On 8/5/2017 8:26 PM, Wayne Boatwright wrote:
> On Thu 03 Aug 2017 08:04:45a, George Shirley told us...
>
>> Yesterday we picked a peck of basil, washed it down, patted it dry
>> between old towels (handiest things in the world), then into the
>> dehydrator, all ten piled up. Let the dehydrator run from about
>> 9pm last night until about 7am this morning. Just right dryness so
>> into our miscellaneous containers we hoard and now in the darkness
>> of the canning pantry. That's a lot of basil but our many
>> children, grands, etc. like to get free stuff and we use a lot of
>> basil in homemade dishes.
>>
>> Looks like rain all this week but we need the water. So, we're
>> thinking of another rain dance, behind the six foot fence of
>> course, don't want to have the police called on me jumping around
>> with feathers and a breech cloth. It ain't a pretty sight at my
>> age but, sometimes, the rain does come.
>>
>> George
>>
>
> I wish we had easy access to large quantities of basil. I like to use
> it in so many things, and if I make pesto it takes quite a lot of it.
> When I do make pesto I freeze it and it tastes like it was just made
> when it's thawed and used on pasta or in some other dishes or sauces.
>
Easy enough Wayne, we lived in a "town house" in Saudi and I made wooden
"pots", filled with store bought dirt, etc. and had all the herbs we
wanted. Get you a couple of pots on your patio, mix "Black Cow", sand
and dirt, plant the seeds and jump back. Your climate is almost the same
as when we lived overseas. Herbs like sun and heat as long as they get
water. A sleeve of basil seeds is dirt cheap at most stores that carry
seeds.

We just pulled our crop of basil and we washed, air dried, then
dehydrated three one gallon plastic bags and into the pantry in the
dark. As the basil was growing we pulled leaves for our iced tea, wife
makes basil tea for coughs, etc. plus she just likes it.

We had a little strip of sand along the patio wall that had some
veggies, etc. growing in it. I built a shade and screwed it on a wall
there and hung my orchid collection under it. They did well and we sold
them at a premium when we left Saudi to go home. We had some exotic
flower trees there too. If the place you live in allows such things you
can do wonders without a lot of money and work.

I'm sitting here hoping the clouds I see this morning have some rain in
them. Electric bills here are going sky high, two days of 100 to 101
Fahrenheit drives the AC harder. This has been a strange year for
Houston area, January dropped two hard freezes on us and now we're
broiling. I could probably make some beef jerky out there.

George