70's bands and how they don't get enough credit for shaping the musical landscape. I think that any movie about anything and starring anybody could be scored with music exclusively from the 70's.

Starting with:

Teenage Disappointment: The Musical

Dreams by Fleetwood Mac

The protagonist sits in a car in the rain, watching the person she loves run into shelter with another girl or boy. She vows to never feel this way again and to create an empire. A makeup empire.

Don't Stop Me Now by Queen

A montage of the protagonist's efforts at perfecting the chemistry of eye makeup, interspersed with visuals of disastrous first and second efforts, and ending in a spectacularly elaborate smoky eye, the likes of which I could never achieve, but anyway. My site, my pretend musical, shut up.

Turn to Stone by ELO

Our protagonist is high on the power of excellent cosmetics, forgetting her best friend, X, who has been with her every step of the way. Our protagonist thinks, "I don't need you, X! It's not like you helped me discover this formula or anything!" But X totally helped. Anyway, it's not a perfect analogy. Just work with me.

If You Leave Me Now by Chicago

(Real talk: I wanted to use "Hard to say I'm Sorry", but that was from the 80's. Dammit. Theory disproved. However, in the spirit of making the best of it, we're taking what we get.) Our protagonist walks, gazing straight at navel, down a city street. She looks side to side, slightly dazed from sadness, noticing things that she and her X both loved together. A gyro shop, a constantly burning tire pile...am I just thinking of things from The Simpsons now? OK, moving on. Yes, I'm exhausted with this too.

Take the Long Way Home by Supertramp

The whole reason I made this stupid list. I need to sing praises to this song as much as I possibly can. Luckily, X accepts protagonists apology, realizing the silly and petty nature of their disagreement in the first place. They hold hands and skip off into a dazzling sunset with the skyline in view. Their makeup looks INCREDIBLE.

Bonus track!

Pinball Wizard by, I guess, the Who and Elton John? I don't know about those politics. I just think this song would be fun for a triumphant moment during a movie.

So, that happened, and for some reason I had to get that out tonight. Next on Random Crap theater, I rank my favorite STDs.

Surefire winner

I always feel guilty having a good day when somebody I know is in the shit. One of my very closest friends is going through something totally awful, unfathomable, even. It is with that in mind that I attempt to temper the fact that I'm in a better mood than I have been in recent memory.

It comes down to the fact that I am a simple woman with simple needs. For me to be in a good mood, I need:

1. For my hair to look OK to good
2. Sunshine
3. To feel competent at work
4. An insane amount of caffeine

If two out of those four come together, I'm usually going to be alright. Today, for the first time in what feels like ages, it's sunny in St. Louis; a colleague made the crazy coffee, which was completely opaque and totally tasted like liquorice (which is somehow OK when it's actually coffee); hair didn't look like I belonged on the mental ward; and yes, I didn't feel like an idiot at any point of the work day, which has never happened.

Bearing that in mind, my heart and head are still with my buddy. You know who you are, and I love you.

OK, enough about me, let's talk plants.

The repotted tomatoes aren't doing awesome, but the bigger one (Siamese twins) had its first tomatoes pop over the weekend. I'm good with that.

I call him Buckwheat. I need to find more things to do with Thyme. Which is, like, anything, so I guess I just need to start cooking at home more.

Dill is still going nuts. I plan on culling it quite a bit this weekend--making tzatziki and straight up dill dip to go with a rye round.

My serranos are doing alright, too. These are the ones I grew from seeds. They'll probably give fruit around Christmas, but whatever.

I've finally gotten less precious about my parsley, realizing that it will continue to grow as long as I continue to water it.

And look! My first jalepeno!!!!!! Eeeeeee!!!! Habaneros and bells, get to work!

I do believe that, in the 15 minutes it took for me to finish this post, that I have angered my troubled friend in my seriously misguided attempts to help with "humor". I love you, friend going through the shit, even if I'm a jackass and my jokes aren't as funny as I think they are.

Hope everybody else is doing alright. Sara, out.

Ennui

Hate rain in June.  It's been rainy and depressing since Saturday.  Plants are fine but don't want to my phone out in the rain for pictures.  Dill is going nuts, it's really out of control, and I have an honest to God jalapeño that's appeared! Come on, weather.  Give me something to work with. <p>

In the meantime, I have ice cream and Orange is the New Black.  Totally unrelated factoid: I have not had any meat today.  I toy around with going vegetarian, occasionally, and it never sticks.  Today, it wasn't intentional, necessarily, but now that I'm on a roll, I might try to keep it going.  Who knows.  Thank God there's no meat in booze.  Or ice cream.