basil, pigs and millet

tabitha and i processed most of the basil. picking each leaf from each plant got a little tedious. we decided that a bottle of wine was in order. we had great fun chatting and plucking basil leaves. tabitha's new food processor is great. we just fill it with leaves and pulse it on for a few minutes. the end result is a chopped puree. we filled a dozen half pints and another ten full pints. these will go into the freezer for later cooking exploits. tabitha makes the most wonderful meat balls with this stuff. it is also ready to be made into pesto after a little thaw.

it almost like having fresh basil all winter.

meet link and patty.

they are pretty cute and in the old pen for now. i have to get a few more pallets before get started on the new permanent pen.

i have some molasses to put on the water fountain nipple to get them to start using it. jocelyn is curious about it since sweet grain is coated with molasses. henry is monitoring all these activites.

the new pen will be adjacent to the garden on the barn end. there is a large old stump that i'd like them to root out. if they manage to clear that area we'll expand the garden that direction in some future. speaking of expanding the garden one of our huge oak trees got hit by lighting. it'll die for-sure. that tree shaded part of our garden but made a nice shady spot in the front yard. we'd never have cut it down since the benefits of the tree outweighed the shade that it cast on the garden. it is a bitter sweet thing.. we'll likely plant a paulina empress dragon tree in a similar spot. closer to the driveway so it shades that area but not to encroach on the garden too much. i really like a ginko tree there but they grow so slowly. the jury is still out since the tree isn't gone yet.


tabitha's father has a large field of millet that he has been nurturing all summer.

it looks beautiful. we might try to get some of that hay for jocelyn for the winter.

it is so healthy and looks tasty. we are going to research the feed quality since milk cows require tons of protein.
kassi found a flower.

there were plenty to choose from.

here mike and tabitha are negotiating millet futures.

doesn't it look wonderful?


the lighting strike, happened at the same instant that the electric garage door opener gave up the ghost and our water heater failed. coincidence? it was so scary when it struck. it was only thirty feet from the house. thankfully it wasn't our house tree. we have a huge tree that shades our house and when that one dies it will be a sad day.