Random Thoughts....

....that I've been meaning to blog about, but things got busy, ya know?

We've had odd weather this year. Odd in that it took much longer than usual to warm up this year, resulting in most of our crops coming in later. We never did have as big a crop of melons as usual, and most of them were pretty small (but still very sweet!). And by this time, we usually have snow on the ground...which we don't. Unfortunately, we do have the cold weather!

Another thing that happened this year, or rather DIDN'T happen, was the arrival of huge amounts of Japanese beetles (commonly misidentified as lady bugs). We usually have a few days where they are very thick outside, and it usually happens shortly after the first dip below freezing followed by a sunny day (at least, from what I can tell). Sometimes it's in September, sometimes early October. However, this year, each time we had a cold spell followed by a warm day, that warm day was followed by a few days of heavy rain...which kept the bugs at bay, thank God! I'm hoping that'll result in fewer beetles next year (please!), too.

There's more that I can write about, but I'm drawing a blank right now, probably because I keep thinking about the next batch of chicken soup waiting to be canned downstairs! Today I added even a wider variety of herbs, all of which I grew and dried this year (rosemary, thyme, oregano, and sage) along with lots and lots of basil -- it is a great feeling grinding herbs in the palms of your hands that you've grown yourself! The only bummer is that I don't have a good place in our home to grow them during the winter. When we eventually move to the farm house, that's one of the first things I'm going to be doing...starting an herb garden inside. The kitchen window is very nice, and there is a lovely bay window with a sliding door beside it that has alot of sunlight, too. Fresh herbs, year round, yippee! And I'm wondering....can one ever grow too much basil?