Crazy Basil

Well all this rain has been great for the lawns and gardens.....I have never seen them so lush. Now I am not complaining so don't take it the wrong way, but I have spent the past two mornings hacking the growth back so my beds do not look like an overgrown jungle. I am very happy at the rate that the plants are growing after looking at the scraggly branches this spring after the ice storm and wondering what was going to regrow.

My crop of basil has been taking off and was over 3.5' tall when saw the start of flower buds, a sure sign that it was time to cut it back. So what to do with a lot of fresh basil, make pesto of course. After carefully pruning the plants back and stripping the leaves, I was left with a massive pile of basil. Added a little olive oil, toasted pine nuts and garlic.......a quick chop in the food processer and I was left with 4.5 cups of fresh pesto. I did not have any plans for the pesto so I split it into 3/4 cup bags and vacuum sealed with my foodsaver.