Preserving the Harvest: Basil

[Note: This idea is not originally from me.]

One of my annual summer dilemmas is how to preserve my herbs. I absolutely love fresh herbs. Saying "love" in this case, may be an understatement. 

I grew up in a household where my mom's seasoning skills stopped with salt and pepper. She had herbs, but every time I experimented with a new recipe and asked if we had ______________, you could expect the following response: "I do...but I've had them since we were married." (at that time, about 20 years!)

Let me just say that the perfect example of my initiation into the world of fresh herbs was the first time I tasted fresh parsley in a dish. I never understood why you added dried "grass" (aka parsley) into a recipe. It had no smell, no taste and just took up space on the shelf. With my first parsley pesto...the stars aligned and I was hooked.

I adore fresh herbs so much that I have attempted to grow basil, rosemary, cilantro, chives and parsley,  inside in the winter with varying degrees of success.There is always a corner of my summer garden exclusively dedicated to herbs.  There is truly nothing that compares to the fresh spring and summer herbs that go from garden to the table!

But...you can only use so much of a good thing at one time. And this year, with about 20 basil plants (cinnamon, lemon, thai, holy and the traditional Genovese) around the farm, I'm itching to find a better way of preserving the harvest.

I've dried basil in the past and it's an okay substitute, but it loses a lot of flavor in the drying process. I dry herbs by tying bundles and hanging them in my kitchen. It's a great conversation piece and last year, hanging over our dining room table from the chandelier above it, I have to confess, it looked pretty cool. Going back to basil though, drying just wasn't cutting it. (No pun intended!)

A couple of years ago, I read about chopping them, placing the pieces in an ice cube tray and covering them with olive oil. After freezing them, you are supposed to have little cubes of flavored oil to use in your recipes. The first time I did it, they came out beautifully. The second attempt, they were little oily globs of herbal goo. I had to completely pitch the second batch unless I wanted to just scoop them out as I used them. The first batch mocked me from their plastic baggie as I impatiently threw away the second batch.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when a friend said, "Oh, I just make little ice cubes of water and herbs with them and toss them in recipes whenever I need them." What?! It's a simple as switching out the oil for water? Why didn't I think of that? I saw the exact same thing somewhere "out there" (Facebook, Pinterest, who knows?) a few days later. 

So this isn't original with me and thanks for hanging through this explanation. I really just want you to know that we're all still learning together so don't be afraid to experiment. learn, grow and move on to the next thing.

In a few very easy steps, here's what you do:

1. Pick and wash your herbs (photo above)

2. Chop them in your food processor, with just a little water (I use purified water). Only use enough to keep the leaves from sticking to the sides of the food processor/chopper.

3. Scrape down the sides to make sure it is all chopped small. You can add a little more water, as needed to keep it from sticking.

4. Put a little spoonful in each cube and top off with enough water to fill the cube.

5. Freeze until solid.

That's it. Other than freezing, it's about 10 minutes from start to finish. I don't think I can contain my excitement about this revelation. I've already lost several pieces of basil this year because I dried them and they didn't turn out well. But now, we can look forward to pestos, teas, sauces and ice creams (yes, ice creams!) all winter long!

Garden Grove Organics, Covington, KY

Today I made my first trip into the hydroponics store that I noticed several months ago while serving at the Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky. Garden Grove Organics is located at 701 Scott Street in Covington. It may be a small store, but they had a lot of variety, plus a very knowlegeable sales person who helped me find the right product that I hope will save my eggplants. I simple described what's happening to them and he knew a great remedy straight away.

The prices may be a smidge higher than a larger chain, but these are products you're not going to find at the big box stores, like Wal-Mart, Home Depot or Lowe's. I will gladly pay a dollar or two extra to help out a local business and get personal service, instead of trying to figure it all out myself and purchasing things I don't need.

If you're local, need garden or hydroponic supplies and want someone who actually knows what they're talking about to assist you, head down to Garden Grove Organics in Covington. I think you'll feel good about your purchase and confident that their advice is appropriate for your gardening needs.

Update on the Urban Farm

Things are growing on the urban farm. There are dozens of flowers in full bloom, like these marigolds that help keep pests away from the tomatoes.

I bought this rhubarb at the local farmers' market. It has been growing well without the anticipated transplant "shock".

All around the house, I've been pulling up the perennials that have apparently not been separated in several years. Getting under the root systems proved to be rather complicated. But beds halfway around the house like this one above, now have tomatoes, arugula, cucumbers, beans, zucchini, peppers, and summer, spaghetti and butternut squash.

The potatoes are doing great! I've added potting mix as they've grown and it's up to the brim now. The only thing left to do is occasional watering and to wait for the harvest (plus...keep the pests off!).

Three bed bags are filled with tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and zucchini, plus marigolds and different types of herbs interspersed for pest control.

Several varieties of basil are planted throughout the tomatoes. A pot of oregano sits in the bed bag too. Rosemary in another bag is also a good pest deterrent.

These potted Mortgage Lifter tomatoes are coming along well and should be ripe within the month.

The corn, Asparagus Yard-Long beans and Christmas Lima beans have all sprouted.

The Rainbow Chard has been harvested for baby greens and is still going strong.

A bed of crookneck squash, Luffa gourd, Rainbow chard and tomato has had some great blooms lately. Plus, we've harvested a few Chioggia beets from the pot in the background.

We've also planted several annuals to bring the pollinators, which are scarce in this area.

Impatiens have always been one of my favorite annuals, but in the apartment, we never had a shady place to put them. Here on the urban farm, we have one strategically placed plant hook that makes impatiens a possibility again.

Along with lettuce, chard and beets and a plethora of Tendercrisp celery, we've harvested some less than stellar cauliflower, red cabbage and broccoli. With temperatures that rapidly go from 40s to 80s in May, the wide variance and upkeep on water demand evidently influenced the final product. I'm thinking that a fall harvest may have a much better chance and that gives us time to get some beds built for late summer plantings. We've already started several cauliflower and celery plants that will go out in late July to early August. 

This photo was taken almost two weeks ago. The cauliflower are starting their third set of leaves and the celery have just sprouted in the last day.

From this update, you can probably tell that it's been quite busy here on the urban farm. My eldest chastised me (via Houston) that I was pulling up all the pretty plants in place of veggies. [I should point out that she's the Vegan. Irony?] Anyway, she arrives home from Houston on July 31st. She'll probably miss the flowers, but just to prove her wrong, I've left an entire side of the house in bloom.

Enjoy Abbey!