The Harvest, and Some Lessons Along the Way

Mini-Cuisinart, faithfully, doing her 'thing'..

 Pesto in 4 ounce containers...

...and more

...and more

...around 40 containers...that's alot of pesto!!!

Some of the dried lavender...love love love..

So, here we are nearing the end of September. The holiday of Sukkot, is a celebration which includes food related to the autumn harvest and is commonly called 'season of our joy.' I seem to be right on schedule as far as the harvest goes, and I am rejoicing in what looks like a good harvest, considering what the garden endured this season. Planting was a little later than last year because of the cool Spring, then there were 2 hail storms, which chewed up some of the more delicate leaves from the purple basil. I swept away alot of growth, yet the garden lived on. A miracle, I thought, that anything survived. Then while we were away for a few days, yet another hail storm. I did not know what to expect when I came home. Again, some more losses, but the garden still lived and was yielding plenty. The tomatoes did not stop growing, the basil, although much was lost, much was still there, the oregano was not phased. (Cilantro, dill already cut back and the peppers were still growing, even now, still flowering, the lavender has been harvested all summer...ahhh, the lavender!!!). Then, a week of heavy rains, which produced massive flooding, the size of the state of Connecticut, hit Colorado. We started the Summer w/ the Black Forest fire and ended w/ this enormously destructive and deadly flood. The life lesson, obvious to me.  There will be storms which will test and try us. We are not sheltered, like greenhouse plants. Hopefully, our roots are deep enough to withstand the storms, which will most definitely come, and we will be like weather beaten oak trees. Okay, a little dramatic, but, true, nonetheless.

All that to say, I have been making alot of pesto w/ the basil. I have been harvesting a little at a time and freezing it in 4 ounce containers. I know from last Summer that it will do very well in the freezer for a year, as was proven by the last batch from last years' haul. Still so delicious. (Now, let's see if the dry ice shipping 'experiment' will work!!) I remain the grateful little gardener, enjoying sharing, and eating the fruits of my labor!

' For everything there is a season,
    a time for every activity under heaven. 

A time to be born and a time to die.    
 A time to plant and a time to harvest.'

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2